But...
No.
The boy couldn't find Little One.
After school, the boy searched the school again.
He went back and forth several times along the road from school to the bus stop, searching.
He also walked up and down the bus several times.
When he got off the bus, the boy looked a little lost.
The sunlight fell across his face.
Even the afterglow of the setting sun was a little too bright, making him squint slightly.
The boy took a deep breath.
Then he searched all the way from the bus stop to his front door.
He stood outside his home.
He didn't take out his key to open the door.
A faint sense of despair even began to rise in his heart.
He... couldn't find Little One...
What should he do if he couldn't find Little One no matter how long he searched?
Suddenly, he thought of the first days after his classmates had learned that he was a teacher's child and started distancing themselves from him, even shunning him.
Back then, he pretended not to care.
But whenever he was alone, that miserable feeling clung to him like a leech, impossible to shake off.
Again and again, he told himself it didn't matter.
It wasn't his fault.
Even so, there were a few times when he had nearly cried from how awful he felt.
He poured all his energy into his studies.
During breaks, he was either doing homework or reading.
He started to hate PE.
Especially team activities.
Because no one wanted to be on his team.
There were enough students that he was never actually left without a team.
But it felt awful to know they only came to join him because they had no other choice, and that they couldn't