Entertainment: You're asked to make a healing animation, but it will make the whole internet de

The train travels at a steady speed on the tracks, emitting a monotonous, hypnotic sound.

Okazaki Tomoya leaned against the window, staring blankly at the scenery rushing past outside.

The scenery outside the window was just a blurry patch of color to him, meaningless.

His mind was a jumbled mess, a mixture of hangover headache and anger at being cheated.

All he wanted to do was find a place to lie down and continue sleeping.

That's right, he was tricked by Aunt Sanae.

That woman, so gentle she was almost perfect, spoke in a tone he couldn't refuse, a tone so carefully chosen.

After he arrived.

Please ask him to accompany that child on the trip.

He wanted to refuse, but the words "I'm busy" stuck in his throat, and he couldn't bring himself to say them.

And so he came.

He reeked of cigarettes and alcohol, and had a heart that had long since died.

Sitting opposite him was the child, tide.

This was the first time in five years that he had looked at her so closely and attentively.

The little body, dressed in faded old clothes, tightly clutched a similarly worn dough doll in its arms.

Her short, brown hair, slightly drooping eyelids, and those two signature ahoge (cowlicks) were exactly the same as the figure in my memory.

No, there are still differences.

Her eyes were the same gold as his.

Those eyes lacked the innocence and naivety that children their age should have.

There was only one kind of quietness and maturity that was out of place for his age.

From the moment she boarded the bus until now, she hasn't uttered a single word, asked for anything, or even turned her head casually.

She just sat there quietly, her hands on her knees, like a delicate doll.

This silence made Tomoya feel inexplicably irritated.

He would rather she cry, he would rather she make a fuss, he would rather she act like a real child and make all sorts of unreasonable demands.

Instead of drawing a clear chasm between him and her through silence and distance, as they are now.

When it was lunchtime, Tomoya got up and, as usual, bought only one bento box.

When he opened the lunchbox and smelled the familiar aroma of food, he suddenly realized that there was someone sitting opposite him.

He froze, looking up at tide.

The child just looked at him quietly, his eyes showing no longing, no resentment, nothing at all.

Tomoya felt as if something had pierced his heart.

A feeling of guilt quietly spread through my already numb heart.

He got up without a word, bought another bento box, and placed it heavily on the small table in front of tide.

"Eat."

He spoke in a harsh, almost commanding tone.

"Thanks."

tide thanked him softly, then picked up her chopsticks and ate with utmost seriousness, taking small bites at a time.

No sound was made, and not a single grain of rice fell.

So perfect, not like a child.

The meal ended in a suffocating silence.

Tomoya turned his head to the window again, trying to numb himself with the fleeting scenery.

However, that small figure was like a brand, etched firmly in his peripheral vision, making it impossible for him to ignore.

......

Meanwhile, Healing Animation Company.

Shen Qingyue clenched her hands tightly together.

Looking at the silent father and daughter on the screen, she felt even breathing became difficult.

"Audience engagement has dropped again."

She spoke with difficulty, her voice trembling slightly without her even realizing it.

The audience stopped hurling insults and sending razor blades; they simply watched in silence, joining the man on screen in his descent into depravity.

This silence terrified Shen Qingyue more than any raging anger.

She looked uneasily at Su Bai, the instigator, who still maintained a nonchalant demeanor.

"They didn't give up."

Su Bai looked at the overly sensible tide on the screen, a meaningful smile curving his lips.

"They are just like Tomoya, their hearts sealed by a layer of numb ice."

He turned his head, looked at Shen Qingyue whose face was full of worry, and asked a question.

"Do you think a heavy iron hammer is more likely to break solid ice, or a small, sharp icicle?"

Shen Qingyue was taken aback and couldn't follow his train of thought.

Su Bai extended a finger and gently tapped tide's small figure on the screen.

"Nagisa's death was a hammer blow. It was heavy enough, shocking enough, to smash countless cracks into the ice, making everyone feel the bone-chilling cold and anger."

"But anger will dissipate, and the pain will become numb. The crack may exist, but the ice itself has not melted."

"And this child," he said in a low voice, like a devil's whisper, "is that icicle."

"She won't make any earth-shattering noises; she'll just use her caution, her understanding, and her silence to pierce the softest and most vulnerable spot in everyone's heart, one precise strike at a time."

"Each piercing is accompanied by a sharp, unbearable pain. This pain doesn't make you explode; it only makes you more repressed and more heartbroken."

"When this heartache and repression accumulate to the peak, the volcano in Tomoya's heart that has been frozen for five years, and the emotional volcano in the hearts of all the viewers that has been forcibly suppressed, will erupt together in the most thorough way."

Shen Qingyue listened blankly to Su Bai's analysis, a chill running from the soles of her feet straight to the top of her head.

She looked at Xi on the screen, who was completely unaware of everything and was simply playing the role of a good child quietly.

She realized that this seemingly harmless little girl was the one Su Bai had planted in this animation.

The cruelest cut.

......

The train's announcement system played a notification that the train was about to arrive at its destination.

Tomoya seemed to wake up from a long nightmare. He stood up and picked up his simple luggage.

tide also stood up, her small hands tightly gripping the straps of her backpack, following closely behind him.

As the car door opened, a rush of fresh air rushed in, creating a stark contrast to the stuffy air inside the carriage.

As Tomoya stepped out of the station, a look of confusion crossed his eyes as he gazed at the unfamiliar country road and the rolling green mountains in the distance.

He didn't know where the trip that Aunt Sanae had arranged was actually going to.

He also didn't want to know.

He was merely a puppet, passively moving towards the unknown next stop.

Behind him, that small figure, like his shadow, silently and closely followed.