Hi.

~,,––,,^^-

Naruto

I released a groan and plopped down onto my cheap, fake leather couch, turning on the TV as I did so. I had just gotten done with my homework for the weekend, having rushed through it in order to not have it hanging over my head.

My eyes glazed over, barely paying attention to what was on the screen (I think it's a comedy?) and tossed the remote onto the cushion next to me.

Before that, I had been putting away all my groceries for the next week, having gone directly from school to the supermarket. Packages of chicken, eggs, fresh fruit, a bag of rice, and a whole lot else, like milk, cereal, and frozen meals for when I'm feeling lazy. I'd also decided to stock back up on non-food related necessities today, like toothpaste and other hygiene supplies.

The mother from next door, Shimoda-san, had been outside pressure-washing the path leading to her apartment, seeming to have also washed the entire front side and door of the building based on the water dripping down it. When I arrived with both hands full of grocery bags, she had offered to help me get them all put away.

I'd declined, not wanting to impose on her while she was already busy.

There was also the fact that I would have felt super awkward having the older, married, woman alone with me in my home, dressed the way that she was.

Apparently, it hadn't crossed her mind that she should be mindful of where all that water splashes when she was wearing a practically skin-tight white crop top.

I felt my face heating up at the memory of the sight that I would secretly cherish.

'I hate puberty…' I thought to myself in embarrassment.

I slumped further into the cushions. I had been pushing myself daily for the better part of two years now, whether it be physically with training and fighting back in my home world, or mentally with learning everything I could about this new world I found myself in.

All things said and done, it had been a fairly tiring day, and I was looking forward to resting for a weekend now that I had the opportunity.

I let my mind relax and settled in to watch the screen comfortably. No more studying for entrance exams, and no more note taking in class. No homework. No need to prep for the next day of classes.

Just blissful relaxation.

…

…

…

I lasted about ten minutes.

"Ahhhh!" I screamed, jumping up from the couch with my hands pulling at my hair. "I can't take it anymore! How the hell can anyone relax like this, it's so damn boring!"

My arms flopped bonelessly to my sides as I huffed. Now standing, my mental fatigue washed away entirely by my need to do something, I paced around the tiny space that served as my living room while trying to think of what that something should be.

"Hmm… I can't go hang out with friends…" Because I don't have any friends. "I don't want to go watch a movie because I have no clue what is even good right now…" Also because I have no friends to recommend anything to me. I perked up as a thought occurred. "Oh wait, I have Koneko's number now. Maybe we can meet up to hang out and talk…?"

I considered it for a few moments before shaking my head. "Nah, she's probably still busy."

Her seat had been empty and she was nowhere to be found in the classroom, literally before I'd even realized the final bell was ringing. Either she was supernaturally (ha!) good at slinking away out of sight, or my passive situational awareness had been getting rusty.

Honestly, it was probably a mixture of the two. She was small and quiet, and being aware of your surroundings at all times can be super stressful and tiring, especially in a world like this where peace is the norm.

That still left me at square one, though. I needed something to stimulate my need for action, while being relaxing enough that I could zone out and ignore the outside world for a while.

After trying to think of something to do for another ten minutes, with the only things I could think of always ending up being some form of training or self-improvement activity, I came to a final conclusion.

'I became boring!' I screamed internally. 'I've forgotten how to relax on my own. Maybe I need to ask around for ideas?'

Considering I'd already ruled out Koneko, that left me with basically no options I was aware of, until I remembered that Shimoda-san had two sons and that one of them is around my age. Physical age, that is.

'Should I ask her what a guy my age can do for fun around here…?' I thought to myself.

I considered it for a moment, weighing the potential awkwardness against my current inability to sit around doing nothing.

I shrugged. 'Eh, that's a problem for the me of five minutes from now.'

My course of action decided, I made my way out of my home to go talk to the older woman.

I'd expected to have to go knock on her door at this point, the sun being at a midway point in its path down the sky, but as I closed my door behind me and turned, I saw her holding her water hose in one hand and a comically large sponge in the other, washing her soap-covered car. She was still wearing the same white top and pair of tight jean-shorts cut off at the mid thigh, her brown hair now tied up into a messily done bun.

Considering her car wasn't there when I first got back from the store, and the communal parking lot was on the other side of the complex…

I slapped my hands to my cheeks and shook my head to shake away the impure thoughts that appeared.

'Bad Naruto, bad!' A tiny imaginary Sakura appeared on my right to scold me. 'Stop thinking of your skimpily dressed, married, neighbor walking around with a wet t-shirt for everyone to see!'

To the left, a tiny Ero-sennin appeared. 'Ignore the washboard, Gaki!' he said with a bellowing laugh, 'A woman dressing like that, she wants to be seen! So picture it all you want, feast your eyes on–blegheh?!'

