“…….”

He looked up at him with a wet puppy’s eyes and ears down. While Killian, who had silently averted his gaze, was petting Bobo’s head, Damian, who had sneakily rolled his head, suddenly asked.

“Oh, it’s because you are bad at kicking the ball, isn’t it?”

“…… what?”

Killian, who doubted his ears as if he couldn’t hear what he was saying and turned to face Damian. With a big grin on his face, Damian proudly continued.

“Isn’t it because you suck at it and it’s embarrassing? Isn’t that right?”

“Hey, kid, there’s nothing I can’t do.”

“Liarrrr.”

“……..”

Killian’s eyes narrowed. Damian, who seemed to shrink for a moment at a sense of intimidation, didn’t stop there and continued to push further.

“You know mister, my mom told me something, she said that no one is perfect in the world. Everyone has at least one weakness, and regardless of the existence, everyone our there has something special that we should never belittle it.”

While waiting for a reply, Damian naturally assumed he would argue that it wasn’t that either. He wondered what he would say back, but the reply he got was surprisingly sincere.

“This might be the case.”

“What?”

This time it was Damian who was the one who couldn’t believe his ears. An adult man who seemed as if he normally would never change his opinion sat down on his knees to his level and met his eyes.

“What else did your mother say?”

“That’s …….”

Turning his gaze slyly sideways to the face that came so close to him each time he took a step back, Damian rubbed both index fingers against his temples.

“I feel like I could remember if you played ball with me…”

A moment of silence passed. When Damian watched Killian stand up again, he felt like slapping his mouth. He seemed to have said something unnecessary. When he looked up at him with his big, round eyes, worried that Killian would leave again without saying anything but unlike what he feared Killian actually showed a thin smile, making him blink in surprise at the unexpected gesture.

“Let’s go then.”

“Huh?”

As soon as the stunned Damian asked back, Killian kicked the fallen ball towards the castle wall. Damian, who had been watching the ball as it flew through the air forming a high curve, took a step behind Killian and followed him.

“You can’t just do that all of a sudden! Mister, that’s foul play!”

****