The next day.
Xuandou took a short walk with Konan in the morning, rested for a while, and, after lunch, went to Shion's room that afternoon.
At that moment, Shion was telling Hinata something.
The two were so engrossed in their discussion that they did not even notice Xuandou entering.
"Ahem, ahem!"
To prevent them from saying anything he should not hear, as Ino had last night, Xuandou coughed a few times as soon as he entered.
He did so to attract their attention.
Unlike Ino and Sakura, given Shion's and Hinata's personalities, his finding out certain things would only cause trouble.
"Oh! Teacher Xuandou..."
When Hinata saw Xuandou enter, her happy expression lasted only a second before quickly becoming a subtle, somewhat unhappy look.
Knowing Hinata as he did, Xuandou knew she must have found out that Sakura and Ino had been with him all last night.
Most likely, Hinata was upset about last night's barbecue.
There was one thing Xuandou did not understand.
With Hinata's perfect figure, where exactly did all the food she ate, far more than Choji Akimichi consumed, go?
Shion, meanwhile, ignored Xuandou as he entered and even had the audacity to roll her eyes at him.
"Hinata, why do you look a little unhappy?"
Xuandou handed Hinata a stack of brightly colored vouchers. "Has someone been bullying our little Hinata?"
"Teacher Xuandou... I-I'm not yours."
Hinata bashfully accepted the free-meal vouchers for Yakiniku Q, her heart fluttering, so happy she almost jumped.
Hinata did not know whether she was happy because of what Xuandou had said or because she had received a huge stack of free-meal vouchers for Yakiniku Q and could feast to her heart's content.
Xuandou chuckled softly.
He did not tease Hinata too much. After all, without Sakura and Ino there