"Goodbye, Hinata!"
Ino Yamanaka and Sakura Haruno turned back and waved.
"Goodbye."
Hinata Hyuga replied softly, a complex feeling unlike any she had ever known welling up inside her. Only after their figures had completely disappeared at the end of the street did she turn around and set off for home with Kiyonari.
She held the set of fashion magazines Ino had given her and thought back on everything that had happened today as she walked. Shopping together, chatting, laughing... We should count as friends now, right?
Thinking this, she returned to the Hyuga Clan Grounds before she knew it.
The streets within the grounds were orderly and quiet. A few clan members passed by now and then, walking at an unhurried pace. Everything seemed as orderly as ever, just like before.
But this time, Hinata felt inexplicably stifled.
A young branch-family member passed her. The moment he saw Hinata, he stopped and bowed. "Lady Hinata."
Hinata nodded in response, and only then did the clansman straighten up and continue on his way.
That was right. Here, she wasn't "Hinata." She was "Lady Hinata."
Hinata lowered her gaze to the brightly colored magazine covers in her arms. They seemed so out of place here, and a sense of guilt quietly crept into her heart.
"Kiyonari," she asked suddenly, "I neglected my training today and got caught up in these meaningless things. So many people are counting on me, and yet... do you think I'm selfish?"
Kiyonari thought for a moment. Rather than answering directly, he said, "Did you know that, according to scientific calculations, a person needs to drink eight glasses of water a day, 250 milliliters per glass—that's two thousand milliliters a day, 730 liters a year. If you live for sixty years, that's 43,800 liters."
"So... your life is 43,800 liters of water, plus 65,700 meals, plus 21,900 days. And grades, missions, work, meaning, value, intelligence... right?"
Hinata pressed her lips together, the corners of her mouth lifting slightly. "How cunning. You're changing the subject."
"Then tell me, what is life?"
"It's..." She paused, but didn't continue. The closer they got to the main house, the quieter she became.
At last, she said goodbye to Kiyonari and pushed open the door to the main house.
"Hinata."
As soon as she entered the hall, she saw Hyuga Hiashi sitting upright in a chair, his arms folded across his chest and his face expressionless.
"Tomorrow's training will be doubled to make up for what you missed today."
He didn't ask where Hinata had gone or what she had done. He simply announced his decision in an even tone.
Still, she had deliberately sneaked out of the house early that morning partly to test him. Now that she had her answer, though she had expected it, a trace of hurt inexplicably welled up inside her.
But Hinata didn't dare argue. She could only answer quietly, "Yes."
Hinata turned to leave, but after taking two steps, she stopped and looked back at Hiashi. Gathering her courage, she asked tentatively, "Father... once things at the border have settled down, if possible, could you take me to see it?"
Hiashi's expression turned even colder. "No!"
The simple two words left no room for discussion.
But this time, Hinata didn't obediently lower her head as she usually did. Instead, she lifted her face, looked directly into her father's eyes, and questioned him in a voice that was barely audible yet remarkably clear.
"Why?"
"With your abilities as they are now, what could you possibly do at the border?"
"It's just..." Hinata bit her lip.
"There is no 'just.'" Hiashi cut her off. "Your skills are nowhere near good enough. You would only be a burden at the border."
Was it really because I'm too weak?
A bitter curve formed on her lips. "Or is it because... I'm part of the Main Family, so I can't be allowed to face any danger?"
The moment the words left her mouth, Hinata herself froze.
She had never talked back to her father like this before, much less questioned the clan's rules so bluntly.
Hinata instinctively took half a step back, almost ready to turn and flee. But in the end, she stayed rooted to the spot, anxiously awaiting the scolding she knew was coming. Yet the storm she expected never arrived. Instead, a suffocating silence settled over the hall.
Was this the calm before the storm?
After a long while, Hinata cautiously raised her head and stole a glance at Hiashi.
Hiashi's gaze was deep and unreadable. There was no anger, no harshness. He simply sat there in silence.
After a long silence, Hiashi finally spoke, his voice much lower than before. "I will never allow you to leave Konoha."
Hinata bit her lower lip hard and said nothing.
"And," Hiashi added after a brief pause, "I've informed Neji that starting tomorrow, he will guide your training. Don't disappoint me."
Hinata's eyes widened in shock.
"That's all. Go back to your room." With that, Hiashi stood and left.
Informed... what a casually understated word.
Hinata walked down the corridor. Dusk deepened, and the maids lit the lanterns in the estate one by one. Their dim yellow light swayed in the deepening night.
Whenever they passed her and bowed in greeting, Hinata couldn't help wondering:
Did they truly want to become maids? Did they think their lives had meaning? Did they ever imagine living a different kind of life?
When she returned to her room and was alone, she thought again of what had just happened:
When I argued with Father, what was he thinking? Why did he look at me like that?
When she opened the black notebook and gazed at the words "Life Simulator," she couldn't help questioning herself again:
At first, all I wanted was to keep Father from dying. How did I become so greedy?
When to wake, when to train, when to rest... every part of her life had once been arranged with meticulous precision. It wasn't until the Life Simulator arrived that it pried open a small gap in that tightly packed schedule.
Before that day, she had never had the chance to say "no." She hadn't even had the thought of saying "no."
Likewise, the branch-family clansmen had no chance to say "no," just like her. Perhaps they had never even thought of saying "no," because they... had never received their own "Life Simulator."
How could people who couldn't see a future give up a life that, though bound by convention, was at least peaceful in the present?
In the Hyuga Clan, she had never heard a clansman dream of becoming Hokage. But outside the Hyuga Clan, every child could say with a smile, "I want to become Hokage."
Whether it was Ino or Sakura, at least they could say whatever they wanted.
Even an ordinary person who had only just moved to Konoha and wasn't even a ninja had the right and the courage to change his life after Kiyonari's guidance.
But in the Hyuga Clan, Uncle Hizashi didn't even have the right to choose whether he lived or died. Neji had no freedom to choose whether to teach me, and I didn't have the courage to decide to take a day off...
From the moment they were born, the fate of most Hyuga clansmen was already set. They had neither taken action to change their fate nor found the courage to accept it. They were simply asleep.
This was the Caged Bird.
Here, everyone was a bird in a cage.
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