Miss Heir wasn't very kind to me.

Chapter 92:23. "Daily Business at the Beach (3)"

The cat that suddenly appeared on the beach was very charming with its cute appearance. Its first captive was the closest one, Kamishiro Rinone.

Because they were in a public place, Rinyin didn't try to imitate a cat's meow to make it let down its guard.

Of course, after Masumi's guidance, she would probably not use this ineffective method again.

At least that's the case when Masumi is around.

But there were no cat teasers, dogtail grass or other tools here. She supported her chin, pondered for a moment, stretched out her slender fingers, and carefully approached the cat.

The cherry-pink nails are neatly trimmed and sleek, reminiscent of glittery shells.

"Why is there a cat here?" Masumi asked in surprise.

He guessed, "Could it be a stray cat that sneaked into the bathhouse?"

"It's a house cat."

Rinyin said this with certainty. The orange cat showed no sign of vigilance at all, squinting its eyes comfortably and letting Rinyin tickle its chin with her fingers.

"The hair is very clean and fluffy, and you can tell it's been maintained regularly."

"They have no defenses against people and their nails are cut very short."

"And most importantly, this is a purebred cat."

"Eh? Really? I thought it was just an ordinary orange cat." Although Masumi liked playing with kittens, she didn't care much about the breed of the cat.

"Well, it should be a very valuable purebred cat." Linyin said.

"But..." She frowned slightly: "This cat doesn't seem to be in good condition."

"Is it because the weather is too hot?"

"Maybe."

As Rinne spoke, her fingers still dug softly into the kitten's fur.

"To ensure the purity of their bloodline, purebred cats are basically bred closely together, which inevitably leads to many congenital diseases and problems, weakening their constitution and making them more susceptible to stress from environmental changes."

"I see." Masumi nodded, and his eyes softened as he looked at the orange cat: "That's really pitiful."

"But judging by its appearance, it must be well cared for by its owner, which is a happiness that an abandoned stray cat can only dream of."

He couldn't help but think of the stray cat he fed when he was a child.

"Well, maybe so."

Linyin responded, lowered her eyelashes quietly, and stroked the kitten expressionlessly.

“——That’s not the case!”

Suddenly, a child's voice that sounded a little angry came from behind.

Masumi and Rinone turned their heads at the sound.

A little boy in swimming trunks, who looked like an elementary school student, stood there and said angrily.

"Protecting the kittens is just a self-righteous thing for adults, right? They never even asked what the kittens thought."

"Uh...but cats can't talk either."

Masumi was caught off guard by the unexpected topic and gave a rather silly answer: "Pure-blooded cats are meant to be pets. This is sort of... 'fate', I guess."

"..."

The little boy said nothing, but just glared at them in dissatisfaction.

Just then, a familiar figure walked over from the edge of the beach.

Wearing a headscarf, sunglasses, fancy swimming trunks, beach slippers, and skin tanned by the sun, the light novel writer, Hojo Hachishichi, no longer looks like a light novel writer at all.

"Finally, we found this cat. It turned out to be here with you, Mr. Miyazawa."

"Is this Mr. Hojo's cat?" Masumi asked.

"No," he said, waving his hand. "He was a tourist at the beach, temporarily deposited at the tourist center. I saw he'd been sitting in his cage, looking listless, so I thought I'd let him out to get some exercise."

"But it just took me a while to get some water before it disappeared."

Mr. Hojo said with relief in his voice, "It's a good thing I found it, otherwise my part-time job would be ruined."

"Its owner loves the cat very much. Not only does he bring it with him when he goes to the beach, but he also returns to the tourist center from time to time to check on it. I wonder how he would react if he really lost it."

"I'm glad nothing happened." Masumi said softly.

"Anyway, thank you both for intercepting it just now. I'll be heading back now. Bye."

"Goodbye."

After saying goodbye to Mr. Hojo, Masumi returned to the sea house from the beach, the sand on the soles of his shoes sticking to the wooden floor.

The sea breeze blows into this semi-open-air coffee shop from afar.

While Masumi and Rinone were attracted by the kitten, Haiyue stole some time to relax in the store. Her eyelashes fluttered gently, and she leaned back in a chair, looking half asleep.

As for the little boy who had just appeared, no one knew where he had gone.

"I just saw him going that way."

Rin was washing her hands in the sink in the store to avoid leaving any smell or cat hair.

