"..."
Everyone was really having fun.
It was just the new year. What was there to be happy about? What exactly were they celebrating?
Amid the bustle, Kakashi glanced at Jiraiya, who was standing on the hotel eaves shouting at the top of his lungs, then sighed and merged into the crowd.
Minato and Kushina were completely hopeless. Once those two got lovey-dovey, they truly ignored everything else. Besides, the new year's ritual had already been completed. Though Kakashi did not feel tired because of the medication, seeing everyone around him in pairs still made him feel vaguely uncomfortable.
He was still too young to truly understand such feelings, but this was the Ninja World. Everyone's education and way of thinking in such matters seemed to mature early. Seeing boys and girls everywhere, with the occasional childhood sweethearts laughing and teasing each other, made Kakashi feel uncomfortable all over.
Maybe I should just go back. Going to the shrine alone for Hatsumode feels a little too lonely.
Just as Kakashi, dressed in white robes, was about to leave, his ears suddenly twitched. He seemed to hear a distant voice coming from somewhere.
"Hey! Kakashi! Over here!"
"?"
"I said, over here!"
"Obito?"
"Why weren't you waiting at the meeting spot?!"
Two small figures squeezed out of the bustling crowd. Under Kakashi's dead-fish-eyed stare, Obito panted heavily and complained with a dissatisfied look on his face.
"Didn't we agree to meet at the main gate? Why did you run off to the plaza by yourself? Rin and I didn't even stay for the new year's countdown. We've been looking everywhere for you."
"Huh? When? Did I make plans with you two?"
"Did you forget? Last year."
"..."
What the hell did last year have to do with anything?
Looking at Obito