Chapter 27 Not Disliking This Troublesome Relationship
Haruko smiled apologetically at him, reassuring Naruto, "Naruto, give me a moment, I'll be right back."
Nara Shikamaru clicked his tongue in annoyance. Her apologetic expression seemed to distance her from Naruto, making her appear more familiar with him.
He was the one who met her first...
Not knowing why Nara Shikamaru had suddenly approached her, Haruko Hayama suppressed her curiosity and followed him to a secluded corner.
Nara Shikamaru's figure suddenly stopped, and Hayama Haruko stopped immediately afterward. "Shikamaru, is something wrong?"
Nara Shikamaru didn't speak for a moment, nervously rubbing the back of his neck before mustering the courage to turn around and look at her. "Did I make you angry?"
"Huh? No." Haruko was taken aback by his question. After observing the low mood emanating from him, she asked him in return, "Shikamaru, are you in a bad mood? Why do you exude an aura of 'don't bother me'?"
"...Yes, I'm in a very bad mood." Nara Shikamaru took a deep breath and admitted her words.
Meeting his focused gaze, Haruko's expression turned serious. After a moment's thought, she guessed, "Could it be an exam? I just got back and I didn't expect there to be one already."
"..."
Nara Shikamaru wiped his face, suppressing the urge to retort. After finally regaining his composure, he decided not to give this idiot another chance to speak. He took a few steps closer and stared intently at her.
"Before you left, you hardly ever talked to me. When you did say hello, you would just say goodbye and leave. Even when I wanted to talk to you, you would make an excuse to leave."
"This trip was the same; I only told Naruto and Sasuke. I know nothing about it. Even my mom knows about it. I don't know... I don't know why..."
"I thought and thought, and I asked Choji and Ino. Ino laughed at me for a long time, but I still can't understand why you suddenly stopped talking to me."
His honesty left Haruko Hayama rooted to the spot, making her wonder, "Is this really Nara Shikamaru?"
After all, Nara Shikamaru wasn't the type to dwell on other people's opinions, but what he said next shocked Hayama Haruko even more.
Did I make you angry?
"Was my attitude too perfunctory when you talked to me? Was it because I made you lose so badly in the last chess game that you were unhappy? Did you get angry because I refused your invitation to meet up because I thought it was too much trouble?"
"These possible thoughts kept lingering in my mind, and the more I thought about it, the more I felt... I think I've messed up our relationship."
Nara Shikamaru chuckled self-deprecatingly, "No wonder you don't want to talk to me..."
His tone suddenly became urgent, "Whether that's true or not, I must have done something wrong, right? I must have made you unhappy, right? It's my fault, right..."
Seeing him lost in his own thoughts, Haruko couldn't help but ask, "No... Shikamaru, why would you think that?"
Nara Shikamaru calmed his turbulent emotions and pursed his lips. "We...aren't we friends? We are friends, right?"
Haruko Hayama thought that when she stepped back, he would definitely be eager to follow suit. She was a little puzzled. "But doesn't Shikamaru think that friends are troublesome?"
Meeting her surprised expression, Nara Shikamaru answered her slowly and deliberately, "It is troublesome, but I don't dislike this kind of troublesome relationship."
"For the first time, I was so attached to our friendship. I tossed and turned for a long time, even thinking... maybe I should just let it go, it's just going back to when we weren't familiar with each other."
"But I'm really annoyed. I can't concentrate on anything I do. I feel uncomfortable whenever I see Naruto openly surrounding you."
"Choji said you're tired of my boring personality, but I've always been this boring. Telling me this so suddenly, I don't know how to change, and I don't know what kind of personality I should become..."
Haruko interrupted him abruptly, "Shikamaru doesn't need to change himself. I like the lazy, laid-back Shikamaru!"
Upon hearing this, Nara Shikamaru paused, then, as if finally able to relax, lowered his head so she wouldn't see his slightly moist eyes.
"Being lazy and sluggish is not a compliment... you idiot."
Suddenly, a familiar, refreshing scent wafted to his nose. Nara Shikamaru didn't look up, but watched as Haruko Hayama's feet slowly walked towards him.
The fragrance grew stronger as his cheeks touched his warm hands.
Haruko Hayama lifted his head, brushed his cheek with her fingers, and seeing that he was looking down at her with his eyelashes lowered, Haruko Hayama teased him in a soft voice: "I didn't expect Shikamaru to cry, that's really strange."
Nara Shikamaru reached out his left hand and grasped her wrist, simply encircling it without making any other movements, and quietly defended himself, "I didn't cry."
“Oh yeah, how could Shikamaru possibly cry?” Haruko Hayama exclaimed, feigning sudden realization.
"..."
After staring at her blankly for a few seconds, Nara Shikamaru smiled brightly, grabbed her hand that was messing with his face, and held it tightly instead. "Let's go back."
"Huh? Is that all?"
"What else would you like to talk about?"
"I haven't properly explained what I like about Shikamaru yet!" Haruko Hayama's regretful voice came through.
"...Let's talk about it later."
Nara Shikamaru's voice suddenly became light and airy, like cherishing a lost gem that had been found again, slow yet firm, "Anyway, I'll always be by your side."
Their playful noises echoed in the empty corridor.
"Oh, by the way, I brought you some souvenirs."
"A souvenir?"
"It's a local specialty sand!"
"ha?"
The golden retriever, thinking it was the only one who received a gift: Waaah...
*
Speaking of the progress of the friendship between Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki, as always, dislikes Sasuke Uchiha.
But for some reason, Sasuke Uchiha always had a sour face and didn't talk to them much. Instead, he started ignoring them. After school, he would leave without waiting for them.
Haruko glanced at the school gate in the morning, but Sasuke Uchiha was nowhere to be seen. "Naruto, did you and Sasuke have a fight?"
"I don't remember, but I think I should?" Naruto Uzumaki, who was constantly arguing, scratched his head.
"...Why is Sasuke looking so stern? He won't even wait for us to leave school together."
"That guy always has an angry look on his face," Naruto Uzumaki said dismissively. "He'll be fine tomorrow, isn't he always like that?"
"Too."
The two of them had gotten used to Sasuke Uchiha's tendency to get angry easily. Sometimes they couldn't even figure out why Sasuke was angry, so they developed the skill of simply trying to appease him when he got angry.
Haruko didn't take it to heart at first, assuming it was because the two of them had argued too fiercely this time, and that she would ask about it again when she went to school tomorrow.
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