Chapter 201: Konan [1]

Morning light crept across the messy sheets. Himawari lay curled on her side, still deep in exhausted sleep, one arm tucked under the pillow, the faint marks on her throat and shoulders visible even in the soft glow. Kael sat on the edge of the bed and opened the system window.

[Quest 19/100 : Become Himawari’s Daddy ✓]

[Reward : 7 tails Unlocked]

The notification faded. A heavier presence settled behind his eyes. Kurama’s chakra felt closer, denser, more aware. The nine-tails was female in this world, and she was not quiet about her opinion. He could sense the low, constant simmer of her anger—anger at the body she was trapped in, anger at the stranger wearing Naruto’s face, anger at whatever the system had done to force the connection. Kael pushed the sensation down. He had no interest in facing her yet.

Days passed in a blur of ordinary routine and the lingering heat of what had happened with Himawari. He trained, ate, avoided the deeper pull of the tailed beast, and waited. When the promised day arrived, he left the apartment without waking the girl still sleeping in his bed.

Konan’s place sat on a quieter street near the edge of the village, a modest house with paper screens and a small porch. She opened the door before he could knock twice. Her blue hair was tied loosely, and she wore simple dark clothes that still somehow looked elegant on her.

"You came," she said, a small, genuine smile touching her lips. "I wasn’t sure you would remember."

"I said two days." Kael stepped inside when she moved aside. "I keep my word."

The main room was neat and sparsely furnished. A low table already held stacks of colored paper, a small teapot, and two cups. She had prepared. The quiet order of the space suited her.

They sat across from each other at first. Kael picked up a sheet of green paper and began folding without preamble. Konan watched his hands with focused interest.

"This is the frog from the market," he said, creasing the paper with practiced motions. "Most people stop at the basic shape. If you reverse these two folds and tuck the legs differently, it jumps farther."

He finished the model and set it on the table. When he pressed the back, it sprang forward and landed near her knee. Konan’s eyes lit up with the same quiet delight he had seen at the stall.

"Show me again. Slower."

He did. This time he guided her hands through the first few creases. His fingers brushed hers as he adjusted the angle of a fold. The contact was brief, ordinary, but he noticed the faint warmth of her skin. She did not pull away. They worked through the frog twice more until she produced one that hopped almost as well as his.

Next came a simple flower—petal folds, careful twisting of the center. Conversation drifted while their hands stayed busy.

"I’ve never invited anyone here before," Konan said after a while, voice low. "Not from the village. The others... Yahiko and Nagato... they have their own places. This has always been mine." She glanced at him, then back at the half-finished flower. "You felt safe. Like a little brother who somehow already knew how to fold paper from another world."

Kael only nodded and kept folding. He let the silence sit until she was ready to fill it.

She set the flower down unfinished. Her fingers rested on the edge of the table.

"Actually there was a reason I called you. I wanted your opinion on one thing. They both told me how they feel. They gave a confession to me. Yahiko first, a week ago. Then Nagato two days later." Her voice stayed calm, but something tight moved underneath it. "I asked for time. I care about both of them. We have survived too much together. If I choose one, I risk breaking what we built. I don’t know how to move without causing damage."

She looked at him directly.

"You’re a man. Maybe you can tell me something I can’t see."

Kael listened without interrupting. When she finished he was quiet for a long moment, turning a new sheet of paper in his hands.

"You’re trying to protect the team by freezing," he said eventually. "But freezing is still a choice. It just hurts slower." He met her eyes. "I’m not going to tell you which one to pick. That has to come from you. But sitting in the middle forever will hollow you out."

Konan exhaled, a soft, tired sound. The careful composure she wore like armor slipped a fraction. Kael shifted from the opposite side of the table and sat beside her instead, close enough that their shoulders nearly touched. He started a more complex fold—something with multiple layers and reverse creases—partly to give her hands something to do, partly to keep the moment from turning too heavy too fast.

Their fingers brushed again while he corrected a petal. Then again when he steadied the paper. Each contact lasted a little longer. He could feel the heat of her arm through the thin fabric of her sleeve when he leaned in to demonstrate a difficult tuck. She smelled faintly of paper and clean soap. The quiet of the house wrapped around them.

After a while Konan’s posture softened. She finished the fold he had shown her, set it aside, and without any dramatic decision simply tilted sideways until her head rested against his shoulder. Kael stayed still and let her. Her breathing slowed. The tension that had lived in her spine since the confessions seemed to ease by degrees.

"I don’t know what I want," she murmured. "I only know I don’t want to lose either of them. And I don’t want to keep feeling this stuck."

Kael rested his cheek lightly against the top of her head for a moment. The system window flickered open at the edge of his vision, pale blue and inevitable.

[Quest 20/100 : Make Konan love you instead of other two]

A slow smile touched his mouth. He did not speak the words aloud, but the thought formed clear and sharp.

That’s what I was waiting for.

He kept the smile out of his voice when he finally answered her.

"You don’t have to decide anything tonight. Just sit here. You will still tomorrow to think about these things."

Konan made a small sound of agreement and did not lift her head. Outside, the afternoon light began to thin. Inside the neat little house, the stacks of colored paper sat forgotten on the table while Kael let the quiet stretch, already turning over the first careful steps of how he would take the choice away from Yahiko and Nagato entirely.

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READ CAREFULLY:

Okay here is a deal give power stones and golden tickets to my other novel "SSS Rank Awakening: The World Beyond Redemption." And I will give you new Chapters as bonus.

100 power stone = 3 Chapters

300 Power Stones = 10 Chapters

500 Power Stones = 20 Chapters

And if you give more than 100 Golden Tickets I will mass release more than 10 Chapters in single goal.