For the entire afternoon, Tsunade carefully attended to Shinichi, afraid something might go wrong again.
Watching Shinichi sit there, wholly focused on official business, left Tsunade feeling a little uncomfortable. He was so busy for the village's sake, yet even the little time he had to rest each day had been disrupted by her.
She told Samui that she had accidentally soiled the pillow and said she would take it home to wash. Samui had no objections.
By evening, most of the staff in the Hokage's Office had left.
Seeing that Shinichi had finished handling his work as well, Tsunade stepped forward and hesitantly said, "Hokage... today is my last day."
Shinichi glanced at her. "Mm. Your debt has been fully repaid."
Those words made Tsunade relax completely. Everything had finally come to a smooth end.
She added, "Um... I'll take the pillow home and wash it."
Before leaving, she went into the break room and took the pillow from the bed. The saliva stain on it had long since dried and could no longer be seen.
As she walked out of the Hokage's Office, the dropping temperature made her instinctively clutch the pillow tighter against her chest.
The moon shone brightly, the stars were sparse, and few people remained on the streets.
Looking back at the darkened Hokage's Office, Tsunade's feelings were complicated.
Everything that had happened these past few days felt unreal. She could hardly believe she had actually done something like that.
She had been called the Hokage's assistant, but in truth, she had been utterly and completely his maid. Fortunately, it was over now. Once tonight passed, tomorrow would be a brand-new day.
When she returned home, Shizune found it strange that Tsunade had brought back a pillow.
Tsunade said it was the Hokage's pillow, which