Sakura brought lunch

Luo Mang fell asleep again amid the white glow of the prize draw.

Before drifting off, he was still thinking that he must have used up all his luck drawing the pocket world. Now he was paying off that debt.

There hadn't been a single good prize. The best was the Genjutsu Scroll, which he was still trying to figure out. Without a brilliant mind or strong comprehension, learning it was inevitably rather slow.

The soothing night breeze gradually grew cooler as the weather changed, and morning arrived in the blink of an eye.

Yawning, he left the pocket world and headed out at the same time as yesterday.

There was no helping it. Who knew whether Kakashi would arrive early because of the Diary? Better not make himself the exception.

He ate a little and headed toward their meeting place. It was still early, and just like yesterday, he hadn't run into anyone.

As he drew closer, he saw only Sakura's back. Her hands hung in front of her, as though she was carrying something.

"Morning!"

Luo Mang took the initiative to greet her from behind.

At his voice, Sakura gave a little start and hurriedly turned around, letting him see what she was holding.

Uh...

Three lunches, all huge, about the same size as the ones Kakashi had brought for them yesterday.

"Good morning, Mang. Th-these are lunches I made. Thank you for yesterday..."

She was bringing up yesterday again. Luo Mang felt helpless as soon as he heard her. Had it really affected her that much?

She really fell for me? What he'd written in the Diary last night had actually been a joke. He hadn't expected Sakura to really show an expression like this.

Seeing his expression change, Sakura hurriedly waved her hand.

"Mang, this one's yours. The other two are for Sasuke and Naruto. You all helped me yesterday, so I wanted to repay all of you."

Her explanation sounded rather forced. Sakura held the lunches in one hand while twirling a loose strand of hair hanging in front of her face with the other.

Luo Mang stared, dumbfounded. It wasn't because Sakura was beautiful or her gestures were alluring, but because she was carrying three huge lunch boxes in one hand.

The sight of this delicate little girl doing that was quite something. She was strong!

No wonder she could become Tsunade's student.

Sakura hadn't gone through the Chunin Ninja Exams yet, so she still had long hair. Her pink hair reached her shoulders and hung loose, with some of it falling in front of her.

Here's a question: do all pink-haired girls go straight for it?

"All right, thanks. But you don't need to take yesterday so seriously. We're teammates. That's the third time I've said it."

Luo Mang nodded and answered with a smile.

"Mm, I just wanted to thank you. Without you guys, I might have gone hungry, or even been kicked out."

Of course, that was a lie. She had only prepared food for Sasuke and Naruto to make her gesture seem more natural.

She'd gone to gather information yesterday afternoon and had even sought out Iruka-sensei. She discovered that Luo Mang was practically invisible to everyone. Hinata Hyuga might have been the only person close to him.

As expected of a princess from a great clan-she has such a sharp eye. But they aren't together yet, so I won't lose!

And so Sakura Haruno had begun the first round of her pursuit by showing off her lunch-making skills. After all, the romance novels she read all said that the way to a boy's heart was through his stomach.

Born into a civilian family, with ordinary parents who had no great ambitions for her to become a ninja and no legacy to pass down, she didn't have to shoulder so many exhausting burdens.

As an only child, she was naturally doted on. She could do what she liked, and as long as something wasn't especially expensive, she could generally get it.

She didn't usually feel much pressure, either. She just cooked from time to time and competed with Ino.

After all, she didn't have any other friends. She had always been mocked for her Wide Forehead, and it was Ino who had helped her become stronger.

"They're sandwiches and fried sausages... They'll still be fine to eat at noon."

Seeing the hesitation still on Luo Mang's face, Sakura could guess most of what he was thinking and spoke again.

Although she sometimes acted ditzy and spoke without thinking, she wasn't stupid. She could handle situations reasonably well, and she knew Kakashi had deliberately kept them hanging yesterday, making them skip breakfast before having them compete and punishing them.

Even if they came early today, they would still eat a little to tide themselves over, so she hadn't prepared anything that needed to be eaten right away.

With her having said that much, Luo Mang couldn't very well refuse again. He nodded, stepped forward, and accepted it.

"All right. Thanks."

"Brother Mang!"

Just as he accepted it, Sasuke's voice rang out behind him, and the boy walked over.

"Sasuke."

Compared with her enthusiasm yesterday, Sakura was much more subdued this time. Still, she hadn't abruptly turned cold. She handed him the lunch box and spoke.

"Sasuke, thank you all for helping yesterday. I brought these lunches to repay you."

"No..."

Seemingly conditioned by Sakura Haruno's earlier pursuit of him, he instinctively started to refuse. But just as he raised his hand, his gaze flicked toward Luo Mang, and he noticed that Luo Mang was holding one too.

A little curious, he looked back and saw another lunch in Sakura Haruno's bag. That extra one was probably for Naruto.

It seemed the lunches really were a thank-you this time, so he stopped refusing and nodded.

"All right. It was nothing."

"Mm."

Sakura Haruno didn't react particularly strongly this time. She simply smiled and nodded back, then stood to one side to wait for the last person.

"Brother Mang, what kind of mission do you think we'll do today?"

Sasuke had also eaten on his way over. He set the lunch somewhere nearby where he could easily grab it, then turned to ask Luo Mang.

"Probably the same as yesterday."

Luo Mang answered without even thinking.

That reminder also brought back a brief memory: their first dangerous mission had been the trip to the Land of Waves. It was supposed to be a C-rank mission for training, but its true difficulty was A-rank, or even close to S-rank.

Judging by how things had gone, they would probably spend a week or nearly ten days taking minor missions to temper their personalities.

The trip to the Land of Waves wasn't much of a crisis. What really concerned Luo Mang was the Chunin Ninja Exams. After all, there were only a few months left before another invasion.

Maybe I should write about the Chunin Ninja Exams tonight so Kakashi and the others stay alert and don't get outmaneuvered by Orochimaru.

They'll have to check everything carefully. If anyone really gets abducted, it'll be trouble. After all, with me having crossed into this world, changes aren't impossible.

I still need to be cautious!

Sasuke couldn't read minds. Finding the rapid changes in Luo Mang's expression strange, he asked curiously.

"Brother Mang, what did you think of?"

"Nothing, nothing. Just a random thought. We'll probably have to do these boring missions for a few more days."

Luo Mang waved a hand lightly without saying anything more.

But seeing that, Sasuke started reading into it. Had something suddenly occurred to him?

Could it be some future mission where our lives will be in danger? One he hasn't even written about in the Diary?

At that thought, a trace of worry appeared on Sasuke's face too. It seemed he still needed to hurry up and learn. He had to at least be able to use those two ninjutsu, or his one-tomoe Sharingan would be completely useless.