Since she was talking to such a remarkable tree, the girl couldn't help wanting to pour her heart out.
Deep down, she had also hoped she might get help, like the protagonist in a fairy tale.
"Why?"
Just as the girl had expected, the orb asked bluntly.
The girl pressed her lips together.
"Actually, you already guessed..."
She took a deep breath.
It took courage to talk about something so embarrassing.
But some things just had to be said.
The longer she kept them bottled up, the more her frustration weighed on her, with no relief in sight.
She hadn't known who she could talk to...
But now, she'd found someone who made a good listener.
The orb's directness, and its one-sided understanding of humans in a certain sense...
And, of course, most importantly... it wasn't human at all.
All of that...
made her feel safe.
It made her feel she could tell it what she'd been keeping bottled up.
It didn't matter if it didn't understand.
She just... wanted someone to listen to her... It didn't necessarily have to be a person... just something that could understand what she said.
Maybe she'd feel a lot better.
"There were three of us when we came here earlier."
The girl unconsciously lowered her voice.
"But now I'm the only one here..."
"Mm."
As a listener, the orb was actually quite experienced.
The girl seemed to take that as encouragement.
She squeezed her fingers.
"We came here today to collect used batteries..."
It was an extracurricular assignment from their teacher.
They had to form their own groups.
There had to be at least two people.
And no more than five.
Each group could choose where to collect batteries.
They had a week.
Their grade would be based