The chibi Sakura socked the Pervy Sage in the stomach, folding him over her fist.

'Who the hell are you calling a washboard, you old pervert?!'

'I see Ts-Tsunade trained you w-well, Pinky,' Jiraiya spoke from that bent-over position, holding out a shaky thumbs up with the other hand holding his gut. 'T-that felt just like the time that I–'

"Oh, Uzumaki-kun, are you heading out for the evening?" Shimoda-san's voice shook me out of my hallucination.

Jeez, that was kind of embarrassing, getting distracted and daydreaming while staring at someone. Luckily she either didn't seem to notice, or was polite enough to not comment on it. I ignored the ever-present dull ache in my chest acting up, to give her my full attention.

… I miss everyone.

"I remember when I was your age, making plans with my classmates to hit the town on the weekends. Now I'm just a stay at home mom who's idea of a good time is a night in with the Mister," She continued with a weirdly strained chuckle, before sighing with a smile. "Oh, but don't let this old woman's rambling keep you from your plans! Please, just pretend I'm not here and go have your fun."

I snorted at her severe overstatement, walking closer to talk easier. "'Old woman'? Please, you don't look a day older than, like, thirty-two. At a maximum." I said, watching as she set the sponge down on the hood of her car and tightened the hose nozzle closed. I shook my head. "Anyways, I actually came out because I wanted to ask a question of you in particular. It is about my weekend plans, or lack of them if you could believe it, so you're not that far off." I said to her while scratching the back of my head and averting my eyes.

'Damn the me from five minutes ago, you bastard!'

It was one thing to be caught daydreaming, but trying to explain that I have no friends and no hobbies to her will be too much for my fragile ego to take head on. Having to ask a stay-at-home mom how to have fun is almost too embarrassing for me...

… Wait, why is she the one looking bashful now? Am I really coming off as so pitiful that she's feeling secondhand embarrassment?

"Uzumaki-kun, you should really find someone your own age," She said with a strange smile. "I'm more than twice as old as you, and married to boot."

I squinted at her.

'Does she already have an idea of what I want to ask?' I thought in confusion.

If so, then I could understand the age comment, but I didn't really get why she brought up her marriage.

"Hahhh? What's any of that got to do with anything?" I asked with a tilt of my head. "That's that and this is this. I came to you for this because I wanted to." 'That, and the whole "no friends my age" issue.' I left this last part in my head.

Before I could go ahead and explain my situation, her free hand rose to cup one of her cheeks, which I suddenly noticed were tinted a deep crimson. Her head was tilted slightly to rest in her palm.

There was something slightly off about her responses that I couldn't quite put my finger on… so why did this situation feel oh-so slightly familiar?

"O-oh my!" She averted her eyes from me, and shifted on her feet in a way that did some interesting things to the way her hips– Bad hormones! Focus! "That's very bold of you, Naruto-san," I forced my eyes back to above her face and saw her glancing back at me before she looked away again. "A young man should make his intent clear, or women like me might get the wrong ideas…" The way she held herself as she said that; the half-lidded eyes, the flushed cheeks, one arm crossed under her bust, her hip cocked to the side… my eyes widened and this time it was my face that burned crimson.

Ah! That was where I recognized this kind of interaction from. Ero-sennin's Icha Icha books.

I suddenly got the feeling that chibi-Jiraiya might have been on to something about her.

"Waitwaitwaitwaitwait! hold on, wait!" My arms shot up and formed an 'X' in front of my body as I shook my head furiously. "I think there's been a serious miscommunication here on my part! I wasn't trying to ask you out or something i-inappropriate like that," I denied in a panic, and immediately rushing to compliment her in case she took the rejecting poorly, "That's not to say that I don't think you're attractive or anything, because you're seriously hot and your husband is superluckytohaveyouandohgodthisisn't helping– shutting up now!"

We stood there for a few moments, staring at each other after my word vomit; her blinking at me owlishly, and me panting heavily after having regurgitated the stream of uninterrupted consciousness in a single breath.

I saw her eyes widen as the implications of the whole conversation hit her, and a mortified blush began spreading across her face. I imagined I looked much the same to her at the moment. She turned and buried her face in her hands with a pathetic-sounding whine, stuttering out embarrassed apologies or something.

I didn't really hear much of what she said though.

I was too busy praying for any being that was listening to just end my life, sparing me the awkwardness of the fallout.

After we got (mostly) over the initial embarrassment of the misunderstanding, I'd explained my situation to Shimoda-san and asked her for any advice she might have had for me. Surprisingly, she'd laughed and said that she'd had much the same issue when transitioning from her original line of work to her current position as a full-time mother.

