The figure before the little boy quickly came into focus.
"Oh, oh."
The boy, who was about the same age as him, grinned.
"Good thing you're not an idiot."
The little boy felt a little at a loss.
He wasn't good at dealing with strangers.
It suddenly hit him that this person had just saved him.
He hurriedly thanked him.
"Th-thank you."
"You're welcome."
The mushroom-head boy smiled and waved a hand.
The little boy's gaze lingered on the other boy's mushroom haircut.
He rarely saw anyone with a mushroom haircut these days.
He'd always thought the style looked pretty funny.
But, unexpectedly, it actually... suited this boy quite well.
After thanking him, the little boy felt a little at a loss.
Why wasn't the other boy leaving?
Was there something else?
The little boy unconsciously tightened his grip on his backpack strap.
"Are you here by yourself?"
The mushroom-head boy looked up at him with a smile.
The little boy froze.
Embarrassment and awkwardness washed over him as he realized his secret had been exposed.
He lowered his head.
His fingers dug even harder into the backpack strap.
"...Yeah."
But he couldn't bring himself to leave the other boy's question unanswered.
After struggling for a while, he finally managed to squeeze out a single word.
His face felt hot.
Even though he'd been alone for a long time, he still felt ashamed that someone had found out he was by himself.
Would the other boy think he was someone nobody liked?
"I'm here by myself too."
Huh?!
The little boy abruptly looked up.
W-what?
The mushroom-head boy grinned.
"I'm here by myself too."
Even though it wasn't exactly something to be proud of, the mushroom-head boy looked positively radiant.