Muzan: My daughter can't be that weak!

Lei took the ball of thread and gently ran his fingertips over it.

He wrapped the thread around his palm twice, tied a simple slipknot, and then spread his hands apart.

A straight, parallel double line rested steadily between his fingers.

"Let's start with the simplest one. Hook this one with your pinky, press this one with your thumb, and then do this..."

Xue Nai immediately stretched out her two little hands, her ten short fingers spread out, and imitated him to stretch the string.

But the fingers seemed to have their own ideas, pressing down when they should have hooked, and releasing when they should have pressed down.

The pattern that should have taken shape was twisted into a tangled mess in her hands.

"Well……"

She stared at the tangled thread between her fingers, her face scrunched up in frustration.

Lei watched quietly, without urging him on.

"Brother, was I wrong?" Xue Na looked up, a little embarrassed.

"...A little."

Lei reached out, but instead of taking the wire directly, she gently tapped her little finger through the tangled mess. "Here, it should be on top."

Yukina looked down and tried to adjust, but the more she tried, the more tangled the knot became.

"I...I'll try again!"

She was somewhat annoyed and wanted to tear all the threads off and start over.

"No need," Lei said softly. "It's not chaotic here, there's just an extra circle."

His fingers probed into the tangled thread and gently lifted it.

Miraculously, the knotted threads untied one by one and were neatly arranged between Yukina's fingers.

"Wow!" Xue Nai's eyes widened. "Brother is so awesome!"

Upon hearing this, Lei's eyebrows and eyes immediately relaxed, and the corners of her mouth turned up slightly.

My little sister is so cute...

I want to be with my sister forever.

I want to be her family, a real, needed family.

"So what's next? How do we translate it next?"

Xuena's voice pulled him back from those tangled thoughts.

Tired, I composed myself and placed my fingers back on the thread.

He moved very slowly, stopping at each step to wait for Yukina to catch up.

Yukina studied very seriously, staring intently at his hands, occasionally asking softly, "And then?" or holding up her misaligned fingers to show him, "Is this right?"

Finally, her fingers completed a full transformation, and although crooked, they successfully flipped into the shape of a spider.

"Ah! It's flipped over!"

She exclaimed in surprise, then immediately lowered her voice, as if afraid of startling away this success.

"...Mm." Lei nodded. "My little sister is so smart."

Xue Nai's eyes crinkled with laughter. She held the spider up to the light, examining it closely, her face radiating a sense of accomplishment.

"Yukina needs to be as amazing as her brother!"

Lei watched her quietly, looking at her smiling eyes, watching her admire the crooked spider from all angles.

My sister is so happy.

He lowered his eyes, his fingertips unconsciously pinching the fabric of his sleeve.

Yukina held the spider, which was spread out between her ten short fingers, and was reluctant to put it down.

The lines were a little crooked, with one side having larger mesh and the other side having smaller mesh, but the more she looked at it, the more she liked it.

"Keep it!"

She spoke earnestly, turning her little head back and glancing at the Western clock on the low cabinet.

"Narukura-neechan is coming to feed the puppies soon, I want to show her!"

On the clock face, the hands have just passed a certain point.

She remembered clearly that every time she was in this spot, Nakime would appear in the courtyard with a plate.

That bell was a gift from my father.

Her thoughts were also drawn by the bell, drifting back to that day.

Her father stood in front of her, handed her the clock, but looked to the side and said in a curt tone, "I just bought it on a whim, it's not worth much. Here you go."

She was overjoyed and rushed to hug her father tightly, burying her face in his clothes and rubbing against him, saying, "Daddy is so good! Daddy even brought Xue Nai a present while he was out!"

The expression on Dad's face at that time...

Hmm, that's a bit strange.

But he didn't push her away, he just said, "It was just something I gave you, not something I gave you specifically!"

She heard it and secretly hid inside her father's clothes, laughing.

She doesn't believe it.

From then on, she looked at the clock carefully every day.

"Brother, let's go see the puppies!"

She turned her head, her eyes sparkling as she looked at Lei, her hand still firmly holding the flower rope, showing no intention of putting it down.

Lei glanced at the ball of thread she was carefully protecting in her hand, said nothing, and simply nodded slightly.

He stood up with Xue Nai, keeping a distance that was neither too close nor too far.

The two little ones opened the door to the next room.

The door creaked slightly.

In the corner, in the doghouse, a small yellow figure was curled up into a fluffy ball.

The puppy's ears twitched, and it raised its head alertly.

The first thing it notices is fatigue.

An unfamiliar scent I've never seen before.

It sprang up almost instantly, its limbs tensed, its fur bristled, and a low, warning growl rolled from its throat. Its small body crouched low, ready to pounce and bite at any moment.

Then, Yukina's head peeked out from behind Rui.

"Little puppy!"

The low, whimpering sound immediately changed tone.

The puppy's ears perked up instantly, its tail began to wag wildly, and its entire body switched from a fighting stance to a joyful welcoming mode, its four little paws pattering on the floor as it charged towards Yukina.

"Waaah—waaah—"

It nestled in her arms, rubbing against her chin and cheeks with a pitiful expression, as if it were protesting:

Why did you take so long to arrive!

That terrifying giant two-legged creature just locked them inside!

"Good boy, good boy, Daddy didn't mean it. Little puppy, don't be mean to Daddy next time you see him, or Daddy will be unhappy." Xue Nai understood what it meant and quickly comforted it.

Lei stood quietly by the door, watching this scene unfold.

The puppy nestled in Xue Nai's arms, occasionally peeking half its head out from between her arms, its dark eyes glancing at him warily, letting out a whimper before burying its face back into its owner's embrace.

Tiredness didn't get any closer.

He just watched as Xue Nai awkwardly tried to soothe the puppy, while simultaneously showing off the flower rope in her hand to the puppy as if to say something like that:

"Look, look! This is how my brother taught Yukina to translate it! It's a spider! Isn't that amazing!"

The puppy, of course, couldn't understand what that tangled mess of thread was, but it enthusiastically licked Xue Nai's fingers and wagged its tail even more enthusiastically.

"Hehe, it itches!"

Yukina smiled and dodged, then looked up at Rui, who was still standing by the door.

"Brother, come too!"

She freed one hand and beckoned to Lei.

"The puppy just doesn't recognize you yet. It's very well-behaved and won't bite..."

She paused, then added sheepishly, "No, it seems to bite ghosts..."

Uncle Doma was bitten by the puppy.

Yukina felt that the puppy wouldn't bite other ghosts, but she didn't know how to convince Rui.

"Little puppy," she said earnestly to the little one, bending down, "this is your brother. Xuena's brother. He'll be coming often, and you should be friends with him, okay?"

The puppy tilted its head in confusion, its ears twitched, and finally, with great difficulty, it looked away from Lei and buried itself back in Xue Nai's arms.

It didn't bark or show its teeth.

Her tired eyelashes trembled slightly.

He watched as the puppy finally stopped being hostile towards him, and then looked into Xue Nai's smiling eyes, and his heart softened.