Grown Quite a Bit

Early morning, a small cabin at the edge of the village.

"Is everything ready?"

Thin smoke slowly dispersed from the chimney. At the front door of the cabin, the handsome black-haired boy took out a Kunai with a paper tag tied to it and examined it repeatedly. Seemingly convinced that he would not be able to make anything out of it, he sighed and put the Kunai away. Then he turned around and asked.

"Coming!"

Two voices rang out from inside at once. Afterward, the long-haired girl in white with Byakugan eyes emerged from the cabin, her face carrying a trace of awkwardness. A moment later, a handsome black-haired boy followed her out.

"Is Nao all right?"

Chiba looked at Hirohiko, who had come out afterward, and asked. At the same time, his brows furrowed imperceptibly.

Why did Yukina seem to deliberately avoid looking at me just now?

Could she still be angry about what happened earlier?

"It's fine. As long as no one wakes her up, she usually sleeps until it's time to eat. Besides..."

Hirohiko shook his head, indicating there was no problem. When he reached the latter half of his sentence, he could not help glancing back at the cabin. He smiled faintly but did not continue.

Hearing Hirohiko's words, Chiba also smiled slightly, his gaze falling inside the cabin as well.

At that moment, every sharp object in the cabin had been wrapped in a layer of cotton cloth. When Yukina and Nao had gone out to buy clothes the previous day, they had brought back a pile of worn-out thick cotton clothes. Yukina had torn them all apart and padded the sharp corners with them. She had even laid a layer of soft cushions she had made herself over the stairs.

After more than a