Still—
For anyone, if you're sick, you get treated; if there's a problem, you deal with it.
What's the worst thing...
The worst thing is when the person involved has no idea they're sick or that there's a problem...
Because...
If they don't know...
There's no way to talk about fixing it.
And if there's no way to talk about fixing it...
Then it can't be fixed.
That really was the most terrifying thing.
"...Do you know what you were doing just now?"
After watching the Young Scholar for a while, the woodcutter finally spoke.
The Young Scholar, feeling inexplicably uneasy under his gaze, froze.
What...
Had he been doing?
"I..."
The Young Scholar instinctively began to speak.
He had been...
Then he froze.
He had to think.
Just now, he...
"Can't remember?"
The woodcutter raised his brows.
"You were kicking a tree!"
The woodcutter gave him the answer outright.
He wasn't playing some guessing game with the Young Scholar.
Kicking a tree?
The next moment, the Young Scholar's eyes lit up.
He remembered!
Right!
"I was kicking a tree!"
The Young Scholar nodded and answered loudly.
He had been kicking a tree.
The woodcutter fell silent.
The Young Scholar looked delighted to have found the answer.
He hadn't realized how serious the problem was at all.
The woodcutter slowly let out a breath.
Don't rush.
He told himself.
Take it slow.
"...Why were you kicking the tree?"
The woodcutter didn't say how shocked he'd been when he saw the Young Scholar kicking the tree...
Instead, he followed the Young Scholar's train of thought and asked.
That was right.
Why had he been kicking the tree?
Was he venting his frustration?
What had happened to make the Young Scholar so angry?
The