The girl's eyes widened.
A staff member straightened the girl's gaze.
"Do you see it?"
The girl was anxious.
She clenched her hands.
No—
"Ah!"
The girl let out a soft cry.
"Did you see it?"
The staff member smiled knowingly.
Yes!
The girl was so excited she couldn't speak.
She could only nod vigorously.
The girl pressed both hands against the glass.
Her nose was pressed against it, too.
She saw it!
She saw it!
The python with red eyes that the girl had been thinking about...
Just like the first time she'd seen it, it was sprawled lazily on the ground, as if resting.
"Is it sleeping?"
the girl murmured softly.
"Maybe."
The short-haired man smiled.
"This snake was born with a lazy temperament."
"It doesn't like moving much."
"Nor does it like being watched."
"So it always sleeps by itself in some secluded corner."
"I couldn't find it once, when I first started here."
"I was terrified."
"If a python like this got out..."
"Who knows what might happen."
"It's venomous, too."
"I looked for it everywhere."
"I was so tired I nearly passed out."
"I was young back then, and I didn't dare tell my supervisor the python was missing."
"I wanted to find it myself, then sneak it back in and pretend nothing had happened..."
The staff member was surprised. "You did something like that?"
"I was young and foolish."
The short-haired man shook his head.
Now, of course, he knew how terrible his actions had been.
If his attempt to hide the truth had led to some irreparable consequence...
He couldn't have taken responsibility for it.
But fortunately...
The man smiled.
"I was lucky."
"Just when I was about to give up..."
He'd been exhausted.