Kankuro's messaging puppet would speak here, and then the puppet would repeat it on the other end. So, Temari didn't realize the puppet hidden in her clothes was being remote-controlled by Kano.
"Find an excuse to hold his hand. For someone as repressed as Shikamaru, the girl needs to be a bit more proactive."
Temari and Shikamaru had just agreed to continue last night's mission during the day. With both of them having a mission at hand, they were both a bit reserved.
But with Kano personally orchestrating things, taking down a little Shikamaru was as easy as pie! Even though he was her own brother.
"How am I supposed to find an excuse to hold hands? Doing it suddenly would be so abrupt!"
Temari whispered to the puppet at her chest. She had arrived at the meeting spot early and didn't know what to do.
Watching from afar, Kano calmly replied: "Don't worry, if you don't know how, I can teach you. I guarantee it'll go smoothly."
Soon, Shikamaru arrived. As soon as he saw her from afar, he waved enthusiastically and ran over.
"Temari... chan...～!"
Although he was smiling, it looked a bit too stiff.
"Sorry, I'm late."
Just as Temari was about to make a snide comment about what Shikamaru was doing, she was interrupted by Kano.
"Keep smiling, don't make him feel pressured. Repeat after me."
Temari forced a smile and said, haltingly: "It's okay, I just arrived too."
Shikamaru hadn't expected Temari's reaction to be so different from what he'd imagined; he thought she would be annoyed by his idiot-like way of greeting her.
"Next, ask her where she wants to go."
"Hey, that's not right. I'm supposed to be showing her around Konoha. Shouldn't I be the one deciding where to go?"
Shikamaru turned his head away, covering his mouth to whisper his complaint to Naruto on the other end of the earpiece, but Naruto answered him very seriously.
"When it comes to dates, you have to respect the girl's choices, of course. What if you make a decision on your own and she doesn't like it? So just ask her what she likes."
Shikamaru felt that dates shouldn't be like this. His family's personalities were all about having a plan. He had never done things by playing it by ear like this.
On the other side, Temari spoke up.
"I'm not hungry yet, so let's go watch a movie first. I want to see what the movies are like here in Konoha."
"Oh, okay..."
Shikamaru was stunned. She really didn't have any objections?
Temari and Shikamaru arrived at the cinema, where an action movie was playing. Temari picked this film that had just started a short while ago, and Shikamaru naturally paid for the tickets.
Temari lowered her head and whispered.
"Why didn't you pick one that hasn't started yet? Why choose one that's already underway?"
"You're not here to watch the movie; you're here to handle Shikamaru. Listen carefully, this is your chance. You must seize it."
After Shikamaru and Temari went in, Kano bought a ticket and went in too.
"Pretend you're afraid of falling, lean close to his ear, and say 'Oh my, it's so dark, I can't really see.' Then, gently tug on his sleeve to lure him into holding your hand voluntarily."
"Oh... my... it's so dark, I can't really see..."
Temari felt quite embarrassed saying this. As a Ninja, would she really be afraid of falling? It felt a bit fake.
But Shikamaru did indeed take her hand.
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