A Shinobi's Take on this Wonderful World

Exploring this Rich Girl's Manner

"Owowow! Sthap pinthing my cheeths! I'm sowwy! Kasuma-saaaan!"

Aqua pleaded as Kazuma stretched her cheeks up and down, causing her to make various humorous faces, but the boy didn't have the luxury to enjoy the girl's funny expressions.

"Darkness is being forced to marry that noble's son!? Why didn't you tell me!?"

Naruto angrily berated Kazuma.

That's right. Darkness had shown up the previous day wearing such a fancy dress, they had hardly recognized her. But then she had revealed that she would be holding an arranged marriage meeting at the Dustiness household with Alderp's son.

Kazuma planned on withholding this information from Naruto for the obvious reason that he would most likely overreact and stir up trouble. After all, Naruto had that generic shonen protagonist vibe.

But Aqua instantly spilled the beans, which completely foiled Kazuma's plan of using her to keep Naruto occupied today. He had even convinced the girl to make Naruto take her to a fancy restaurant with a long waiting list and everything.

Now Kazuma had a wailing goddess in his face and a screeching ninja at his back. This was definitely not a very fun morning.

"Megumin! Don't tell me you're okay with this too!"

Seeing as Kazuma was too occupied with Aqua to respond, Naruto turned his fury towards Megumin, who was currently cleaning the table that Kazuma was previously sitting at.

"Of course not! Darkness will be returning soon to fetch us, so join us Naruto! Together, we will go to this marriage interview and firmly decline!"

Megumin declared with a thumbs up, earning a nod of approval from the shinobi.

'Oh no... I forgot how well these two resonated in situations like these. I need to find a way to get rid of Megumin before she gives Naruto anymore ideas...'

Kazuma thought when a gasp came from the entrance of the mansion.

The group turned to see Darkness standing in the doorway wearing a similar dress to the one that she had worn the previous day, along with a massive blush on her face.

"Wh-wh-what's Naruto doing here!?"

The noblewoman asked, her flustered gaze fixated on the ninja.

'Hang on... What's with this cute/shy reaction? Is she like that because Naruto is seeing her in a dress? Why didn't she act like this around me, yesterday?'

Kazuma grumbled to himself while Naruto tilted his head to the side.

"Who are you?"

"!"

Darkness clenched her dress in response to Naruto's expected obliviousness, and Kazuma couldn't help but palm his face.

Of course Naruto wouldn't recognize Darkness since even her party members didn't recognize her when she was wearing such a fancy dress for the first time.

"I-I appreciate the forgetful play, but like I told Kazuma yesterday, now isn't the time for that!"

Darkness cried out with a half-happy, half-troubled smile.

"P-play...? Is that Darkness-What? H-hey! What are you doing Kazuma!?"

Right when Naruto recognized who the blushing woman was, he felt a pair of hands on his back, pushing him past the blushing girl and towards the door.

"Yes, this is our one and only Lalatina-"

"D-don't call me that!"

"-Now if you don't mind, our party needs to start planning our strategy."