Probability
Following the child's gaze, they looked over.
"...Anna."
The child's mother took a deep breath.
"Where?"
"The shadow you saw..."
"Where exactly was it?"
"Mom..."
The child's mother glanced at the man. "Dad didn't see it either."
The little girl with the mushroom-cut hair froze.
Her face was blank, and she looked a little lost.
"...It..."
The little girl with the mushroom-cut hair was so anxious she could barely get the words out. "It's, it's right there."
"...What did it look like?"
The man, having found nothing again, turned back and asked a different question.
The little girl with the mushroom-cut hair parted her lips slightly.
Ah.
She shook her head.
"I can't see it."
The little girl with the mushroom-cut hair spoke softly. "...It's facing away from us."
"It's getting farther and farther away."
"Dad, Mom..."
The little girl's voice grew softer and softer.
The way her parents looked at her made her feel uneasy.
Had she...
done something wrong?
"Anna."
The child's mother furrowed her brows.
This child...
"Did you really see a shadow?"
The child's mother asked again.
The little girl with the mushroom-cut hair nodded more and more slowly.
Should she...
not be nodding?
But...
she had seen a shadow.
If she didn't nod...
wouldn't she be lying to her parents?
Lying was wrong.
That was what her parents and teachers had told her.
The little girl with the mushroom-cut hair had always remembered.
The child's mother looked at the man.
She wasn't sure what to do.
This was the first time she'd encountered a situation like this.
"Should we..."
She looked conflicted, her voice a little hoarse. "...take her to see a doctor?"
The man instinctively shook his head.
Then he realized what he