Encirclement

When I hurried back to the room, I saw Suigintou sitting on the windowsill with her head lowered. The tiny doll girl was wearing the little pajamas Older Sister had made for her by hand a few days ago. Her silver hair hung loose around her as she sat there, her little feet gently swinging in midair, her head bobbing up and down as she clearly struggled to stay awake. The sight of Suigintou like this made me freeze on the spot. She looked just like a little girl fighting off sleep while waiting late into the night for her father to come home from work.

For a moment, I really wanted to pull out a camera and capture this image, then tease this always-so-proud little fellow with it in a couple of days. But that thought had barely flashed through my mind before it was flung to the farthest reaches of the universe. Not because my conscience had suddenly kicked in, but because... a certain doll had already shot over like lightning and bitten down on my head. The transition from stillness to motion had taken less than half a second. Had this girl recently gotten a new spring set or gearbox or something?

The miniature girl clung to my head like an octopus, greeting me with a flurry of fierce chomps from her iron teeth while mumbling something under her breath. I couldn't hear it clearly, but I could easily guess what she was saying: "You said you'd be back in a little while, so why are you only showing up now?! You're already back, so why did it take you so long to come upstairs?! You're just a stupid human, so what gives you the right to make me wait this long..."

Something along those lines.

Though