Elven calendar year 995, November 7th.
The southern summer is over. The sun is still shining brightly, but the cool breeze is blowing all over the island, making visitors feel refreshing and refreshed.
"Long time no see, Kong Ming, Hong Na."
The brown-haired young man raised his hand and greeted his friends whom he had not seen for a long time.
It has been more than ten years since he graduated from the police academy and officially became a criminal police officer. Shoichi Matsunaga has gradually transformed from a reckless young man into a stable and experienced policeman. A while ago, the major case that threw the entire Orange Islands into chaos was finally settled. Matsunaga, who got a short vacation, immediately contacted his friends and made an appointment to play together.
And when he saw the appearance of a man and a woman walking towards him, his smile suddenly stiffened.
"...Are you guys exaggerating this too much?"
The two people in front of them had their hands filled with colorful balloons and all kinds of snack packages, piling them up like two Christmas trees in full bloom. When they heard the greetings from their friends, they could only barely raise their elbows to show courtesy.
"Zhang Yi, you came just in time! Come and help me!"
The woman with short purple hair rushed over and stuffed the messy things in her hands into Matsunaga's arms, causing the criminal police officer on vacation to roll his eyes, "I thought the space folding function of the backpack was not that good now." Easy to break?"
"Then we also need hands to hold our backpacks."
The speaker glared confidently, while her husband laughed.
"Sorry, it's rare that I can take Xiaoye out for a trip. I bought too many things without realizing it..."
"Hey, hey, that's not good!"
Seeing that the reckless woman scattered the candies all over the floor after she had just finished speaking, Matsunaga had no choice but to shake his head and join in the process of sorting out the miscellaneous items.
The two people in front of me, who looked like Christmas trees turned into spirits - Hoshiyu Kongmei and Narukami Kurenai, were Matsunaga's best old friends.
They met each other at the police academy, and after graduation, they coincidentally chose to work at the Orange Islands Eastern Police Station in Hasa City. Although they are both criminal police officers, Matsunaga and his two friends belong to different teams and rarely meet each other on weekdays. Coupled with the busy work of the police, recalling the last time they met was even the hasty celebration banquet at the police station a few months ago.
After picking up the scattered candies one by one, Matsunaga looked at the small figure hiding behind the adult.
She was slender and small, almost completely obscured by her father's broad back, with only a trace of light purple hair swaying in the wind.
"Are you Saya?" Matsunaga stepped forward and gave the child a smile that was enough to make Gyarados stop being angry. "I often hear your parents mention you. When we meet for the first time, please... uh."
Before he finished speaking, Matsunaga saw that the little girl stiffened inch by inch from her toes to the top of her hair, as if she had been transformed into a stone sculpture by a immobilization technique. Even her big purple eyes no longer looked wide open in fear. move.
As a southerner, Matsunaga grew up surrounded by monkey-like children. He had never seen such a posture. He was panicked for a moment and also froze in place and was at a loss. Until the girl's father couldn't stand the stalemate between their big eyes and small eyes, and finally couldn't help but smile and shake his head, and gently put his palm on the child's shoulder.
"Don't be afraid, Xiaoye." A man named Xingyu Kongming squatted down, looked into his daughter's eyes and comforted her gently, not caring that his long braids touched the floor tiles and were stained with dust. "This uncle is the one I said before. Good friends. Well...just like you and Miffy, my mother, my mother, and this uncle also grew up together."
After hearing her father's familiar voice, the little girl was gradually lifted from petrification.
She raised her eyes cautiously, and as soon as her eyes met Matsunaga's, she immediately ran away and hid behind her father.
Kong Ming smiled helplessly at his friend and mouthed a silent apology. Matsunaga shook his head and also lowered his voice, "Who is Miffy? The neighbor's child?"
"It's Xiaoye's Cady dog doll."
"Well……"
Matsunaga knew that the toddler in front of him was a somewhat special child.
Unlike Narukami, who is cheerful and even a little bold, Kongming and Hongna's second child has been plagued by illness since birth and spent most of his life in the hospital.
Her parents and brother had been notified of critical illness more than once, and they had even been grievingly prepared to lose their family members. But she survived the most vulnerable years as a newborn. In recent days, her physical condition has gradually improved, and the doctor has allowed her to go out for a short trip - which is nothing short of a miracle for her family.
