The Fourth Period Is Modern Chinese (Continued)

"I didn't mean that. Maybe the bookstore didn't have it, but your house did."

Hearing that, I suddenly understood.

"...I see. An original picture book?"

"Yeah. Maybe your parents drew it themselves to comfort their sad daughter."

Now that she mentioned it, that explained why Komachi had laughed while saying the drawings were terrible. Mom and Dad probably weren't very good at drawing. For all I knew, their illustrations had been pretty bizarre.

"If that's the conclusion, then I feel even worse for you."

"Why?"

"You finally came up with a gift idea, only to find out it wasn't something you could buy anywhere. That means we're back at square one, right? Still, if you think a picture book would be okay, I have plenty I'd like Kyōka to see."

I pulled out several picture books I thought were good and tried to hand them to Kawasaki, but she raised a hand to refuse.

"It's fine. I should be thanking you for telling me the right answer."

"The right answer?"

Kawasaki looked refreshed.

From her expression, I inferred one possibility.

"Could it be you're going to—"

"Yeah, that's right. I'm going to draw a picture book myself."

"What are you talking about, Kawasaki?"

Even though I had already guessed that answer, it still startled me.

"You make it sound so easy, but picture books aren't easy to draw."

"I know that much. But I want to tell Kyōka with my own hands. Because I couldn't tell her yesterday."

The faintly gloomy expression on her face clearly conveyed her regret. Regret over the way she had responded to her little sister yesterday. Regret at feeling so small.

That picture book was both a gift and atonement.

"I think that would just be self-satisfaction. Are you sure that's okay?"

I spoke seriously.