Ino's Bento

On Wednesday at noon, Shuo Ye did not go to the cafeteria.

He did not like the cafeteria. Not because the food was bad—the miso soup was actually quite good—but because there were too many people. Too many people meant having to deal with greetings, small talk, and whispers of "The Uchiha Clan's child really is so aloof."

He would rather squat beneath the cherry tree at the edge of the field and eat.

Today's lunch was leftover rice from last night, shaped into two rice balls and wrapped in seaweed. Shuo Ye sat with his back against the trunk, set his schoolbag beside him as a cushion, and untied the string around his lunchbox.

The May breeze was nice. It was not hot, and the cherry blossoms had already fallen, but the new leaves were a tender green. Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the leaves, scattering flecks of gold across the sandy ground.

Shuo Ye took a bite of his rice ball.

There was not enough salt.

He frowned and took another bite.

"Hey—"

A voice came from above him.

Shuo Ye looked up.

A girl stood before him. She had medium-length golden hair tied into two low ponytails, big eyes, and upturned lips when she smiled.

Ino Yamanaka.

Shuo Ye searched through his memories. The daughter of the Yamanaka clan, who lived in the same direction as the Uchiha Clan. Her father owned a flower shop. In the original story, she would be in the same class as Sasuke a few years later, then spend years chasing after Sasuke, and finally end up with Hinata—no, with Sakura—

He had mixed them up.

Anyway, she was that Ino.

"Are you eating alone?" Ino tilted her head at him. There was no pity in her tone, only curiosity.

"Yeah."

"Me too."

Ino sat down beside him. Her movements were natural, neither overly polite nor intrusive. She set her lunchbox on her lap and opened it—inside, the rice balls were arranged neatly, each one carefully wrapped in seaweed, with a small compartment of pickled cucumber beside them.

Shuo Ye glanced at it, then looked back at his own lunchbox.

"This..." Ino leaned over to inspect his rice balls. "Did you make these yourself?"

"Yeah."

"You wrapped the seaweed badly." Ino pointed at the crooked seaweed on his rice ball. "There's too much on this side and a piece missing over there."

"It doesn't matter."

"It does matter. It doesn't look nice."

Shuo Ye looked at her.

Ino did not care about his gaze. She took a rice ball from her own lunchbox and held it out to him.

"My mom made too many today. I can't finish them. Here."

Shuo Ye did not take it.

"I don't—"

"The seaweed on yours is all crooked. It definitely doesn't taste good."

"..."

Shuo Ye accepted the rice ball.

He took a bite.

The rice was neither too firm nor too soft. There was a little more salt than in his, but it stopped right at the point where any more would have made it too salty. A small pickled plum was tucked inside, its sourness drawing out the rice's sweetness.

"Well?" Ino stared at his face.

"Not bad."

"Not bad??" Ino's eyes widened. "You mean it's really good, right? Don't you Uchiha always say the opposite of what you mean?"

"..."

"So it is good! My dad says Uchiha are all stubborn. Even when they think something is good, they won't say it—"

"Your dad talks to you about this?"

"My dad talks about everything." Ino took a bite of her own rice ball, her cheeks puffing out. "Last time, he even said that if I kept eating so many rice balls, I'd turn into one."

Shuo Ye lowered his head to look at the rice ball in his hand, then took another bite.

Ino smiled.

It was not a mocking smile. It was the sort of smile someone had when they saw an ordinary person eating the rice balls their family had made and thought, Ah, he seems to like them quite a bit.

Sunlight fell through the young leaves of the cherry tree onto Ino's hair, making its golden color shine even brighter.

II

They sat beneath the tree and finished lunch like that.

They did not talk much. Ino occasionally said something—"Look at that bird over there," "Iruka's writing on the board was so ugly today," "My dad says roses are prettiest this season"—and Shuo Ye mostly responded with "Mm," "Oh," or "Is that so?"

But Ino did not mind.

She seemed naturally comfortable with silence. When she wanted to speak, she spoke. When she did not, she did not find it awkward.

As they were nearly done eating, Ino suddenly asked, "Do you rarely eat with other people?"

Shuo Ye thought about it. "Pretty much."

"Then I'll come eat here tomorrow at noon too?"

"Do what you want."

"Then that means you agreed!"

Shuo Ye looked at her.

