"Aunt Yukina...?"
Hearing the two sudden cries of "Aunt Yukina," the mysterious girl was slightly stunned. She snapped out of her earlier daze over time, abruptly raised her head, and looked at the Hyuga Clan boy and girl before her.
Indeed, one of them bore the Caged Bird Seal.
The other did not bear the Caged Bird Seal.
Branch family and main family.
Brother and sister...
Yet although she was startled by those two cries of "Aunt Yukina," she quickly began to think—or rather, almost instinctively began thinking. At the same time, the pale pupils in her white eyes slowly emerged, and bulging veins spread from the corners of her eyes to her temples. She had already activated the Byakugan. In the boy's brain, she clearly saw the seal unique to the Caged Bird Seal over his optic nerves, while there was clearly no trace of the Caged Bird Seal on the girl.
And if the Hyuga Clan's main and branch family system had not changed, then the boy before her should be from the branch family, while the girl should be from the main family.
"I see. More than ten years have passed, and the baby from back then has already grown up. I lost track of time here, and even Yumiko's appearance had become blurry in my mind. I actually failed to recognize a child who looks so much like her. You are... Neji, aren't you?"
Then, in the next instant, after that brief moment of surprise, everything about the mysterious girl softened—her bearing, her gaze, her expression, even the curve at the corners of her lips. Even the tone of her words was so gentle that merely hearing it brought a warm, soothing feeling.
It was like the affection—or rather, tenderness—an elder showed a younger generation.
Without