episode_0283

Donut photo.

It was just a picture of a donut, nothing special, like the ones you see anywhere.

I flipped the photo over and checked out the other photos.

I could never figure out why photos taken from similar angles looked so familiar.

After tilting his head and looking at the photo for a while, Prin took back his phone and said.

“There’s nothing special about it, but it makes me feel a little better knowing that the doctor hasn’t forgotten about us.’

I listened to Prin’s words and tapped the table with my hand that was resting on it.

“I liked donuts, though.”

Words that came out as a light mutter.

It was clearly my own words, but I wasn’t even aware that I was saying them.

Shine’s gaze turns to me.

Under her intense gaze, it was only then that I realized that I had opened my mouth.

“Jeff. You…”

The moment I received that gaze, I was able to open my mouth with surprisingly calm composure.

“Does Shine hate donuts? I like them.”

“What did you mean just now?”

Slightly digress from the topic of conversation.

But Shine’s gaze was still the same.

At that intense gaze, I opened my mouth again.

“I was saying that I like donuts too. There’s a donut company that my grandfather gave me.”

Shine barely nodded in response to my answer.

I sighed in relief and lowered my head without her noticing.

The words that suddenly came out were not mine.

Baby.

Dismissal-

Little Amy answered my call, crackling, crackling, sending out tiny sparks.

Did you do it?

Little Amy was greatly embarrassed by my question.

A little girl deep inside starts running around.

It was as if I was afraid of the punishment I was going to receive, so I had no choice but to console her.

It’s okay. It’s nothing. The baby won’t get in trouble.

I consoled little Amy, suppressing the sparks rising up her arms.

At my words, the little girl stopped jumping and sank into her seat.

As expected, what little Amy said just now was exactly what she said.

I tapped the table again with my fingers.

The pork cutlet on the plate was getting cold, but I wasn’t even touching it.

“Jeff, you’re not going to eat that?”

Since I wasn’t eating my tonkatsu, Rain, who had ruined my hamburger steak, started coveting my tonkatsu.

With her chubby cheeks and the sauce around her mouth, she really looked like a little child.

I moved my wrist lightly.

Although I didn’t have much strength, I was able to cut the pork cutlet into bite-size pieces with a snap of my wrist.

“Just eat two.”

“Wow!”

As soon as I gave permission, Rain took a bite of the pork cutlet with a fork, rejoicing like a child.

Little Amy was born with a part of my consciousness.

So, she is also someone I can call me.

So, does that mean I brought it up?

No, now little Amy and I were completely separate.

The state of not being able to see each other as the same person.

So then why did I bring that up?

Could it be that little Amy can move my body?

“Jeff. Where is that weird place?”

“No. That’s not true.”

At the sight of Shine asking with concern, I shook my head and shoved the pork cutlet into my mouth.

The lukewarm, crispy texture filled my mouth.

After lunch, just before parting ways with Prin, Shine received pictures of donuts from her.

I approached her and asked her why.

“Why did you get that? Does Shine like donut pictures too?”

“No. I thought it might be useful.”

I tilted my head at her words.

The photo was so ordinary.

All there was was a large table and a plate of donuts on it.

When Shine returned to the classroom, she didn’t take out her book.

Instead, she took out a small notebook.

It was something I usually carried around with me, but never used outside of gaming.

“Want to play a game?”

“No.”

I thought Shine would log into the game for sure.

But Shine shook her head as if my expectations were wrong and took out her cell phone.

Shine glanced at Appleton and whispered to me in a small voice.

Appleton seemed too busy examining the newly taken photographs of Prin to bother with the place.

“Prin doesn’t know much. He doesn’t know the doctor’s name or where he is, so he has to gather information in other ways.”

Shine transferred the picture of the donuts she had received from Prin to her laptop and started searching using the picture.

The first thing I looked for was the brand of donuts.

Once you figure out where the type is sold, open the map and mark where that brand is located.

The next thing I found was the brand name of the table underneath the donut plate.

When I turned to image search, several similar tables came up.

Shine picks out a few of the most similar ones, and again marks on the map where those tables are sold.

“There are too many?”

“Okay…”

Shine groaned as she looked at the dots marked on the map.

There were too many.

Are you saying there were this many donut shops and tables for sale?

“Let’s narrow the distance between the two stores a little.”

Shine started sorting again.

The distance between stores is a little closer.

Then the number of points displayed on the map was reduced by half.

Even if it was reduced by half, it was still a lot.

