It has been 8 hours since I arrived at my hometown. It is now the middle of the night. Waking up with a dry, stuffy feeling, I grabbed my cigarettes and stepped out the front door. Standing on the sidewalk of a night road slightly away from the main house, I pulled out a single cigarette.

That was when it happened. I heard the sound of a young boy crying from the nearby road.

"Mister... I went for a walk with my mommy, but I got lost... Could you please help me find her...?"

Having instinctively approached the child, I hesitated for a moment after hearing those words, then eventually took the child's hand and spoke.

"Do you remember roughly where it was?"

The child took my hand and led me toward the dark mountainside, pointing the way.

"Um... maybe...? I think it was that way. Please follow me..."

We walked about halfway up the damp mountain path. Just as my legs were starting to lose strength from the continuous uphill climb and the sensation of wet grass brushing against my ankles...

"Huff... huff... How much... further... do we have to go...?"

Unlike me, who was struggling, the child looked perfectly calm and replied in a steady voice, his crying having almost entirely stopped.

"It should be around here... We're almost there."