"No matter whether this move ultimately succeeds or fails, I believe Brother Kondo deserves encouragement."
"I guess that's what the master thinks too; that's why he allowed Brother Kondo to go ahead."
Once he finished speaking, Chokata fell silent.
He merely smiled and quietly watched Abi in front of him, waiting for Abi's response.
The emotions on Abi's face changed rapidly.
The wrinkles on his face sometimes gathered, sometimes smoothed out. His lips opened and closed repeatedly as if he wanted to say something but hesitated.
After quite a while, the two brows that Abi had been furrowing finally began to relax slowly.
"...Humph!" Abi snorted heavily through his nose, his mouth still turned down, and then turned his head to look at the kettle on the stove, ignoring Chokata, "You young people... Ever since we've gotten older, you've come to enjoy opposing us old folks more and more, becoming increasingly sharp-tongued."
