"...I'm sorry..."
The little girl buried her whole face in the teddy bear and mumbled.
"Tell me properly."
The man lifted the child's head.
"You really should apologize for running away from home."
The little girl pressed her lips together.
"...I'm sorry."
The little girl lowered her eyes.
This was complicated.
So that was it...
As he spoke, even he started getting confused and wasn't sure what he was trying to say.
Maybe then she'd realize she'd acted inappropriately.
A strong sense of unease rose in me.
The man looked at the child.
"Tell her what you did was wrong."
In the end, he'd noticed that one pair of shoes was missing from the entryway.
"If it really gets out of hand, Daddy will take Nannan's side."
He said gently, "Actually, in Mommy's heart, Nannan is the best."
After they realized the child was missing—
"Mommy..."
"Were you really that angry about what Mommy said?"
"She said you weren't as good as other people..."
After hearing the child's few words, the man suddenly understood.
They split up to look for the child.
He knew about the argument between mother and daughter, of course.
She didn't know why, either...
"Was it that argument you had before, the one that made you run away?"
His wife had searched the entire house, too.
"And..."
"I understand."
He was the fire extinguisher between the mother and daughter...
The little girl nodded, looking sheepish.
"...Mommy..."
The little girl nodded.
Before today, he'd never imagined that his obedient, well-behaved child would do something so... outrageous...
The little girl spoke again.
But Mommy never did.
"Do you understand?"
His wife immediately panicked and didn't know what to do.
The child had run away from home.
The little girl