On his way back to the dorm, Shuo found his path blocked by a cat.
With gray-and-white fur and its tail brushing the ground, it sat in the middle of the road, stared straight at him, and gave a lazy "meow." Just like him.
Shuo stopped and raised an eyebrow at it. "Tch, you're in the way."
The cat stayed put and meowed again, its tail tip curling lightly against the ground.
Shuo walked around it. The cat moved with him and sat down in front of him again.
Man and cat stared at each other for five seconds before Shuo gave in-arguing with a cat was too much trouble.
He crouched and poked its head. "What? Taking me to find food?"
The cat tilted its head, moved forward two steps, looked back at him, then moved another two steps. Right, it wanted him to follow.
He had nothing to do anyway. He might as well.
The cat walked slowly, stopping and starting, and even had to look back to check that he hadn't run off. Shuo followed with his hands in his pockets, dragging his steps out, even lazier than the cat.
After winding through two streets and three alleys, they finally stopped at the mission hall's back door.
The cat meowed twice at the crack beneath the door. The door opened a sliver, and a female ninja wearing glasses poked her head out-it was Miura, who handled the archives. He had seen her a few times at the mission hall.
"Oh, Shuo?"
Miura saw the cat and immediately smiled. "Dango's been out roaming again! Sorry, sorry. This is the hall's cat. Always sneaking out to play."
"It brought me here."
Shuo stood and brushed the dust off his pants.
"Really?"
Miura paused, then stepped aside to let him in. "Come sit for a bit. It's sunny out."
"Sure. I'm not in a hurry anyway."
The archive room was at the back of the mission hall, with rows of shelves piled with scrolls. It was a mess.
Dango jumped onto a table by the window and lay down to lick its paws, completely ignoring him-so the cat had just wanted someone along for the trip, then tossed him aside once it was done.
"Its name's Dango. It used to belong to the old lady at the Confectionery Shop."
Miura spoke as she sorted documents. "After she passed away, it settled in here and refused to leave. Everyone takes turns feeding it."
"Oh."
Shuo leaned listlessly against a shelf.
"No missions today?" Miura asked.
"Day off. Don't feel like moving."
"Perfect!"
Miura dug a folder out of a drawer and handed it over. "There's a D-rank mission nobody's taken. Why not do it while you're at it? It's easy, pays 2,000 ryo, and there's a box of sweets as a thank-you."
Shuo glanced at the folder without taking it. "Finding a cat? I'm not doing that troublesome stuff."
"No, no!"
Miura hurriedly opened it. "Delivering sweets from the Confectionery Shop to the transfer station at the village entrance. The owner has trouble walking. The thank-you sweets have red bean filling."
Shuo fell silent for two seconds, his eyes brightening a little. "Red bean filling? You're not lying?"
"Why would I lie to you?"
"I'll take it."
Quick and decisive, without the slightest hesitation-troublesome or not, he couldn't pass up red bean sweets.
The Confectionery Shop was at the eastern end of the Shopping District. Its owner was a gray-haired old woman with a particularly kindly smile. She handed him a wooden box of sweets. "Sorry for the trouble, young man. Handle it gently."
"Got it. No trouble."
With the wooden box tucked under his arm, Shuo ambled toward the village entrance, swinging his arms.
He hadn't gone far before running into Obito and Kakashi, both covered in sweat, fresh from the training ground.
"Shuo! What are you doing? Delivering sweets?"
Obito leaned closer and sniffed. "Smells great! From the Confectionery Shop?"
"Mission."
Shuo kept his words to a minimum, too lazy to waste them on him.
"A D-rank mission!"
Obito's eyes lit up. "I did these every day right after graduation. Once, I even got lost delivering steamed buns..."
"Don't remember."
Kakashi cut him off flatly. His gaze passed over the wooden box in Shuo's hands, but he asked nothing more.
"You totally remember!"
Shuo ignored their squabbling and walked straight on. Obito shouted behind him, "Wrong way!" Without looking back, Shuo said, "Taking a detour so you won't bother me."
