“Well then, let’s do our best to find your mother now.”
Cosette, who had regained her energy after eating the crepe, responded to Jed’s words, “I’ll do my best!” vigorously.
“Cosette, have you been anywhere else with your mother?”
Jed asks Cosette, but she shook her head in denial. Therefore, the only clues we have are her description and the fact that she might be in the central square.
“We won’t be able to find her in the dark. What should we do?”
“Why don’t we go around to the stores that kids like? Maybe her mother had the same idea.”
“That’s a good idea.”
“Then, let’s have a quick look around the toy stores.”
Jed naturally picked up Cosette and gave her a shoulder lift. I felt that his profile with a cheerful smile looked familiar after all.
When we arrived at the toy store, Cosette’s eyes lit up.
“Elle, I will go talk to the shopkeeper, so you keep an eye on Cosette.”
“Alright.”
I looked from Jed, who was going to the back of the store, to Cosette, who was holding a stuffed bear and talking to it.
Which reminds me, my mother once made me a stuffed animal.
My father, who was driven mad by the charm magic, threw it away, though.
“Cosette, do you want that?”
“Want! But, I can’t be too selfish. I will trouble Mom.”
Cosette hugged the stuffed bear dejectedly.
I don’t know if it’s because her mother is a strict person or her family can’t afford it, but either way, I feel like it’s wrong for me to buy her something.
“I asked around, huh. What’s with the long face?”
“I was just thinking about something. Rather than that, did you get any more information?”
“No, it doesn’t seem she came to this shop.”
“Is that so?”
When I tried to go look at other stores, Jed took the stuffed animal from Cosette and took it to the shopkeeper. I was surprised to see Jed buying a stuffed animal and giving it to Cosette as if it were a matter of course.
“Is this okay?”
“Just for today.”
“Thank you, Older brother Jed!”
Cosette was so happy that she hugged the stuffed animal tightly in excitement. It was a warmhearted scene. But was it really a good idea to buy it for her?
“Jed, was it alright to buy it for her?”
“I mean, she wanted it.”
“But it’s someone else’s child, you know? If this angers her parents…”
The crepe was a necessary purchase to fill her stomach, but the stuffed animal is different.
I’m not sure what we are going to do if they get angry.
“I will think about it when that happens. All is good as long as Cosette smiles.”
“There’s a possibility that they are going to scold Cosette instead.”
“I will desperately protect her.”
It’s rude of me to think this, but I think Jed has a strange sense of his distance from people.
I understand that he is a kind person, but I think he is too caring towards strangers.
I watched Jed play with Cosette with the stuffed animal while thinking that he really is a weirdo.