"Do you care?" she asked, tilting her head.

"I wouldn't argue with a child."

Masumi smiled and sighed, "I just think that kids these days are quite precocious. I didn't think of things like 'adults being self-satisfied' at the time."

At this point, he suddenly thought of the children at the Nojikiku Orphanage, and the little boy named Ryosuke who asked him to teach him how to make coffee. He was a little younger than the child just now.

I don’t know how I’m doing now.

Recently, as the business conditions of "Fanxing" have gradually improved, Masumi and his father Iken agreed to increase the salary of the store manager Rinone, but Rinone used the money to hire a part-time caregiver for the welfare home.

In her words, she lives and eats at Fanxing and has no interest in spending money. This money can at least make Grandma Sato's life a little less difficult, which is her way of repaying the welfare home.

After thinking for a while, Masumi said, "Hey, Kamishiro, how about I accompany you to the welfare home on the next holiday..."

"——Xiao Zhen! Xiao Zhen!"

Suddenly, an anxious shout came from not far away, interrupting Masumi's words.

A woman rushed into the store with a panicked look on her face. After a quick glance, she made no secret of her disappointment. She immediately walked up to Masumi and asked anxiously:
"Excuse me, have you seen a little boy about twelve years old, about this tall—" she said, gesturing with her hands, "—"

Listening to her description, Masumi recalled the features of the little boy he had met not long ago. They roughly matched, so he nodded and said, "There was a similar kid here just now, wearing swimming trunks with shark prints..."

"Yes, that's him! His name is Zhenren." The woman immediately grasped his hand tightly as if she had grabbed a lifeline. "Excuse me, did you see where he went?"

"Calm down first. You are his mother, right?"

Macheng comforted her and said, "Well, I'll ask the beach staff to broadcast and try to find someone."

As he spoke, he sent the little boy's name and characteristics to Mr. Hojo via LINE.

At the same time, he said to the woman in front of him, "You don't look well. Please stay here for a while. I'll go look for him on the beach."

Perhaps because she was extremely anxious, the woman searched on the beach for a long time, her face flushed red, and her lips were dry and chapped due to lack of moisture.

He poured a glass of water for the woman and watched her collapse into the chair as if exhausted. She whispered "thank you" to him, her eyes still wandering around in confusion.

"Excuse me."

"It's okay, I'll leave first. I'll let you know when there's news."

"and many more."

Linyin followed his footsteps: "I'll go with you."

"Okay." Masumi nodded, and then told Haiyue: "Then I'll trouble you to look after the store."

"Hmm..." The jellyfish girl perked up and responded softly.

When he went out, he turned the sign over to read "Temporarily Closed" and went to the beach with Rinone.

"There are so many people here. Luckily, today is a weekday and the kids are all in school, so it shouldn't be hard to find them."

If it is a weekend, all you see are families with children, and it is as difficult as finding a needle in a haystack.

Masumi and Rin walked on the beach for a while, and finally saw the familiar little figure in a place with fewer tourists.

“—Over there!”

He ran over quickly, but after just a few steps, a hand grabbed his wrist as he swung it backwards.

Masumi turned around and looked at Rin'in, a look of embarrassment on her face. Rin'in's beach slippers were the same as Haiyue's, with medium-thick heels - the girls bought them together at the store - so she couldn't run on the beach.

"Feel sorry."

Linyin shook her head quietly, lifted her feet, took off her beach shoes, picked them up with her hands, stepped her soft bare feet on the beach, and then loosened her clenched hands.

The two of them then caught up with the little boy in the distance.

He continued to move towards the farther coast.

"Xiao Zhen." Linyin called him from behind, "You are a real person, right? Your mother is looking for you."

The little boy stopped.

Masumi's body stiffened when he heard this. He remembered that when he was a child, he was also called that by his elders.

Now he was being called this by a girl who was younger than him, but she wasn't referring to him.

To dispel the inexplicable thoughts in her mind, Masumi reached out her hand to the little boy called "Main", but he pushed it away forcefully.

"Don't touch me, I won't go back!"

"I just want her to not be able to find it."

"Did you have a fight with your mother?" Masumi softened her tone. "She's very worried about you. You should go back with us first. We can talk slowly if you have anything to say."

"I'm so annoyed." Zhenren resisted anxiously: "You don't understand my thoughts at all! So stop bothering me!"

"..."

