The boy told Ya Ya the stories in the picture book.
Ya Ya listened intently...
They had once...
been very good friends.
The boy grew a little downcast again.
But that was in the past.
Not now.
The boy cautiously stole glances at the gray-haired monster.
He didn't dare look too openly.
He was afraid Ya Ya would get impatient with him.
The boy clenched his hands tightly.
He put all his strength into them.
As if that would make his breathing very, very quiet.
The space inside the car was limited; even the slightest increase in his breathing would be obvious.
He was so uneasy, he didn't know whether Ya Ya could hear his racing heartbeat.
If she could, what would she think?
Probably nothing at all...
The boy didn't dare let himself hope for too much.
Ya Ya was clearly quite indifferent to him.
It made him seem especially eager by comparison.
Actually, he had always been a passive, slow-to-warm-up person.
After what had happened with his father, he had become sensitive to other people's moods again.
As he grew older, he had only become more timid.
But...
When it came to Ya Ya, he had become uncharacteristically bold and shameless.
Perhaps it was because Ya Ya was a monster...
Perhaps it was because Ya Ya held a special meaning for him...
Ya Ya was different from everyone else.
So the way he handled this had become very unlike his usual self.
If Ya Ya were just an ordinary little girl...
Even if he regretted it, he wouldn't keep "pestering her" after being ignored and rejected again and again.
He would "take the hint and back off."
He didn't want to annoy anyone.
And he didn't want to embarrass himself.
What had