She told me that there wasn't really any one thing that could pull me away from the mindset of constantly needing to be busy, and that it would just happen naturally over time in a lower-stress environment. Despite that advice not really helping my immediate issue at hand, it did comfort me to know that I would get back my 'youthful vigor' over time, or whatever it was she called it.

She had a very… 'suggestive' way of speaking I've noticed, now that I'm looking back on it.

She did however mention that trying out a bunch of different activities sped up the process, and that both her sons liked to come to this arcade with their friends whenever they had spare cash they didn't plan on saving for something else.

Which brings me to now, an hour or so since then.

I found myself standing just inside the entrance to a popular arcade in town wearing casual clothing, a kaleidoscope of sound assaulting my ears. It was on the second floor of a five-story department building, taking up the whole floor. Voices ranging from child to adult, electronic sound effects, the thumping of feet against the ground and hands smashing buttons, it would all be pretty overwhelming if someone wasn't ready for it.

Hell, even knowing what to expect, it still caught me off guard for a couple seconds. The mixture of sound, flashing lights in an otherwise relatively dark building, and pervasive scent of sweaty bodies and poorly-cleaned carpet, all combined to have a very distinct atmosphere, basically matching what I imagined it would be like in a modern night club or casino based on what I've heard about them.

After acclimating to the assault on my senses, I turned and headed towards the change machines lining the near wall to turn some small bills into coins. It took a bit to figure out how to do it, but I'd done something called a Googol search on my phone to find out more about arcades and get directions to this one. Apparently, arcades in America were pretty similar to those pachinko parlors that Granny Tsunade liked to hang out at, except they used unique tokens and had actual games mixed in with the gambling machines, and the machines rewarded players with tickets that could be traded in for prizes.

Meanwhile, arcades in Japan almost universally focused entirely on the games themselves, most of them not having any reward other than the time spent playing them. They did have a few that gave prizes, but generally speaking, you paid money for game time and that was that.

Having filled one of my cargo shorts' pockets with 100 yen coins, I made my way deeper into the den of neon light and teenage musk.

I walked through the middle aisle of the game center, head on a swivel to soak in the sights, looking for something to catch my eye. I saw all kinds of games and devices, passing machines covered in pictures of sleek looking cars, pictures of dinosaurs, pictures of guns and samurai, sometimes even all of the above. There were machines whose only controls were a pair of buttons and a joystick, some with steering wheels, some with brightly colored guns attached to cables, every direction I looked was a game for any interest.

There were even a couple that had pictures of colorful shadow-people dancing, where the game controls looked to be a set of panels set into a platform for the player to stand on.

Of course, there were tons of people here too, but the light level in the vast room was just low enough and the colorful lights from the machines just bright enough, that it did more to create a sort of haze that washed out a lot of detail than it did to actually illuminate anything, so it was hard to make out faces and colors that weren't directly attached to one of the lit-up machines. I found my eyes sliding off of the people and being drawn to the games, my feet pulling me towards one of those shooting games.

It looked like it was more or less a test of reflexes and hand-eye coordination with a bunch of action sequences and cool effects, based on what I was seeing from the other players on identical game cabinets around it, it being the only unoccupied one. In a way, the guns common in this world's media reminded me a lot of those kunai launchers used by those Land of Sky ninja, except way more refined. Both were pretty cool in my opinion, but neither were really a threat to any ninja stronger than a particularly slow chuunin.

There was a reason the Sky ninja didn't last long at all the moment people managed to counter their flying devices.

I reached into my pocket to pull out a coin as I approached, only a couple steps away with my eyes locked onto my goal. I was determined to learn how to play until I got the hang of it, then all bets would be off.

I would get the high score, or my name wasn't–

"Ooof!" I grunted as I bounced off of the person I collided with, instantly placing a foot behind me to steady myself. I still almost fell backwards despite my quick reaction. I didn't even see anybody in my path until the impact happened, due to both my focus on the machine and the lighting issues I'd made note of earlier, but what surprised me more than the collision itself was the fact that I even had to take a step back to steady myself.

I looked around myself, craning my head up trying to find the towering brick wall of a person I must have bumped into, only to find nothing that met that description. Just the same washed out colors of groups of teens hovering around their games and walking to new ones.

I turned back to the shooter I wanted to play– a game called "Buck Hunt" that was covered in pictures of anthropomorphic mutant-cyborg deer, shooting lasers from their robot eyes– only to find it already occupied by some small middle-school brat.

"Eehhh!?" My jaw dropped with a squawk at the misfortunate timing.

