Xiao Xiao reached out and accepted the sugar figurine the old man handed him.
It was different from the one he'd gotten before.
The old man had made the barefoot boy he'd described, his head bowed as he gazed at the pipa in his arms.
This was a still image of the boy.
This one, however, showed the boy playing, captured in motion.
For a moment, as he looked at the sugar figurine, Xiao Xiao could almost hear the pipa's clear, lilting notes ringing in his ears.
A smile touched Xiao Xiao's eyes.
"Thank you, sir."
"I really like it."
"I'm glad you do."
The old man breathed a sigh of relief.
"I was worried I might have overstepped..."
He'd gone and given the young man a sugar figurine he'd made according to his own ideas, without even asking.
Still, thanks to the young man, the old man had remembered an interesting experience from his past.
He'd told the young man about it.
And he still wasn't quite satisfied.
It seemed he wanted to do something more...
Then he'd thought of making a sugar figurine.
It was a memento of having recalled that experience.
And a way of thanking the young man.
"How could you?"
Xiao Xiao's lips curled up.
"I'm very happy you gave me this sugar figurine."
"That's good..."
The old man paused.
"...It really is exactly the same..."
The old man looked at the two sugar figurines in the young man's hand.
But when he'd made the second figurine, he'd truly been working from the memory in his mind.
When he'd made the figurine for this young man, he hadn't even remembered at first that he'd once met a boy who looked very much like him.
Only after he'd finished...
did he remember.
And