"Ah!"
The boy finally remembered why he'd come in the first place.
"Maple leaf!"
The words slipped out.
"I was following a red maple leaf."
"A red maple leaf..."
Xiao Xiao gently rubbed the leaf in his palm with his fingers still loosely curled around it.
He understood.
"Yeah!"
The boy thought the older guy in front of him doubted what he was saying.
After all, what red maple leaves could there be at this time of year?
He hurriedly explained, "It's true!"
"I really did see a red maple leaf!"
The moment he saw it, he'd frozen.
By the time he came to his senses, he was already chasing after it.
Since he'd started chasing it...
He gritted his teeth. He knew it was a pretty stupid thing to do...
He'd even tried not to let anyone notice he was chasing a red maple leaf.
Still, he hadn't stopped running.
It was freezing out, yet he'd run until he was sweating.
"I followed it here..."
The boy explained why he'd come here.
"I saw it fly into... the courtyard."
He gestured faintly toward the courtyard behind Xiao Xiao.
"I don't know if it landed in the courtyard... or just flew over it."
The boy pressed his lips together uneasily.
"I thought... I'd take a look first..."
"I didn't expect the courtyard gate to be unlocked..."
"I just wanted to check whether the maple leaf had landed in the courtyard..."
"If it really had landed in there, I would've knocked."
"Really!"
The boy's eyes widened.
His expression was utterly sincere.
"I promise, everything I said is true."
"I really was following the maple leaf."
"I'm not up to anything bad!"
Seeing the boy so flustered, raising a hand to make promises and waving the other as