A little sparrow tugged at the little girl's heart.
Ever since this sparrow appeared at their home, the little girl had been taking careful care of it.
She and her dad, Ren, even took the sparrow to a pet hospital to check its condition.
When they returned home, she prepared fresh food for it—apple slices, breadcrumbs, and she even tried sneaking some of her snacks to the sparrow, though Ren stopped her.
At first, the sparrow refused to eat, but after sensing the little girl's kindness, it slowly started accepting her offerings.
"Hmm..."
A week had passed since they rescued the sparrow.
The little girl was lying in bed, drifting off to sleep.
Half-asleep, she faintly heard soft chirping sounds, which made her instinctively open her eyes.
When she did, the first thing she saw was an unfamiliar ceiling and...
"Little Sakura~~"
Yes, right in front of her was the sparrow she had rescued.
"Little Sakura" was the sparrow's thirty-sixth name.
"Wow, how did you get onto my bed?"
Suddenly realizing this, the little girl widened her eyes, staring at the sparrow with curiosity.
She had placed the sparrow's little nest on her bedside table last night, so how did it end up on her bed this morning?
Could it mean...
"Did you fly here?"
She widened her bright eyes and asked the sparrow.
"Chirp, chirp~"
Of course, the sparrow couldn't talk, but to the little girl, the chirping sounded like a response to her question.
"You're amazing~"
She gently picked it up and praised it.
"I need to show Mom and Dad!"
With that, she slipped into her slippers and hurried to Ren's room, putting the sparrow on the floor before leaping into the air, shouting, "Doodooloo~~~"
"Oww~~" Ren groaned from the bed in pain.
"How many times have I told you, I'm not a trampoline! You're getting big, and I can't handle your full-force tackles anymore! You're like a Snorlax!"
"Nuh-uh, I'm not a Snorlax!"
The little girl pouted and climbed off Ren.
"Alright, alright," Jada chuckled at the father-daughter duo's antics. She turned to the little girl, asking, "What's up? Why are you running around so early in the morning?"
She knew her daughter well. Normally, she stayed in bed as long as possible, and even if she woke up early, she'd just grab her phone to play Pokémon games.
"Oh, right!" The little girl, reminded by her mom's question, exclaimed excitedly, "Dad, the sparrow can fly now! It flew to my bed this morning!"
"Really?"
As if to confirm her claim, the sparrow suddenly appeared by the three of them, flapping its wings a couple of times before landing back down.
Although it seemed the sparrow wasn't fully recovered, this small sign of improvement still thrilled the little girl.
Ren hadn't expected the sparrow they saved to actually survive.
However...
"It looks like this sparrow will fully recover in a little while. You'll have to let it go then, alright?"
Even though the little girl was attached to the sparrow, Ren still needed to remind her.
"..."
Hearing Ren's words, her previously excited expression faded. She glanced at the sparrow and seemed a bit downcast.
Ren thought she might beg to keep the sparrow, but to his surprise, she simply nodded, "I know."
For her, the sparrow was fun and interesting, and she really wanted to keep it. But she couldn't bear the thought of separating it from its own parents.
So, it had to be released.
"You have to get better soon, okay? Your parents must be worried about you," she whispered softly to the little sparrow in her hands.
After some more time passed, the little sparrow fully recovered.
Although the little girl was reluctant, she eventually released the sparrow through the window.
"..."
After letting it go, she rested her chin on her hands, staring out the window in silence.
At first, Ren thought she was sad about letting the sparrow go and was missing it.
After all, she had put a lot of effort into taking care of it during that time.
So Ren prepared to comfort her.
But before he could say anything, the little girl turned her head and said something that left Ren completely caught off guard: "Dad, I want to eat sparrow!"
???
Ren was full of questions, furrowing his brows.
Was there something wrong with how he raised her? Why did she suddenly want to eat sparrow?
It seemed the little girl noticed Ren's confusion. She clenched her little fists, puffing her cheeks in anger, "That sparrow was so mean! I took care of it for so long, and it just flew away!"
She explained her thoughts.
Apparently, after watching too many videos, she had imagined that when she released the sparrow, it would circle around her a few times, maybe even linger outside the window for a while before slowly flying away.
But what happened?
The sparrow didn't even look back; it just flew off!
No loyalty at all!
How could she not be hurt and angry?
When she's angry, she wants to eat.
Hearing this, Ren couldn't help but laugh and cry at the same time. Still, he sensed that the little girl's mindset wasn't in the right place.
"Alright, don't be mad. Sparrows are protected animals, so we can't eat them," Ren said, patting her head. "Let's play a round of Pokémon Duel together."
"Okay."
It was clear that she was still upset, even feeling too down to get into the game.
But what she said next made Ren wonder if maybe he should just let her be mad!
The little girl glanced at him and sighed, "Dad, you're not good at Pokémon Duel. If you play with me, I'll lose rank. I'm already feeling this bad, can you not make it worse?"
She looked so helpless.
Even though her dad was the creator of Pokémon Duel, he wasn't good at the game at all.
Just recently, after begging her to play with him, she helped him rank up to Diamond.
But within a week, he had dropped all the way back to Silver, and that was only because Silver couldn't drop to Bronze!
Way too bad!
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