Hearing the approaching footsteps, Yakumo withdrew her gaze from the night sky, her eyes, filled with fear and resolve, locked onto the approaching boy.
Each step seemed like the final countdown of her life. Her slender body began to tremble uncontrollably, and finally, as if accepting her fate, she closed her eyes, her long eyelashes casting fine shadows on her cheeks.
The footsteps came to an abrupt halt in front of her.
Yakumo's breath hitched, and her heart seemed to stop beating.
Just as she thought she was about to meet her end, a sharp, brief pain suddenly came from her forehead.
"Ah... that hurts!" She shouted instinctively, immediately covering the spot where she had been flicked with her hand.
Tears of grievance instantly welled up in her eyes due to the physiological reaction. Enduring the pain, she looked at the boy close at hand with an expression of disbelief.
Mamoru maintained his finger-flicking posture, a faint smile on his lips. "Is that enough?"
"What are you doing?" Yakumo was both shocked and angry, her voice carrying a sob from the pain and deep confusion.
"Didn't you ask me to 'make a move'?" Mamoru tilted his head, a cunning light flashing in his eyes.
"Hehe, I didn't expect you to like this kind of thing. Well... I don't mind playing along once in a while."
"Are... are you mocking me?" Yakumo's voice trembled with excitement and humiliation. "Since you're going to kill me in the end anyway, just get it over with."
"Kill? You seem to have misunderstood something." Mamoru walked to the bridge's railing, leaned his back against the cold stone, and folded his arms across his chest.
"The orders I received were to protect your safety while helping you learn to control your abilities." He revealed the mission details without hesitation.
Yakumo fell into silence again, her shoulders twitching slightly, showing her inner turmoil.
Below the bridge, the branch of the Naka River gurgled, and the moonlight broke into silver glints on the water's surface, gently rippling with the waves.
After a long while, she spoke in a low voice, so quiet it was almost drowned out by the sound of flowing water, "You don't have to pretend anymore. I've known for a long time, you must find me very troublesome too."
The surrounding air seemed to drop several degrees, filled with an invisible chill. Mamoru keenly sensed this abnormality, his brow furrowing as his Six Eyes activated silently in an instant. He clearly 'saw' the phantom of a monster slowly emerging behind Yakumo, its cold eyes staring fixedly at him.
What was puzzling was that when Yakumo asked him to make a move earlier, the monster had no reaction. Now, it had popped its head out, glaring at him with a malicious gaze.
"I don't know why you'd think that." Mamoru looked directly at her, his tone calm and firm. "But I have never found you troublesome."
"Nonsense, stop lying to me." Yakumo's emotions suddenly became volatile, her voice rising involuntarily, carrying a sob. "Everything is just an act you're putting on to follow the Hokage's orders. You, Kurenai-sensei... cough, cough..."
Excessive emotion triggered a violent cough. Yakumo clutched her chest tightly, her face as pale as paper, her body swaying slightly.
"Hey, calm down first..." Mamoru stepped forward, reaching out to support her.
"Don't touch me!" Yakumo slapped his hand away, but she stumbled back a step herself, nearly falling.
The sinister phantom behind her distorted violently with her emotional fluctuations, opening its invisible maw toward Mamoru and letting out a silent roar, its hideous face flickering in the moonlight.
After Yakumo's breathing steadied slightly and the coughing subsided, Mamoru asked softly, "Am I not worth your trust? I thought... we were already friends."
Yakumo's expression froze, a struggle flashing in her eyes, her lips trembling slightly. "Friends... no, everything is fake."
"It's not fake." Mamoru denied categorically, his gaze sincere.
"Heh." Yakumo gave a mocking, bitter smile, but tears glinted in the corners of her eyes.
"I heard it all, the conversation between Kurenai-sensei and Hokage-sama. Kurenai-sensei sealing my abilities was also related to Hokage-sama's orders."
Mamoru explained patiently, "That doesn't prove anything. Doing that was to protect you. Your ability is very special, it's just temporarily sealed."
"No!" Yakumo retorted emotionally.
"You're all just doing it to monitor me better. After all, sooner or later, you'll get rid of me, an unstable threat."
"We won't do that. Don't overthink things." Mamoru's tone remained steady.
"Before Kurenai-sensei taught me, my parents passed away."
Yakumo's voice began to tremble uncontrollably, carrying long-suppressed pain and indignation.
"That fire happened so suddenly, and it spread so fast that there was no time to save them. But my parents were both Jonin! How could they die because of a mere fire, and one that happened in broad daylight?"
Her tears finally fell. "Afterward, they said it was just an accident, but at the same time, they hid my parents' autopsy reports."
Mamoru listened in silence.
He knew Yakumo had overheard part of the conversation between Kurenai and Hiruzen, and combined with the key memories she had lost, she had misunderstood Hiruzen's intentions.
She stubbornly believed that all these tragedies were a conspiracy by Konoha's higher-ups and directed all her hatred toward Konoha. Naturally, she also viewed him as an accomplice of the higher-ups.
But the truth was that the one who caused these tragedies, killed her parents, and burned down the house was 'Ido'—the demon spawned from her subconscious resentment and pain that she couldn't resolve.
Of course, he couldn't tell her the truth rashly yet, as the time was far from ripe. It might completely break her.
"This... is all just your speculation." Mamoru chose his words carefully, his voice becoming even softer. "Maybe it really was just an unfortunate accident?"
"Speculation?" Yakumo pressed, her eyes fixed on him with a final trace of near-desperate hope. "Then tell me, why did they hide it? Why did they hide the reports?"
Mamoru intentionally acted as if he were stumped by her question, appearing at a loss for words. He was silent for a moment, as if undergoing an intense internal struggle.
Then he looked up, his gaze more serious than ever, looking directly into Yakumo's tear-filled eyes. "If... if you really can't trust them, then I will help you."
"Eh?"
Yakumo was stunned, her pupils dilating slightly in shock as she forgot to cry.
"Please trust me." Mamoru repeated, his tone firm. "I will help you find the truth behind all of this."
"Wh-Why are you helping me?" Yakumo's voice carried an unbelievable tremor.
"Aren't we friends?" A gentle smile slowly bloomed on Mamoru's face.
The moonlight reflected a soft and firm light in his blue eyes, like the brightest star in the night sky, enough to illuminate the deep darkness.
Yakumo's eyes widened involuntarily as she stared blankly at the smiling boy, forgetting to breathe for a moment.
The night breeze became gentle at this moment, softly brushing across the bridge and quietly taking away some of the bone-chilling cold and despair that permeated the air.