"Sorry."
After a brief silence, the boy suddenly spoke.
He checked the time. "I've kept you for so long."
The boy looked rather embarrassed.
He didn't know why he'd had so much to say today.
Maybe it was because he'd finally met someone his age who could see monsters too...
Maybe it was because they'd been talking about Little Fire...
Maybe... it was because he'd mistaken the monster beside the other boy for Little Fire in the first place...
The boy touched his throat.
He probably hadn't talked this much in a long time.
His throat was starting to feel a little sore.
Xiao Xiao shook his head.
"It's no trouble."
The boy couldn't help smiling.
He knew it was summer vacation now.
He was on vacation too.
Students always had the most free time during summer vacation.
"Thanks for listening to me."
The gloom that had built up in the boy's heart after days of searching everywhere for Little Fire seemed to have lifted quite a bit.
"How many days have you been looking for Little Fire this time?" Xiao Xiao asked.
"A month," the boy blurted out.
Even though he didn't want to keep track of the time, his brain seemed to have a mind of its own and had recorded it anyway.
"It's been a long time since Little Fire disappeared for this long."
This wasn't the first time he'd gone looking for Little Fire.
He'd gradually gained some experience.
He knew what Little Fire liked.
What would interest it...
With that information, he could roughly figure out which direction Little Fire would fly in.
But this time, he'd searched all along every route Little Fire might have taken.
And he hadn't found a thing.
He worried he might have missed something.
He also knew