Chapter 21 "So you've taken the bait too."...
You have a premonition that you will meet that mysterious person again, and your premonition has never failed you. It was several months later when you met him again. The weather was getting colder and you were thinking about when it would snow. When Bai heard that you wanted to see snow, he said that he could make snow artificially.
"But artificial snowfall and natural snow are different, right?" The way you put it makes it sound like you're discussing whether artificially created snowflakes have a soul.
Haku didn't quite understand, but he still listened attentively. In the end, you waved your hand, realizing that the topic was meaningless, so you changed the subject. You mentioned that you received a letter from Zabuza a couple of days ago, saying that the person in charge of transporting the weapons you had arranged had committed suicide.
Why would someone commit suicide out of the blue? Anyone with eyes can see there's something wrong with it. Fortunately, that batch of weapons was eventually delivered to the buyer under Zabuza's supervision, and you received the final payment from the other party.
But losing a capable subordinate is also a loss for you, and you need to arrange another person. You haven't decided who to choose yet, and it was at this critical moment that Uchiha Obito appeared. You were sitting in the living room reading documents when a vortex appeared in the air behind you, followed by a figure standing behind the sofa, looking down at you.
Without looking up, you simply picked up the hot cocoa from the coffee table. "The night fog is thick outside. Let's have a cup of hot cocoa to warm ourselves up."
He narrowed his eyes slightly. From his perspective, the back of your neck was faintly visible because you were looking down. If he wanted to kill you, he could simply reach out and snap your neck. He said, "Is this your attitude towards cooperation?"
Upon hearing this, you sat up straight, though your posture wasn't very proper, still exuding a lazy air. You said, "So you're here to discuss cooperation. I thought you were just passing through and stopping by."
“We didn’t even exchange names, let alone I’m your guest,” Obito Uchiha said. He was eager to distance himself from you. He disliked your languid demeanor, which seemed confident and shrewd, making him instinctively wary.
“But you can be.” You stood up, slipped on your slippers and walked across the living room. There was still half a pot of hot cocoa in the kitchen, the temperature just right. You treated him as a guest and went to the kitchen to pour him a cup of hot cocoa.
It happened again. After talking to you, things started to spiral out of his control. Since the last time he talked to you, Obito Uchiha has been seriously reviewing the situation for a long time. He realized that he should have let you say less so that you wouldn't completely control the conversation. So this time, he learned from his experience and tried his best not to give you a chance to speak.
The young man drifted into the kitchen like a ghost. He saw you take a light yellow mug from the cabinet, then close the cabinet door. The sleeves of your loose bathrobe slid down, revealing a section of your forearm.
He should have said something at this point, at least to gain the upper hand and prevent you from saying something strange to change the subject. But he didn't say anything, just stared at you. The sweet smell of chocolate floated in the air, which reminded him of a long time ago. On Valentine's Day, his teammate Kakashi would always receive a lot of chocolates, but he didn't care at all. He kept all those chocolates in the refrigerator until he went to Kakashi's house in the spring and found them.
"Ah, because I don't really like the feeling of chocolate melting in my mouth," Kakashi said. Rin, who was traveling with Obito, said, "Then why don't we make it into hot cocoa?"
Those were things from a very long time ago, so why did he suddenly think of them? He was a little dazed, and the next second he heard you speak, "How many marshmallows do you want?"
"What?" he asked, using his natural voice, then switching to a irritated tone, "I don't need these things."
You casually said "Oh," and then added, "Three will do."
He saw you take three round, white marshmallows out of a transparent food bag and drop them into the hot cocoa. Soon, a thin layer of white appeared on the surface of the hot cocoa.
In the end, he still held the hot cocoa you gave him in his hands. Uchiha Obito was getting impatient. He said, "Is this how you treat everyone who comes to talk business?"
No, you are an exception.
You don't even know his name, Obito Uchiha thought. He didn't know much about him, yet he blurted out that he was an exception. Only someone who's been bewitched would believe what you say.
He said, "Has the shipment that was stranded in the Land of Rain been delivered to the buyer?" He stared at the warm cup of hot cocoa; it was such a stark contrast.
"After all, you were the one who did it, you should know best, why are you asking me instead?"
“Doing business always comes with a lot of risks, I thought you understood that.” Obito Uchiha said with a hint of malice, “And your subordinate, he was such a spineless coward, he would betray you at the slightest threat, so I took care of him for you.”
This turned out to be his achievement, and you said, "Should I thank you?"
"No need for thanks, we'll have many more opportunities to cooperate in the future." Obito Uchiha's unease lessened slightly, and he seemed to have taken the lead in the conversation.
You put down your cup and said, "Cooperation is based on honesty and openness. How can it be considered cooperation if you won't even tell me your name?"
"Uchiha Madara, that is my name."
...He's probably glad the world hasn't developed an electronic household registration system yet, otherwise it would be easy to find out. You'd say, "Oh, so you're an old man." As you say this, you'd take the cup of hot cocoa from his hand, "It has caffeine in it, which can make it hard for older people to sleep. I know older people don't sleep much, so this is just to be considerate of you."
But you couldn't lift it. It was as if Obito Uchiha was competing with you, stubbornly refusing to let go. You weren't as strong as him, and after a few attempts, you let go, loosened your wrist, and said, "You're definitely not Madara Uchiha."
"Believe it or not, it's up to you." Obito Uchiha sneered, then removed a corner of his mask, revealing only the lower half of his face, and quietly drank a few sips of hot cocoa.
The man in front of you is definitely lying to you, but it doesn't matter. You just want to use his ability anyway. This spatial transformation ability is perfect for transporting valuable goods that are easy to steal. In your eyes, he is simply a human transport machine. If you can't make good use of him, you will feel like you are losing out.
