Remnant Traces of Summer
The two boys made their way to school the morning after the first time they brushed each others’ presence. Inojin feeling a bit lighter than the day before, and braver, while Mitsuki was relatively the same, spare the hypersensitive skin. “Hey, you noticed how yesterday, the sky was all dark but it never rained? And today the sky is clear as can be?” Chou-Chou questioned Shikadai and Inojin that morning in homeroom. “Huh, guess that’s just Autumn in Konoha,” Inojin replied, “Yeah, I guess you’re not wrong” Shikadai added. Boruto and Sarada were bickering so Mitsuki figured he would sit next to the blonde kid again. Class hadn’t started yet, so Mitsuki sat idly in his seat, looking around the room, observing how the gaggle of pre-teens interacted. Chou-Chou is the first one of the mini-Ino-Shika-Cho formation to engage ‘the new kid’. ‘‘Hey,” Chou-Chou started, expecting Mitsuki to pick up on the fact that she was talking to him, he did not. He was pretty preoccupied with people watching and not stripping. “Uh… ne-, Mitsuki! That’s your name right?” Chou-Chou retried, “Hm? Oh, yes, that’s my name. Why?” Mitsuki replied running his fingers between each other under the desk. Chou-Chou doesn’t miss a beat,“Can I ask you something?’’ “Sure,’’ Mitsuki responded after a minute of thinking. “What’s Otagakure like? Like the people and the weather and stuff,” Chou-Chou asked. Mitsuki sat there a minute carefully considering his answer. He finally replied, “Well, it’s pretty hot compared to here, and humid too. There are thunderstorms pretty often as well. And for the people- I can’t really say, the village itself is less active than here, and I didn’t really interact with enough of them to give you a clear or even acceptable answer for that,’’ the bell rang just then, signaling the start of a new school day. Sometime an hour into science class, Inojin passed Mitsuki a note it read ‘You wanna go to Thunder Burger after school? Boruto and Sarada are coming too’ Mitsuki wrote back, ‘Sure. What time?’, “What’s this boys?” Anko remarked as she snapped the note up from them, reading it to herself. “Next time you feel inclined to make after school plans, do it at lunch. Do I make myself clear?” Anko scolded, “Yes ma’am” the two replied in unison. “Good,” Anko went back to teaching something about cell division.