RNP Chapter 385: Later Story - Shikamaru
Chapter 385: Later Story - Shikamaru
I wanted to go to the movies that day, but it was just a spur of the moment decision.
Shikamaru is not a person who is keen on going to the cinema. What's more, most people go there with friends or on dates, but he bought the ticket alone.
Speaking of why…
Maybe it was because he felt something was wrong with him recently.
Today is his sixteenth birthday.
As he got older, Shikamaru began to dream.
There was a girl in the dream. In the dream, he thought she was very cute and beautiful, but every time he woke up, he could not remember what she looked like or what he did in the dream.
I just remember dreaming about a girl.
She has black hair and black eyes, and often does things that make him feel laughable and helpless, but he also thinks she is very cute.
I remember that I liked her very much.
Recently, the dream seemed to be a little clearer, and he saw in the dream that the girl had a pair of Sharingan.
...From the Uchiha clan?
Could it be that he himself didn't even know what Uchiha he had a crush on?
Could it be that he actually yearns for the Sharingan subconsciously without realizing it! ?
No matter how many psychology books he read, the girl in his dreams did not disappear.
He grew up with the girl.
The look in the actress' eyes on the poster outside the cinema made Shikamaru feel for a moment that it seemed to be related to his dream.
He thought it was the actress' eyes that reminded him of the girl, maybe he subconsciously remembered her appearance and therefore thought they were similar...
But after watching the movie, Shikamaru felt a little confused.
wrong……
It doesn't feel right.
The story logic is complete, the plot is not stiff, and the climax is exciting enough, but for some reason...
Shikamaru felt that what moved him and made him walk into the cinema was not these.
As the lights came on, the crowd gradually stood up and walked towards the exit. Shikamaru sat there in a daze, but suddenly he caught a glimpse of white out of the corner of his eye.
He looked away uncontrollably, immediately stood up from his seat, crossed the crowd in front of him, and chased after the other person.
That was a young girl.
Her long snow-white hair was almost as pure as moonlight, and she was wearing a white dress.
She is totally different from the girl in my dream, but——
Noticing someone behind her, she stopped and turned to look.
Shikamaru opened his mouth, but suddenly didn't know what to say. His mind went blank and he could only stare at her in silence.
Rolling eyes...
The white-haired girl with white eyes...
There is no such person in the Hyuga clan of Konoha. There is only one person who looks like this -
It is said that the goddess of Tatsuno is worshipped on the moon. In the shrine, Hyuga Neji of the Hyuga clan is the priest, and there is also a shrine maiden who serves as the main priest.
When Shikamaru was still in ninja school, she abolished the Hyuga clan's branch family system, and many of the original branch family members voluntarily left the Hyuga clan and followed her to the moon.
When he was 12 years old and should have graduated from the ninja school, the ninja world came up with many new rules - for example, ninjas were no longer allowed to accept missions to kill people, and ninjas at the age of 12 could only be considered to have graduated from elementary school, and had to continue their studies in junior high school and high school.
Even for ninjas, the minimum age to work is 16 years old.
Moreover, after graduation, students are no longer forced to be assigned to work groups as before. Instead, it is up to students who pass the graduation exam to choose whether to become a ninja - or go to college, or find another job.
Students who want to become ninjas will enter a specialized school for four years of training and then begin to carry out missions.
Anyway, his father often looked at him at home and sighed: "You kid, you really caught up with the good times."
It’s indeed a good thing that you don’t have to fight for your life with others when you are a teenager.
The relationship between the countries has also eased a lot compared to before. When Shikamaru was in school, he also went to other countries for school trips. However, the Hidden Mist Village was too humid, the Hidden Rock Village was too dry, and the temperature difference between day and night in the Hidden Sand Village was too big...
Anyway, he felt that no place was better than Konoha.
Shikamaru finally found his voice, "Excuse me...Ane, my Lord?"
The goddess's eyes fell on him softly, "Shikamaru..."
She actually knew his name!
