Ema's younger brother

That girl was also sitting on that step today, as if she was waiting for something.

"……good afternoon."

After hesitating for a few days, Ryu Xiangchen finally plucked up the courage to say hello to her.His short, pear-yellow hair hung softly on his head, and his grape-like round eyes looked at her cautiously.

"Well, who are you waiting for?" He nervously grabbed the corner of his clothes, and ran to her side with small steps, "You have never left here, have you? I see you every day after school. "

The child who was anxious to talk to others did not see the strange and surprised expressions of pedestrians looking at him and talking to the blank space in front of him.

"Who are you?"

The girl with waist-length hair didn't answer his question.Her dark eyes stared unblinkingly at Hinata Chen standing in front of her, that focused look and serious attitude eased the tension in Hinata Chen's heart a lot: "My name is Hinata Chen, how about you?"

"……dividend."

The girl who was asked her name tilted her head in confusion, and after thinking for a long time, she gave her answer: "You can call me Hongli."

"Bonus." Ryu Xiangchen stared at her blankly, and suddenly a bright smile appeared on his immature face, "Hey, what are you waiting for?"

At that time, he didn't notice how unreasonable and... dangerous it is for a person who stays in the same place without eating or drinking for a long time.

"I'm waiting for mom and dad." Hongli lowered her pearly eyes, and she held up the brand new doll in front of her, telling Ryu Xiangchen the origin of it in a showy tone, "Look, this is dad Mommy gave me a birthday present, isn't it cute?"

The doll in her hand is exquisitely crafted, and the thought of 'this doll must be very expensive' will unconsciously appear in her mind at a glance.

"Yeah." Hinata Chen, who had no sense of value, nodded in agreement, then lowered his head lonely, "That's great...a birthday present from my parents or something."

"Don't be sad." Hongli blinked his eyes and put on the appearance of a little adult, "If you like it, I will give it to you. Anyway, after my parents come to pick me up, I can ask them for a new one."

"Huh?" Ryu Xiangchen raised his head in surprise, his lost and dull red eyes met with those full of vitality, and after hesitating for a long while, he firmly rejected her enthusiasm, "Treasure the things that parents gave you." It's better - and I'm not very fond of it... very suitable for playing these things."

He paused when he said the last sentence, and changed "I don't like it very much" to "It's not very suitable"—even if he was young, the child with a delicate and sensitive mind still subconsciously chose more euphemistic words.

"That's true." Hongli puffed her cheeks and thought about it—she suddenly patted Hinata Chen's shoulder excitedly, "Then, on your birthday from now on, I'll be your mother to give you a present?"

Hinata Moto: ...

"This is not acceptable!"

"Why not?" Hongli pursed his lips in dissatisfaction, "It's obvious that you really want a gift from your parents - if you don't want me to be your mother, you can ask your parents for a gift."

——The heart suddenly constricted, and the severe pain emptied the brain.

Hinata Chen bit his lower lip and lowered his head, tears pattered down on the ground.

"...Hey, why are you crying?" Hongli put down the puppet in a panic, stood there for a while, and then imitated his mother's movements in memory, stroking Hinata Chen's back again and again, "Okay, okay , don’t cry.”

"Boys have to be strong, and don't cry so casually."

The girl opened her delicate arms to embrace Hinata Chen in front of her. After finally realizing that she had poked someone's sore spot, Hongli's delicate and soft voice was filled with guilt: "When Mom and Dad come to pick me up, I will put Give you a little bit of their love, okay?"

"……sorry."

"Don't cry, Dust."

"I don't want your parents." Hinata, whose eyes were red from crying, muttered to refute the girl's words, and hiccupped pitifully after finishing speaking.

"you--"

The girl who was so angry with his words made a soft 'hum' after seeing him rubbing his eyes, swallowed the words full of anger that had crawled to her mouth, and messed up his soft and smooth hair again. Fa: "It's getting dark, hurry up and go home... Children who run around at night are easy to be caught."

"What about you?" Hinata Chen frowned as if he was thinking about something seriously, "Aren't you going to be taken away?"

"Well...but I've never met a bad guy."

Hongli pursed his lips hesitantly, a bit of fear and timidity appeared on his lovely face.

"If I don't wait here, Mom and Dad won't find me."

"...I see." Ri Xiangchen took a few steps towards home with a small schoolbag on his back, "Then I'm going first?"

"See you."

"...Am I really leaving?"

He turned his head to look at the girl sitting on the stone steps—Hongli hugged the puppet, and waved to him with raised eyebrows. The black-haired and snow-skinned girl looked extremely beautiful.

Hinata was silent for a while, then ran back and sat on the stone steps next to Hongli.The girl's suspicious eyes fell on him: "Chen, aren't you leaving?"

"For me, it doesn't matter if I stay a little longer. Anyway, I don't really want to go home."

Because I don't know how to get along with Ema, I feel awkward and at a loss every time I go home.

"And." Chen reached out and took out the handkerchief in his pocket, and gently wiped away the tears on Hong Li's face, "Don't you know that you are crying? You keep laughing, you look very silly."

dividend:……

"Chen! It's really rude to expose the fact that the girl is crying so directly and make such an evaluation as stupid!" The girl holding the puppet obediently asked Ryu Xiangchen to wipe the tears on her face, frowning seriously reprimanded him, "You will be hated by girls if you do this."

"Eh?!"

Hinata Chen, who finally made his first friend, suddenly became flustered. He hurriedly caught the handkerchief that fell from his hand to the ground, then held the handkerchief and bowed seriously to Hongli: "I'm sorry, please don't hate me."

——To be so formally apologized.

Hongli tilted his head and swayed his legs with a smile, "I will forgive you mercifully!"

"In other words, Chen is like the prince in the story my mother told——in the afterglow of the setting sun, he walked towards the princess in distress step by step, and then bravely and firmly said to the princess, 'Don't be afraid, I will protect you' or something."

She looked longingly at Hinata Chen whose face was flushed with embarrassment, and after a few seconds she lowered her head in desperation: "But the reality is that I comfort Chen and tell him not to cry."

"The roles have been completely reversed!"

Difficultly puffed up his cheeks.

"Is... sorry?"

"What are you apologizing for, idiot Chen." The girl who heard his clear voice hugged the doll and made a face, "It seems like a great story when the heroic prince goes to save Princess Chen."

Dust... Dust princess? !

Ryu Xiangchen tilted his head in confusion, and finally decided to hold back the rebuttal—what if he stopped talking to him after saying the bonus.

The setting sun burns out its last light, the new night covers the world, the bright moon hangs in the sky, and the stars fill the sky one by one.

Reluctantly bid farewell to Hongli, Hinata couldn't have imagined that this was the first time, and perhaps the last time he saw such a normal, lively and cheerful, like a little princess Hongli.

This encounter was not the beautiful encounter of making friends for the first time as he originally thought...but a painful experience that made him understand the difference between ghosts and human beings.

[Bonus is a strong prince]

[So we must defeat the evil dragon and protect everyone]

- the boundary between life and death.

——Sure enough, it is still impossible to cross...?