Yanbai stopped teasing Kima Senju and said, "Among the graduates, I sent back every application from this year's graduating class to work in Hanamaki City, marking them 'denied.'"
That sounded perfectly normal.
But it was so normal that Kima Senju found it suspicious. His mind began racing.
Yanbai had no intention of making Kima Senju guess, though. He said bluntly, "One of them was a girl named Uchiha Mikoto. She applied to teach in Hanamaki City."
At the words "girl" and "teach," the corners of Kima Senju's mouth twitched violently.
No way...
Could it really be true?
That boy Nawaki...
Before Kima Senju could work out a whole scenario in his head, Yanbai continued, "When Nawaki came in just now to demand why I wouldn't let him serve on the frontier in Hanamaki, he said he'd promised a classmate they would work in Hanamaki City together after graduation."
Kima Senju: "..."
"So I asked Nawaki outright whether he'd promised Mikoto they would go work in Hanamaki City together," Yanbai said.
Kima Senju had already begun breaking out in a cold sweat. Although Yanbai hadn't made his stance clear, Kima Senju kept getting the feeling that he didn't actually want to see Nawaki and Uchiha Mikoto together.
Was it because of the Senju Clan and the Uchiha Clan?
Back then, Aunt had refused to marry Madara Uchiha no matter what. They'd been so close, yet he'd insisted on keeping that distance. Had he been worried about something?
Would a marriage between the two clans cause trouble?
In an instant, Kima Senju dreamed up all sorts of nonexistent problems.
Yanbai continued, "But Nawaki neither admitted nor denied it. Instead, he changed the subject, so I took that as a tacit admission that he'd agreed to go to Hanamaki City with Mikoto, and