"What are you shouting so loudly for?!"
Huahua rose onto her tiptoes and yelled.
She was clearly louder than him.
"Then..."
The short-haired boy's expression changed. "The sheep you saw eating a person..."
"The person being eaten..."
"Could it be..."
"Old Man Mao!?"
The flat-topped boy finished.
Huh!?
Everyone looked surprised.
Including Lele.
She hadn't thought of that...
Her mind was full of that horrifying, bloody scene from that moment.
She couldn't make out the person's face at all.
Even if she had, how would she know whether that person was Old Man Mao?
She had never seen Old Man Mao.
She didn't know what he looked like.
But her companion's words reminded her.
That's right.
That was Old Man Mao's house.
The person being eaten...
Wasn't the most likely person... Old Man Mao?
Silence spread among the children.
"Should we go?"
Huahua looked a little uneasy.
When a character in a story was someone you knew, it was as if they stepped out of the realm of fantasy...
They seemed much more real.
And the shock they brought was much stronger.
"Why shouldn't we?"
The flat-topped boy waved his hand.
"There are so many of us."
"What are we afraid of?"
"And aren't you curious?"
"A sheep that eats people!"
"How could that be real?" someone muttered.
"It is real!"
Lele trusted her own eyes.
"Whether it's real or not..."
The flat-topped boy grinned.
"Why don't we go and see?"
"We can treat it like an adventure."
"Wouldn't that be fun?"
The others looked at one another.
Then nodded.
Mm.
All right.
"Then let's go."
The flat-topped boy swept his hand forward.
He had a certain carefree, triumphant air about him.
"Oh~"
The other children chimed