Noticing Quanli slowing its pace without realizing it because its thoughts had wandered, Xiao Xiao didn't call out to bring it back to the present. He simply slowed down a little himself.
He looked up at the sky. Even without a blanket of stars, the few scattered ones were beautiful.
Besides, the moonlight was lovely tonight.
The boundless sky no longer felt empty with the moon shining in it.
In the end, Quanli didn't stay.
It left early the next morning.
Xiao Xiao stood behind the window and watched the monster leap onto the wall before disappearing from sight.
When they'd returned the night before and Quanli had seen all the monsters in the courtyard, the look on its face had been so comical, its jaw nearly hitting the floor...
Even now, remembering it, Xiao Xiao couldn't help the corners of his mouth from lifting.
Later, when Quanli came back to itself and its eyes began to shine, he'd thought the monster would stay.
But it told him it was leaving.
He'd been taken aback, but though he felt a little regretful, he'd smiled and asked, "Do you have somewhere you want to go?"
Quanli shook its head.
It told him it just wanted to wander around.
It had watched over the girl as she grew up, then spent a long time looking for her after she'd left without saying goodbye.
That stretch of time was nothing particularly long for a monster, though it would have seemed long to a human. But for some reason, Quanli had felt it really was a long time.
For now, it didn't want to stay in one place again.
Xiao Xiao reached out and patted Quanli's head. "Mm, wandering around sounds nice."
Quanli froze, then shook its head, tossing the human's