"Okay."
Xiao Xiao nodded. "Thank you for picking up this doll."
"And for keeping it all this time."
"Even though that led to some things happening that troubled you."
"But those things won't happen again."
"You can put your mind at ease."
Xi Anya's eyes widened.
She looked at the doll in Xiao Xiao's hand, then at Xiao Xiao.
Back and forth.
Her lips moved, but for a moment, she didn't know what to say.
Her feelings were complicated.
So complicated that... she didn't even know what she was feeling anymore.
The corners of Xiao Xiao's lips lifted slightly.
"It mistook you for the girl named An An who made this doll."
"So it kept following you."
"Now it knows you aren't that girl."
"It won't follow you anymore."
Xi Anya pressed her lips together.
Mm.
She knew.
After hearing Master Xiao tell that story, after denying that she was the An An in it, she had known...
The problem that had troubled her for so many days was solved.
She should have been happy.
And she was, to some extent.
But besides happiness, there seemed to be another emotion that made her feel... a little upset?
What was it?
She thought about it blankly for a while.
Then she began to understand.
Maybe... it was regret?
She actually felt a little regretful that she wasn't the An An in that story...
Xi Anya gave a wry smile.
What was that about?
She really was something.
Before, she had wished she'd never seen the feather. Now, though...
"Master Xiao."
Xi Anya suppressed the tangled feelings inside her and tried to make her expression seem natural. "Is it going to keep looking for that An An?"
"Mm."
Xiao Xiao nodded.
"...I see?"
Xi Anya pressed her