I Shouldn't Have!

Very good, very good...

Now, we had several Medical Chakra Bandages, ten Medical Ninjutsu sealing scrolls, and knew how to use them, along with several specially made Ration Balls...

The patient... the patient's condition was...

Half-crouched on the ground, Hirohiko clenched his teeth. He looked at the items laid out on the ground that could help with Chiba's injuries, then at Chiba lying there, pale-faced and twisted in pain. The blood around his mouth and nose had been wiped away, and the front of his clothes had been opened over his chest. Hirohiko's hands clenched tightly, and drops of blood fell from them as they trembled even more from being clenched too hard.

Just wiping away Chiba's blood had covered his hands in his best friend's blood!

Was this why Chiba had always been unwilling to let us take risks during missions? This pressure, this feeling of fear...

During the Defense Map mission, during this mission... had Chiba been bearing this all along? This thought surged uncontrollably through his mind, overwhelming all his guilt, fear, and regret.

Because they were his closest friends, irreplaceable friends, he feared losing them all the more. So whenever they were in danger, even if he had to face greater danger, greater risks, even a crisis that would most likely kill him, he would rather take the risk himself than let them do so.

Was that it?

When you carried out missions with us, when you grabbed me just now... was that what you were thinking? Were you also bearing the same pressure I feel now as I treat you? Damn it!

So this was how you had felt all this time! Damn it, damn it!

I never noticed!

*I shouldn't have come with you. If you had been alone, something like this never could