The child didn't want Mom and Dad to cry.
For so long, she felt like she'd gotten used to this kind of life.
She'd also gotten used to opening her eyes and seeing not the ceiling at home, with its flower-shaped light fixtures, but the bare ceiling of the hospital room.
And the smell of disinfectant, which she'd smelled countless times but still didn't like.
She could put up with all of that.
As long as Mom and Dad looked at her with smiles on their faces.
Then she felt like she was smiling too.
Xiao Xiao's expression was calm.
He didn't interrupt the child.
Nor did he show any of the expressions she'd seen so many times and still found unsettling—or, rather, disliked.
That made the child feel at ease.
She liked smiles.
She didn't like it when people looked at her with expressions that said how pitiful she was.
Maybe she really was pitiful.
She knew that.
So she didn't need people to keep telling her again and again.
It would annoy her.
She... wasn't actually that pitiful...
Look.
Today, she'd gotten a miracle all to herself.
She was so happy.
She hadn't been this happy in so long.
The maple trees stretching across her entire field of vision were so beautiful.
"Knock, knock~"
There was a knock at the door.
The sudden sound startled the child.
She whipped around.
"Bao Bao."
Orange's voice came from outside the door.
"Mom!"
The child called out loudly in answer.
Xiao Xiao's eyes curved slightly.
He reached out and patted the child's head.
"Bao Bao."
"Do you want to see the maple leaves again?"
The child looked up at Xiao Xiao in an instant.
Her eyes were astonishingly bright.
Yes!
She