Masumi remained silent. Preaching to a child of this age, who lacked a sense of identity and was in a rebellious mood, was basically like talking to a deaf ear.

Moreover, the little boy in front of him didn't just run away after an ordinary quarrel, it seemed that his relationship with his family was already very strained.

When Masumi went to Tajima before, he realized that if there are ten thousand pairs of parents, there are ten thousand ways of getting along with each other at home. This is why it is said that "every family has its own problems."

He hesitated several times to speak, and the white skirt at the end of his sight fluttered over. He saw Linyin walk forward and gestured with her beautiful eyes to give it to her.

Masumi thought she had some tricks that always worked on children, but unexpectedly the girl just slowly walked up to the real person and looked down at the little boy in front of her.

"Don't be willful, come back with us."

Lin Yin's expression turned cold. "Your mother is so anxious over there, and you're still throwing a tantrum here. Who are you trying to show off to?"

A chilling coldness flickered in those beautiful purple eyes. "Hey, Kamiyo..."

He was about to persuade Lin Yin not to be so authoritative towards the child, but the real person just took a step back, then raised his head and looked at her, snorting coldly: "No!"

"I hate what you say the most!"

"'Adults are doing this for your own good', 'You're so young, what worries do you have?' That's because you have parents who not only take good care of you, but are also considerate of your thoughts and live a happy life, so they say that!"

"It's easy to talk without any back pain!"

"Do you think I'm the kind of person who is cared for by my parents?" Lin Yin asked coldly.

"Is not it?"

"of course not."

Linyin's face was as cold as ever, and she spoke calmly, "My mother died when I was nine. A year later, my father thought I was a burden and threw me into an orphanage."

"When I was your age, I was already alone."

"Eh?"

The real person was a little stunned, biting his lip, and after a long while he spoke weakly:
"...So, are you trying to say that compared to people who have lost their parents, I'm unsatisfied and willful?"

There was still a stubbornness in his voice that refused to give in.

"The second half is correct." Lin Yin nodded: "You are indeed very willful."

“…” The real person lowered his head, unable to refute, and just clenched his fists.

Lin Yin's voice came from above: "But I don't agree with the first half..."

The real person raised his head again.

"I used to have the same idea as you."

"So whenever I feel miserable about what I've experienced, I think there are many more people in the world who are less fortunate than me, and I use this method to force myself to be strong."

"But... later someone said to me -"

Everyone experiences joy and sorrow in their own lives, so suffering trauma is equally severe for everyone. There's no saying one person is more miserable than another. Everyone has the right to feel pain.

When she said this, she glanced at Masumi inconspicuously.

"So I started to reflect that no matter how serious the situation was, or how immature or mature the people involved were, these things didn't matter."

"What really matters is the feelings of the person involved. No matter how outsiders perceive it, the pain is real."

"Many things can be compared, but this pain cannot."

"..."

Linyin glanced at the little boy who kept silent and lowered his head, and continued without being affected:

"Even though that's the case, I think that people can never truly understand each other. I won't say anything nice like 'I understand how you feel.'"

"But I can promise that if you are willing to open your heart to us, I will listen carefully to everything you say."

"Besides, we are just strangers who met by chance. You don't have to worry about us saying anything, because we don't care at all. We may forget about it tomorrow when we are busy in the store."

She shook the phone in her hand: "I just notified your mother, she is on the way."

"If you're willing to talk about your troubles, this is probably your last chance."

"..."

Perhaps what Rin said worked, and Zhenren slowly loosened his tightly clenched fists.

Masumi and Rinne didn't have to wait long before he spoke hesitantly.

“…I’ve been in poor health since I was a child. I can’t run and jump like other people.”

"I couldn't participate in hiking and swimming lessons, and I had to take leave from school from time to time, so I didn't have many friends."

"I can actually accept all of this, or perhaps I'd say it's 'fate'."

"But the only thing I can't accept is my mother's attitude towards me."

"She's always overly concerned about me and doesn't care about my feelings at all. She never asks what I think!"

"He clearly promised me that as long as I obeyed the treatment, he would take me to the beach to swim. I have been looking forward to this for a long time."

"But once we got to the beach, she went back on her word. She was worried about my health and refused to let me go in the water no matter what..."

The loosened fist was clenched again.

"Actually, I've always known that my parents care about me."

"Dad quit his job and went to Tokyo to pay for my medical treatment."

