The boy nodded.
He looked well-behaved.
He tried hard to press his lips together,
so he wouldn't smile too obviously.
After returning to his seat, the boy lowered his head, and a huge smile spread across his face.
On the way home from school, he walked very fast at first.
His steps were so light he seemed ready to fly.
He was excited.
At the thought of going home, he couldn't stop smiling.
But...
When he entered his neighborhood, his pace gradually grew hesitant.
The closer he got to his home, the more slowly he walked.
He... was starting to feel a little afraid.
Had Mom really been there that morning?
What if he got home now... only to discover...
that the Mom from that morning had been nothing but his imagination?
No, no...
The boy shook his head fiercely, denying it to himself.
How could the Mom from that morning have been a figment of his imagination?
He remembered it all clearly.
He had replayed it countless times in his classroom, too.
Mom... had come back.
The boy swallowed.
He entered the apartment building.
Each footstep felt as if it landed right on his heart.
He grew more and more nervous.
He hesitated for a long while.
This scene was so much like yesterday.
Even what happened afterward was exactly the same.
The boy heard footsteps coming up the stairs. He didn't want to run into a neighbor.
Quickly, he slipped his key into the lock.
He'd been holding the key from the very beginning.
"Thud~"
After entering the apartment, he turned and closed the door.
But today, he soon noticed how quiet and empty the apartment was.
He wasn't as slow to realize it as he had been yesterday.
The