After hearing Hikari follow up with "The wind is gentle, too," Karin felt as though she was about to shatter.
Crack!
Karin almost heard the sound of her heart breaking-or perhaps her entire worldview collapsing.
She lost all control of her expression. Her mouth hung slightly open, and her eyes went wide behind her glasses, filled with disbelief, shock, defeat, and despair.
Some of the color seemed to drain from her cheeks. She stood frozen, as though struck by a paralysis technique, or doused from head to toe with icy water without warning. Even her fingertips felt faintly cold.
They... they really...!
In those few minutes while I was warming up the food?!
What crucial turning point did I miss?!
But I was here first!
Karin's mind was a complete mess. All kinds of emotions churned inside her, leaving her barely able to think.
She did not even notice that Naruto and Hikari had already taken in her stunned, "my world has collapsed" expression.
Almost simultaneously, Naruto and Hikari turned their gazes from the moonlight toward the dumbstruck Karin.
Two pairs of eyes settled on her at once: one held a gentle smile and a barely perceptible hint of teasing; the other remained cool and calm, yet seemed to carry something more.
Those two gazes made Karin jolt, snapping her back to her senses.
He-they're looking at me!
Why are they both suddenly looking at me?
Is it because... I'm here... getting in the way?
An even more heartbreaking thought surfaced. Do they think I'm a third wheel, interrupting their time admiring the moon together?
So they're hinting with their eyes that I should leave?
The thought made Karin's nose sting, and she nearly burst into tears on the spot.
She held them back and lowered her head, her fingers