The kid's hair was a lighter color that I couldn't determine, being tinted a light green by the game cabinets lights, and they were wearing what looked like a plain white t-shirt and a pair of dark running shorts that showed off thinner than average limbs.

As the kid crouched down to insert their coin, my hand shakily reached out in despair. I thought about telling the brat to buzz off for a moment, but I pushed down the rude and childish impulse and groaned, arm flopping down to my side.

I sighed. "Aw man, I was looking forward to trying that game out…" I began to turn in order to find another game, but I stopped halfway when a sudden motion caught my attention from the corner of my eye. I turned my head back reflexively to see the kid looking back at me with golden eyes, a black cat-hairpin in their–

"Toujou-chan!?" I gaped at her blank-faced expression, the ever so slight raising of her eyebrows the only indication of her surprise. My mouth flapped for a few seconds as I tried and failed to find words. "I–! But– but you–!"

I threw an accusing finger at her.

"No fair! I was going to play that game!" Screw being mature, she's literally in my class! I was clearly beelining to that game and she cut in front of me!

"Tough." She said simply, not a hint of generosity in her eyes. "Be faster next time."

"It's not my fault someone bumped into me and almost knocked me over!" I crossed my arms over my chest. "Hmph! Whoever it was, was rude as hell. Didn't even have the decency to stick around long enough to apologize. I never even saw them coming or going…" I muttered the last part.

I saw her eyes widen ever so slightly before she looked away from me and turned back to the game. The reaction was a little odd, but I didn't think much of it.

"... Sounds unlucky," She said. She had one hand wrapped around the gun-controller and smacked the start button with the other hand a little bit roughly.

I stepped up next to her to watch as she started blasting the hoard of digital monster-deer the moment they appeared on the screen.

"I guess, if you want to call it 'luck,'" I shrugged. "I prefer to call it 'rude.'"

It was kind of interesting watching her play, the slightest twitches in her wrists moving the gun exactly where she needed it without any noticeable acceleration or slowdown from point A to point B. It happened so quickly after each enemy appeared on screen that it looked almost unconscious, like it was literally effortless for her, but I could tell from the tension in her forearm that she was actively and deliberately controlling the flexing of her muscles entirely.

"Really, I was just more shocked that I couldn't find whoever it was." I said.

"Mm." She sort of hummed in response.

It reminded me of that time on the roof. Mechanically, her muscles and tendons could have taken the fall reflexively without effort, no sweat, but she deliberately kept them tense to show that even without adjusting to absorb the impact, it didn't phase her.

"I thought for sure it had to have been some huge lunk of a guy with how solid the impact was, so they shouldn't have been able to escape my notice that easily," I rubbed my chin, "It felt like I bounced off of some sort of stone wall or something, like the impact didn't even… phase… them…" I trailed off, something about what I said ringing a bell.

"..." Koneko didn't offer a response, resolutely staying focussed on her game.

My head turned mechanically to look down at the half-devil next to me, the dots suddenly connecting in my head.

"It was you, wasn't it?" I deadpanned at her.

"It was not." She instantly denied, but the slightest bit of red gave away the truth hidden behind her bored expression.

Staaare~

My eyes bored into the side of her face, daring her to look me in the eyes while blatantly lying.

Staaaaaaare~

I leaned in just a bit, getting obnoxiously close to her face to provoke a response. I resolutely ignored how, being this close, my eyes kept getting drawn to the cute red blush of embarrassment on her face. Mrs. Shimoda's face from earlier popped into my head, the similar flushing of her cheeks as she told me I "should find someone my own age."

It was probably inappropriate for someone my actual age to think about a girl Koneko's age like that, but I found that logic being overruled by my hormone-riddled body. I found my own face heating up slightly, my heart suddenly pounding in my ears at the close proximity to the petite– 'Oh, her eye just twitched, I think I'm getting to her hea–'

"–Guh!" I practically folded over Koneko's elbow, it having hit me in the gut and forced me to violently exhale. It wasn't super painful, but I was definitely not expecting it so it caught me completely off guard.

"How… could you… Toujou-chan…?" I gasped out dramatically while clutching my stomach, not actually needing to ham it up all that much. It still hurt, after all.

She set the handgun-shaped controller down on its rack with a quiet huff, letting the killer deer approach the screen and kill the player, then sighed. "... Sorry. I forgot to hold back enough."

I shot back up into a standing position with a grin, ignoring the slight ache in my midsection.

"Apology not accepted!" I said cheerily, "I might be able to find it within myself to forgive you, but only on one teensy tiny condition…" I held one finger up.

She just deadpanned at me, her eyes narrowing slightly. Definitely realizing she's been had, but playing along for now anyway, she gestured with her hand for me to continue.

I smirked. "You have to show me the most fun games here, and teach me how to play them."

