Volume 7 Chapter 12 (1/2)

What was it about him that charmed me?

I couldn't sum it up in just one word

To try and put it into words, it was his existence itself

The thrill I felt when I firstall those shi+ny new textbooks at the start of the new school year

The city zoo

I'd grown tired ofrefuge in the unexpected I probably wanted to look at so that wasn't a huardens, or the insect enclosure But the zoo was closest to where I was supposed to meet my older brother that day, so I hadn't looked any further

I ai at the various animals Their smell filled the air, but I soon became accustomed to it

Then at the elephant enclosure, I encountered a curious scene

Fro froarette, but that rong While starting fixedly, I sur like steamed pork buns

At that point, he looked over his shoulder

”Do you want so to eat?”

Probably because I'd been looking at his hands

This bearded, bear-like man split his roasted sweet potato and offered me some Still lost in confusion, I accepted and ate it

It didn't feel like a new forotten about me, with all his attention devoted to the other side of the fence The elephant filled his mind, and even when I called out to him he didn't notice immediately

”Would you like some tea?”

I asked a man, for the first time in my life

”Huh?”

”As thanks for the food”

I pointed at a vending machine At that point, he finally seeirl he shared his roasted sweet potato with

”Thanks”

We sat on a bench and drank hot canned coffee

”Do you have today off work?”

I asked,the middle of a weekday, but he didn't look like a businessh-school science teacher, and he sometimes came to the zoo on days when he didn't have classes

”You came to look at the elephant?”

”Why do you think that?”

”Because you were staring at it so intently”

Was ht while up to mischief