He turned into a quiet alley. At its end stood that old bookstore-there was no closed sign today, and the door stood ajar.
As soon as Shuo stopped, the door opened. Yesterday's gaunt middle-aged man stood inside, his expression tense and a kunai still clenched in his hand.
"Are you following us?" His tone was icy.
"Passing through."
Shuo waved the wooden box in his hand. "Delivering takeout. No, sweets."
The middle-aged man stared at the word "Confectionery Shop" on the box, then looked at Shuo's careless expression. His own expression grew even more complicated. "What exactly do you want?"
"Nothing."
Shuo shrugged, a trace of distaste in his voice. "Just a reminder. Could you not meet up in a sweets shop next time? I go there a lot. You people hanging around are annoying to look at, and you get in the way of me eating cake."
The middle-aged man's mouth twitched. So this guy had followed him here just to say that?
"Also," Shuo added, "you ran off yesterday with your cake half-eaten. Wasting food is bad."
Without waiting for a response, he turned and left, his steps as slow as ever, not taking the group seriously in the slightest-a bunch of troublemakers. The less contact he had with them, the better.
When he reached the transfer station at the village entrance, the man receiving the delivery was pacing anxiously. He breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of Shuo. "Finally! I thought you'd gotten lost!"
"Yeah, took a little detour."
Without a change in expression, Shuo handed over the wooden box and accepted the payment and thank-you gift. He opened it to find four plump, round red bean dumplings, still warm.
He took a bite. Sweet and chewy, it instantly made him forget the trouble from earlier.
"You're from Team Minato, right?"
The man made conversation. "You made a huge contribution on that last mission. Even Lord Hokage praised you!"
"It was all right. No trouble."
Shuo spoke indistinctly around his mouthful of dumpling.
Leaving the transfer station, he headed for the river, found a rock to sit on, and ate his dumplings in the sun.
Light Perception spread out lazily, sweeping across the water-a few ducks swam back and forth, the patterns of light swaying with them. Pretty interesting.
Suddenly, his perception brushed against a chilly presence-someone lay behind a willow on the opposite bank.
It wasn't lurking killing intent, just... very well hidden.
Shuo kept his eyes closed. The person's outline appeared in the patterns of light: silver-gray hair, a forehead protector covering the right eye, a body temperature lower than most people's, and breathing so faint it was almost nonexistent.
Tch, more trouble.
Shuo paid it no mind and continued eating his dumplings-as long as they didn't bother him, they could do whatever they liked.
After a while, the presence vanished from his perception. Only then did he open his eyes and glance across the river. It was empty, with nothing but the willow swaying.
Too lazy to bother, he finished his dumplings and slowly headed to the mission hall to report completion.
Miura was sorting the archives. She smiled when she saw him. "Mission finished? Were the sweets good?"
"Not bad."
Shuo handed over the receipt. "By the way, did anyone come asking you about me?"
Miura suddenly lowered her voice. "A silver-haired boy asked what mission you'd taken. I told him it was a D-rank sweets delivery."
"Don't know him."
Shuo said flatly, "Troublesome."
"Oh..." Miura asked no more.
By the mission hall entrance, Dango was still lying beside the window, its tail brushing the sill.
Shuo reached out and scratched its chin. Dango narrowed its eyes and purred.
"I'm off. Don't block my way next time," Shuo said.
The cat ignored him and kept licking its paws.
Shuo shrugged and pushed the door open to leave.
The evening breeze was a little cool. More people filled the streets, with vendors calling out as they packed up and ninja chatting and laughing as they headed home together. It was a jumble of noise.
Light Perception swept the area. That silver-gray presence had vanished completely.
Who cares who he is? As long as he doesn't cause me trouble.
He walked toward the dorm, the setting sun stretching his shadow long and casting it in a faint golden glow.
Would the weather be nice again tomorrow?
Who knew? Tomorrow's business could wait until tomorrow.
The corridor was quiet, filled only with his slow, dragging footsteps, like a ray of light with nothing urgent to get to, wanting only to rest in peace.
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