"... That's it?" Koneko asked with a hint of suspicion in her voice.

"Yep!" I confirmed, puffing my chest out and crossing my arms smugly. "I will accept nothing less than this request as compensation for the harm to my body you inflicted upon my…" I mentally floundered near the end, realizing just how stupid I was about to sound. "... body." I finished lamely.

I internally cringed hard, but let none of it show through my outward confidence. It was kind of difficult with her staring at me like I was an idiot, but I just barely managed to pull through.

Koneko continued staring at me for a couple moments without blinking, making the urge to fidget under her judging gaze increasingly harder to ignore. Finally, she blinked and nodded once.

"Fine." She accepted my terms, before turning suddenly and beginning to walk deeper into the game center. She paused and turned to look over her shoulder. "There's a two-player shooter game on the back wall, we can start there," She informed me, motioning for me to follow with a tilt of her head.

I blinked, before grinning and sidling up beside her as we walked.

This was going to be fun!

"Why aren't my bullets hitting?! I'm aiming the gun right at them!"

"Your crosshair is way off. Aim better."

.

.

.

"Aaaahhh! How'd they get so close?! I'm pulling the trigger but my gun won't fire!"

"Reload, idiot."

.

.

.

"No fair, why the hell do you get rapid fire but I'm stuck with this slow-ass gun!"

"I shot the powerup. Maybe try being faster next time, slowpoke."

.

.

.

"This dumb game fucking sucks!" I raged at the machine, barely withstanding the urge to throw the plastic gun at the glass. Instead, I deliberately and carefully set it down in its holster-rack thing. My side of the screen flashed the words "YOU ARE DEAD" in large, blocky red English, something that had become common in the past half an hour.

"Skill issue." The complete opposite to my frustration and lackluster performance was Koneko, ever the calm and collected girl that she was, effortlessly decimating the horde of zombies intended for two players to struggle against.

If I hadn't clued in on her snarky personality back during the vending machine conversation, I definitely would have by now.

It seemed that the girl's idea of teaching me how to play was saying a few words that amounted to "point gun at enemy, pull trigger, enemy die," and then mocking me when I failed. To be fair to her, it really was that "simple" and was easy enough to follow for the first couple stages of the game. It really only took me a couple minutes to understand that there was a sensor somewhere estimating where the tip of my gun was pointing, rather than the gun or screen themselves doing it, and managing the crosshair became much easier after that.

It was when more and more enemies began appearing on screen that I started to have trouble keeping track of my ammo, the enemies, and my crosshair, all while still adjusting to the awkwardness of my shots going slightly off from where I was pointing the gun, and I kept dying after being overwhelmed. It took a different type of multitasking than I was used to to keep track of it all. Koneko, being the Devil that she is, kept allowing it to happen before decimating the enemies on the stage with swift and precise shots.

"Hmph, give me a break!" I crossed my arms and turned my head up with my eyes squinted shut. "It's my first time playing something like this! Just you wait! It may not be the next time, or the time after that, but at some point it'll be me telling you that you have a skill issue!"

Despite my rage at my difficulty with playing the game, it was exciting and intense in a goofy and nonsensical way. I could see myself playing it a lot more, if given the chance.

"Okay." Koneko placidly agreed. "See you when it happens in a hundred years then."

I cracked one eye open slightly with a growl, peeking down at her to see a slight smirk on her otherwise blank face.

She finished clearing the stage, then set the gun down in its rack and turned to me, ignoring the next level starting up. I dropped the "I'm-mad-and-ignoring-you-now" pose and faced her, clasping my hands behind my head.

"Want to play a different game now?" She asked me, strands of white hair slipping off her shoulder with a slight head tilt.

"Yeah," I nodded, keeping my head on a swivel. "I want to see a little more of what this place has to offer before we leave," I said while my eyes took in the now slightly-less-populated arcade. It was getting pretty late in the day. The sun was already well on its way down in the sky even when I had just arrived here, so people were beginning to leave for the day while it was still light out. The arcade only closed at 10 PM today since it was now the weekend, so the place was still packed with teens still arriving, just at a slower rate than people were leaving.

My gaze was drawn to a weird-looking table that had a thick bar of metal arching over its center. Hanging from said arch was this weird, boxy lamp lighting up the area. The surface of the table was white, with symmetrical red markings mirrored on either side of it, and surrounded by a metal railing.

There were three side-by-side, but no one seemed to be using them

"What're those tables used for?" I pointed to them while turning to Koneko.

She followed my finger with her eyes. "That's air hockey." She turned her head to look at me. "It's easy to learn. Want to play?"