However, the torture of illness and the long-term closed life in the hospital made the child develop a timid character. Before coming here, the most crowded place she had ever seen was the hospital garden, and she had never talked to a stranger. Thinking about it this way, Matsunaga understood why he could scare the little girl to the point of being shut down on the spot with just one sentence.
"Okay, okay, stop dawdling." Hong Na threw the backpack on his back, "Let's go, Ye Zai, let's go in!"
Facing the hustle and bustle, they entered the most famous amusement park in Hasa City, Hasa Paradise.
Although there are many gaming venues in the South, this is the only place that uses superpowers as its signature. The dazzling array of wonders not only attracted the attention of young children, but also the three adults enjoyed the tour and wanted to queue up immediately to experience a ropeless bungee jump.
Considering that Xiaoye had just been discharged from the hospital not long ago, Matsunaga was really worried and would turn around to look at the little girl being led by her parents from time to time. Not long after shopping, he discovered that his friend's daughter was actually completely different from what he had imagined.
In a paradise full of people, the young child looks trembling, like a poor bird that has been splashed with water. He holds the hands of his parents tightly before he dares to take a step forward. Her body was obviously still very weak. Not only was she unable to run and jump like her peers, but it was also difficult for her to walk fast. Despite this, she did not act like most willful southern children and cry until she was too tired to stand. When he is stable, he will quietly ask his parents to take a rest.
At first, the young girl did not dare to raise her head and look around. After the three childlike adults took turns to experience the rides, she seemed to have slightly adapted to the noisy environment of the playground, and began to quietly raise her eyes to look left and right.
——Although, after accidentally meeting the eyes of the unfamiliar Uncle Matsunaga, the little girl still hid in panic.
Matsunaga laughed, and before his friend spoke, he put his arms around his neck and pressed his long white hair into a mess, "Don't tell me, Xiaoye's personality is quite similar to yours - don't worry too much, we used to Everyone thinks you are a coward, after you have been working as a policeman for more than ten years like a human being."
As soon as he said this, the apologetic look on Kong Ming's face suddenly turned into embarrassment.
"Uh, Zhang Yi, don't mention the past..."
"What does it mean to be a coward!" Hong Na's eyes widened angrily, and she pulled her husband over. "This is called stability and reliability. I could tell at a glance that he was different from you group of noisy boys!"
"Yes Yes."
Matsunaga raised his hands in a perfunctory gesture of surrender, and gave a sympathetic look to Kongming, who was staggering around and unable to breathe.
Looking at his former classmates from the police academy playing around, the detective's mind couldn't help but drift back to his youthful student days.
Xingyu Kongming, who first entered the police academy, was far from as mature and stable as he is now. At that time, he was short in stature and had a timid personality. Even the barking of a police dog could frighten him into trembling. However, Ming Shanghong was a famous thorn in that class. He had a close relationship with his teacher not long after he entered school. They started fighting, and their reputation spread to schools all over the island. When he first discovered that Kurenai was entangled with the shortest white-haired kid in the class, Matsunaga thought he was going to witness a school bullying. With a sense of justice, his classmates rushed to the rooftop where they met - of course, waiting for the young People realized that what they thought was bullying was actually a confession, and their stiff appearance was no less than a hardened armor pupa.
When he lowered his head and saw the purple-haired little girl looking over cautiously, Matsunaga was immediately happy.
"Why, Xiaoye also wants to hear more about your father's embarrassing childhood stories?" the brown-haired young man said with great interest, "I'll tell you..."
"Chapter 1." Kong Mingpi interrupted his friend with a smile, "It's almost noon, why not go find a picnic place first?"
When the sun rose above their heads, the group stopped beside the wide grass and began to prepare lunch.
The colorful picnic cloth was spread neatly, and an exquisite vase was placed in the center, attracting a wonderful cat to fly over and smell the fragrance of the flowers. The young girl opened her eyes wide and stared at the Pokémon curiously.
Her father is shopping for ingredients and is not around for the time being. The little girl seemed a little uneasy, and unconsciously grasped her mother's sleeves with her hands.
"Your father will be back soon." Matsunaga smiled at her comfortingly, and then he was surprised - the child looked at him silently with his round eyes open, but he didn't hide behind Kurenai immediately!
