"Mm... ah, um, what..."
Yahiko scratched his head.
Then he turned and left.
Still walking away with the same hand and foot moving together.
Konan's heart swelled as she watched Yahiko's back.
"Thank you, Yahiko..."
"Oh..."
Yahiko didn't turn around. He merely nodded, his ears red.
Not long after she brought the flower back, it gradually withered.
Unlike a paper flower.
Fresh flowers had very short lifespans.
Although putting the flower back just like that was one option,
Konan didn't want to lose it.
"It's done..."
On the fourth day after placing the weight on it,
Konan came to check on it while she was alone.
Since this was her first time making a dried flower, its shape was slightly unsightly.
But Konan was extremely satisfied.
Because now, she could keep the flower by her side forever.
"...It's beautiful."
"!"
Nagato suddenly appeared behind Konan and looked at the dried flower.
"N-Nagato...!"
When had he returned?
Seeing Konan's rarely seen flustered expression,
Nagato smiled.
"I've felt like something was going on with you these past few days... So it was this..."
Nagato flipped over the frog board on the wall.
Then he sat down on the floor.
Konan hid the dried flower wrapped in paper in the corner of the table.
"You aren't hurt, Nagato...?"
"I'm fine. Yahiko should be back soon too."
"I see... Then I'll go prepare something to eat."
"Mm."
When they first met, Nagato had been so thin that he looked as if he were already dead.
He possessed the Rinnegan, which granted him a special ability.
Although many people had been intimidated by those eyes,
he was now an outstanding ninja in both body and mind.
"What's wrong? Did you think of Jiraiya-sensei?"
After the two of them had finished preparing the food, Nagato