Yuuga’s eyelid twitched.
He gave an awkward laugh.
“Heh, well, here I am, aren’t I?
I had to wait for all of you to finish packing up the stalls before I could come over, right?”
Shikamaru looked Yuuga over out of the corner of his eye, those slightly narrowed eyes full of amusement, but he didn’t push the topic any further.
In brains and in reading people, almost nobody his age could match him.
See through it, don’t say it out loud.
That’s a virtue.
They say two women make a whole opera, and Ino and Anko were both handfuls to begin with.
Getting them seated turned into another round of trouble.
At the S Class bonfire, counting Iruka busy roasting a suckling pig off to one side, twenty-five people were gathered around.
Shikamaru, Choji and Ino had of course saved a spot for Yuuga, but there was no spot for Anko.
Anko had noticed the moment Ino shouted “Yuuga,” and now she was in the mood to tease the little Yamanaka girl.
Using her speed, she flashed right past Ino and planted herself down on Yuuga’s left, then waved at him with a grin.
“Yuuga, let’s sit together.”
Yuuga’s face went blank.
“…”
This was a question with no safe answer.
Anko was pressed right up against him, and it hadn’t been said as a suggestion either.
She clearly meant to keep that seat, and that meant…
“Hey!
That’s my seat, what are you doing?” Ino watched Anko shamelessly take what had been her spot, grabbed hold of her sleeve, braced her sandals against the ground and hauled backward with everything she had, her face red as she shouted, “Get up!
Anko-senpai, don’t you have any shame?”
Anko frowned, thoroughly put upon, as she was tugged at, putting on a troubled look.
“Oh dear, but I want to sit too.
Ino, shouldn’t you respect your seniors?”
“You…” Ino was stuck for a second, but she didn’t let go, shaking her head hard.
“No.
That seat was saved for me, go find your own, Anko-senpai.”
A hand closed around Ino’s wrist.
Yuuga looked at the two women wrestling with a helpless expression.
He couldn’t afford to provoke either of them.
After grumbling about it inwardly, he said to Ino, “Come sit over here.
Thanks for saving me a seat, Miss Ino, I really appreciate it.”
And then he winked at her, putting on his best attempt at charm.
The bonfire burned bright, the leaping flames turning Ino’s face red, and she felt like she could see little points of starlight in Yuuga’s eyes.
Before she knew it, she had given him her hand.
Shikamaru and Choji had long since read the room and shuffled over to open up a space big enough to sit in.
“Hmph!” Ino tossed her head haughtily and obediently sat down between Yuuga and Shikamaru, then pouted, still not quite satisfied.
“Fine, I won’t hold it against her.
Hmph.
This is all your fault, Yuuga.”
Yuuga picked up a stick and tossed it into the bonfire, laughing.
“My fault, my fault.
Don’t be mad, all right?”
Ino: “…”
Anko propped her chin on one hand and studied Yuuga and Ino with open curiosity.
The hostility was hard to miss.
She leaned in close to Yuuga’s ear and lowered her voice.
“Your little girlfriend?”
Yuuga raised an eyebrow.
“We’re just friends.”
Ino had been watching Yuuga and Anko closely the whole time, and the second she saw them whispering she cut in.
“What are you two talking about?”
Anko and Yuuga: “…”
Roasting a suckling pig was hard work, and Iruka was going at it over there, but soon the smell of the meat began to drift out and set mouths watering.
Under a sky full of stars, the Academy training ground came alive too, with kids gathered in groups of three and five, chatting.
Quite a few students had started dancing around the biggest bonfire on the training ground.
And in this training ground, the S Class’s own blockhead, Sasuke Uchiha, had girls circled around him layer after layer.
There is never a shortage of girls swooning, whatever the occasion.
Sasuke wore a high-collared dark blue short-sleeved shirt, white arm guards and shorts, his clan crest on the back of the shirt, a tool pouch at his waist and on his right leg.
He sat there quietly, his long bangs nearly covering his eyes.
Sakura sat near Sasuke and couldn’t help calling out, “Wow!
Sasuke is so cool.”
The line set off a wave, and a crowd of girls started talking over each other about Sasuke, the adoration impossible to hide in their words.
Surrounded in the middle of it, Sasuke was used to it by now.
He lifted his head and rolled his neck, and caught sight of Yuuga, with Anko beside him and Ino Yamanaka in a pretty kimono.
Yuuga, was it?
Seemed to be from outside the village, had been living in Konoha for a little over three months now, got along well with Shikamaru, Choji and Ino.
Interesting.
Sasuke lowered his head again and went back to the way he’d been.
Today was strange, Sakura thought.
Ino-pig hadn’t fought with her over Sasuke even once.
She was still a kid, so she couldn’t help looking around to figure out where Ino had gone.
But once she saw Yuuga, Ino, Choji and Shikamaru sitting together, she understood.
No wonder she hadn’t come over to cling to Sasuke.
All the better.
Sakura’s heart lifted and the corners of her mouth turned up.
Yuuga and Anko sitting down with the S Class drew plenty of looks, too.
Kiba Inuzuka stroked Akamaru and muttered, “That Yuuga kid looks like he gets along pretty well with Shikamaru and the rest.”
Hinata’s face went red.
She glanced up at Yuuga and said softly, “He does.”
Shino Aburame: “…”
Sasuke, Shikamaru and the others weren’t the only ones who noticed something odd about Ino.
Yuuga noticed too.
It seemed that ever since she’d seen Anko today, she’d been on edge and acting strange.
It made him a little uneasy.
Ino had been holding in a bellyful of anger ever since Anko walked over with Yuuga.
Seeing that people were already dancing by the bonfire, an idea struck her, and then she stood up and grabbed at Yuuga.
“Come on, Yuuga, dance with me.”
“Huh?” Yuuga said.
“I don’t know how to dance.”
Ino stamped her foot hard.
“No.
You’re dancing with me.
Get up, let’s go.”
Dragged along, Yuuga gave in.
With this many people watching, he couldn’t embarrass the girl, even if he really had just come for the free food and drink.
Anko watched the two of them go with a smile on her face, then stood up and stretched.
“Ugh, I’m getting old.
Bonfire parties aren’t for me anymore.
Tell Yuuga to collect my pay from Iruka for me, I’m heading back.”
Shikamaru nodded and agreed to it.
Out of the noise of the Academy, Anko headed straight for Maruzen-do, meaning to get Yuuga’s submission in as quickly as she could.