People often say that one's perception of time is inversely proportional to the energy invested in an activity. This argument is indeed quite persuasive in a universal sense.
For example, when someone buys Yakovlev's fries after being coaxed by group friends, they find an entire afternoon has evaporated the moment they close the game.
And at this moment, Akane also deeply understood this saying.
Rōran's changes and development, how to guide the people to accept the outside world, the docking details with the Hot Sand Rose Chamber of Commerce, potential obstacles in the initial actions and countermeasures... All afternoon, she had been discussing these matters with Hii Kōri.
In terms of experience in handling emergencies, Akane had a decisive deficiency. But this was unavoidable—such deficiency was likely due to the environment she lived in, not a lack of ability.
After receiving Hii Kōri's inspiration, her train of thought gradually opened up.
This feeling of sharing burdens and having direction pointed out was something she hadn't experienced in a long time. Immersed in this, Akane almost forgot the passage of time.
It wasn't until knocking sounded again outside the office door, along with a servant's inquiry about whether she needed dinner, that she suddenly realized the window outside was already shrouded in the gloomy night.
Normally, her dinner time would be much earlier than this. But during the day, when Hii Kōri had disguised himself as her and dismissed those ministers, he had deliberately shown a "fatigued" expression. Combined with his explanation, presumably the attendants and guards thought Akane needed adequate rest, and kindly didn't disturb her at the usual time.
"Ah... go prepare it."
Akane patted her cheeks and gently called out in response. Then she turned her gaze to Hii Kōri, who sat across from her, tapping the desktop with his finger as if thinking about something else. She asked tentatively, "Um... would you like to come eat something?"
"If you use that method you used to help me conceal my presence earlier, it should... be fine, right?"
Her tone was quite vague, obviously not very certain about this.
After all, Hii Kōri currently lacked a proper timing and stance to formally appear before others in Rōran. According to plan, his existence should be the "leader" of a powerful and friendly organization outside Rōran, not a mysterious threat who appeared out of nowhere and seemingly brain-controlled or coerced the queen into opening the country.
"No need for that..."
Hii Kōri restrained his thoughts, lazily stood up, stretched, then simply refused Akane's kindness.
He flicked his wrist, took out a simply packaged energy bar from his sealing scroll, and deftly tore open the wrapper to take a bite. "This is enough for me. It's efficient and avoids trouble on your end. I have a rather large appetite. No matter how much I eliminate my presence, the servant doing the dishes would eventually notice something off, right?"
Akane looked at his expression, thinking how big could his appetite really be, but didn't say anything more. She blinked, then suddenly thought of another question: "Then... where will you rest tonight?"
After all, Rōran was of great importance, involving too many people, involving arrangements for so many people. The two of them couldn't possibly come up with a proper and complete plan in one afternoon. Besides handling official business, they'd definitely need to continue discussing details tomorrow.
Thinking this, Akane's voice paused slightly. Her earlobes, hidden in her hair, slightly reddened. Her voice unconsciously lowered a few notches as she hesitated to suggest: "Otherwise... you... could rest in my chambers."
"There, no one would discover you..."
The moment the words left her mouth, even she felt they were somewhat abrupt. Her fingers unconsciously twisted the hem of her clothes.
"Hmm... not a bad suggestion."
Having swallowed his fifth energy bar—produced from who knows where—Hii Kōri looked up with an unchanged expression, using his characteristic inorganic gaze to appraise Akane. Then he stood and slowly walked before her.
As he approached, Akane felt the temperature of her cheeks rapidly rise, her heartbeat unconsciously quickening. She even felt she could smell that distinctive "scent" from Hii Kōri.
"Thump—"
Yet what she received was not the expected "assault," but a dull pain on her forehead.
Hii Kōri simply raised his hand, closed his index and middle fingers, and knocked on her forehead with moderate force.
He could probably guess Akane's current thoughts.
She had been widowed for many years, forced to maintain Rōlan's functioning alone. Now, after so long, she had encountered a man—him—who could compensate for her deficiencies in ability and decision-making, sharing her burdens. As a "victim," she had also developed some Stockholm syndrome. Under these circumstances, Akane would inevitably develop some dependence and "affection."
On the other hand, even though the contract was established, with the absolute gap in power, she still retains herself some uneasiness. This sense of crisis, driven by that "affection" and dependence, transformed into another kind of "desire to offer"—hoping to use herself as a bargaining chip to deepen his binding relationship with Rōran, seeking what she believed was a more solid security.
Hmm... let's just say, not particularly necessary.
Even though he had roughly analyzed Akane's thoughts, Hii Kōri had no intention of pointing it out.
"If it were just me alone, I wouldn't hesitate. But I originally brought my disciples to the Great Sand Sea for training. As their teacher, I can't just neglect them."
Making a show of distress rubbing his forehead, Hii Kōri tapped his heel, and his shadow spread like a living thing.
After obtaining the future Rashōmon's split consciousness architecture, the progress of his own Rashōmon sprouting consciousness had surged forward considerably. But probably because "artificial intelligence" was neither artificial nor particularly intelligent, operating it now actually had some delay and was a bit clumsy.
"This... is my secret technique. It can construct an alien space within shadows. My disciples are inside training now. I'll go in and rest later."
After briefly explaining, Hii Kōri reached out and tidied Akane's slightly messy hair.
He performed this overly intimate gesture quite naturally—truly experienced.
Hmph, Sand's heart thief, one might say.
"If anything urgent comes up, just call my name. I'll hear it."
Thus entrusted, Hii Kōri stepped forward, allowing his and Akane's shadows to connect, then slowly sank into the shadow.
"...Mm. I understand."
