"Uahh... I am so bored lately."
The unrestrained exclamation turned some of the heads of the customers and team at burger paradise. They all looked at, for the staff, regular sight. In the corner sat a group of three boys. The one with blonde, unruly hair was the one who had spoken. He appeared uncaring about the attention as he sat with his back to the crowd. The other two boys ducked their heads at the stares. Both had black hair. The one with the spiky ponytail hid behind his half-unwrapped burger, and the other boy with half of his short ragged hair pulled back with a red flower-shaped clip raised his book a bit higher.
Boruto slumped back into the green cushioned synthetic leather. His arms rested on his lab. In one hand, he held a plastic cup of soda. The tip of the straw was flat and mangled with countless teeth marks.
"Quiet down. We are in a public setting."
Shikadai tried to reign in the boisterous boy before he bit out another hefty chunk of his burger. His teal-colored eyes glared at a single stubborn lettuce leaf that connected his mouth to the rest of the burger and threatened to pull apart the entire structure of meat, tomato, and sauce between a sliced open bun.
"All my mother can think about is preparing for the academy. I have not had any fun in the last few days." Boruto exclaimed.
"The Hokage's stone faces must already miss their weekly makeover." joked Isui from behind his book. It made the blonde boy gesture at him wildly with his soda before he leaned forward again and placed it on the table in front of him with a clank.
"At least you understand me, Isui-nii."
"You think you are the only one who has to put up with expectations. My mother gives me hell whenever I even think 'what a drag'"
Boruto sweatdropped as his eyes wandered to the left side of Shikadai's face, where a wound dressing decorated his cheek. He picked up a fried chip, popped it into his mouth, and turned his attention to the boy behind the book.
Isui was holding a book titled Medical Terminology: The Best and Most Effective Way to Memorize, Pronounce and Understand Medical Terms in front of his nose. He seemed zoned out of the surrounding world. But his friends knew he was a master in multitasking. His ears were as sharp as theirs from playing hide and seek in the Nara Forest. On the table was an empty plate, save for the burger paper. It sat folded with sharp edges into an origami swan on it.
"What about you, Isui? Has your mother also been replaced by a 'Mom-ster'?"
Isui's eyes shifted upward over the rim of his book. His pupils stud out for once as he shot Boruto a glare.
"Please do not talk about my mother like that."
Boruto's eyes flashed: Mother's boy!
Isui ignored his silent teasing. Then he looked like he remembered something before the lines on his face ever so slightly morphed into a displeased expression.
"I would like to have more training. Mother practices with us every free minute she has-but the taijutsu style-and while, while I can see the efficiency and graze behind it plainly, is more of Sarada's taste than mine."
"You can have my mother." Shikadai interrupted quietly, looking around, if anyone other than Isui and Boruto heard him say something forbidden.
"Ah... no, thank you," Isui sweatdropped like Boruto before at the mention of Temari Nara and lifted his book higher so his friend could read the title. "I rather read more of that boring stuff."
Shikadai raised an eyebrow. He had finished his burger and balled the paper together.
"When you are not interested in medicine, why are you reading it then?"
"Because the medical books in my mother's study are the only source of actual proficient knowledge I can currently learn." Isui shrugged. " It is as dry as the sand in Suna's desserts but better than the other stuff I have access to in the public library, and it can be useful in the future."
"You are a nerd."
Boruto said jokingly, mouth full of fries, waving his hand at the book in Isui's hands.
Isui snapped the book shut before scarcely tilting his head and replying, his voice dripping with bitter chocolate sauce.
"Thank you for reminding me."
A metaphorical ray of light surrounded him as he smiled at Boruto: You are a closet nerd, yourself, idiot.
There was a brief silence as tension rose between Isui, Boruto, and Shikadai. When it reached its apex, the clock on the wall was uncomfortably audible. The trio blew off like a quickly deflating balloon.
The staff and customers turned their heads again as laughter erupted from the boy's table.
Half an hour later, the friends left the restaurant and strolled down the street. It was bustling with Konoha's citizens, merchants, and tourists.
Isui watched as Shikadai lifted his arms in the air. One hand clasped the wrist of the other and pulled. His spine bent in an arc, his finger joints cracked, and out of his mouth came a loud yawn. He looked like he was ready to accidentally wander off to the next park, to search for a good patch of soft grass, or to slump against the bark of a tree to take a nap.
Isui noticed how the passing people stared at them. Some even started whispering.
The son of the Hokage, the son of the Hokage's advisor, and the son of the head medic of the Konoha Hospital, who also was the director of the children's health clinic, they were a famous trio.
Then Boruto speeded up next to him. He ran in front of them and turned to face them with a broad smile splitting his face. It effectively made Isui and Shikadai falter in their steps to look at him expectingly.
Boruto reached for the gurt of his bag that hung diagonally over his back and yanked it so that the bag slit from his back to his front. He unzipped it and pulled out his game boy.
"Okay, let's race to the Uzumaki training compound and play there."
He waved the gaming device in front of their faces.
Isui noted that he was holding it with his thump on one of the buttons. It was a sign whose meaning only Boruto and he knew about.
Boruto wanted more than play. He looked at the blonde indifferently.
Sikadai's face, in contrast, depicted his disgruntled thoughts. Boruto's words had catapulted him out of his fantasies. But he was not ready to give them up.
"No, thank you. My mother awaits me on the training field in two hours. I want to save my energy for that."
"Do you want to go now?" asked Isui, seeing his friend's slumped shoulders and droopy eyes.
"Actually, yes... yes, I want," Shikadai said as he sketched the back of his head.
"What a letdown," Boruto sighed. He put his game boy back into the bag. "But we will see each other in a week when the next Kagemasa movie drops, right?"
"Ah," Shikadai nodded, smiling. "Bye then." He called to his two best friends and walked off, ignoring the teasing "Good night" from the black-haired boy.
"Soo..." Boruto turned to Isui. "...race to the compound?"
Isui smirked and called for his chakra, sending it to his calves, before leaping off the ground onto the roof of a flower shop, knowing that Boruto was following him in hot pursuit.