“We’re going to see big brother. Big brother is happy when he sees Ray~!”

Ray, holding Arinne’s hand with one and Calon’s with the other, hummed a strange song that was clearly his own composition.

“When he sees big sister, crack crack! He gets startled~!”

“?”

Arinne raised one eyebrow. The lyrics rubbed her the wrong way.

“Why does he get startled?”

“Because he’s scared~”

Ray answered while happily shaking his small head left and right.

Calon stood beside them, obliviously curling his lips.

‘Oh really?’

Arinne, who didn’t miss that, glared at Calon.

“Is that funny?”

“I didn’t laugh.”

Calon closed his mouth in a straight line like he’d never laughed at all.

“Big sister, how long have you and Calon known each other? I’ve known Calon for five years!”

“That’s impressive.”

Despite her insincere answer, Ray puffed out his chest with a proud face, not caring one bit.

“Big brother and Calon have been, uh, what was it… Well, that long anyway!”

“Oh. Really?”

“And Dad has known him even longer!!”

“Cool.”

“Right? It’s cool!!”

Arinne had absolutely no idea why Ray was bragging or what he was even bragging about.

“You handle children well.”

Calon lowered his voice and spoke only to Arinne. Unlike before, his still-calm tone now held a bit more goodwill.

“In what way?”

Arinne asked the reason, puzzled. Handle them well? She’d been in a constant state of ‘what am I supposed to do’ the whole time.

Even now, all she’d done was nod appropriately at Ray’s words and respond half-heartedly.

“Well. In what way, you ask…”

“Jade!”

Just when Calon was about to explain, Ray shouted.

“He’s over there!”

Ray, with one hand held by Arinne and the other by Calon, pointed with his foot instead of his hands.

On one side of the training grounds, Jade was beating a straw dummy with a wooden sword.

“Whoa.”

Just then—

Jade’s wooden sword split the straw dummy halfway through. A child not even ten years old had split a straw dummy halfway through with his own strength alone.

“Jade!!! Big brother!!”

Ray jumped up and down in place, hands still held, cheering for Jade.

“…!”

Only then noticing the three people’s presence, Jade’s face turned bright red.

Ray was busy bragging to Arinne about how cool his brother was, and Calon approached Jade first.

“Well done.”

Calon pulled out the wooden sword stuck halfway through the straw dummy and returned it to Jade.

“No, it wasn’t…”

Jade spoke curtly and turned his head sharply away.

He was upset about not being able to cut through the straw dummy completely, and on top of that, he felt embarrassed that other people had seen it.

“This is doing well.”

“I didn’t do well…”

Jade, who pressed his lips tightly shut at the end, shook his head every time Calon praised him.

Succeeding halfway meant failing halfway. If it wasn’t perfect, it was useless. So failing halfway was just failure to Jade.

Calon let out a faint sigh at the child’s stubborn appearance.

“Calon!! I want to go swoosh swoosh too!”

Ray rushed at Calon. Ray clung to Calon’s legs and threw a tantrum.

“I’ll let you when you turn seven.”

“S-six instead…!”

“Seven.”

“Siiiix! No, five!!”

Stubborn in a different way, Ray joined in. Calon’s sigh deepened.

“Me too! I’m going to do it!!”

“Not yet.”

“Why!!”

Calon and Ray bickered like spear and shield with “you can” and “you can’t.”

“Were you practicing?”

While those two were at it, Arinne came in front of Jade and asked while examining the half-split straw dummy closely.

Jade flinched in surprise with a crack! just like the lyrics of Ray’s original song.

“I-I’m usually g-good at it…”

Looking extremely tense, Jade hung his head low. Then he poured out excuses.

“That, th-that one… the straw was a bit, damp today… so it doesn’t cut well… and it’s a wooden sword so there’s no blade… it’s blunt…”

Jade rambled incoherently in such a small voice that you wouldn’t know what he was saying unless you listened carefully.

Arinne had simply asked if he’d been practicing. She hadn’t scolded Jade or blamed him for only being able to do this much.

Yet Jade thought she was reproaching him. No, it felt like she would reproach him.

If that woman looked at me with indifferent eyes and asked why I couldn’t even accomplish something like that, what should I answer? Should I say I did wrong? Should I say I’m sorry? 

