Confession Again

"Twenty or so?" A trace of surprise flickered in Kaede Hyuga's eyes. "I remember this time last year, there were at least forty or fifty."

"How did it drop so much in just a year?"

Nebula Kotetsu sighed. "Don't you know that graduation season is breakup season?"

"After the graduation exams last year, many people joined the ninja ranks. I saw them less and less, so many of them broke up with me."

Kaede Hyuga asked, "Can you bear to let them go?"

Nebula Kotetsu replied, "What is there to be reluctant about?"

"They were just a few dozen girlfriends, it's nothing."

"It's you, however." Nebula Kotetsu looked at Kaede Hyuga and voiced his inner thoughts.

"I originally thought that among those who would ask to break up with me, you would be one of them."

"I didn't expect you to never bring it up."

The smile on Kaede Hyuga's face remained as usual. "Do you really want me to ask for a breakup?"

Nebula Kotetsu shook his head and said, "Not really."

"It's just that I didn't expect it."

"Among all my girlfriends and ex-girlfriends, you have the best talent and the greatest strength."

"Objectively speaking, you are also the most beautiful."

"And you come from the great Hyuga clan. Someone as excellent as you being content as the girlfriend of a playboy dead-last... sometimes I just can't understand it."

Upon hearing this, Kaede Hyuga smiled and reached out.

Her fair, well-proportioned fingers gently brushed across Nebula Kotetsu's face, her eyes filled with a hint of infatuation.

"What is there to find hard to understand?"

"I am also just an ordinary woman."

Nebula Kotetsu said, "No, you aren't an ordinary woman; you are from the prestigious Hyuga clan."

"To hell with the prestigious Hyuga clan!" Kaede Hyuga blurted out, her tone filled with undisguised resentment.

Fortunately, there was a sound-insulation barrier, so there was no need to worry about being overheard by others.

Kaede Hyuga continued, "If I could, I would rather be a woman without a clan."

"That way, I wouldn't have to stay in that suffocating family, feeling like I want to kill someone every single day."

"I wouldn't have to be pointed at by those pieces of trash from the Main House, nor would I have to serve them hand and foot!"

Nebula Kotetsu did not speak.

He looked at the forehead protector tied tightly around Kaede Hyuga's forehead, understanding the reason for her sudden outburst.

The Caged Bird Seal.

The culprit that imprisons every member of the Hyuga Branch House.

To break it requires power that is far from ordinary.

Seemingly sensing his gaze, Kaede Hyuga looked up, meeting Nebula Kotetsu's eyes, which were filled with pity and sympathy.

She suddenly let out a scoffing laugh.

"Forget it."

"Why am I telling you all this?"

"It's rare for us to meet; let's not talk about such things."

"Kotetsu, remember this."

"I love you. As long as you don't bring up a breakup, I will love you forever and ever."

"Unless I die."

"Pah, pah, pah!" Nebula Kotetsu hurriedly said, "What kind of nonsense are you spouting?"

"It's getting late, I should go."

"There's someone waiting for me outside."

As he spoke, he stood up, intending to tidy the bookshelf, but he was pulled by the leg just halfway up and sat back down on the floor.

Nebula Kotetsu looked at Kaede Hyuga, whose smile had suddenly turned dangerous, and his expression changed.

"What are you doing now?!"

Kaede Hyuga said, "Make that person wait a little longer."

"Stay with me for another hour."

Nebula Kotetsu: "..."

An hour and a half later.

The bamboo house by the river was the place where Nebula Kotetsu and Rin Nohara studied and exchanged medical ninjutsu.

Rin Nohara had been waiting here for a long time.

She stood at the doorway of the bamboo house, gazing at the calm water ahead, lost in a daze.

The sunset glow cast a red hue across the water's surface, and occasionally, a fish would surface, sending ripples across the water—much like her own heart, rising and falling in uncertainty.

In her trance, she did not know how much time had passed before the sound of rapid footsteps approached from afar.

Rin Nohara turned her head; it was Nebula Kotetsu.

The young man, even more dazzling than the sunset glow, had a slightly flushed face, as if he had rushed over in a hurry.

"Rin."

"Have you been waiting long?"

"I just arrived as well," Rin Nohara replied subconsciously. Only after speaking did she realize that she had apparently been waiting for nearly an hour.

But that was not important.

What was important was what she had to say today, and the questions she needed to clarify.

"Kotetsu."

"Today..."

"Today's matter was my fault," Nebula Kotetsu interrupted Rin Nohara's question.

He looked down into Rin Nohara's restless eyes, his tone sincere.

"Rin."

"I know what you want to ask."

"You want to ask when I mastered the Mystical Palm Technique."

"You want to ask why I pretended not to understand medical ninjutsu, only to ask you about it instead."

"There is only one reason." He paused, his eyes, filled with absolute sincerity, looking at Rin Nohara.

"I like you."

"I like you very, very much."

Nebula Kotetsu did not explain that, aside from the Mystical Palm Technique, he was completely ignorant of other medical ninjutsu and skills; such an answer did not conform to the logic of an ordinary person.

No one could master the Mystical Palm Technique without even knowing how to suture or debride a wound; it sounded as absurd as going to the battlefield to kill enemies before even attending school.

Therefore, he chose to make a feint to the east while attacking in the west, a strategy of besieging the enemy to rescue the ally.

In the sunset, the young man's sincere confession struck Rin Nohara's heart like a heavy hammer.

The wind was blowing, the clouds were moving, and the fish were swimming.

Rin Nohara was stunned.

At the doorway of the bamboo house, the young girl stood frozen in place, a flash of bewilderment crossing her wide, round eyes.

To be precise, she had been completely dumbfounded by Nebula Kotetsu's unconventional confession.

Three seconds later, a flush even more vibrant than the sky rose upon the girl's face.

"Kotetsu, you! What are you saying again!" Rin Nohara gripped the corners of her skirt with both hands, twisting them incessantly, her knuckles turning white from the force.

She felt as if something in her chest was thumping, trying to break out.

Nebula Kotetsu had actually confessed to her again!

This time, it was not in front of a crowd.

This time, there was no provocative Obito or onlookers for a teacher.

There were only the two of them, only a streak of red clouds in the sky, and only a fish blowing bubbles in a corner.

Looking at the flustered Rin Nohara, Nebula Kotetsu did not know if his choice was right or wrong.

As the saying goes, he was not good at pursuing girls.

In his past life, he had spent all his savings, taken out loans, and been wholeheartedly devoted, yet he still couldn't win over the girl he wanted to spend his life with, eventually succeeding only with the help of great luck.

In this life, although he had gained much more experience in interacting with girls, his way of dating mainly relied on his face.

He had no clear understanding of his own ability to navigate romantic tension, and he was not confident in whether he could break through Rin Nohara's psychological defenses.

He decided to take a gamble.

"I said, Rin, I like you."

"From the first moment I saw you, I have liked you."

The evening breeze blew past, waking the bewildered Rin Nohara.

Looking at Nebula Kotetsu, she asked the key question: "What exactly do you like about me?"

"And Kotetsu, you have... you have so many girlfriends, why do you still come to find me?"

Nebula Kotetsu said: "I like you."

"I like your strength and courage, fearing what lies in your heart yet persisting in saving your comrades."

"I like your heart, which is as gentle and warm as the sun."

"I like everything about you."