"Sure."
Distracted, Nebula Kotetsu hadn't heard what Muto Ayaka had said. His automatic response was to assume she wanted to hold hands.
Out of habit, he reached out, ready to let the girl cling to him. But it took his brain two seconds to realize that something was off about the information he'd just received.
"Break up?" Nebula Kotetsu spun around.
Muto Ayaka saw his reaction and lowered her head slightly.
"Mm-hm."
"Starcloud, let's break up."
After getting confirmation, Nebula Kotetsu's first thought was, You'd better mean it.
Lately, he'd been worrying about his dozens of girlfriends.
The system had already been activated, and none of his current girlfriends were people bound to the system. They couldn't help him anymore.
Some of them were even taking up his time.
He'd been fretting about how to downsize... how to break up with his girlfriends. Muto Ayaka bringing it up herself was undoubtedly good news for him.
She was tall and beautiful, with long hair falling past her shoulders. Though still young, she already had a mature charm, making her one of his prettier girlfriends.
But he only had so much energy.
They'd been together, after all. Nebula Kotetsu suppressed the slight upward twitch of his mouth and the urge to turn around and hurry to his next date. Putting on a concerned expression, he asked, "Did something happen?"
"Ayaka, if you're having trouble, tell me. We can figure something out together."
Muto Ayaka looked up at Nebula Kotetsu's gentle gaze and nearly got lost in his tenderness.
She couldn't bring herself to say it while looking at that face, so she quickly turned away.
"Nothing's wrong."
"I've just made up my mind. It's time to end things."
Fine by me. Nebula Kotetsu felt that one expression of concern was enough. He fell silent, putting on a heartbroken look as he waited for Muto Ayaka to leave on her own.
Unfortunately, she didn't seem ready to end things just yet.
"Starcloud."
"I'm sorry."
"I've thought about it for a long time, and I think my family is right."
"We don't have a future together."
"You're wonderful, and I really like you, but liking each other isn't enough to build a life together."
Muto Ayaka looked up at Nebula Kotetsu, who was immersed in his "heartbreak," and felt a deep pang of regret.
If only Nebula Kotetsu weren't a dead last.
If only he loved her and her alone.
But there were no ifs.
The two of them fell silent. Silence settled over the Naka River that night.
Neither speaking nor leaving, Nebula Kotetsu figured she still had more to say, so he considerately gave her an opening. "What are you planning to do next?"
"Next?" Muto Ayaka thought for a moment. "Graduate and become a Genin."
"Then, in a couple of years, my family will introduce me to a Chunin. I'll marry him and settle down."
"Hopefully, we'll have a talented child, and I can teach them to become a ninja."
Nebula Kotetsu understood.
She thought his talent as a ninja was too poor.
It was fine to have friends everywhere at school, but after graduation, ninjas faced not the pressure of making a living, but the pressure of staying alive.
Few people could truly accept an incompetent ninja with dozens of girlfriends, whose only assets were his face and his hands.
"All right." Nebula Kotetsu sighed. "I hope you'll be happy."
With that, he started to leave.
"Wait!" Muto Ayaka suddenly reached out and grabbed him.
"What are you doing?" Nebula Kotetsu asked in confusion. "Aren't we breaking up?"
"Let go. I need to find somewhere quiet to nurse my wounds."
Muto Ayaka pressed her lips together, then said with a hint of shyness, "Um... Starcloud."
Nebula Kotetsu asked, "What is it?"
Muto Ayaka said, "There are two more things."
As she spoke, she rummaged through her ninja tool pouch. A moment later, she took out a kunai tied with a red bow.
"This is my breakup gift to you."
A little speechless, Nebula Kotetsu silently took it anyway.
As long as they broke up, he didn't care how.
The gift just looked a little familiar.
It was a premium kunai from the ninja tool shop. He seemed to have dozens of those at home already, all gifts from his girlfriends.
"I'll take the gift."
"What's the second thing?"
Muto Ayaka said, "The second thing is... I said I was planning to break up with you. I never said we had to do it right away."
Nebula Kotetsu asked, "What do you mean? I don't understand."
Muto Ayaka said, "Could we... break up half an hour from now?"
Nebula Kotetsu said nothing.
As Muto Ayaka slowly reached out her slender hands, Nebula Kotetsu didn't say a word. He let her take his hands.
Hearing her breathing suddenly grow quick beside him, he sighed inwardly.
Heh. Women.
Time passed slowly, and the sky grew dark. The water in the Naka River burbled and rippled in layer upon layer of waves.
Amid the waves, a satisfied girl murmured,
"Starcloud."
"Once we part ways, you'll meet someone even better."
Nebula Kotetsu played along. "No."
"You're the best in my heart."
"Ayaka, I hope you'll be happy. After we break up, I might never date again."
Muto Ayaka smiled, completely satisfied.
Ten minutes later, outside a house.
Nebula Kotetsu gently knocked on the door.
"Knock, knock!"
"Rin."
"Are you home?"
"It's Nebula Kotetsu."
"Creak." The second-floor window opened, and an impatient young man's voice rang out. "Who is it? Why are you shouting?"
"Is that Obito?"
Nebula Kotetsu fell silent.
He'd been so focused on completing his mission and increasing his chakra that he'd forgotten Rin Nohara seemed to have a brother.
After thinking it over, he decided to play along. "It's me."
It was dark, and he was standing downstairs. The other person couldn't see him clearly. Maybe he could bluff his way through.
But the voice from the second floor made his expression darken.
"Get lost!"
"And stop pestering Rin!"
Nebula Kotetsu was baffled.
He'd thought Obito Uchiha had some standing in the Nohara Household. Now he saw he'd been mistaken.
Fortunately, though Rin Nohara's brother had been rude, Rin Nohara had heard the voices and come downstairs.
When she opened the door and saw the person standing outside, Rin Nohara froze.
"Star... Starcloud?"
"What are you doing here?"
After Nebula Kotetsu confessed his feelings that morning, his face had filled Rin Nohara's thoughts all day. When he hadn't made another move all afternoon, she'd thought the whole thing was over.
But now he was standing right in front of her. His flawless features looked even more bewitching in the dim light, and her emotions, which she'd only just managed to calm, stirred again.
Nebula Kotetsu said, "Rin."
"I came because of what happened this morning."
Rin Nohara opened her mouth to say something, but Nebula Kotetsu continued without pausing. "I know it was too sudden for you."
"And confessing to you in front of everyone wasn't very considerate, so I wanted to apologize."
"It's... it's okay," Rin Nohara said almost instinctively.
What girl could resist being looked at so sincerely by that face as he apologized?
Nebula Kotetsu held out the premium kunai.
"This is for you."
The premium kunai was expensive, especially for a newly graduated Genin. Looking at it, Rin Nohara instinctively refused.
"No."
"Starcloud, I can't accept your gift."
Nebula Kotetsu knew his actions had been a little abrupt. But he was here to break the ice, and he'd prepared what to say in advance.
"Rin."
"You've misunderstood. This isn't a gift from me."
"I was hoping you could pass it on to Obito."
Before you continue