What do I do? What excuse should I make?

Such thoughts filled Jade’s head.

“Whatever you say… you’re someone who has… nothing to do… with me… and I don’t… care…”

Jade’s voice became heavier and heavier, choked with tears.

Jade sensed that the woman had nothing to do with him and probably wouldn’t interfere with others unless necessary.

Jade glanced at the straw dummy he’d cut partway through, then lowered his gaze diagonally again.

Calon had said even doing that much was good, but he was soft only on Jade. Jade knew that too.

In Jade’s own view, it was a mess. It might look that way to Arinne’s eyes too.

‘Jade, my baby. You have to do well. You must do everything well.’

Something from deep in his memory wrapped around Jade’s body from toes to head and crawled up unpleasantly.

“I, I don’t care. Really…”

He felt like he might cry strangely because this situation was scary.

“I’m usually better…”

“Jade?”

Arinne sighed and placed her hand on Jade’s head with a thunk.

“…”

Only then did Jade’s trembling stop.

Jade slowly regained his senses and looked up at Arinne with eyes that seemed about to cry any moment.

Arinne naturally slid her hand that was on Jade’s head.

At the touch that seemed to stroke his head as it moved away, Jade’s expression crumpled a bit more.

“That was cool.”

“…”

Did well, didn’t do well. Succeeded, failed. Won, lost.

For Jade, who had the habit of thinking only in two ways, Arinne’s words were quite a shock.

“…I didn’t do well.”

So at first, he thought she’d chosen the wrong answer.

“You did well enough.”

“I’m telling you I didn’t?”

At Arinne’s murmur, Jade spoke somewhat accusingly, feeling indignant.

He didn’t know why he kept getting irritated and throwing tantrums only with that woman.

“I’m saying I didn’t do well!!”

At Jade’s shout, even Calon and Ray’s gazes turned toward the two.

Just when Calon was about to approach them, Arinne spoke indifferently.

“It’s okay not to do well.”

It was a very calm voice without even any inflection.

Jade slowly relaxed his crumpled face and looked at her with eyes that said he couldn’t understand her.

“Just because it’s not done well doesn’t mean it’s done poorly. It’s enough if you’re working hard.”

Jade found her annoying for treating what was a big deal to him like it was nothing, yet strangely his heart stirred.

Even though it was a combination of simple words, her words sounded like unfamiliar words he was hearing for the first time in his life.

‘Witch…’

Jade moved his lips very slightly without making a sound. It was because he couldn’t find words to represent his feelings.

* * *

Lawrence returned to the mansion only after the sun had set. After receiving reports from Calon and the butler about what happened during the day, he pushed aside his remaining documents and fell into thought.

So it was true that Jade had shouted at that eastern lady.

Unlike at the plaza, this time there were many witnesses. Moreover, since Calon had seen it directly, there was no room for doubt this time.

Lawrence hesitated while about to ring the bell. Withdrawing his hand, he organized his seat and stood up with determination.

Lawrence, who went up to the third floor, hesitated for a moment in front of Jade’s door.

It had been a long time since he’d come directly to the child’s room.

“D-Dad?”

“I have something to say… so I came.”

The air between Lawrence and Jade collided awkwardly.

“Why did you come directly… instead of calling for me…”

Lawrence came all the way to Jade’s bed. Jade followed him in with his head hung low, exactly like a child about to be scolded.

“Jade. Is it true that you shouted at our guest during the day?”

“…”

Jade bit his lip.

Lawrence read from the child’s expression that it was true.

“Are you going to be angry?”

“…No. I just came to confirm.”

Lawrence shook his head. What right did he have to scold Jade?

Jade wasn’t a child who treated others carelessly. Even if he wasn’t affectionate or innocent in personality, he was more mature than his peers and knew what could be a flaw.

If Jade had acted emotionally, there must have been a reason.

“Still… apologize to the lady.”

Lawrence didn’t know how to ask and hear that reason.

“Yes, I’m sorry…”

“Go on then. Rest now.”

Without the reward of having gathered courage to visit the child, Lawrence chose avoidance once again.

“…”

Lawrence stopped walking at the door. With clenched fists, he spoke without turning back to look at Jade.

“If… you do apologize… I’ll go with you.”