"You just have to do as I say."
The child's father stared at the child, his expression dark.
"Understood?"
The child was so frightened he couldn't react at all.
The child's mother gently patted the child's back.
"Listen to your father."
"Don't bring up the man-eating sheep again, okay?"
"Did you have another nightmare?"
He wanted to get away from his mother's hand.
"You think the things you want to say are the same."
If that really happened...
We wouldn't be able to sleep either.
"Get some more sleep."
"Good night."
The child's mother: ...
The child instinctively resisted.
But he didn't fall asleep right away.
The man got up.
Instead, he waited until he felt the flutter of the child's eyelashes against his palm subside.
"Why don't you go first?"
The child's mother looked at the child's father. "Shouldn't it be a fairy tale about Daddy Bear, Mommy Bear, and Baby Bear living happily ever after?"
"Le-"
"Why?"
"Mom, Dad..."
He didn't know either.
The old woman was very surprised.
The child's mother shook her head.
The child had only just recovered from a high fever and couldn't bear even the slightest draft.
"How strange..."
"Mom and Dad said Lele had nightmares before, too."
The child's father furrowed his brow even more.
The child's mother nodded.
"What's wrong?"
"...I still can't understand..."
The man looked the child in the eyes, his expression serious.
The man stroked the child's fuzzy hair.
The child's father spoke first.
"But wasn't everything fine earlier, when we were at the hospital?"
An oppressive silence settled between them.
"Lele..."
He made sure the child was wrapped up snugly.
It'd be hard to forget something like that.
How could her child think of such a thing?
"You