If You Wish to Have Me - Chapter 117

After that, Kisa simply followed behind the red-haired boy who moved efficiently on his own.

Although he had said this was his first time coming to this area, the boy showed no signs of hesitation or intimidation whatsoever.

“Excuse me. Is there perhaps a place nearby where cats often gather?”

While Kisa froze up completely in front of strangers, the boy casually threw out questions…

“Hey, you kids. I’ll give you this if you catch that cat running away over there. I’ll give one more to whoever succeeds.”

When he spotted a cat that looked similar to Mustache Jack, he would call over passing neighborhood children and naturally lure them with coins.

The boy, who seemed very accustomed to giving orders to others, examined the captured tabby cat and then cast his gaze toward Kisa.

Though it resembled Jack, it wasn’t him, so Kisa quietly shook her head. The scar was on the forehead area rather than around the eye, to be precise.

The boy then turned his head and gave the promised reward to the young hunter.

“Good work. You can let the cat go.”

After the children left chattering noisily, Kisa quietly swallowed a sigh.

For quite some time, they had examined countless cats, but Jack was nowhere to be seen.

‘Where on earth did you go, Jack…….’

She wondered whether they could really find him in time, but Kisa forced herself to shake her head.

She had to do her best until the very end. Even this boy she’d just met today was helping her search diligently.

Just then, the boy, who had been conversing with a passerby some distance away, brought new information.

“There’s an old person living on that hill who feeds stray cats every day. So many cats gather there, apparently. Let’s hurry over.”

“Y-yes!”

Following behind the boy, Kisa whispered something she’d wanted to say for a while.

“I’m sorry. I haven’t been much help.”

All Kisa did was confirm whether it was Jack or not; everything else was entirely the boy’s responsibility.

However, despite this uneven distribution of roles, the boy showed not the slightest bit of dissatisfaction and silently carried out his assigned tasks.

As if he were handling an assignment given by a tutor.

“It’s fine. I’m the one who told you not to step forward.”

True to his words, before they began their full-scale search, the boy had been the one to declare he would handle most things himself.

Though he showed no particular expression, Kisa understood better than anyone why the boy had done so.

‘Because he has no expectations whatsoever.’

The same look her father, Count Vansfelt, had shown her countless times.

Just as Kisa’s mood was about to sink, the boy’s footsteps stopped.

Hahaha—along with laughter, a family of three passed in front of the two.

A young couple and a little girl. Kisa found herself unconsciously drawn to their happy-looking appearance.

She even watched as the three entered the gate of a small house.

The beautiful pastel-colored building looked like a house from a fairy tale, appearing to be the perfect dwelling for a happy family.

“What are you looking at so intently?”

Just then, the boy’s voice awakened Kisa from her reverie.

“Huh? Oh, sorry for spacing out!”

She had assumed he was scolding her for being lost in thought for so long, but looking carefully, that didn’t seem to be the case.

“Is there something interesting?”

The boy looked in the direction Kisa had been staring and asked.

“Do you like that house?”

“Oh, yes. That’s right.”

Too embarrassed to say she envied the family of three, Kisa simply nodded.

“The house is really pretty.”

But it wasn’t entirely a lie. The cute houses she’d often noticed while passing through the streets in carriages recently had something that captured Kisa’s heart.

Moreover, having just seen the family living in that house made it seem to shine even brighter.

“So that’s what you call pretty.”

The boy seemed rather unimpressed with Kisa’s words, his face indifferent.

“If the exterior is such a light color, any stains would stand out more, requiring more maintenance work. Besides, seeing how it doesn’t harmonize with the surrounding landscape, even being generous, it’s not a trend that will last long. Such houses would be better off isolated in scenic locations…”

“…….”

Was it too obvious that Kisa couldn’t understand even half of what the boy was saying?

“I said something pointless. Let’s just get going.”

The boy didn’t even finish what he was saying and turned around to continue walking.

“Let’s go together!”

Kisa also had to move her feet diligently.

Upon reaching their destination, the two were able to quickly find the old person the passerby had mentioned.

Just then, she was outside feeding stray cats.

“A cat with a mustache, you say.”

The elderly woman, who had brought out a chair in front of what appeared to be her shabby home, stroked her wrinkled face.

“Come to think of it, I haven’t seen that child for several days now. He used to come for meals quite often.”

“……I see.”

When Kisa made a dejected expression, the old woman spoke in a comforting voice.

“But why are you looking for that child?”

“I’m worried. He might be unable to move because something’s wrong with him.”

