"Couldn't wake up..." Shu fell silent. Looking at Sirin's disappointed expression, he sighed and gently placed his hand on her head.
Sirin didn't immediately pull away. Only after Shu withdrew his hand did she take a symbolic half-step back.
"What about you then? Why did you stay here?"
"Because Grandpa John said Sirin is amazing!" Sirin's eyes lit up. "He said Sirin can make many, many people like Mommy wake up!"
"Grandpa asked Sirin to stay. Sirin wants to save more people like Mommy, so Sirin stayed!" Sirin proudly put her hands on her hips, peeking at Shu through a slit in her eyes, as if waiting for something.
But Shu paused, frowning slightly.
Sirin's proud expression immediately deflated. She asked cautiously, "Wh-what's wrong? Did Sirin do something wrong?"
Shu shook his head. "No. For Sirin to stay behind to help everyone is very impressive. I admire you greatly."
"But, could you let me see Sirin's arm? I also want to see just how amazing Sirin is."
Sirin suddenly stumbled back two steps, clutching her arm, and turned her face away. "N-No... Grandpa John said, I can't..."
Shu fell silent. He exchanged a look with Joyce, and both saw a hint of gravity in the other's eyes.
He had initially thought Sirin pulled her arm back because she didn't want him to see those marks. Now it seemed... the problem was likely right there on her arm, under that adhesive bandage.
"Alright..." Shu nodded helplessly. "Then can we go with you to see your experiment tonight?"
"How did you know?!" Sirin exclaimed, then remembered that these two had heard John's reminder along with her.
"This..." Sirin hesitated. Grandpa John had said her experiment was top secret and couldn't be known by others.
But Grandpa John couldn't see these two people. It seemed only she could see these two who had suddenly appeared. If these two secretly followed her, wouldn't they definitely see it?
Sirin's little brain whirred, and she instantly came up with a brilliant idea!
"Ahem, alright, I agree!" Sirin put her hands on her hips, feigning importance. "But, you must agree to one condition!"
Shu managed a smile and nodded. "Okay."
"Really?" Sirin was still worried and wanted to confirm again.
"Of course, it's real. Or should we sign a written agreement?" Shu chuckled.
What he feared most was Sirin giving up and not doing the experiment at all.
Now it was just one condition. As long as they could be there, they could figure out what Sirin's problem truly was.
"What's a written agreement?" Sirin tilted her head, asking curiously, then shook her head. "No! We'll pinky swear!"
Shu froze.
A pinky swear... Can such a casual form of agreement really be used in this situation?
"This..." Shu wanted to say, maybe they should draw up a written agreement instead, otherwise he might go back on his word without any psychological burden...
But Sirin shook her head, stubbornly extending her pinky finger towards Shu. "No! I only trust people who pinky swear with me! You, you're not trying to trick me, are you? That's why you won't pinky swear with Sirin!"
Shu: "...No."
"Then pinky swear!" Sirin repeated.
"Pfft..." Joyce, standing beside them, couldn't hold it in any longer. She turned her head and let out a soft laugh, then turned back with a solemn and dignified expression to witness this grand contract ceremony.
"Alright..." Shu sighed and also extended his pinky finger. "We pinky swear."
Sirin's small finger hooked with Shu's. Then, Shu's hand was pulled up and down by Sirin, who chanted rhythmically:
"Pinky swear... cross my heart... a hundred years... no, ten thousand years! Ten thousand years, promise not to change!" Sirin paused, racked her brains for a moment, then said with certainty.
"Whoever changes is a big Demon Lord!"
Shu froze, letting Sirin swing his hand up and down. His eyes were somewhat unfocused, staring ahead.
["Pinky swear, cross my heart... a hundred years... no, no... ten thousand years! Ten thousand years, promise not to change!"]
It seemed... a long, long time ago... before he came to this world, before he had seen the real world... someone else had said that to him too...
That person had also held his hand, making the most solemn promise in this most casual way.
But... that was too long ago... Who that person was, what they looked like, had all quietly faded away in the long river of life, disappearing in a transformation called "growing up," discarded along with a cicada's shell called "naivety"...
Back then, the difference in their hand sizes wasn't so great... But...
It felt like there was such a huge gap between them... a gap so large that the other person was dazzlingly bright, so bright that just getting a little closer would burn him...
"Thumbprint!" Before Shu could react, Sirin pressed her thumb firmly onto Shu's, then retracted her hand with a refreshed air, crossing her arms and humming triumphantly.
Now there's no problem!
Thinking this, Sirin glanced at the wall clock and suddenly realized time was running out.
"Oh no! I'm going to be late!" Sirin scurried past Shu in a panic. Only then did Shu pull himself out of that memory, which had surfaced from an unknown depth.
After retrieving all his lost memories from the Herrscher of Memory at once, Shu often found himself recalling things from a long, long time ago.
Usually, Shu would nip these "rekindled" memories in the bud as soon as they surfaced.
These memories couldn't even provide a shred of positive emotional value. But this time was a little different.
Regarding that blurry figure, although Shu's impression was still filled with stinging pain and suppressed grievances, memories he didn't want to recall, it was, after all, "light"—a light different from the encroaching darkness.
"Shu." Joyce came to Shu's side and clapped her hands, looking at Shu with a somewhat strange expression. "We should go."
Shu snapped back to reality, looked at his hand still in a pinky-swear position, stared at his thumb for a couple of seconds, then nodded, stood up, and prepared to follow Joyce and Sirin.
Seeing Shu quickly return to his nonchalant demeanor, the strange expression on Joyce's face intensified.
"Shu," she couldn't help but say, "did you... forget to ask Sirin what her condition was?"
Shu's body froze. He turned back, looking bewildered.
"Huh?"