"...Huh?"
A syllable slipped unconsciously from the boy's throat.
Did he want to remember that memory?
The boy had thought the answer would come right out.
But it didn't.
He actually... hesitated.
The first half of that memory was like a sweet candy.
The boy thought of the candy his big brother had given him.
It was really sweet.
It tasted so good.
It made him want to smile.
But the second half of that memory...
Was nothing like candy.
The candy was gone.
It had left behind not even the faintest trace of sweetness.
And he had tried in vain to hold on to that sweetness.
But things hadn't gone as he wished.
All he had tasted was bitterness.
Like... bitter melon.
He hated eating bitter melon the most.
He couldn't understand why anyone would serve bitter melon as a dish.
It was also like... garlic.
It made him cry uncontrollably.
He just couldn't stop.
That kind of memory couldn't be called pleasant.
He had almost forgotten it.
Along with all the happy memories that came before it.
Because the sweet and bitter had become mixed together.
He couldn't separate them.
So he had cut them all off at once.
He wanted none of them.
Compared to sweetness, bitterness was much harder to bear.
But now, looking back, the boy felt differently.
He realized he had become better at enduring bitterness.
So... he couldn't bear to forget the sweetness anymore.
After all, those were among the few sweet moments he had ever experienced.
If they were forgotten, there would be hardly any sweet memories left in his mind.
The boy nodded.
"I do."
As if he thought that was too brief, the boy added, "I want to remember."
He could focus only on