So many that you can’t count them all on your ten fingers, and so many that you can’t even count them all if you use your toes.

Shine bit her lip hard, as if she had encountered an unexpected difficulty.

“Ugh…”

“Hey. Shine. Wouldn’t it be better to tell Amy about this?”

“No.”

At my suggestion, Shine firmly refused.

I couldn’t help but tilt my head at that answer.

But I didn’t ask why.

If she didn’t like it, then she didn’t like it.

“But, one or two days won’t be enough to see everything here. Even if you go out and check every day, it’ll take at least a year.”

As I said, there were over 500 places marked on the map.

Even if you check one area once a day, it would take more than 500 days.

But that was a plan that assumed that you could go outside once a day.

In the current situation, it is absolutely impossible.

Shine also seemed to know that fact, and let out a deep sigh.

“I’ll have to be satisfied with this for today.”

Shine muttered quietly and closed the laptop.

So, an ordinary lunch time passed.

With only the last afternoon class left, I checked my schedule and called my grandfather.

Something came up last week and I couldn’t invite Appleton over to my house.

So I’ll definitely invite her this week.

After a few rings, the call was connected immediately.

[Jeff?]

“Yes. It’s Jeff.”

A familiar voice coming from the other end of the phone brings a smile to my face.

It was always a pleasure talking with my grandfather.

[Okay. What’s going on?]

There was a sense of leisure in my grandfather’s voice.

Fortunately, it seems like things aren’t too busy.

I cleared my throat and opened my mouth.

“Hmm… You know, last week, you said you were going to go out with a friend, right? But something came up and you couldn’t go.”

[Yeah, that happened.]

“So, can I come over and play this weekend?”

[This weekend? Wait a minute.]

“Yes~”

[Yeah. This week, this week. Wait…]

I waited for my grandfather’s answer with an anxious expression.

10 seconds, 20 seconds, anxious time passes.

After about a minute, my grandfather’s voice was heard again.

[Yeah, you have some free time this week. Come by anytime.]

“Wow~ Really? You’re not trying too hard, are you?”

[It was nothing. It’s okay.]

The image of my grandfather answering in a light voice comes to mind.

That’s the sight of her always smiling brightly whenever Shine and I visit.

After I finished the call, I ran straight to the classroom.

It was to tell this good news to Shine, Lane, and Appleton.

“Appleton! Shine! Rain!”

As I ran into the classroom shouting loudly, many eyes turned to me.

If it were normal, I would have been embarrassed and hid under the desk, but now I didn’t have time to worry about that.

“Jeff? Why are you so excited?”

Appleton looks at me and asks a question.

I approached her and opened my mouth.

“Are you free this weekend?”

“Time?”

“Yeah. Grandpa said I can come over this weekend.”

“Really?”

Appleton clapped his hands in delight at my words.

How much must one have wanted to come to the world to have such an intense reaction?

I opened my mouth and took her hand.

“Yeah! Really. I really wish Appleton would come visit.”

“I’ll go! I’ll go! I’ll definitely go!”

Appleton’s joining has been decided.

I immediately took my notebook out of my pocket and revised my schedule.

Actually, I was planning to binge-watch [The Little Witch’s Great Adventure] this weekend.

I just drew lines over it and added little notes.

[Go to grandpa’s house and play.]

It was a really perfect schedule.

As I was scribbling away with my pen with such an excited expression on my face, Shine asked me.

“Are you going to see your grandfather this weekend?”

“Ugh. Sorry. Shine. I made that decision without consulting you.”

“I don’t care if Jeff decides.”

Shine nodded in response, not feeling offended at all.

I looked away from her and looked at Lane, who was sleeping face down on the desk.

She was in a deep sleep, so it was clear she didn’t hear me.

But it didn’t matter.

You can just take Rain with you.

“Hmm…”

At that moment, as if something occurred to her, Shine took out her phone and started writing a text message.

I glanced at the screen, and saw that he was texting his grandfather.

“What did you send?”

When I asked Shine after she finished sending the text, she answered with an indifferent expression.

“I sent you a message asking if it would be okay if I brought a cat.”

“Cat…?”

“Yeah.”

The moment Shine answered, Bbi-rong-!

Grandfather’s reply arrived.

“What did you say?”

“You can bring it.”

As Shine said, the grandfather’s reply contained the message that it was okay to bring the cat.

cat.

A small and cute cat.

The cat that Shine was talking about was definitely Prince.