"This..."
Watching Old Man Ichiraku slowly pull back the hand he had used to set down the ramen, Hada Ichiba lowered his head to look at the bowl before him. A trace of astonishment flashed across his face, and his whole body seemed frozen on the spot, leaving him unable to continue speaking.
"Eh—? Why? Old Man Ichiraku, that's totally unfair!"
At that moment, Uzumaki Naruto, who had leaned over to look at the bowl of ramen in front of Hada Ichiba—a bowl clearly different from the other three—finally started yelling.
"Why doesn't mine have extra chashu?"
Then, at the end of that outcry, Uzumaki Naruto could not help voicing his intense dissatisfaction.
His gaze had already been completely drawn to the ramen before Hada Ichiba, its chashu piled so high it was nearly spilling out of the bowl.
Uh...
Without realizing it, I...
At Naruto's complaint, a hint of embarrassment crossed Old Man Ichiraku's face, which had stiffened ever since he set down the ramen.
Perhaps the boy before him looked too much like someone from his memories. Even the type of ramen he liked was somewhat similar. Without realizing it, Old Man Ichiraku had instinctively added enough chashu for three people.
It had all been a reflex.
Suspicious!
Too suspicious!
At that moment, Second Pillar and Haruno Sakura, whose suspicions had already greatly diminished because of Hada Ichiba's explanation, looked from Ichiraku to Hada Ichiba. The suspicion that had faded from their hearts now flared up again.
"I don't know why, but thank you. The people of Konoha really are so hospitable!"
At that moment, having suddenly understood what Naruto's shouting meant, Hada Ichiba raised his head and sincerely thanked Ichiraku.
He had clearly assumed that, as an outsider, Ichiraku was taking care of him and had thus