Two Choices
The old woman pointed to her own head.
"There's something wrong up here."
Huh?
The ponytailed girl's mouth fell open.
She was too young to really understand what the old woman meant.
Something wrong up there?
But the ponytailed girl's heart began to beat uneasily.
"Mm."
The old woman nodded.
"He saw things that weren't there."
"So he often acted strangely when he was alone."
"And said strange things,"
"Hal... lucinations?"
The ponytailed girl's eyes widened.
The unfamiliar word left her confused.
"It means seeing something and thinking it's real when it actually isn't."
Noticing that she'd made it sound confusing, the old woman explained, "For example, like you said, you saw him talking to someone, but then realized there wasn't anyone in front of him."
"That's because he was hallucinating."
"In his eyes, he really was talking to someone or something."
"But in reality, that person or thing wasn't there at all."
"To other people, he looked like he was talking to himself."
"...That's weird."
"Isn't it?"
The old woman smiled gently at the child.
Mm.
The ponytailed girl nodded silently.
It was weird.
It had given her goosebumps all over.
"Next time you see him, don't go near him."
The old woman warned the child.
"We've all told the children to stay away from that man."
"We keep our distance from him, too."
"Normal people shouldn't have contact with people who have something wrong with their minds."
"It can have a bad influence on you."
"Though having something wrong with your mind... isn't contagious..."
The old woman muttered, "Who knows?"
Especially when it came to children.
Their values had yet to take shape.
Spending too much time with someone who wasn't normal really could affect them.
"You did the