After placing each item neatly on the table, the owner bowed and withdrew to the kitchen.
The dango on the table steamed gently. The fragrance of the dorayaki mixed with the salty smell of the chips, creating a scent that didn't match at all, yet was somehow strangely harmonious.
Obito had already given up thinking about why Shin-chan had suddenly become a young master and was now focusing on the dango in front of him.
After Guy finished one skewer, he suddenly slapped the bamboo stick onto the table.
"This is the taste of youth!"
"Can you not shout slogans even while eating?" Obito still hadn't swallowed the dango in his mouth.
Shizune placed the dango skewer in front of her back onto the plate, held her teacup with both hands, hesitated for a moment, then spoke.
"Have you heard about the urban legend going around the village recently?"
Rin turned to look at her. "What urban legend?"
Shizune set down her teacup and lowered her voice slightly.
"The area on the west side of the village, near the edge."
The table fell quiet for a moment.
"What about that place?" Kurenai asked.
"They say anyone who walks in will enter a completely different world," Shizune said, her voice even lower. "The people walking on the street, the shop signs, even the season might be different."
The shop was quiet for about two seconds.
"No way." Obito's voice was much louder than usual. "That sounds like something made up to scare kids."
Although he said that, his back unconsciously stiffened.
Shin-chan leaned his head close to Obito's shoulder.
"You're scared."
"Who's scared?!" Obito reacted like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. "How could I possibly be afraid of something like that?"
Shin-chan raised one eyebrow and made a meaningful sound.
"Oh?"
That "oh" was dragged out for a long time, and the ending even curled upward slightly, like a tiny hook that precisely caught Obito's most sensitive nerve.
Everyone at the table turned their eyes toward Obito.
"If I say I'm not scared, then I'm not scared!" Obito's face flushed red, all the way from his neck to his ears.
A soft laugh came from beside him.
That laugh made Obito's face even redder.
"You don't believe me, huh?" Obito suddenly stood up. "Then I'll go there tonight and completely expose this so-called urban legend."
"Obito." Rin looked up at him. "Maybe you shouldn't..."
"It's fine." Obito's voice grew even louder than before, as if he were trying to prove something with volume. "I'll walk out in minutes."
"Good! That is youth!" Guy's eyes lit up.
Shin-chan stuffed a dango into his mouth. "Obito is so brave."
If someone else had said those words, they might have sounded like praise. But coming from Shin-chan, Obito always felt something was off, though he couldn't say exactly what.
"Of course I am." Obito picked up a skewer of dango and bit down especially hard.
Shizune looked at Obito and whispered to Rin, "Did he just get provoked into this?"
Rin sighed softly.
By the time the dango was finished, the bamboo sticks on the table had piled up like a small mountain.
Obito stood up from his chair, stretched, and pretended to casually walk toward the door.
"Obito."
Obito's movement stiffened.
"Where are you going?" Shin-chan asked.
"To... to check out that urban legend." Obito's gaze drifted toward Rin. "I said I would."
"You're really going?"
"Of course I'm going." Obito met Rin's gaze. "A man keeps his word."
He pushed open the door. The streetlights outside had already lit up.
Obito stood at the entrance of the dango shop, took a deep breath, and then took his first step toward the west side of the village.
A flurry of small footsteps came from behind him.
Obito turned back.
Shin-chan was following behind him, walking with a wobbly gait as if he had just come out for an after-dinner stroll.
"Why are you following me?"
"To watch you expose the urban legend."
The corner of Obito's mouth twitched. Just as he was about to say something, another set of footsteps came from behind.
Rin walked out of the dango shop and jogged a couple of steps to catch up.
Then the others followed too.
"Why did all of you come?" Obito's voice unconsciously rose.
"Since it is an adventure of youth, of course everyone must go together." Guy gave a thumbs-up.
Rin smiled. "We can't just let you go alone."
"Do whatever you want." Obito turned his face away, his steps becoming a little lighter than before.
The group walked west along the street. There were more trees on both sides of the road, their branches and leaves swaying gently in the night wind with a soft rustling sound.
Obito's steps slowed.
Ahead was a dim area. The road curved there, and from where they stood, it was impossible to see what lay beyond the bend.
Obito stopped.
The people behind him stopped too.
"It's nothing special." Obito swallowed. "Just an ordinary night road."
His voice traveled far along the quiet street.
Shin-chan followed behind him. "Obito."
"Mm?"
"You're walking really slowly."
"This is caution." Obito found an excuse for himself. "A ninja must observe his surroundings at all times."
Obito walked a few more steps forward.
When he turned the corner, he instinctively looked back, wanting to say something.
There was no one behind him.
The entire street was empty. The group that had been following him moments ago seemed to have been silently erased by something.
"Rin?"
His voice spread out, struck the walls, and turned into several broken echoes.
No one answered.
A chill ran up Obito's back. When he turned forward again, his whole body froze.
The streetlights were gone. The low houses on both sides were gone too.
Above him was a bright sky, with sunlight shining straight down from overhead.
Obito lowered his head and looked at his hands.
He was wearing a pair of white gloves, and his short sleeves had turned into formal attire.
"What is going on?"
His voice spread across the empty square, but there was no answer.
He took a deep breath and walked forward along the main road.
A castle appeared ahead.
Obito pinched his own thigh.
It hurt.
This wasn't a dream.
He pinched himself again.
It still hurt.
"Calm down," Obito told himself. "Calm down. There has to be some reasonable explanation."
The castle gates opened.
Two rows of servants in identical uniforms filed out from inside and formed two perfectly straight lines on either side of the gate.
Obito took half a step back.
"Your Highness, the princess has been waiting for you for a long time."
"Wait." Obito's mouth opened. "Did you get the wrong person?"
The butler's expression did not change at all. "Your Highness, what are you saying?"
"I don't know any princess." Obito's voice rose by two pitches.
"You will know once you go inside." The butler stepped aside. "Please follow me."
The two rows of servants bent at the waist at the same time, their movements exactly identical, like puppets controlled by the same mechanism.
"O-okay." After saying that, Obito turned and ran.
~~~
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