This time, the girl with slanted ponytail didn't stop the child or tell her not to make noise in public.
She clenched her hands.
She took a deep breath.
Her heart was beating faster and faster in her chest.
Her ears were ringing a little.
The man sitting at a table by the floor-to-ceiling window, eating noodles, kept turning his head to look.
Finally, just as the girl with slanted ponytail passed by him, he hesitantly spoke up,
"Are you..."
"Looking for a little girl?"
"You've seen her?!"
After a brief moment of surprise, the girl with slanted ponytail became very excited.
"That's right!"
"We're looking for a little girl!"
"About his size."
The girl with slanted ponytail pointed at the little boy, who was still running around looking for the girl.
"She's wearing a pink princess dress."
"And she's holding a white lace parasol."
Her features were very distinctive.
She was the kind of child you remembered after seeing her just once.
"Have you seen her?"
"Where is she?!"
The man was startled by the girl with slanted ponytail's excitement.
Without thinking, he leaned back.
His back bumped against the table.
The girl with slanted ponytail realized how excited she was.
She clenched her hands.
"Sorry."
"I got too excited."
"But you must've noticed that we've been looking for her for a long time."
"She's... gone missing."
"How could she have gone missing?"
"But I've looked all over this convenience store..."
As she spoke, the girl with slanted ponytail couldn't help muttering to herself.
Her tightly clenched fingers had turned white.
"Of course you couldn't find her."
The man calmed himself and spoke slowly.
Huh?
The girl with slanted ponytail abruptly looked up.
What did he mean?
"I saw her run out