Well, it wasn’t like she had anything better to do. Katsuko slung her grocery bag over her shoulder. “Where to?”

“I was gonna join some friends for blossom viewing,” her new acquaintance said. “You could come.”

Katsuko raised an eyebrow. “I don’t even know your name, buddy. You always move this fast, or is today a special day?”

“I don’t know yours, either, I just figured you didn’t want to be here when the Uchiha showed up.” He quirked his lips around the dango skewer and took off down the street, cutting through the crowd. Katsuko shrugged and fell into step with him. He glanced over at her. “Shiranui Genma. Same as the bakery.”

The name ‘Genma’ rang a bell, vaguely. And the Shiranui bakery made amazing buns. “Katsuko. I think I’ve seen you around before.” She deliberately flicked her gaze to his left arm, where the ANBU tattoo would be.

He looked down at his shoulder and then back at her. “I thought you seemed familiar. Were you at Shiratori-san’s exploding tag talk last month?”

“The one about the new designs they’re coming up with?” Katsuko perked up. “Yeah. Exploding tags are my favorite.”

Genma’s lips twitched up. “You were the one sitting third from the back who asked about using a bird seal sequence, right?”

“Bird seal sequence shaves off a quarter of a second. Sloppier than Tiger, but do you really need to care about precision with explosion tags?” Katsuko made an expansive gesture. Then a thought occurred to her, as she finally remembered where she’d heard Genma’s name before. “Hey, scuttlebutt says you’re tapped for lieutenant. That true?”

He made a noncommittal noise. “I’ve been provisional lieutenant on my team since Gojo broke her leg, but my whole team is getting reassigned now. What about yours? You staying together or getting newbies?”

“Eh,” Katsuko said. “Last week they said we were sticking together, this week they said we’re being sent to new teams. Maybe tomorrow they’ll give us all puppies.”

"Don't tell the Inuzuka, or they'll all want one."

“Hah!” The crowd was thinning out a little. Katsuko dug into her bag for her iced tea again and uncapped it. “The trials are about to start. We have any promising fresh meat this year?”