"Tap—"
The soft sound of a bamboo tube striking something hard slowly carried through the dim light of dawn.
"Whooo—!"
Then came the shrill alarm of bursting steam, suddenly ringing out from the Japanese-style wooden house tucked away in this remote corner. A breeze stirred, making the flowerbeds rustle.
Then, the first rays of morning sunlight slowly rose from the eastern horizon, illuminating the Japanese-style wooden house and everything around it.
Soon enough, the bursting steam was cut off. Amid the clatter of cups and plates from inside the little house, the alarm abruptly ceased.
After that came the sound of boiling water pouring into a teacup.
Then came a satisfied sip of tea.
"Thunk!"
A teacup was set down in the kitchen of the Japanese-style wooden house.
"Tap! Tap! Tap!"
Then came a series of footsteps. With a creak, the door of the Japanese-style wooden house was slowly pushed open. Chiba, dressed in ordinary clothes, slowly sat down on the veranda and looked up at the sunlight in the east.
His expression was calm and languid.
"Another day has passed... Only a few hours until the final test begins?"
Looking at the dawn, Chiba murmured to himself.
Perhaps he had relaxed too much over the past month. With only a few hours remaining before the final test—the Chunin Exams event from the original story—he still did not feel the slightest bit nervous.
No.
More precisely, he lacked even the most basic sense of tension.
He still seemed far too relaxed, as if nothing was about to happen.
I need to pull myself together.
No! I should stop being so lazy.
Chiba was clearly aware of this, and he kept reminding himself of it inwardly.
"Looks like you've really become more and more useless lately."
At that moment, two black