The little girl shook her head.
She was wide awake now.
What Mom had said earlier—that she might never see her parents again—had scared her.
The little girl wasn't sleepy at all.
"If you're not tired..."
The woman saw that the child's eyes were bright and alert. Smiling, she said, "Then let's talk."
"Come here."
"Sit down."
She recalled what she had said to the child.
As he listened to the woman talk, the man's brows furrowed.
But he hadn't expected...
"Ah..."
The man continued, "Yes."
So she really had suspected him.
"Mom apologized to her, too."
She climbed onto Mom's bed.
"You saw the night-blooming cereus?"
Mom...
Her eyes shone. His brows drew tighter and tighter.
As long as Mom spoke kindly to her for a little while, Big Boy would stop being angry with her.
Big Boy had his arms around the spot where the teddy bear's head joined its body.
The man looked at the child, his emotions complicated.
But she also loved it when Mom and Dad patted her head.
She didn't understand.
That was more or less what it meant.
"Super—"
The man's lips curled into a smile.
"Mom accepts your apology."
She felt very uneasy inside.
Guide the child, encourage her to learn from capable people, show her what capable people were like, and help her understand what she wanted to aim for...
"We were both in the wrong."
A trace of confusion appeared in her eyes.
"You were wrong to run away from home."
"A very capable grown-up."
"Why did you go out at night?"
Soon, a faint smile bloomed across the little girl's face.
But then...
"Mm."
Just be a quiet audience member.
The little girl continued the motion she'd been interrupted in.