We're Just Friends

"Welcome to the—" The young waitress at the Three-Color Dango Shop had barely begun her greeting when she suddenly fell silent.

In just two seconds, a flush spread across her reasonably fair face, and her eyes lit up.

"Th-th-th... This customer... P-please, come in." Someone else might have thought she was a stutterer, but Nebula Kotetsu was used to it. Young girls who saw him for the first time would sometimes stare in shock, sometimes blush beet red, and sometimes, like this waitress, get tongue-tied. He'd seen it more than once. He nodded lightly and walked into the shop under her adoring gaze.

"Nebula!?" A familiar voice came from ahead. Nebula turned toward it and spotted someone he knew.

"Anko?"

Mitaraishi Anko.

Unlike in Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, she hadn't put on weight yet. In fact, she hadn't even finished growing. Dressed in a trendy fishnet outfit and sporting a youthful, lively look, she was a pretty, energetic young woman.

At that moment, though, the energetic young woman seemed to have choked on her dango when she suddenly spoke.

"Cough, cough!" After taking a sip of water to wash the dango down, Anko asked, "Nebula, you like three-color dango too?"

"That's great! Come sit down. Let's try their new flavor together."

"Not today, Anko." Nebula looked toward a seat at the back of the shop. "I'm meeting someone."

Who was he meeting? As Anko wondered, she watched Nebula walk farther in and sit down across from a tall, curvy, short-haired beauty.

Anko: ...

Just as expected of you, Nebula Kotetsu.

Either you're with a girlfriend or you're on your way to meet one.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Yomi-senpai."

The short-haired woman smiled. "You're fine. I just got here too."

"Do you know that girl?"

Nebula knew she meant Anko and answered casually, "Yeah."

"She's two years below me. We've known each other for a while."

"Just friends. Nothing more."

Yomi gave him a teasing look. "Are you sure? You have female friends?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Nebula said. "I'm not allowed to have female friends?"

"No. I just didn't think someone like you would have a platonic female friend."

"Then you don't know me as well as you think, senpai." Nebula changed the subject. "Let's order first. I'm starving."

Yomi smiled. "I already ordered."

"I didn't know what you liked, so I got a bit of everything."

"And besides... you said I don't know you well enough."

"That's because you don't spend enough time with me."

"Why not give me a little more of your time tonight, so your senpai can get to know you... more thoroughly?"

Nebula: "Uh..." He paused, then said awkwardly, "Senpai."

"I don't think that'll work."

"You know how I am. I have a lot to do tonight."

Yomi pouted. "All right, I get it. You're a busy man."

"Then how about taking a walk with me after we eat?"

He didn't want to turn her down twice. Nebula considered his schedule for the evening, then nodded.

"Sure."

As they talked, a waitress brought over two plates of dango and some hot drinks.

It was the same young waitress as before.

She carried the drinks over, but her gaze kept sneaking back to Nebula's face. She was so busy trying to hide it that she didn't even notice she'd spilled a little of the hot drink.

Yomi saw it and teased her. "Like what you see?"

"Ah!" The waitress jumped. Once she came to her senses, she hurriedly set down the dango and drinks.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." She seemed unsure what she was apologizing for, but kept saying it as she scurried away.

Yomi turned back to Nebula with a smile. "If you just nodded, you could have another girlfriend."

Nebula smiled. "What are you talking about?"

"With you right here, senpai, how could I have another woman on my mind?"

"Anyway, senpai, tell me what life as a Genin is like. I'm curious."

They sampled the dango as they chatted. But partway through, Yomi suddenly fell silent.

Nebula asked, "Go on, senpai. Why'd you stop?"

Yomi didn't answer. She looked past Nebula.

"Nebula."

"Are you sure she's just an ordinary friend?"

Nebula turned around and met Anko's sneaky gaze. When she realized they'd noticed her, she immediately ducked her head and pretended to eat her dango.

Nebula turned back.

"She's just a friend."

"Nothing's going on between us."

Yomi asked, "Oh? How did you meet?"

"By chance," Nebula said.

"One day, a few people were chasing me. She came across me and saved me by hiding me."

Yomi frowned. "A few people were chasing you? Who?"

"My ex-girlfriends' boyfriends."

Yomi's eyes widened. "More than one? Which girlfriend of yours was that awful?"

Nebula said awkwardly, "It wasn't one girlfriend."

"It was several girlfriends' boyfriends."

Yomi: ...

With Anko sneaking glances at them, neither of them felt like staying at the dango shop for long. They hurriedly finished eating and left.

Afterward, Yomi—who'd just said she wanted to take a walk—led Nebula by the sleeve through several twists and turns until they reached a dead-end alley where there was no chance of a breeze. Before Nebula could react, the delicate hand holding his sleeve suddenly grabbed his hand and twisted his arm into a simple restraint.

"Wait, senpai!"

"No fair, sneaking up on me!"

By the Naka River, Muto Ayaka paced back and forth along the bank, kicking little stones away now and then.

"Stupid Nebula."

"You jerk."

"You've kept me waiting so long, and you still haven't shown up."

After kicking a few stones, she'd look up toward the path they'd come from, her eyes full of hope and nerves.

After a while, a figure appeared in the distance along the narrow path. Ayaka's face lit up with joy, but the smile soon gave way to a complicated expression.

Before long, Nebula reached her.

"Something came up on the way, so I got held up."

"How long have you been waiting?"

Ayaka lowered her head. "Not long."

"Did you take care of it?"

Thinking of Yomi's frail back as she'd shuffled away step by step, Nebula answered with confidence, "I did."

"Ayaka, let's go for our walk."

Ayaka replied softly, "Okay."

The two of them walked along the river.

The river burbled, and pebbles crunched beneath their feet. A breeze blew over from the distant woods, cool and pleasant against their faces. Ayaka said nothing, and Nebula was content to enjoy the quiet. As they walked, he thought about the life of a Genin that Yomi had told him about.

Missions had been getting more and more demanding lately.

Even the Genin's missions were becoming dangerous.

Combining that with the timeline he remembered, he tried to work out how long it would be until the Third Shinobi World War, and how much time he had left to improve.

He was so absorbed in his anxious thoughts that he didn't notice how long they'd been walking without speaking.

Then Ayaka's gentle voice interrupted him.

"Nebula, let's break up."