The way Ino smiled reminded him of a girl who had sat beside him in elementary school in his previous life. Not because they looked alike—that girl had short black hair—but because of that stubborn attitude of, "No matter what you say, I'm going to play with you."

That desk mate from his previous life had later transferred schools. On the day she left, she slipped him a note that said, "Remember me, okay?" He remembered. He always had.

Then came middle school, high school, and college.

They never met again.

"What are you thinking about?" Ino asked.

"Nothing."

"You're lying. Your expression changed just now."

Shuo Ye did not answer.

Ino did not press him further. She closed her lunchbox, stood, and patted the dust from her skirt.

"See you tomorrow, Shuo Ye."

After saying that, she ran off. A few steps later, she turned back and shouted:

"I'll have my dad make two extra rice balls tomorrow! You're not allowed to refuse!"

Shuo Ye sat under the tree, watching her back disappear behind the school building.

The breeze blew a leaf down onto his shoulder.

He picked up the leaf, looked at it, then tossed it away.

"Not bad."

He repeated the words.

Then he got up, dusted himself off, and went back to class.

III

The afternoon class was basic taijutsu.

Iruka had everyone pair up to practice basic punches. Shuo Ye's partner was a boy named Choji Akimichi—his body was already a full size larger than that of the other children, but his movements were unexpectedly nimble.

"Shuo Ye, your punches are so fast," Choji said.

"You're not slow either."

"Really? Everyone says I'm slow..."

"That's because they haven't seen you strike."

Choji froze for a moment, then smiled. When he smiled, his eyes narrowed into slits, and he looked deeply satisfied.

After training for a while, it was time for a break.

Shuo Ye went to the edge of the field for some water and saw Ino talking with several girls nearby. She spotted Shuo Ye and waved.

Shuo Ye did not wave back.

But he did not look away, either.

He took a sip of water, capped his bottle, and walked back to the training area.

Ino's voice drifted from behind him. "He looked at me—" "Who looked at you?" "Shuo Ye—" "The Uchiha Clan boy? Isn't he the one who never talks?" "No, he isn't. He's just... mm... kind of quiet."

Shuo Ye stuffed his water bottle into his schoolbag.

Quiet.

That sounded much better than "aloof."

He decided that tomorrow at noon, he would still go beneath that cherry tree.

Not to wait for anyone.

Just because the sunlight there was nice.

IV

After school, Shuo Ye was walking home when he passed by Yamanaka Flower Shop again.

Rows of flowerpots stood before the shop. The roses were in full bloom, their pink petals beaded with evening moisture.

A middle-aged man was crouching in front of the pots, trimming dead branches. He had golden hair and the same eyes as Ino.

Inoichi Yamanaka.

The head of the Yamanaka clan. He did not have much of a role in the original story, but every time he appeared, he gave off the impression of being a very steady person.

Inoichi looked up and saw Shuo Ye.

They met each other's eyes for a second.

"Ah, a child of the Uchiha Clan." Inoichi put down his shears and stood up. "You pass by here on your way home, right?"

"Yes."

"You had lunch with my daughter today?"

Shuo Ye paused.

"...How did you know?"

"Ever since that girl came home, she's been saying, 'Shuo Ye said it wasn't bad,' 'Shuo Ye actually isn't that aloof,' and 'Shuo Ye is amazing with shuriken.'" Inoichi imitated his daughter's voice perfectly. "She went on and on the whole way home."

"..."

"Thank you for being kind to her," Inoichi said with a smile.

"I wasn't kind to her."

"Making someone else's daughter happy is being kind to her." Inoichi bent down and resumed trimming the dead branches. "Most children of the Uchiha Clan do not like talking much, but you were willing to have lunch with her. She was very happy."

Shuo Ye stood at the entrance of the flower shop, not knowing what to say.

Inoichi did not wait for an answer and continued pruning. The snip, snip of the shears came in a steady rhythm.

Shuo Ye left.

After walking a few steps, he turned back for a look.

Inoichi was still trimming branches, but he paused and raised a hand in farewell.

Shuo Ye turned back around and quickened his pace.

When he reached the entrance to the clan compound, he touched his pocket.

There was a rice ball Ino had stuffed into it—she had said, "This is for your breakfast tomorrow"—before he could refuse, Ino had already shoved it into his hand and run away.

The rice ball was still warm.

Shuo Ye took it out of his pocket and examined it.

The seaweed was wrapped very neatly.

He took a bite.

"Not bad."

This time, no one heard him.