Lin Ze woke to the cheerful sounds of the children playing.
"One... two... three... hop..."
"...Hup... hup..."
"Very good, Qiqi. You're doing great~"
"Qiqi can... play hopscotch too... Mm... thank you, Nahida... for teaching Qiqi..."
"My turn, my turn! Ready... one, two, ow!"
A loud thud! from the other side of the wall jolted the still-drowsy Lin Ze out of bed. Without even stopping to put on his shoes, he threw open the door and rushed out.
"What happened? What happened? Who fell?!"
A thick carpet covered the living room tiles outside his door, with another layer of children's foam mats patterned with squares laid over it. Nahida, Qiqi, and Paimon were happily playing hopscotch on top.
The noise had come from Paimon accidentally falling while playing.
Having landed hard on her bottom in front of her friends, Paimon sat on the carpet looking a little discouraged. She stamped her little feet, seemingly quite bothered by her embarrassing tumble.
"Don't make such a fuss, Traveler. It was just me! Nahida and Qiqi were playing a game, and I wanted to play too, so I gave it a little try. Honestly, why can't we play hopscotch in the air? Then I wouldn't have to come down to the ground."
Clearly, Paimon's experience on the ground was limited to walking. For someone who spent so little time on her feet, even running was a difficult challenge, let alone a game like hopscotch that required knee movement and balance.
Nahida smiled at Paimon's words. "That's probably because most people can't fly like you, Paimon. But that was a very original idea. Perhaps it really could become possible someday."
Qiqi couldn't find any words to comfort Paimon. She simply took her friend's hand and quietly helped her stand again.
"Let's play... together..."
Paimon was