“He might have gone on a journey.”

“A journey?”

“Yes, a journey.”

“Do cats go on journeys too?”

“Of course, animals are just like people.”

A warm smile appeared on the old woman’s face, which bore the traces of time.

“Sometimes they feel like leaving on a whim and go on journeys, and sometimes they want to live in new places and move.”

“……Did Jack leave because he wanted to?”

“That must be it. From what I remember, he was a very brave and spirited child, so he wouldn’t fear the unknown world and would have confidently set out on his path.”

Thus, the two had to turn back without gaining much from this visit either.

They had spent some time observing the cats that came to get food from the old woman, but Mustache Jack was nowhere to be seen.

However, perhaps thanks to what the old woman had said, Kisa’s heart felt much lighter than before meeting her.

By the time they had completely descended the hill, the boy, who had been silent until now, spoke up.

“What do you want to do? We’ve searched almost everywhere around here. Oh, should we try going toward the stream? There were quite a few cats there too—”

“It’s okay now.”

“What?”

“Sorry for giving up after you helped so much. But if Jack really left because he wanted to go on a journey, it doesn’t seem right for me to force myself to find him.”

Meeting the boy’s reddish-brown eyes, Kisa smiled awkwardly and scratched her cheek.

“Of course….it’s disappointing that I couldn’t say a proper goodbye, but it can’t be helped. Still, Mom once said that where there are partings, there are also meetings.”

At those words, the boy made a somewhat subtle expression.

“Journey, my foot. Cats are territorial animals. Everything that old woman said was…”

Seeing Kisa tilt her head, not knowing what “territorial animals” meant, the boy suddenly stopped speaking.

“Never mind. If the person involved doesn’t want to search anymore, it wouldn’t make sense for me to step forward.”

Having said that, the boy resumed walking.

“Anyway, you’re going home now, right? I’ll walk you to your house, so follow me.”

“Huh? Is that really okay?”

“There’s still some time left before the two hours I mentioned initially, and you can’t find your way alone.”

Feeling a bit embarrassed by that statement that saw right through her, Kisa changed the subject.

“Um, actually, I’ve been curious about something since earlier.”

“What is it?”

Though Kisa momentarily shrank back at the boy’s inorganic gaze, she straightened her chest and brought up what she’d been thinking about.

“May I ask your name? My name is Kisa.”

Having learned that it’s polite to give your own name first when asking someone else’s, she had dutifully introduced herself, but the boy replied with an unimpressed face.

“Is there really a need to know? It’s not like we’ll meet again anyway.”

“Why not? We can meet again later.”

“Why would we?”

“Well, because we’re friends…”

“Friends? We haven’t even known each other for half a day and you call us friends? You really have no sense of caution. For all you know, I might be a bad person.”

“That can’t be! You’re kind enough to help look for Jack!”

Perhaps because she raised her voice a bit out of frustration, the boy momentarily looked slightly surprised.

But this was clearly his fault.

No matter how much less clever Kisa might be than the boy, she wasn’t foolish enough to mistake a kind boy for a bad person.

“……Sorry for raising my voice.”

Still, thinking it over, raising her voice seemed wrong, so when she honestly apologized, the boy narrowed his eyes as if finding it absurd.

“You really say ‘sorry’ and ‘thank you’ a lot. But well, it’s not bad. It’s not really something that warrants an apology either.”

Though the boy speaking this way still had no expression, somehow he seemed a little softer than at first.

“My name is…”

He readily told her his name, and having achieved her goal, Kisa smiled brightly.

“I see. That’s a wonderful name.”

“Is it?”

“Yes, it’s wonderful. And it sounds delicious too!”

“……Don’t tell me it’s because it sounds similar to biscuit?”

Thus, Kisa and the boy exchanged trivial chatter as they headed toward the direction of the Vansfelt mansion.

However, when the two reached the square where they had first met, the boy abruptly stopped.

“Wait here for a moment.”

The boy, who had been intently staring at a dark alley, left those words and walked away.

Not long after, the boy appeared with a familiar presence in his arms.

“Jack!”

Kisa ran to the boy and stroked the head of Jack, whose eyes were closed.

“You were here!”

“It seems he came to this place after we left—we missed each other by a hair’s breadth.”

“Jack, wake up. It’s me, Kisa.”

“Waking up is impossible.”

“Why?”

“Look carefully. He’s already dead.”

“……What?”

“You said earlier that you wanted to say goodbye, didn’t you?”

The boy held out Jack’s body toward the hesitant Kisa.

“Here, say as much as you want.”