Akane steadied her breathing and nodded, as if nothing had happened. Seeing her like this, Hii Kōri—only his upper body still visible—gently consoled: "Maintaining Rōran, which was already nearing its limits, until now is enough to prove your ability. There's no need to be so anxious. As a charming and strong woman, you shouldn't show such a fragile expression so easily, Akane~"
With that, before Akane could respond, he smilingly thoroughly sank into her shadow through the connection.
The office was left with only Akane.
She stared blankly at her shadow on the ground, which seemed completely normal. Seconds later, she abruptly crouched down, burying her burning cheeks in her knees, and let out an uncontrollable, muffled cry mixed with shame and embarrassment.
"Ugh... what am I even doing!"
Muttering incoherently, Akane felt her image had completely crumbled before Hii Kōri.
Meanwhile, the moment Hii Kōri entered the shadow space, the four little ones—who had been training and studying—immediately surrounded him, led by Yahiko.
"Teacher! Teacher!" Apparently troubled by this question all afternoon, Yahiko couldn't wait to ask first, "Who was that mysterious person in the snowfield? Why did he call you father?"
Konan and Sasori were also quite concerned about his answer. The former was probably due to female-specific interest in "gossip"; the latter... hmm, perhaps because of his family circumstances, he was especially concerned about the existence of "family."
Nagato wasn't particularly interested. Rather than that person's identity, he was more interested in the abilities used.
With the Rinnegan's pupil power, Nagato's observation and perception abilities were already no less than Hii Kōri's. What he lacked now was only perspective and cognitive—things that could only be accumulated through knowledge and experience.
"Hmm... like you heard, that kid is my future son."
Hii Kōri looked at the three pairs of eyes clearly filled with intellectual curiosity, inwardly sighing that Nagato was the one who didn't require his worry.
Initially he had considered directly deleting their memories of this incident, but after an afternoon, it was no longer something his budget version memory eraser could handle. As for using his technique or other means to seal memories... upon second thought, it wasn't really necessary.
These four children hadn't heard any substantial content anyway, and they weren't children who didn't know what was important and urgent. A simple warning would suffice.
Thinking thus, Hii Kōri—having casually pulled out another energy bar and taken a bite—vaguely explained: "Due to certain family reasons, his head was a bit twisted, so he came back to ask his young father for answers."
"Just know about this, but don't mention it to others—especially not to Pakura and Karura. The harmony of your teacher's family rests on your lips."
With this diversion, Yahiko immediately perked up, his expression practically saying "leave it to me." Konan nodded seriously, while Sasori murmured an "mm" thoughtfully.
Having "dealt with" his disciples, Hii Kōri found a place to sit and took out the completely scrapped Hiruko Shadow Bright Deity, fiddling with it.
As Rashōmon had said, future he had left quite detailed notes about Ōtsutsuki Isshiki's existence. But besides that, future he also specifically mentioned that after activating Demonic Descent, Tsunade from his timeline had gone back to find Uzumaki Mito to remove his technique.
If he couldn't find Tsunade, he could try buying Tanzaku Street first, then wait at the fixed point for Tsunade to respawn.
Hmm... with such a precious opportunity, could you say something everyone doesn't already know?.
But looking at it this way, in that timeline, he seemed to have quite a bit of leeway. Aside from Tsunade's situation, there weren't any trouble that absolutely needed special emphasis to resolve.
At least he had more leeway than that "Fiery Emperor"—where one wrong step meant complete failure, and even switching to his final form to restart might not achieve a perfect ending.
Good. The future was bright (genuine praise).
The next day, Akane awoke in the morning light. When she instinctively looked at the shadow beside her bed, her face still flushed somewhat.
When she finished washing up and entered the office, seeing Hii Kōri emerge naturally from her shadow to continue yesterday's discussions, that subtle awkwardness grew even sharper.
Yet just as Akane was gradually adapting to this subtle feeling, this "cohabitation life" of over a week also came to an end.
"This is a token. Just hang it on the caravan flag."
Having finally finalized a series of development plans, Hii Kōri's work in Rōran also came to an end. Akane took the small flag Hii Kōri handed her and nodded, indicating she understood.
"Well then, it's about time I left." Receiving her affirmative reply, Hii Kōri turned toward the door.
"Wait!"
Just as his hand was about to touch the door handle, Akane suddenly called out and rushed after him.
Hii Kōri paused, turning back slightly puzzled.
In the moment he turned, Akane quickly stepped forward, tightly wrapped her arms around his neck, stood on tiptoe, and pressed her soft lips to his.
Hii Kōri raised an eyebrow in slight surprise, but quickly calmed.
He could have dodged, but why would he?
He naturally wrapped his arm around Akane's waist and lowered his head to reciprocate.
Time seemed infinitely stretched, yet passed in an instant.
It wasn't until Akane felt the air in her lungs nearly depleted, her brain dizzy from lack of oxygen, that she released Hii Kōri's shoulders with lingering reluctance, stepped back slightly, and breathed sensually.
"Your kissing technique is quite rough, Your Majesty~"
"This is just a farewell gift. Don't get the wrong idea!"
Facing Hii Kōri's teasing, Akane's cheeks were extra flushed—whether from embarrassment or from the suffocation of the deep kiss was unclear. Yet even as her chest heaved with intense breathing, her dark green eyes remained very clear.
"My weakest moment has passed. I won't belittle myself and offer myself up like that again!"
Her face showed none of the vulnerability, confusion, and fatigue from their first days together. Instead, it was filled with the pride that should have always belonged to her. "Rather than being held by you, I think it's better if I hold you."
"Hmph. You said your research needs money, right? I'll make sure you can never do without "Me."
"Then I'll eagerly await good news, Your Majesty—no, Akane~"
***
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