Looking at the short, fluffy hair of the toddler and Miaomiao next to him, Song Yong could not help but feel a little itchy.
Sensing his friend's intention, Kurenai immediately looked over fiercely. But Matsunaga endured the oppressive feeling like a snake's glare and stretched out his hand. He was pleasantly surprised to find that the girl did not struggle to avoid it, but sat in place and obediently accepted his touch.
"...Zhang Yi, what are you doing?"
Kong Ming, who had returned from shopping, looked at his friend's stupid expression of joy, his hand still covering his daughter's head, and he closed his eyes without words.
But Hong was not so polite. She pushed away the distracting hand and flipped through the shopping bag excitedly.
"Did you buy grape soda? I want it iced!"
"certainly."
The four of them laughed and distributed food and drinks, and started picnicking with the aroma of green grass. The naughty Miaomiao flew around them, looking greedy, and quietly took away a few bags of pine nuts at some point.
While chatting, Matsunaga casually picked up the biscuits, but Kong Ming snatched them away before he could open them.
"Hey, hey, didn't I just touch Xiaoye's head, why do I hold a grudge so much?" He said aggrievedly, holding his hungry belly.
The quiet little girl tilted her head, as if she didn't quite understand what her uncle was talking about. Her father also looked puzzled and put another brand of biscuits back into his friend's hands.
"There are peanuts in the ingredients." The white-haired young man raised the food bag that was taken away and gave it to the little girl who blinked in confusion.
Matsunaga was stunned for a moment.
He has been allergic to peanuts since he was a child. In the worst cases, he would suffer from vomiting and diarrhea as long as he ate a little bit of it. However, as he gets older, his allergic symptoms gradually lessen. Now, even if he stuffs a handful of peanuts into his mouth, he will only get a slight abdominal pain. Over time, even he himself doesn't care much about it.
"You guy..."
Matsunaga stared at the bulging shopping bag with dumbfounded eyes. He was just wondering if his friend had read the ingredient list of all the food when he saw Kong Ming give him a look.
The brown-haired young man understood immediately and reached for the elf ball at the end of his waist.
"Xiaoye." The man bent down and looked at the little girl with his warm golden eyes, "Do you still remember the birthday gift I said?"
When the young children heard this, their round eyes immediately lit up.
"This uncle is best at training police dogs, so we asked him to help prepare this time."
Xingyu Kongming took the elf ball from his friend. The girl's sight passed through the translucent spherical shell, and she could vaguely see the sun-like warm orange-red fur inside, as well as the sparkling black eyes.
"——Do you want to meet this child?"
====================
The noisy voices bring back the mind, and the memories fade away again like a phantom.
The former criminal policeman and now the injured soldier actor was stunned for a moment, then suddenly stood up.
In a hurry, he only had time to pick up a crutch, then threw away his wheelchair and stumbled into the square. The owner's sudden dangerous behavior caused the dog to bark repeatedly and circle around the man anxiously, but it still failed to stop him from moving forward with difficulty and impatience.
At this time, the screams of Pokémon and the exclamations of the crowd had already become hazy. The injured soldier - Shoichi Matsunaga stared straight ahead, with only that strange yet familiar figure in his eyes.
He clearly saw that the child was looking down at the book in his hand when he was suddenly pushed and fell to the front of the ring. She seemed to be at a loss as she shook her head and waved her hands, but her peers around her were still laughing and pushing her; and the warriors on the ring seemed to have noticed the commotion, laughing and raising their giant axes and pointing directly at her.
For a moment, everyone's eyes fell on the not tall figure.
Anxiety, emotion and anger kneaded together in the bottom of his heart, impacting his heart in a chaotic manner, urging Matsunaga to speed up his pace. But his numb right leg slowed down his movements. Even with a single crutch to support him, the man dressed as a wounded soldier still staggered and almost fell to the ground.
He struggled through the crowd and reached forward. However, when his fingertips were about to touch the wide, light-colored sleeves, Matsunaga was suddenly startled.
He saw the girl dressed as a prayer girl raising her head, revealing her face hidden by a pointed hat.
The corners of the mouth under the shadow are clearly upward.
====================
small theater:
The praying teacher shook his head and waved his hands at a loss: I haven't remembered a single password. Don't push me to memorize the text! (He panics like a poor student who was called out)
