"Y-Why don't you seem to be happy every day?!"

With that shred of reason, Keiko Hatoyama shouted out this shocking sentence to the boy.

[Ah...... Messed up ......]

As soon as this sentence was shouted, Keiko Hatoyama reacted instantly, and she suddenly had no love.

Why are you unhappy every day?

Isn't this nonsense?

If my life is going well, there is no pressure to survive, I have what I want, and good things happen every day, will I still be unhappy?

Her question is essentially similar to the emperor who asked "Why don't you go to eat meat" in ancient times......

How could she ask such a stupid question?!

However, Keiko Hatoyama still wanted to defend herself, in fact, what she really wanted to express at that time meant:

You see, I'm sick like this, I have to undergo countless treatments and examinations every day, and I have to go out and play all kinds of restrictions even once......

But even so, I'm trying to live my day as happily as I can, trying not to waste any time.

So, don't you make that bad face anymore, okay?

To be sure, her thoughts at the time were naïve and naïve, happiness was simple, but suffering was different, and how could she freely bring her own suffering to others.

The boy has amazing maturity and intelligence, and even with such offensive words, he seems to have spied into Keiko Hatoyama's heart.

So, in Keiko Hatoyama's self-defeating and loveless expression, he nodded slowly.

Although he still had that cold look, he opened his mouth to thank her.

"Thank you."

Why are you unhappy every day?

Thank you.

This conversation, in the eyes of outsiders, is simply a bull's head and a horse's mouth.

But the two parties each understood what the other party really wanted to express.

Later, Keiko Hatoyama learned that because he lived nearby, the boy actually knew about the fact that Hatoyama's family had a frail eldest lady very early.

It was precisely because of this that he could react to Keiko Hatoyama's seemingly offensive words at this moment.

[I、I didn't mess up! He knows what I mean! 】

Hearing the boy's thanks, in an instant, Keiko Hatoyama, who was already cold, rose into flames again.

In the future, every time Keiko Hatoyama thinks about this incident, she is sure countless times that she must have been a faceless and skinless scumbag in her last life.

Because, at that time, driven by the blazing flame that had rekindled in her heart, she actually stepped forward directly, walked side by side with the boy very familiarly, and at the same time asked repeatedly with curiosity and excitement:

"Well, can you tell me your name?"

The boy turned his head to look at her.

"Shirakawa Kiyoshi."

"White River...... Clear? Sounds like a clean name...... How old are you? I think we're both about the same age......"

"Twelve."

"Uh-huh! I'm thirteen, and it looks like I'm a year older than you! ”

The advantage of age made Keiko Hatoyama suddenly proud.

"Then I'll call you Xiaoqing directly in the future, right? Is that good? ”

Keiko Hatoyama could clearly feel that after she said this, there was a look of doubt in the boy's beautiful eyes.

Maybe at that time, he seemed like an idiot who casually accosted a little boy on the street...... No,, right?

But Keiko Hatoyama ignored it directly.

"Xiaoqing, if you have no objection, then let's just say it?"

The boy silently withdrew his gaze and said nothing.

"And huh! Xiaoqing, your eyes are so beautiful! It's the first time I've seen someone with purple pupils? Is this genetic? ”

"Hmm."

Fortunately, the boy was still willing to deal with her and nodded.

"Mom or Daddy?"

"Mom."

"That Xiaoqing, your mother must be a very beautiful person!"

"Hmm."

Although Shirakawa Kiyoshi's replies were always very brief, from the fact that he didn't push her away, Keiko Hatoyama could sense that the boy didn't have any problems, at least psychologically.

The kind of indifference he showed to reject people from thousands of miles away was only influenced by his environment, not some kind of flaw in his heart.

"In other words, why does Xiaoqing go to and from school so punctually every day? Can't you remember the wrong time? ”

"Habit."

In fact, the bruise on Shirakawa's face at that time had not completely disappeared, but Keiko Hatoyama did not ask this question again, because she could already clearly feel that the boy was by no means the kind of bully who would like to bully others.

The bruise on his face could only have been caused by bullying.

The two of them chatted all the way...... Although he said this, it was actually Keiko Hatoyama who was saying it, and the boy was simply responding.

Accompanied by the old butler, they walked a few hundred meters down the street to a place in front of the old town.

It was only then that the boy finally stopped and spoke to her for the first time.

"I'm almost home, you can go back."

"Why don't you invite a good friend you just met to your house?"

But Keiko Hatoyama didn't leave like that, she wanted to know more about the boy.

And the old butler, who had been following her, opened his mouth when he heard this, and he wanted to say something and stopped, but in the end he didn't say anything.

When the boy heard this, he was silent for a while before he spoke again:

"My mom doesn't really like to have guests at home."

"What about you?"

Keiko Hatoyama looked at him and asked a very cunning question.

"Xiaoqing, do you want me to come to your house as a guest?"

Her rhetorical question is really very cunning.

She pinched on the fact that the boy was saying "Mommy" and not himself, and tried to force the boy to speak directly.

Because at that time, she had already noticed that the boy did not have any rejection of her.

Keiko Hatoyama swore that if the boy really said something like "I don't want to either", then she would not pestering her again and leave immediately.

But the boy did not, and he was silent for a while, and then said nothing, and walked in the direction of the house.

He didn't say yes, but he didn't say no.

That's already the best statement.

Keiko Hatoyama was very happy, because she suddenly realized that it was the first time she had communicated with each other, but she seemed to understand the boy's inner thoughts, and she seemed to be able to easily interpret any subtle actions of him.

So, she quickened her pace and followed.

And behind her, the old butler, after sighing helplessly, also followed.

In this way, following this boy, Keiko Hatoyama went to his house for the first time.

It was there that she finally got to know this special boy in its entirety.

(˙ー˙)

(End of chapter)