Then Ino tightly hugged Aoba, burying her face hard into his chest.
For a moment, in the dessert shop, only the sound of Ino's soft sobbing remained.
Aoba, on the other hand, looked completely bewildered, full of question marks.
'What the heck is going on?'
Ino's emotions were like a tidal wave, catching Aoba, who was completely unprepared, off guard.
The sobbing in the dessert shop went on intermittently for quite a while before finally subsiding into silence.
Aoba just held Ino blankly.
Ino, however, spread her legs and straddled him, her arms wrapping around his waist, while the damp, warm breaths from her delicate nose kept blowing against his earlobe.
"Sorry, Aoba, I lost control, I totally didn't expect that Aoba, you would actually express your feelings at this moment… Mm, I'm not sad, these are happy tears," Ino, with her head buried in Aoba's chest, muffledly explained, her head rubbing back and forth, wiping all her tears onto his clothes.
Aoba, though, was utterly at a loss, completely unaware of what just happened.
From his perspective, all he did was give her a set of clothes. In the past, when he went out shopping with Ino and the others, she would also occasionally buy her some suitable outfits.
When had it ever been like this?
Though full of doubts, of course he wouldn't be dumb enough to speak the truth out loud at this moment.
He would have to find an opportunity later to check if there was some special meaning behind giving a kimono.
At this moment, Ino's voice rang out again, her tone gentle, carrying a faint shyness.
"I've always been looking forward to this day. If possible, I would've wanted it earlier, but Dad said at our current age we're still too y*ung, we have to wait a few more years, so I never brought it up. But, if Aoba you're willing, I can do it now!", As she spoke, Ino suddenly lifted her face, sapphire-like eyes glittering with the light of excitement and passion.
"Mom and Dad definitely won't have any objections either."
Feeling Ino's breathing becoming heavier and heavier, and her heartbeat increasingly rapid, Aoba sensed that if he didn't speak up and explain, this could lead to an even more serious disaster.
Awkwardly, he explained, "Ino, to tell you the truth, I still don't even know what's going on right now?"
"…Hah?"
Aoba's words instantly yanked Ino out of her dreamlike fantasy back into reality.
'What do you mean you don't know what's going on?'
'You even gave a kimono as a gift…'
'Wait, could it be?'
Thinking back, indeed they'd never talked about this kind of thing before. She only knew about it because her mother once told her.
"Aoba, don't tell me you don't know that a guy only gives a girl a kimono when he's proposing?", Ino widened her eyes, carefully watching Aoba's expression.
Sure enough, the moment her question came out, Aoba's face showed a sudden look of realization, as if enlightenment had finally struck him.
'So that's how it is…'
"You… you really didn't know?"
Ino's voice once again carried a sobbing tone, tears welling up in her eyes. Not the joyful tears from earlier, but tears of being hurt and anger.
This time, it was because her defenses were broken.
Ino was indeed broken right now. She had been overjoyed, thinking the person in her heart was proposing to her, even to the point of mentally leaving Tenten and Hinata far behind her, overcome with excitement and tears of happiness.
But once emotions and atmosphere had both been set into place, the other party suddenly told her it was all just a misunderstanding.
How could she not break down?
'This…'
Aoba also suddenly felt numb. He really had no idea there was such a meaning.
Clearly, before he even bought it, he had already asked Anko.
'Hmm?'
Only now did he recall. The expression on the shopkeeper's face when he had ordered the kimono was indeed one of wanting to say something but holding back.
Only back then Anko had butted in with a joke.
The corner of Aoba's mouth twitched uncontrollably. He had been tricked by Anko.
'Looks like next time I'll have to give her a harsher beating.'
But, with things already at this point, it was useless now to harp on being tricked.
"Sorry, I had no idea that giving a kimono to a girl carried that meaning. No one has ever told me," As soon as he said this, he clearly felt the air around him drop several degrees, with the faint sound of teeth grinding.
A sign of anger.
Aoba quickly followed up with his next words, "In that case, then let's just treat it as me proposing early, how about that?"
The air around them instantly warmed back up. A second ago Ino's anger gauge had been skyrocketing, but after a brief daze, her anger immediately dropped back to zero.
Blushing, she asked, "R-really?"
"Of course."
The next moment, Aoba slipped his hand around Ino's smooth, fair, slender and tight soft waist, bent down, and kissed her lips.
It lasted for several minutes.
Only then did they separate.
Ino's chest rose and fell slightly, her hands cupping Aoba's cheeks, her gaze brimming with tenderness.
"Aoba, does this count as a proposal?"
"Mm."
Aoba nodded seriously, responding to Ino.
"Hehe!"
Ino showed a silly grin on her face. But just as she wanted another round, a new question suddenly popped into her mind.
"Are you planning to give kimonos to other girls too?"
"This…", Aoba hesitated, and Ino instantly saw through his heart.
Although Ino had long prepared herself mentally, her hand still moved onto his waist.
Aoba didn't bother saying any comforting words either, since nothing he said would help.
So he simply started round two directly.
The hand Ino had originally placed on his waist now wrapped around his neck again.
———
"Haa—", Ino lay sprawled on Aoba, her gaze hazy, lips slightly parted, panting lightly.
Aoba gently patted her back, "Your mom and dad aren't at home?"
Ino nodded a little dependently, "Mom went out to deliver flowers. Dad was supposed to go on a mission, but Tsunade-sama suddenly called him away."
"I see…"
Must have been called away to interrogate Hidan.
Aoba suddenly showed a mischievous smile, "Then does that mean you're the only one at home?"
Ino's body suddenly trembled, looking weakly at Aoba, "Y-you… what do you want to do?"
"What do you think I want to do?"
Aoba's hand slid slightly down from her back, landing on her flawless waist, stroking along the curve of her side.
The blush on Ino's face deepened.
Of course she noticed those mischievous hands.
But she didn't stop him, instead hugging Aoba tighter, her slender hands even slipping under his clothes.
"?"
'Wait, am I the one being taken advantage of here?'
Aoba's expression turned strange, 'Could it be that Ino was actually looking forward to this?'
'Is she just pretending to be scared in order to lure me into committing a crime?'
If that's the case, then he couldn't let her sincerity go to waste. He had to properly appreciate Ino's perfect slender waist.
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
patreon.com/AmbitiousTranslator
🥳Joining Patreon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰 You can access upto 20 advance chapter through Patreon.