"Air" hockey, huh? I'd heard of hockey before, when reading up on the various sports in this world for sports-medicine research, but I'd never come across mentions of this version before.

Given that it had no obvious screen or mechanical controllers, I assumed it was one of the more physically involved games available. With that logic, there was no way I'd be as bad at it as I was with the shooter.

I shrugged. "Sure, why not."

Koneko

It was unexpected, running into Uzumaki, but I couldn't say it was an unpleasant surprise. We ended up hanging out for a couple of hours, playing a wide variety of games. He seemed to be uniquely bad at games that required multitasking to manage the controls, like the driving games that used pedals and a stick shift along with the wheel. He'd complained at one point that managing it was like trying to look left and right at the same time.

Despite his issues, he did tend to rapidly get the hang of things up to a certain level before he got stuck, and he kept insisting on continuing to play games until he got to an acceptable level, so he clearly enjoyed it on some level. Difficulties and all.

I showed him at least one of every style of game the arcade had; from shooters, to racers, to fighters, and even Dance Dance Repetition, he was bad at every single one that wasn't luck-based. For some reason, every game of chance he played he did absurdly well with. I'd have thought he was cheating somehow if I hadn't been watching him closely after the first couple times it happened.

All in all, when we left the arcade and stepped out to see the sun already below the horizon and casting hues of orange and red across the sky, it was with a pleasant atmosphere between us. Today had gone fairly well over all, and hanging out with him at the arcade ended up being a pretty fun way to finish the week, being done with that annoying task of observing Hyoudou.

The fact that we only recognized each other because he wasn't watching where he was walking and bumped into someone, was a bit strange, but weirder things have happened.

No, my cheeks are not red, I don't know what you're talking about. It was obviously Uzumaki who was at fault.

Ahem.

Was it coincidental? Did he really just happen to want to play the same game as me at the same time as me, or did purposely track me down to try getting closer to the peerage? I had no real way of knowing, but I didn't really feel like the answer mattered when it came to judging his character. Whether he had an ulterior motive or not, whether he knew I was there initially or not, he was an almost painfully genuine person.

"Ahhhh… that was fun, I needed that." He let out a relaxed sigh as he said that. "We should hang out there again sometime."

I glanced at him from the corner of my eyes. We both needed to go in the same direction to get to our homes, so we decided to walk together and chat for now.

His hands were clasped behind his head, eyes squinted and a grin on his face, and he was wearing an oversized black t-shirt with loose orange sweatpants. Kuoh's more residential section of town was to the west, so we were currently walking towards where the sun had set. The remaining light peeking out over the horizon bathed us in an orange glow, making his naturally spiky hair almost look like fire blowing in the wind.

"Mm." I agreed with a nod. Gasper was the only one in the peerage who liked playing games like me, but he was too much of a shut in to go to an arcade with me. I considered Uzumaki's low skill level in many of the games we played, air hockey being the only one he could challenge me at. "You do need a lot more practice at not sucking." I concluded.

He puffed out his cheeks in a pout. "Hey, that's not fair!" He whined like a particularly immature child. "It was my first time playing video games, we didn't have any arcades like that back home. The closest we had were slot machines at the casino." He paused in thought, hesitating. "Well, actually… I don't actually know. I spent my free time training to be a ninja and was constantly busy after I became one, so maybe we did have one, and my friend group was just more focused on ninja-stuff." He admitted.

Huh. That actually makes a lot of sense now. He had great perception and control of his body, so it was a bit odd how bad he was at a lot of games, but never having experienced them at all went a long way to explain it.

Regardless… "Next time you want to go, just send me a text." I said, turning my head to look at him as I spoke. "I'll do the same. None of my other friends ever want to go to the arcade, so I'll settle for you." I tapped my pocket where my phone was."You have my number now, it's fine to use it."

"Just 'settle,' huh?" He said with a raised eyebrow. "What, I'm just the backup option?"

"Yes." I nodded swiftly.

"Toujou-chaaan!" He recoiled, clutching his heart "I thought we had something special!" He wailed obnoxiously. Luckily there wasn't anyone else on the same street to witness, but still.

"On second thought, please never talk to me again, Uzumaki-san." I deadpanned.

"Ugh, please," he cringed. "Just call me Naruto. I can't stand the use of formalities in a casual setting. Or a formal setting, for that matter. At the very least, drop the '-san.'"

I debated needling him more, but decided not to while reciprocating his request. "Fine. You can call me Koneko then, Uzumaki." Okay, maybe just a little bit more needling.

"Naruto. Na-ru-to. Say it with me, you can do it! Naruto."

"Maybe in your dreams, Uzumaki."

"Ehh? What's that supposed to mean?"

.

.

.

