"But..."
The boy pressed his lips together.
Xiao Xiao shook his head slightly.
"Finding Little One is something to be happy about."
"You can just smile for now."
"Save the self-reflection for later."
"Besides, I think..."
"You've already done plenty of reflecting during the days Little One was missing."
The boy stared blankly at Master Xiao.
Xiao Xiao winked at him.
Slowly, the boy smiled.
"...Yeah."
"Little One."
The boy lowered his eyes to the monster.
His eyes curved into a smile.
"Welcome back."
"..."
Little One twisted its body.
It felt like it should say something?
"You're supposed to say, 'I'm back.'"
The boy smiled.
At a glance, all you noticed were his eyes, curved like crescent moons.
You missed the faint redness at their corners.
"..."
Little One looked away.
But the boy's gaze stayed fixed on it.
"...I'm back."
As if it couldn't win against the boy, Little One finally said what he wanted to hear.
The boy's smile grew wider.
"Welcome back, Little One."
At last, the rush of joy began to settle.
Even though the question that came next wasn't something to smile about, the corners of the boy's mouth stayed lifted.
He couldn't help it.
Whenever he looked down and saw Little One, he simply couldn't stop smiling.
"Master Xiao, how did you find Little One?"
The boy's eyes were full of wonder and amazement as he looked at Xiao Xiao.
That was incredible.
He'd really found Little One so quickly.
How had he done it?
The boy had searched for so many days...
"I couldn't have found it this quickly on my own, of course."
Xiao Xiao smiled. "With more people searching, it goes faster."
"Oh, right."
The boy suddenly understood.
Master Xiao had asked people to