The aches all over her body made the girl furrow her brow.
Then she realized...
She had fallen asleep with her head on the desk.
Through the open window, she could see tall trees.
But... there wasn't a single silver-white bird on any of the branches.
She slowly accepted the fact that the bird had left.
She got rid of the stuffed toy she had planned to keep as a memento for the rest of her life.
And then...
She forgot the bird.
"Looking back, I think I was partly taking out my anger on it."
The middle-aged woman gave a self-deprecating smile.
"I actually blamed the bird for leaving without saying goodbye..."
"When I was the one who..."
The middle-aged woman drew a deep breath and didn't continue.
But if she said she'd been taking out her anger...
Part of it was simply the passage of time.
The bird had disappeared from before her eyes.
But her life had to go on.
As time passed, the bird disappeared from her memories, too.
"It was my fault."
The middle-aged woman clasped her hands tightly together.
She had been too immature back then and had hurt the bird.
Thinking about it now, she truly regretted it.
As a child, she had worked so hard to find the bird... following its feathers again and again... chasing after it time and time again...
All those years together... that precious bond...
She had so easily cast it aside once she'd grown up.
Her younger self would have cried if she'd known...
What had happened couldn't be changed.
Regretting it, no matter how deeply, would do no good.
She'd thought she would never have a chance to make amends.
Because the bird would never appear before her again.
But...
She