We walked and talked for a bit more before we reached the point where we needed to split. After we had said our goodbyes and he was turning to go his own way, I decided to voice the thing that had nagged at the back of my head for a while.

"Hold on." I stared at the back of his head as he paused mid step, my hands relaxing at my side, fingers slightly curled

He turned towards me with a dumb squinty-eyed look on his face. "Huh? What's up?"

While I was fairly certain I had a good read on his character, I had been wrong about people 'before.' So, I wanted to hear the answer from his own mouth and then make my judgment. I remembered how good he was at noticing muscle tension, and so kept myself mostly loose and relaxed while staying mentally ready for anything.

I wasn't exactly sure how to word what I wanted to ask without giving it away in the worst case scenario, so I asked a more innocuous, seemingly random question to hopefully give me an opening.

"Why'd you decide to go to the arcade that late today? You said it was your first time. Wouldn't it have made more sense going earlier to experience it longer?"

He scratched the back of his head and turned his head to avoid my eyes.

In reality, I knew from one of our conversations about clubs earlier in the day that he was part of the "going home" club for now. Despite his extremely friendly demeanor and the constant attention he gets from our classmates, he hasn't made more than a token effort to befriend any of them except maybe Ueda Mitsuri, then he 'went home' at the end of a full school week with only a single number saved on his phone, that being mine.

Just those two facts might make me consider him a loner similar to Kiba, if a little better at pretending to be social, but then there was the fact that all three times he encountered me outside of class, it was at times when I was intentionally staying away from random people who might want to talk to me.

Interrupting my peace and quiet on the roof? That was fine, it could have been anyone. Going to the same vending machine right as I finished spying on Issei? I hadn't thought anything of it. People get thirsty. "Going home" for a few hours, just so happening to go to an arcade for the first time in his life, getting there at the same time as me and wanting to play the same first game as me?

That was a bit more suspect. It was entirely possible that he'd been waiting for me to leave the school and followed me.

"Damn… I didn't want to have to explain this." He sighed, hanging his head.

I silently cast a hasty perception barrier spell, in case any civilians happened to come our way. He didn't react at all, so either he was telling the truth about no longer having any power, or his senses didn't interact with Devil magic.

"I…" He began, "HAVE BECOME A WORKAHOLIC!" His head shot up, hands pulling at his hair.

…

What?

"I, Uzumaki Naruto, the Dead-Last Delinquent of the Konoha Ninja Academy, Konohagakure's Most Unpredictable Knuckle-headed Ninja, have become… Boring!" He exclaimed, his hands reaching up towards the sky. "In all of my life as a ninja, I have never once been considered a man of patience and intellect, and yet now, bereft of all powers and far from home, such is the only path towards success!" He swung a hand in front of him with his chest puffed out.

Uhh.

"Across many weeks… nay, months! Months I have toiled day in and day out, slaving away at my studies in order to be accepted into Kuoh and progress my medical knowledge in hopes of figuring out a cure for my ailment! My blood, sweat, and tears– mostly tears– paid off, granting me entry to higher education, only to find upon my weekend off, I have forgotten how to goof off! And so, with the advice of a certain maiden, I sought to relieve my boredom by trying new hobbies!"

He finished in a pose, right hand covering his face with splayed fingers, head turned to the side, while the other hand swiped down at an angle to his left, his feet spread shoulder-width apart.

There was quiet throughout the street for a few seconds, the only sounds coming from the distant nightlife of the commercial district.

Bewildered, I broke the silence first.

"What?"

"..."

The eyes of both a Devil and a Nekomata yokai were good enough that I could quite easily see his cheek that was facing me becoming enveloped in a bright red blush beneath his hand.

"Are you an idiot?" I asked in as plain terms as possible.

"... My godfather was an eccentric author."

That just left me even more confused. "What does your pervert godfather have anything to do with… whatever that was?"

Luckily he was still hiding his face behind his hand, because I wasn't able to stop my face from 'breaking character' so-to-speak. I was baffled.

"I thought it would be embarrassing to admit I needed hobby advice from a stay-at-home mother, and he used to do weird Kabuki routines loudly calling himself a 'super pervert' in public," his answer came in a rush, and was slightly muffled from him having brought up his other hand to hide his face even further in embarrassment and shame. "So I thought if I did the same thing, it would make it easier. Refuge in audacity."

I deadpanned at that logic. A guy calling himself a super pervert in public was someone who already had no shame whatsoever, doing a cheesy dance to go along with it wouldn't magically give most people more confidence to make fools of themselves.

What an idiot.

"And how did that work out for you?" I asked blandly, just to rub salt in the wound.

It was the least he deserved, after getting me all paranoid like that.