"My mother used to love traveling, but since I became ill, she hasn't traveled far and has been taking care of me at home."

"I understand all this..."

"But I just want to rely on my own two legs and walk as far as I can."

The real person's eyes were dim, and he suppressed his crying voice, blending into the rippling sound of the tide.

"——Xiao Zhen!"

Before he could finish, the Zhenren's mother's cry came from not far away. The woman ran over eagerly and hugged Zhenren, slowly patting her son's back, as if to comfort herself who was still in shock.

"Really? You made your mother worry to death. You must not run around next time."

"I understand." The real person said sullenly.

After finally finding her son, the woman's panicked heartbeat finally calmed down, and she bowed deeply to Masumi and Rinone.

"Thank you both, thank you very much."

"Xiao Zhen, say thank you to your brothers and sisters, quickly."

“…” The real person still looked awkward and was unwilling to speak.

There was no other way, so the real mother had to say "Sorry for causing you trouble" on her son's behalf. After thanking the two again, the woman took her son's hand and left.

Linyin's cold face softened slightly, returning to her usual calm demeanor. She let out a quiet breath, "Fortunately, kids this age aren't too difficult to deal with."

"What's the most difficult thing?"

"Kindergarten children," Rin replied. "If you want to attract their attention, you can't speak more than three sentences."

"Is it that exaggerated?" Masumi smiled.

The unexpected episode that happened on this beach ended, but it seemed incomplete.

Because the matter had not developed to the point of being "resolved", it ended hastily.

Before leaving, the real person was still worried and looked depressed. Did Shendai's words have any effect?
Lin Yin shook her head slightly. "In such a short time, I can't possibly influence him with just a few words and easily improve his relationship with his family. That's something that can only be achieved in the anime that Mami-san likes to watch."

"If it were that easy to let down one's guard and untie the knots in one's heart, then that's not the world I live in."

"After all, this world is neither gentle nor right" - Masumi remembered a line from the light novel.

"So my original intention was to keep him and wait for his mother to come over, that's all."

"But I think it's a good thing to have a stranger who I'll never meet again willing to listen to my troubles."

she said softly.

"You've done very well." Masumi comforted her.

"Too gentle."

This was the third time Rinyin had said this today.

"Do you not like it?"

"Do you have to hear me say I like you before you'll be satisfied?" Linyin asked back.

Masumi nodded: "What would happen if I said yes?"

"..."

The girl seemed to be hesitant to speak, her lips opening and closing several times, and an almost imperceptible murmur escaped from her:

“I don’t hate it…”

"What did you say?"

Masumi really didn't hear clearly.

"I say, it's time to get back to the store and open for business," she said, raising her voice as if nothing had happened.

"makes sense."

Masumi didn't intend to pester her, so he smiled and nodded, then walked back with Rinone.

Four footprints, two large and two small, stretched out on the beach.

On the way back, Rin's words and Mahito's words kept replaying in his mind.

He finally uttered a sigh:
“Some people use their childhood to heal their whole life, while others use their whole life to heal their childhood.”

"...You were not only too gentle today, but also too proud." Linyin said lightly.

"I was just thinking about what you just said."

Masumi briefly explained and then asked:

"Is it really true that people can't understand each other? There must be counterexamples."

"I originally thought that we couldn't understand each other."

"What about now?" Masumi asked curiously.

Rinne suddenly stopped without warning, and Masumi followed her lead.

The snow-white slender feet stepped on the beach. The girl with long black hair turned her head, narrowed her beautiful purple eyes, and spoke in an almost provocative tone:
"If you think there's a counterexample, try it. Guess what I'm thinking now."

"How is that possible?" Masumi sighed and smiled, "It's about understanding others, not a superpower like mind reading."

"That's a shame. It seems that people can't understand each other after all."

She turned her back again, and the hem of her skirt swayed gently in the sea breeze as she walked, revealing her slender legs.

Her bangs and hair were messed up by the wind, covering her eyes and hiding the girl's complicated thoughts.

Linyin thought secretly in her heart: The man next to her is definitely more than just gentle.

He usually looks serious and earnest, but he always tries to touch others gently and get into their hearts. He is that kind of person, who can understand others and have empathy for their affairs.

……

　Thanks for the reward for catching wild Pikachu, thanks for the subscription, monthly ticket and recommendation ticket

　　
　
(End of this chapter)