Shikamaru was a little flattered and nervous: "You know me?"
"I've seen you."
Shikamaru had no impression of this, he asked confusedly: "When?"
"Before... when you were... still young." The goddess smiled slightly: "You don't need to use honorifics to me. My name is Zhaolu. You can just call me Zhaolu."
"That being said, but..."
Before he could explain, Chaolu interrupted, "Shikamaru is here to watch a movie today, alone?"
"Yes……"
"Eh... no friends to accompany you?"
"Aren't you alone, too?"
Seeing that she couldn't correct his honorifics, Chaolu sighed helplessly and amusedly. "Ah... Shikamaru, you're really stubborn. Even if you become a rebel ninja, you probably can't abandon your manners."
"…I can't possibly become a traitor, right?"
"Yeah. A stubborn old-fashioned guy."
Somehow, although this was supposed to be the first time they met, Chaolu's joking tone sounded so familiar, as if she had known him for a long time.
...Is it because I knew his father?
The Moon and Konoha have a close relationship, and the two sides have frequent exchanges. Chaolu should have frequent exchanges with the Hokage, and his father is often with the Hokage...
So in her eyes, he is... a child from an acquaintance's family?
Shikamaru tried to find a topic to talk about: "Did Lady Asaro enjoy the movie just now?"
"Well. It's a love story."
"Yeah, but if you come alone, you should like this type of thing, right?"
"Didn't Shikamaru come here alone? Did Shikamaru like it?"
"…To be honest, I don't know why I came to see this."
"It seems that Shikamaru doesn't like it very much." Chaolu smiled: "As for me... well... I just like the actress more, so I watched it."
"It seems that Lady Chaolu doesn't like it very much either."
“I watched a similar version when I was a kid.”
"Which version is better?"
"In fact, I didn't finish watching that version. I was not very sensible when I was young, so I dragged my friends away after watching half of it."
"When you were a child...when you were a child...were movies already invented at that time?"
“…How rude!”
"I'm sorry," Shikamaru said with a smile, "Because... I always feel like I've been hearing about Asaroya-sama since I was a kid, and I always feel like you should be very old."
"Yes. Now, I am much older than you."
Shikamaru didn't know why she said "now". It was impossible for someone to be younger than him before and older than him now, right?
However, he gazed at Chaolu's face. Time and years had left no traces on her face. How old was she this year?
Nineteen? Twenty? Thirty?
Can't tell at all.
She is still as beautiful as before, but her eyes and temperament are so calm that they can only be achieved through going through enough things.
"Would you like to..." Shikamaru asked, "have a meal together?"
Wow--
As soon as he said this, he felt so annoyed that he wanted to crawl into the ground.
What is he doing!
His behavior is too straightforward! !
It should be more tactful, less revealing, and softer!
Chaolu did not immediately respond to his invitation. She asked instead, "Shikamaru is sixteen years old this year, right?"
"Ah... um."
"You're sixteen years old... Haven't you ever had a girl you like?"
"No..." He said awkwardly: "No?"
Chaolu stared at him for a long time, but remained silent.
Shikamaru said irritably, "Today is my birthday!"
"……I know."
Shikamaru was stunned: "You know?"
"Ah."
"So... can we just treat this as a birthday wish..."
"If you say so, there's nothing we can do."
Shikamaru confirmed first: "You agreed! Right?"
Chaolu laughed and whispered, "I still owe you a lot of birthday coupons that haven't been redeemed yet."
Shikamaru didn't hear clearly: "What?"
"nothing."
"But, Lady Asaroya, why did you come to Konoha at this time? Do you want to discuss some new policies with the Hokage?"
"Because it's your birthday."
"……Eh?"
"Actually, I come to see you every year on your birthday. But I don't know how to talk to you, so every year I just look at you and then leave."
Shikamaru's eyes widened.
"…I'm just kidding! It would be too weird if you really did that!"
“No wonder I feel like someone is watching me every year.”
"! Impossible! I'm much more powerful than you, there's no way you could find me!"