Lies are only temporary. You know he'll tell the truth someday, after all, your experience with the Uchiha clan speaks for itself.
The man who said he didn't need hot cocoa ended up finishing it anyway, then left with a few more words and a document. When you opened it, you found it was all your competitors' schedules. With these things, dealing with those competitors would be a piece of cake.
Haku, whom you had sent away, only reappeared after Obito Uchiha left. He said, "He's back again?"
"Hmm." You bent down to pick up the mug from the coffee table, then asked Bai, "Would you like one?"
Bai said with a strange expression, "...Were you all just sitting there drinking hot cocoa?"
"Yes, it's hard to imagine, isn't it, drinking hot cocoa with such a dangerous person."
Bai was still worried. He didn't want you to get caught up in the danger, but you seemed to be enjoying it. He shouldn't stop you. As he thought about it, his eyebrows furrowed. You reached out and smoothed his brow. "There are still marshmallows in the kitchen. How about we have some roasted marshmallows?"
Worried, Bai was led to the kitchen by you. You watched as you skewered two marshmallows on chopsticks, then returned to the fireplace in the living room. After sitting down, you roasted the marshmallows with Bai. The white marshmallows were quickly roasted to a caramel color by the fire.
"This is just right." You sandwich a soft, toasted marshmallow between two cookies, and it becomes a sandwich cookie.
Bai took a bite of the sandwich cookie; the soft marshmallow filling had a caramel sweetness, and the corners of his lips involuntarily turned up.
"You're finally smiling," you said. "You looked so worried just now."
"I'm sorry." He actually made you worry just now. Clearly... his duty is to help you solve your problems, and that's the meaning of his existence. But... he caused you trouble because he couldn't control his emotions. No matter how you look at it, it's his fault.
"Don't apologize to me. Haku is still just a child. You don't need to be so considerate. It's normal for him to throw a little tantrum now and then." You then mentioned Sasuke in Konoha, saying, "Sasuke is two years younger than you. He just laughs when he's happy and says what he's unhappy about directly. He doesn't keep apologizing to people."
Haku knows about Sasuke. He's the child from your family in Konoha, about the same age as you, but their living environments are completely different. You could say he's a child who grew up under your watchful eye and surrounded by your love.
He's a very lucky person, Bai thought, and couldn't help but feel a subtle, almost imperceptible hostility towards him.
He wondered if you chose him because he resembled that kid named Sasuke. You were just showing affection to him out of love for the other kid, and even if it was just a small part, it was enough to pull him out of the dark mire.
Am I a substitute? This question occasionally popped into his mind, but he quickly suppressed it. He told himself that being favored by you was already his good fortune, so what else could he be craving? People who are too greedy will not have a good ending.
But... at this moment, he looks at you sitting by the fireplace, the firelight reflecting off your rosy cheeks, your bright eyes, as you recount Sasuke's childhood anecdotes, remembering every detail so clearly.
He's so close to you, yet he seems so far away. He wants to touch you, to confirm the distance between you.
The boy's hand grasped your wrist.
"Ah," he uttered a short, monosyllable as if waking from a dream, and he actually reached out his hand and grasped your wrist.
"What's wrong? Would you like another sandwich cookie?" you asked again.
Bai paused for a few seconds, then said, "Sasuke... Aki, you like him a lot, right?"
"Hmm... I wouldn't say I really like it, but I do like it to a certain extent." You tried to gesture the difference between really liking and just liking with your hands, as if your feelings were something that could be quantified.
As if guided by some strange impulse, he asked, "How much will I get?"
He shouldn't have asked that question; he wanted to take it back. He seemed too arrogant, already thinking of getting more after only receiving a tiny bit of favor.
"But there is no definite answer to this question. Bai and I have always been together and never separated. My feelings for him will only grow stronger with each passing day. If you ask him tomorrow and the day after, the answer will be different."
Ah, is your affection for him growing day by day? His mind went blank, and he even stammered, "I... I shouldn't have asked that."
"It's okay even if I ask," you shrug nonchalantly.
Is this what happiness is? Soft, sweet, yet it brings tears to your eyes. He's still holding the sandwich cookie you gave him, his beautiful eyes welling up with tears. He says, "Mingxi... Mingxi..."
It seems that every time you call out, you get a little closer to happiness.
Finally, you smiled and hugged him. You heard him trying to hold back his sobs. You patted his back and said, "It's okay to cry."
"I said last time that was the last time I would shed tears."
"How old are you to say it's the last time? That statement doesn't count."
Then the boy's tears soaked your collar, and he apologized by saying he would wash your clothes.
Since he usually washes your clothes anyway, just wave your hand and say it's not an important matter.
"Then what is important?"
You cupped his face in your hands, "Are you feeling better?"
"Hmm... much better."
"That's what's important."
*
Later, one day while attending a local festival in the Land of Waves, you encountered Obito Uchiha, who suddenly appeared on the clock tower. Leaning against the railing of the clock tower, you looked down at the city that had become prosperous because of you, and Obito Uchiha's voice drifted over, "A city like this, existing in such a corrupt world, will one day be corrupted as well."
"Would you like to go for a walk?" You turned to look at him, and he pursed his lips. "I'm not here to talk about these things."
“Then we can talk business while we’re shopping; the two don’t conflict.”
Obito Uchiha wanted to refuse, but you had already reached out your hand to him. He slapped your hand away, saying, "You're changing the subject again."
You retracted your hand that had been slapped away and walked down the spiral staircase inside the clock tower. The man you had left behind caught up with you again. You took one step, he took two, and he quickly caught up with you.
"Hey, aren't you going to continue contemplating the meaning of the world upstairs?" you asked with a smile.
Obito Uchiha said, "You did this on purpose."
"So you've taken the bait too."
A note from the author:
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