Kou and Mei Terumi continued talking.
They chatted at ease about everything from the state of the Mist Village to the little things in their daily lives.
Their topics were light and scattered, like dust floating in the afternoon sun. They seemed trivial, yet they warmed the whole room.
Time passed little by little.
At some point, the light of the setting sun streamed through the window and into the room.
It was a warm, orange-red glow that bathed the whole room in a gentle hue.
The mist thinned in the sunset, as if the warmth had melted it away.
Mei Terumi realized it was getting late. She stood and straightened her clothes.
"I should get going. I still have some paperwork to take care of."
Kou opened the door and saw her off with a smile and a wave, standing in the mist.
His figure stood in the doorway, his shadow stretching long in the sunset. It fell across the mist, hazy and indistinct, like a faded painting.
Mei Terumi had only taken a few steps when she suddenly stopped.
She turned around and looked at the figure waving to her.
The setting sun fell across her face, gilding her features in warm gold.
Her lips moved. At some point, a cautious glimmer had appeared in her emerald eyes, as if she feared being rejected.
"We..."
She paused, a hint of nervousness creeping into her voice—nervousness even she hadn't noticed.
"We should count as friends, right?"
She looked nothing like her usual cool, serious self.
She no longer seemed like a powerful ninja, but like an ordinary girl her age.
The sunset shone through the mist on her beautiful hair and fair skin. A blush colored her cheeks, and it was hard to tell whether it came from the evening glow.
Kou gazed at the beautiful girl before him, momentarily lost in thought.
Memories from years ago surfaced in his mind.
Beneath Konoha's setting sun, a short-haired girl stood before him and Obito, smiling brightly into the sunset.
The wind lifted her hair, and it fluttered in the air like a flag...
"...Sora?"
Mei Terumi's voice pulled him back to reality. Kou's thoughts snapped into focus, and a trace of sadness flickered in his eyes.
It was faint, and gone in an instant.
He looked at Mei Terumi and smiled.
"What are you talking about? We've known each other for four years."
His voice held a smile, just like always.
"Right..."
Mei Terumi turned to look at the sunset, her gaze growing a little distant.
Without realizing it, four years had passed since they met when she was eighteen.
Back then, she never would have imagined that she would come to trust this suspicious man, a former Mist Anbu, so much.
She looked at Sora. His smile was still exactly the same as it had been when they first met four years ago, unchanged in the slightest...
She hesitated for a moment, then called softly:
"Sora."
"Hmm?"
She looked deeply at Sora, her words full of meaning.
"When we win, the next Mizukage of the Mist Village—"
"I hope it'll be you."
Kou fell silent for a moment.
"...Who can say what the future holds?"
His voice was so soft it seemed almost like he was talking to himself.
"That's true."
Mei Terumi smiled. There was no disappointment in it, only clear-eyed brightness.
"But at least now we can talk about the future, can't we?"
She paused, a note of feeling entering her voice.
"That's something we never would have dared to imagine before... None of this would have been possible without you."
Her eyes rested on Kou's face, filled with gratitude and admiration.
"If anyone can change the Mist Village, change this cruel Ninja World...
I believe that person is you."
When she finished, she waved with easy confidence and walked away with a light step.
Her figure receded into the glow of the setting sun, gradually swallowed by the mist until she finally disappeared at the end of the street.
Kou stood there, stunned, as if trying to process what she had just said.
He stared down the empty street. Only after her figure had vanished from sight did he slowly come back to himself.
"Heh, what's wrong with me? A few words and I'm completely frozen."
He mocked himself inwardly, his smile full of bitterness.
He turned around and closed the door with heavy steps.
The door shut softly behind him, shutting out the sunset and mist.
The room now seemed dim, much like his mood.
Kou leaned against the door and slowly sank down, like a string stretched too tight for too long finally going slack.
His gaze fell on the ceiling, on the unlit lamp.
His voice was hoarse, heavy with a weariness he couldn't explain.
"If I can't even save myself, what business do I have trying to save anyone else?"
"Being alive is enough..."
Kou didn't know whether he was saying this to Mei Terumi, who had just left, or to himself.
He simply stood there, leaning against the door like a tree bent by the wind but not yet fallen.
Kou shook his head in annoyance.
"...It was just a performance. What am I getting all sentimental about?"
His voice rose, as if he were trying to convince himself.
"Could I really be getting old? Impossible! Absolutely impossible! I'm only twenty-two if you don't count my mental age. I'm still young!"
He kept making sarcastic remarks to himself, as if to smother the emotions that had just risen within him.
As he tried to reassure himself, he pulled the map from his clothes.
The last ray of sunset streamed through the window and fell on the yellowed paper, lighting up its dense markings and faded ink. The lines twisted and turned like some ancient, long-lost script, as if whispering to him.
A deep red light flashed in his eyes.
Three black tomoe slowly turned in his irises, dark and cold.
He studied the map before him carefully. Every mark, every line, every detail was captured by his eyes.
"The Uzumaki Clan's ruins..."
He murmured, a hint of anticipation in his voice.
"I hope you won't disappoint me."
"But before that..."
He carefully rolled up the map and tucked it away.
"I should go retrieve Prisoner Madara's inheritance first."
The instant the words left his mouth, he vanished from where he stood.
There was no afterimage, no sound of wind, no chakra fluctuation.
He simply disappeared into thin air, as if he had never existed.
Only the window, which had been shut but now stood open, silently testified to what had just happened.
Mist drifted in through the window, carrying a cool, damp chill.
The sun had completely sunk below the horizon, and the sky had turned a deep purplish gray.
A few lights came on in the distance, their warm glow spreading in circles through the mist.
The window stood open, and no one went to close it.
Before you continue