"I want to pinky promise too!"
Fu also held out her little finger toward Aoba.
"Sure..."
Since Hanabi had already started it, what else could Aoba say? He could only go along with it.
He hooked his little finger with hers.
"Hehe!"
Seeing that Aoba had really agreed, Fu immediately broke into a silly grin.
"..."
Aoba didn't say anything. The only one with an opinion was the girl still in his arms. She thought Fu had copied her idea and stuck out her tongue at her.
Just as he was about to take everyone to look around the rest of the house, Uchiha Hikari stepped in front of him.
"?
Aoba paused for a moment.
"Hikari, you..."
"Hanabi and Fu both get a reward after they graduate. What about me?", Uchiha Hikari spoke seriously, saying he couldn't treat people differently.
"..."
Aoba was caught off guard, 'Fu is one thing, but why is Hikari joining in too?'
Even Fu looked at her in surprise.
She clearly hadn't expected this at all.
'Could it be that Hikari is thinking the same thing as I am?'
'But she had never seemed to like that before.'
Fortunately, Aoba reacted quickly.
Now that they all lived under the same roof, since he had agreed to Fu's request, he really couldn't leave Hikari out.
"So, Hikari, what do you want?"
"Let's see..."
Uchiha Hikari tapped her chin as she thought.
"Hmm... How about the same as Fu? Aoba, promise me one thing too."
"Alright. Do you want a pinky promise too?"
He had already agreed to two people in a row, so Aoba didn't hesitate. He skillfully held out his little finger first.
"Mhm!"
Uchiha Hikari smiled and linked pinkies with him. She was clearly in a good mood.
"..."
Fu blinked as she watched.
She had no idea what Uchiha Hikari was thinking, but she decided she needed to talk to her after they got home.
As for what Uchiha Hikari was really thinking, it wasn't the same as Fu at all.
She simply wanted Aoba to cook more good food for her when the time came.
It was that simple.
She was just teasing Fu a little.
"..."
"And me!"
Just when Aoba thought the matter was over, someone else stepped forward.
Looking at Kaguya, whose face practically had the words "I'm unhappy" written all over it, he didn't know what to say.
"What? Are you planning to go to school too?"
If Kaguya really wanted to, although she was older, she had never been to school before. If she was interested, it would be fine for her to try it for a couple of days.
Of course, the idea of Kaguya sitting in a classroom listening to lessons every day was impossible just thinking about it.
But Kaguya shook her head without hesitation, "I'm not going!"
"..."
Aoba pinched her cheek.
"Then why are you joining in?"
Kaguya frowned and pouted.
"So people who don't go to school don't get a reward?"
She didn't really want a reward that much. She had just seen Aoba agree to Hanabi and the others, while she was the only one left out, and that made her unhappy.
"..."
Aoba could practically smell the jealousy coming off her, so he asked directly.
"You do get one. Tell me what you want first."
"Mmm..."
Kaguya tilted her head and thought for a while, only to realize there wasn't really anything she wanted. She was already going to marry him, and whatever she wanted, he would give it to her anyway.
Now she had a problem...
Kaguya frowned again.
"Heh! Then tell me after you've thought of something."
Aoba rubbed her head.
"Alright..."
Kaguya realized that was the only thing she could do for now.
She really couldn't think of anything she wanted.
"We're back!"
At that moment, Karin's bright, excited voice came from the first floor.
Then came the girls chatting all at once, "Wow! The living room really is huge now."
"..."
"Huh? There aren't any bedrooms on the first floor. Are our rooms upstairs?"
"..."
"Looks like Karin and the others are back from shopping. Let's head downstairs."
Hearing the girls' voices, Aoba knew they had returned from shopping, so he took Kaguya and the others back to the living room.
Uzuki Yugao, Konan, Shizune, and the other more mature women were discussing how to arrange the new furniture and decorations in the spacious living room.
Meanwhile, Karin, Anko, Yakumo, and the more energetic girls had already explored every room on the first floor.
They found that not a single one was a bedroom.
Just then, Aoba came downstairs from the second floor and explained, "The first floor will be for things like the home theater and the hot spring room, basically the entertainment area. Your bedrooms are all on the second floor. As for the third floor..."
The third floor was naturally the large open room where everyone could spend time together.
"I see... Huh? Hanabi, you're here too?"
The girls were surprised to see Hanabi still being carried by Aoba.
"Of course I'm here to see our new home."
Hanabi lifted her chin as she spoke, acting very much like one of the owners.
After getting Aoba's promise just now, she couldn't have been happier.
Besides, in this house, she was the only one Aoba could carry.
No one else could.
But when Hinata walked over, the chin she had been holding high slowly lowered again.
"Honestly, you're getting so big. Why are you still making Aoba carry you?"
Hinata took Hanabi out of Aoba's arms.
"I just hadn't seen Aoba-nii for a while. I missed him."
Hanabi blinked and said it with a cute look.
"It's alright. In another year or two, it won't really be practical to carry her anymore."
Seeing her like that, Aoba rubbed her head and helped explain.
"You're going to spoil her."
Since Aoba had said so, Hinata poked her little sister's forehead and didn't say anything else.
Aoba only smiled.
"Aoba, come take a look at where these new pieces of furniture should go."
At that moment, Uzuki Yugao waved to him while holding a storage scroll.
It was worth mentioning that Tenten and the others each had at least two storage scrolls as well. It looked like they had all bought quite a lot during today's shopping trip.
Aoba walked over to Uzuki Yugao.
"Let's see..."
What followed was a major makeover of the new house.
All that could be said was that ninja abilities really were useful for everything.
Even though it took quite a bit of work, they still finished decorating very quickly.
In about an hour, the entire living room looked completely different.
As for everyone's own rooms, they could decorate them however they liked.