"It might be the smell of flowers," Aoba guiltily pulled his hand back. He had forgotten he still had not washed them.
Facing such a cute Hanabi, he suddenly felt a strange sense of guilt.
"Flower scent?", Hanabi blinked her pure eyes, a confused look on her face.
'It really does smell a bit like flowers, faint and nice.'
'But…'
"Yeah, there are flowers grown in the office too. It's to train the mind."
Looking at Hanabi's blank, cute thinking face, Aoba felt even more guilty.
He also quickly took advantage of her being lost in thought and used his eye technique to manifest several kinds of flowers with similar scents in a few corners of the office.
At the same time, he used his time stop ability to quickly clean the office from every angle.
Hanabi did not notice any of this at all, because she was thinking about something else.
She seemed to have smelled this same faint scent on her sister once before.
She reached out her small hand to pull Aoba's hand, wanting to smell it more carefully.
But this time she could not smell anything at all.
'What is going on?'
"Alright, don't just stand outside the door. If you have something to say, come in and talk," Aoba took her small hand and led her into the office.
"Oh," After finding that the smell she had noticed earlier was indeed gone, Hanabi could only put it aside for now and follow him inside.
But after going in, she really did see several clusters of colorful, delicate flowers in the corners, giving off a faint fragrance, and her eyes lit up in surprise.
"Can these flowers bloom in winter too?"
Aoba nodded and forced an explanation, "It mainly depends on the environment."
"So nice."
Hanabi leaned in to smell them up close and found that they really were somewhat similar to the scent she had smelled on her sister before.
'Could it be that my sister went to see flowers together with Aoba-nii last time?'
'But then why would Nee-san be so shy just from going to see some flowers together?'
Hanabi's little head was full of big questions.
Compared to girls her age, her thoughts were a bit more complicated and she liked playing pranks a bit more, but her mind was still very pure.
Just like Hinata. Back then it had all been Yakumo teaching her step by step.
After all, the Hyuga clan's family upbringing was there.
The most risque thing she had ever seen was Hinata and Aoba kissing.
Seeing that Hanabi seemed to start a brain storm again, Aoba sat back in his seat and returned to the original question.
"Hanabi, you still haven't answered the question I asked just now."
"Aoba-nii became Hokage, so of course Hanabi had to come celebrate properly."
Hanabi gave up thinking, hopped over to Aoba's side, and jumped straight onto him, putting the food box she had been carrying onto the desk in front of them.
"Has Aoba-nii eaten yet?"
"Not yet. Shizune-nee just went out to buy today's lunch."
Aoba also looked at the food box on the desk with anticipation, giving Hanabi plenty of emotional feedback.
"That's great, then Aoba-nii can eat with me," Seeing how expectant Aoba looked, Hanabi's smile grew even brighter.
As she spoke, she opened the food box. Inside were two steaming portions of eel rice, along with various tempura and some small vegetables.
"Looks pretty good."
Looking at the eel rice covered in sauce and still giving off steam, Aoba, who had just gone through some physical exertion, immediately had his appetite stirred.
"Smells so good. I think I smell eel rice. Did Shizune come back?", At this moment Tsunade also came out of the bathroom. She had changed back into her previous clothes.
The secretary outfit from before had become unwearable after she took it inside.
As soon as she came out, she saw Aoba and Hanabi sitting together.
And the two portions of eel rice in front of them. Yes, only two portions.
"This is what Hanabi brought. If Sensei is hungry, you can eat my portion first. Hanabi and I can share one to fill our stomachs for now."
Aoba noticed Tsunade's look and knew she wanted to eat but felt awkward about saying it.
Shizune would probably be back soon anyway. He just needed a few bites to tide him over.
Hanabi probably would not mind too much.
Just as he expected, when Hanabi heard that Aoba was going to give his eel rice to Tsunade, she subconsciously pouted.
But when she heard him say he would share one with her, her eyes immediately lit up again.
She pushed one of the eel rice portions toward Tsunade and said obediently, "Lady Tsunade, you eat this one. Aoba-nii and I will share one, that's enough."
After saying that, she could not wait to shove the chopsticks into Aoba's hand.
The intent was very obvious. She wanted Aoba to feed her.
"Heh!"
Tsunade looked at this scene with some amusement and felt like teasing this little white-eyed girl.
"That won't do. You're at the age where you need to grow. You can't go hungry."
She walked up to them and picked Hanabi up off Aoba's lap, even though Hanabi looked unwilling, "You eat this big portion. Aoba and I will share one just to taste it."
"?"
Hanabi pressed her lips together, unwilling to give up, and acted cute, "But I can't finish this whole portion by myself."
"It's fine, eat slowly."
Tsunade rubbed Hanabi's face playfully in her arms.
She felt that if she and Aoba could have a child as cute as Hanabi, that might actually be pretty nice.
Hanabi looked at Aoba with a bit of grievance.
Aoba felt like laughing when he saw it, "Then let's just all eat together."
As he spoke, he took out all the plates from the food box and evenly divided the tempura, eel rice, and vegetables into three portions.
"Alright."
Seeing this, Hanabi had no choice.
The three of them sat on the sofa and ate the eel rice Hanabi had brought.
When Shizune came back with her food boxes and saw the three of them sitting together, she could not help freezing for a moment.
"Hm? What are you all doing?"
"This is what Hanabi brought. We were a bit hungry, so we started eating to tide ourselves over," Aoba explained.
"I see…", Shizune looked at Tsunade suspiciously, then followed the smell and glanced at the familiar scented flowers in the corner.
Although Hanabi showing up was a surprise, what had happened in this office before that was already very clear.
'Lady Tsunade really is something. I just went out to buy lunch and still…'
"Then you must really be starving. Hurry up and eat more to make up for it," With a rather resentful tone, Shizune opened her food box and took out a portion of old hen soup, placing it in front of Tsunade and Aoba.
"Ahem!"
Aoba looked a bit awkward. He knew Shizune had seen through it. As expected of an excellent secretary, her ability to read the room was strong.
But Tsunade picked up a spoon without changing her expression, tasted it, and nodded in satisfaction, "It tastes good. Next time tell the shop to add a bit more goji berries, it would be even better."
"I'll remember."
Seeing Tsunade's reaction, Shizune could not help feeling a bit frustrated. In the past she would at least try to cover it up a little and look somewhat embarrassed.
'Now she is already this calm?'
'It is really too enviable... no, too hateful!'
Hanabi, who had been listening the whole time, blinked and asked curiously, "Mom often puts goji berries in food too, she says they're good for the body. Is Lady Tsunade's body not very good either?"
"..."
Tsunade's face darkened a bit.
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