Since the genin team assignments, Miura Yumiko and Ichinose Chizuru had ended up in the same squad, so heading out together was only natural.
Chizuru hadn't originally belonged to the "normie trio" from the Oregairu crowd, but thanks to the team placement, she and Yumiko had grown noticeably closer in recent days.
Still, after the incident that morning, the atmosphere between them was suffocating. They walked side by side in silence, the air thick with everything neither of them was saying.
Yumiko kept stealing glances at Chizuru, her mind racing. What is she thinking? How did she end up doing that with Makoto Nishikado?
Had she been sneaking around with him behind everyone's backs while Yumiko, Yuigahama, and Ebina weren't paying attention?
Chizuru, meanwhile, had already died of embarrassment twice that morning and was ready for a third. She walked with her head bowed, practically trying to bury her face in her own chest, not uttering a single word as they headed toward their squad's jonin instructor.
"Get back to work!"
A harsh bark shattered the silence.
Both girls turned instinctively.
Outside a well-known Konoha barbecue restaurant, two familiar figures were hauling crates of ingredients in and out under the owner's barking orders.
Kazuya Kinoshita and Tomoya Aki. The two dropouts who'd left the Ninja Academy a couple of years back.
Chizuru raised an eyebrow. "Are they..."
"Once you turn twelve in Konoha, the subsidies stop. You work or you starve." Yumiko tossed the explanation out without breaking stride. "Let's go."
Right then, Kazuya and Tomoya turned and spotted them.
Yumiko didn't even slow down. She had zero intention of making small talk with people she barely knew.
"H-hey, hi..."
Kazuya ducked his head reflexively, not wanting the goddess-tier girls from his class to see him looking like this.
But he forced himself to speak, figuring chances to talk to girls this far out of his league didn't come around often.
Chizuru gave a polite nod in response.
"I-Ichinose... you're so... so beautiful..."
Kazuya's face split into a dopey grin, mouth hanging open, practically drooling. He found himself thinking of Mizuhara Chizuru, the "rental girlfriend" back in the real world.
Funny coincidence, both named Chizuru, both stunning, both radiating that wholesome good-girl energy.
Bet she's never even held a guy's hand.
Compared to his slack-jawed fawning, Tomoya Aki's reaction couldn't have been more different. He shot the two girls a cold glance, then turned back to his crates without a word, his expression completely flat.
You'd think they owed him money.
"What's his problem?" Yumiko scowled.
She'd always been fiercely protective of her own. Chizuru might not be as close to her as Yuigahama or Ebina, but watching someone from her circle get iced like that still pissed her off.
"Reality hit him hard. He's been like that ever since."
Eriri strolled over from around the corner and joined the conversation.
With that, Squad Six was assembled.
Yumiko eyed their final teammate. "What do you mean?"
Eriri wrinkled her nose, looking pained. "Tomoya's always believed he's the protagonist who got isekai'd into another world. Then he couldn't even graduate from the Ninja Academy. The blow was too much, so now he's... like that."
"Protagonist? Him?" Yumiko couldn't help it. She laughed.
In the looks department, he couldn't hold a candle to Hayama Hayato. Athletically, he couldn't even match Tobe Kakeru. Hell, even Hikigaya, even that pretty-boy Totsuka Saika, seemed more impressive to her than Tomoya Aki.
The best you could say was that he was marginally better than Kinoshita standing next to him.
And compared to the monster living under her own roof? Please.
A phrase surfaced in Yumiko's mind, one that fit Tomoya Aki perfectly:
So ordinary, yet so confident.
"That's what happens when otaku play too many games, especially galgames," Eriri sighed.
She was an otaku herself, so this wasn't about looking down on the culture. But you had to know where fiction ended and reality began.
It wasn't like she hadn't tried to help him over the years. She'd even roped in Megumi Katou and Utaha Kasumigaoka, hoping the three of them together could snap him out of it.
Every single time, he'd responded with that same sour expression.
Who could put up with that?
Katou and Kasumigaoka weren't like their "original" selves. Neither of them had romantic feelings for him here. Nobody was going to keep throwing themselves at a wall.
Eriri watched Tomoya Aki's back as he pointedly ignored them, let out a quiet sigh, and fell into step with her two squadmates.
She'd done what she could.
Maybe once they returned to the real world, he'd get back to normal.
He was at least a gaming influencer with a few hundred thousand followers there. That identity might help him scrape together some self-worth.
As the three walked together, Yumiko glanced at Eriri. "I'd keep my distance from him if I were you. Something about his mental state feels like it's getting worse."
...
Elsewhere, Makoto Nishikado had also left home, though his destination was rather different: the Jonin Assembly.
The spacious conference hall was anchored by Sarutobi Hiruzen in the seat of honor, framed photographs of the previous four Hokage hanging on the wall behind him.
Dozens of Konoha's jonin had already gathered, waiting for the meeting to begin.
The doors swung open one final time.
Makoto walked in at an unhurried pace, drawing stares from across the room.
Kurenai tilted her head toward Kakashi beside her. "The last person to make jonin at twelve was you, wasn't it?"
"Kid's something else." Kakashi sighed, though a note of genuine warmth crept into his voice.
Knowing someone had actually mastered his sensei's Flying Thunder God technique... that made him happy.
Might Guy, predictably, was vibrating with enthusiasm. "Now that's the power of youth!"
"Barring anything unexpected, he'll be the Fifth Hokage." Shiranui Genma shifted the senbon between his teeth. Stated it like a weather forecast.
Beside him, Namiashi Raidou chimed in. "I wouldn't be so sure. People used to say the White Fang would become Fourth Hokage, and then... mmph!"
Genma clapped a hand over his mouth before he could finish.
"Are you trying to start something?" Genma hissed, voice dropping low. "Keep the divisive stuff to yourself."
He snuck a glance toward Kakashi, confirmed the man wasn't looking their way, and exhaled.
"Sensei."
Makoto stopped before Sarutobi Hiruzen, every eye in the room on him.
The old Hokage nodded and called the meeting to order.
"I'm sure you've all guessed why you're here. One month from now, we hold the biannual Chunin Exams."
Makoto's gaze sharpened. Finally.
Then Sarutobi Hiruzen said something that threw him completely.
"This year is a special case. The Hidden Mist Village will also be sending representatives to participate."
...What?
____________________
Every 80 Powerstones = 1 Bonus Chapter