"Excuse me..."
The girl turned and pointed at the little monkey holding cymbals on the cabinet by the door.
"Doesn't that little monkey say 'Welcome' when customers come in?"
"I heard it also says 'Come again' when customers leave."
"How does it do that?"
"How does it know whether customers are coming in or going out?"
The girl looked at the cashier curiously.
"It sees customers come in, so naturally it sees them leave, too."
The cashier seemed to have said something rather convoluted.
"Huh?"
The girl looked stunned.
She was a little confused.
"What did you say?"
"It's just a toy."
The boy understood what she meant.
The boy's words reminded the girl, and she understood what the cashier had meant.
She opened her mouth.
She was a little puzzled.
A little incredulous.
And a little angry at being made a fool of.
"Don't joke around."
"I'm asking you seriously."
"I'm answering you seriously, too."
The cashier still wore a smile.
At that moment, her smiling face looked especially innocent.
The girl was speechless.
She was starting to feel uncertain.
She looked at the boy beside her.
Her eyes asked him a question.
Was the cashier serious?
The boy furrowed his brows.
How could she possibly be serious?
Even he wasn't sure anymore.
The cashier was far too calm.
He stared intently at her.
An almost imperceptible pressure seeped into his gaze.
"You mean..."
"That toy monkey can judge for itself whether customers are coming in or going out, and react accordingly?"
"No."
The cashier shook her head.
"It's just a toy monkey."
"It's not a character from a fairy tale."
So how could it judge for itself?
The cashier looked at the boy with a faintly curious expression.
The