"Kill me." He pulled his head out of his hands to look at me with dead eyes, completely at odds with his entire face being as red as Rias' hair. "End my suffering, Koneko-chan."

I pretended to think about it for a moment. "No thanks, Nerd-kun."

"Hrk!" He clutched his chest, back to a significantly less cringe-worthy and awkward level of theatrics. "You wound me so, the least you could do is finish the job."

A weight that had settled on my mind despite my enjoyment of the day finally lifted. No ninja this socially disastrous would ever be sent to spy on the peerage of the current Maou Lucifer's sister if they had ill intentions.

The thought brought to mind the brunch we were going to have tomorrow as a peerage, and the fact that I was essentially free to do whatever afterwards. The mention of him being far from home, and calling himself friendless a moment ago, meant he probably didn't have anyone familiar to spend time with anymore. Considering his behavior at school, and his admittance that he didn't know how to spend his weekend break…

I ignored the opportunity to continue the byplay, seeing as it really was getting late and I had my answer.

"You don't have anything to do tomorrow, do you?" He blinked at my sudden non-sequitur, some of the redness having disappeared from his face.

He slowly shook his head in the negative face scrunched up in thought. "Not… that I can think of, really. Why?"

"Uzumaki, do you want to hang out tomorrow? I'll be busy in the morning, but my schedule's open tomorrow afternoon." I offered. "If you want, I can invite some of my friends to introduce you to, like Kiba."

He seemed unprepared for the offer, both eyebrows raised. "You sure? It'll probably be awkward for you, introducing the weird loner to your friends."

I raised an eyebrow. He thought our schoolmates considered him a weird loner?

'What a dumbass.' I thought to myself. Not only was that just not true, the students in our grade were even coming to view him as a sort of delinquent-looking second-coming of Kiba. Some of the boys seemed to grudgingly think he was cool for reasons I didn't understand, while a lot of the girls started doing things trying to subtly grab his attention, which he seemed to not notice so far.

It wasn't nearly to the same level as Kiba's unofficial fan club, but for only being a week into the school year, it was surprising. Having better hearing than everyone around me caused me to catch a lot of whispered conversations that I sometimes wished I hadn't.

Regardless, I could tell he was tempted by my offer for the company, but was hesitant to say yes. Probably out of some odd sense of consideration for me, if he was under the impression that I'd offered it out of pity or something like that.

Luckily for him, it was actually pretty much the opposite. Practically every waking hour of mine that wasn't spent in either school or the arcade, was spent with the rest of the peerage. Taking an afternoon away from them to sate my curiosity about his home would be like a short vacation. I only offered to invite some of them in case he wanted to meet Kiba.

Thinking quickly, I made another attempt to get him to accept. It helped that I was speaking entirely honestly, too. I looked him in the eyes.

"I want to hear more about this 'Konohagakure' place, if you're willing to tell me about it." I requested.

Surprise bloomed on his features, his eyes locking onto mine, before his face melted into a nostalgic smile.

"Yeah… Yeah, I'd like that." He said softly after a moment.

I discreetly released the breath I hadn't realized I was holding and nodded. "I'll text you when I'm free tomorrow. We can work out the details then."

He grinned brightly at that rebounding from his moment of obvious vulnerability quickly. "Sounds like a plan! I'll see you tomorrow then, yeah?"

"Mn." I nodded.

"Great!" He turned and began jogging away, looking over his shoulder and waving as he went. "See ya!"

I held up a hand of my own in goodbye.

I watched until he turned a corner onto another street, energy filling his every motion.

He was definitely the kind of guy who wore his heart on his sleeve. I didn't know him well at all, having met him less than a full week ago, and only spoken to him three times outside of class. What I did know though, was that there was something wrong about him seeming so alone, even when surrounded by people.

There was something, some reason preventing him from going home or seeing his friends. Whatever it was, it weighed on him heavily enough that he struggled to connect with our classmates and make new friends. Despite not knowing him well, I did enjoy the little time I've spent with him, so I didn't like the idea of my new potential-friend feeling like he didn't belong.

"Yeah, I'd like that." The remaining light in the sky seemed to light up his eyes with a brightness that I hadn't seen in them until that moment.

He looked much nicer when he smiled. I didn't tend to pay attention to stuff like that, but even I could admit I understood why he had a budding fan-club.

He was a warm person, despite his weirdness.

"Apology not accepted!" He said with a devious grin, "I might be able to find it within myself to forgive you, but only on one teensy tiny condition…"

My eyes narrowed as I remembered his obnoxious face back in the arcade.

On second thought, I can't stand looking at that idiot. Those girls have no idea how annoying he is.

ᓚᘏᗢ

A/N: It won't be much longer now 'till the pace picks up a little bit.