"When I was watching the movie just now, I often felt that someone was looking at me. Was it Master Chaolu?"
"You, you can really feel it? Have my skills regressed? "
Shikamaru laughed.
He didn't know whether what she said was true or not, but as long as he talked to her, he felt very happy.
After they had their meal, they had a great conversation and went for a walk together in the park at the highest point of Konoha.
The moon was hanging in the sky, big and bright. The girl bathed in the moonlight seemed like she would fly away in the next second. Shikamaru couldn't help but reach out his hand and gently pulled her sleeve.
Chaolu turned to look at him, and did not reject his action, but gently reminded: "It's late... Shikamaru is going home?"
"…For now, not yet. Where's Master Chaolu? Do you want to go home?"
"I'm okay."
"Where does Lord Chaolu live?"
Chaolu pointed in a direction from afar: "That."
It was far away from the center of Konoha, close to the edge of the village, and there was an orphanage nearby.
It was supposed to be the new residence of the Uchiha clan, but now that the Uchiha clan was thriving in the center of the village, it became the residence of the morning dew when it fell on Konoha.
She herself was also able to use Wood Release, so it wasn't difficult for her to build a temporary house.
“…So far away.”
So far away...
but why……
It feels familiar...
It seems that it is the right thing for Chaolu to live there...
Shikamaru looked away in confusion. In the center of the park, the public clock showed that it was almost twelve o'clock.
Morning dew...
Come to think of it, why does this name seem like something I have recited tens of millions of times...
There was no strange vision or omen, but when the clock struck twelve, countless memories suddenly flooded into Shikamaru's mind -
The evening breeze blew, and the long white hair of the girl beside him fluttered in front of his eyes. Shikamaru reached out and grasped a strand of it.
When he raised his eyes, he clenched his hair so tightly that his knuckles almost turned white.
"...Chao Lu..." His voice was extremely hoarse.
But Chaolu didn't notice any change. She smiled and said, "Huh? Why don't you use honorifics all of a sudden?"
It wasn't until she met his sullen gaze that Chaolu felt something was wrong: "Shikamaru...?"
He was angry, very angry, almost on the verge of rage, and he didn't even know if he could keep his sanity -
How could she - how could she just forget about him like that -!
At the moment when the world was distorted, had she chosen to give up on him?
So she refused to tell him the truth, so she didn't need his support and understanding, so she just abandoned him without hesitation? She let him lose all his memories?
If that's the case, why did she appear in front of him?
Shikamaru just looked at her sadly: "Asaro..."
The smile on Chaolu's face gradually disappeared, and she finally realized something.
He restrained himself, veins popping out on the back of his hands, but he just gritted his teeth and gently pulled the ends of her hair.
His anger wanted to make her suffer, but he didn't want her to feel pain.
He whispered with difficulty: "I still have a lot of birthday coupons, and you haven't redeemed them."
"……Um."
"I need to cash in a hug ticket."
He looked into her eyes - he didn't know what she felt now, if she refused...
But if she wanted...
Chaolu hugged him silently.
Shikamaru then hugged her back tightly.
"Thanks……"
"..."
"Thank you for appearing in front of me..."
Hearing his sobs, Chaolu broke free from his tight embrace, held his cheeks with both hands, and stared at his red eyes.
"I'm sorry." She kissed the corner of his eye gently.
Shikamaru obediently let her kiss him, and worriedly grabbed her arm: "Have I grown into the way you like me?"
Chaolu smiled, "I like Shikamaru the best!"
"Then you still——!"
"All these years, I have been thinking about you all the time. I miss you very, very much."
"...Don't think you can appease me with just a few words! Where's my birthday present?"
"Eh, well... I didn't expect that I'd be caught by Shikamaru this time..."
"That means it's gone?"
"I'll make it up tomorrow!"
"No. You have to give it to me now!" Shikamaru stared into her eyes forcefully: "I want a new exchange voucher, which says: From now on, absolutely, absolutely, no matter what, you will never abandon me!"