When Rin saw him, she froze for a second, then smiled and greeted him.
"Obito, what a coincidence."
Obito opened his mouth, but no words came out. His eyes darted back and forth between Rin and Shin-chan before finally settling on the flowers in Rin's hands.
Flowers.
Rin was holding flowers.
And she was walking together with Shin-chan.
A thousand thoughts flashed through Obito's mind.
Where were they going?
Who were the flowers for?
Why were they bringing flowers?
It couldn't be Shin-chan, could it?
That guy was always flirting with pretty older girls. There was no way he had started liking Rin too... right?
No, no, no. They were classmates. Just classmates...
But they were walking together...
And carrying flowers...
Obito's face went pale, then green, then white again. He stood there like he'd just been struck by lightning.
Shin-chan tilted his head at him.
"Obito, what's wrong with you?"
"N-Nothing..."
"You look really pale."
"It's hot."
"Hot?" Shin-chan looked up at the sky. "The sun's almost down."
Obito didn't answer. He was still staring at the flowers.
Rin noticed where he was looking and smiled as she held up the basket.
"Pretty, right? They're for Teacher Ibuki."
Obito froze. "Teacher Ibuki?"
"Yeah." Rin nodded. "He seemed kind of down today, so I wanted to bring him flowers to cheer him up."
Obito's expression slowly returned to normal.
So they weren't from Shin-chan to Rin.
They were for the teacher.
The corners of Obito's mouth twitched. He wanted to smile, but tried very hard to hold it in. "Oh... oh, I see..."
Shin-chan looked at him and invited him on the spot. "Obito, do you want to come too?"
Obito froze.
"Huh?"
"To deliver flowers." Shin-chan shook the note in his hand. "We still have a bunch more places to go."
Obito looked at Rin.
Rin smiled and nodded.
"Come with us."
Obito's heart skipped a beat. Then he nodded hard.
"Okay!"
The three of them set off together.
Obito walked beside Rin, trying his best to act normal, though the corners of his mouth kept trying to curl upward.
The setting sun stretched the shadows of all three of them long across the ground.
By the time they delivered the last bouquet, it was almost dark.
Rin looked at the carefully chosen sunflowers and baby's breath in the basket, then at the two boys beside her.
"So... should we go find Teacher Ibuki now?"
Shin-chan nodded. "Sure."
Obito nodded too and stepped forward.
Then all three of them stopped at the same time.
They looked at each other.
"Um..." Rin said softly, "where does Teacher Ibuki live?"
Shin-chan blinked.
Obito scratched his head.
The three of them stared at one another, none of them saying anything.
"Do either of you know?" Rin's voice got smaller and smaller.
Shin-chan shook his head.
Obito shook his head too.
Rin fell silent for two seconds, then slowly admitted, "I don't know either."
The three of them went quiet again.
The last traces of sunlight stretched their shadows longer and longer. There were fewer and fewer people on the street. The evening wind blew by, stirring up a few fallen leaves.
Shin-chan suggested, "Should we go check the school?"
"The school?" Rin blinked. "The teacher already went home, so why would he still be at school?"
"I don't know," Shin-chan said matter-of-factly. "But the only place I know is the school."
Obito thought about it and decided that made sense.
"What if the teacher actually is still there?"
Rin looked at the two of them, then at the flowers in her hands, and finally nodded.
"Alright. Let's go look."
The three of them jogged all the way to the ninja school.
The main gate was shut tight.
The training field was completely empty. Not a single person was there.
The classroom windows were pitch-black, like rows of hollow eyes.
Obito shrank his neck a little.
"It's... it's so dark..."
Shin-chan pressed himself against the gate and peered inside.
"No one's there."
"What about the teachers' office?" Rin asked.
"That's dark too."
The three of them stood there at the school gate while the wind rustled softly around them.
Obito edged a little closer to Rin.
"Um... maybe we should just come back tomorrow?"
"But what about the flowers?" Rin lowered her head, troubled.
Shin-chan thought about it, then offered, "Put them on the teacher's desk."
"Huh?"
"Leave the flowers on his desk, and write him a note," Shin-chan said. "Then tomorrow, when he comes in, he'll see them."
Rin froze for a second, then nodded.
"That's a good idea."
Obito glanced over, then nodded too.
So the three of them climbed the wall and quietly slipped inside.
The school building was pitch black. The hallway was long and deep, with only a little moonlight coming through the windows, dyeing everything in shades of gray and black.
Obito stayed close to Rin, his eyes darting all over the place.
"Shin-chan... aren't you scared?"
"Scared of what?"
"I mean... it's this dark..."
Shin-chan thought about it seriously, then said, "Misae is way scarier than this."
Obito fell silent.
Rin couldn't help laughing a little.
The three of them felt their way to the teachers' office and pushed the door open.
Moonlight streamed in through the window, spilling over the rows of empty desks.
Obito instinctively shrank back a little.
Rin walked over to Teacher Ibuki's seat, gently placed the flowers there, then pulled out some paper and a pen and leaned over the desk to write a note.
Shin-chan leaned in to watch.
Rin's handwriting was very pretty—clean and neat.
"Teacher Ibuki,
You seemed unhappy today, and we were worried about you.
These flowers are for you. We hope they can cheer you up a little.
You're the best teacher we've ever known.
Thank you for teaching us every day.
—Nohara Rin"
After reading it, Shin-chan nodded. "That's good."
Then he took the pen and added a line at the bottom.
"If Teacher is tired, you can do what I do: if you fall down somewhere, just lie there and rest a little. That's okay too. —Shin-chan"
At the side, Obito was trying hard not to laugh.
"Your turn." Shin-chan handed him the pen.
Obito froze. "I... I have to write too?"
"Of course," Shin-chan said, like it was obvious. "You came too."
Obito looked at the paper and held the pen for a long, long time.
Then he carefully wrote a few words.
"Hang in there! —Obito"
After writing, he set the pen down, his face just a little red.
"I... I'm not very good at writing..."
Rin smiled at him, gentle as ever.
"It's really good."
Obito's heart skipped another beat.
Shin-chan had already folded the note and tucked it under the bouquet.
"Alright, let's go."
The three of them quietly left the office, closed the door, and slipped back out of the school the way they came in.
By the time they reached the school gate again, it was completely dark.
The moon hung overhead, and one star after another was appearing in the sky.
Obito let out a breath of relief. "We finally got out."
Shin-chan patted him on the shoulder.
"Obito, you're such a scaredy-cat."
"Who's scared?"
"Then why were you shaking just now?"
Obito stubbornly shot back, "Th-That was... because I was cold!"
"Oh." Shin-chan nodded. "Then why did you stop shaking now?"
Obito had no answer.
Rin stood nearby, smiling as she watched them bicker.
The moon had risen high, stretching the three of their shadows long across the ground.
"Let's head home," Rin said.
"Yeah."
The three of them started off in different directions.
Shin-chan's voice drifted over from a distance.
"See you tomorrow."
Rin waved too.
"See you tomorrow."
As Obito walked home, the corners of his mouth stayed lifted the whole way.
~~~
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