My Iyashikei Game C.957: Patrol

“After midnight, the knight will protect the princess as they go on patrol. The street cleaner would also go out at night after all the shops were closed.” The absurd nightmare started to overlap with real life. Han Fei continued to flip through the album. The girl slowly grew up, and her mental illness became more serious. Sometimes, she couldn’t control herself and did things people wouldn’t understand. The merchants on the street hated her because she would disrupt their business.

The street cleaner understood that he couldn’t force the others to accept his daughter. To prevent his daughter from creating trouble, he always stayed by his side and used his weak body to protect her. The girl grew up, and the cleaner became older. The pictures became clearer, but the people in the pictures became older. However, no matter how tired they were, the father and daughter would smile before the camera.

The daughter was obedient when her father was by her side. However, if she were left alone, she would become agitated and hostile. The debt notes in the box expressed this. The daughter didn’t want to be kept at home. She would escape in order to find her father. She would be bullied by the merchants. Many times, they had to call the police on her.

“19th February, scared the customers at the milktea shop. Debt 300 RMB.”

“25th February. Stayed outside the boutique. Wouldn’t leave after being chased. Got into a fight with the shopkeeper and scratched her face. Debt 800 RMB and returned 315 RMB.”

“16th March. Stole a customer’s leftovers. Tried to escape after being caught. Affected the restaurant. Debt 300 RMB.”

“1st April. Ran on the street and shouted. Scared many people. Owe the fruit stall, the restaurant, and the milktea shop 50 RMB each.”

“29th April…”

The cleaner used all of his money to buy medicine for his daughter, so he couldn’t pay the debt. He had to owe them. Even in the nightmare, the details on the debt notes were so clear. The cleaner swore that he would eventually clear all the debts.

“At first, the complaints look normal, but sooner, it looks like the merchants are just working together to chase the father and daughter away. Whenever the cleaner wasn’t home, the daughter would escape. This is very abnormal. It feels like someone had purposely let her out so that they could pin all the blame on her in the end.” Han Fei reached the end of the album. The fire burned many pictures. Han Fei saw that the last picture was taken inside the wooden shed. The wooden shed was the exact same as the wooden shed at the western end of Peace Street. The elder stood beside the bed and braided his adult daughter’s hair.

Han Fei paid attention to the windows and the door. “Why is there a third person in the picture?”

On the wooden windowsill, there was half a boy’s face. It was the boy Han Fei had encountered earlier. However, the boy in the picture was fair and clean. The boy Han Fei saw on Peace Skill was sallow and dirty.

“Why would the boy be in this picture? What was the boy trying to sneak a look of? Was it the brothers who let the girl out of the shed whenever the cleaner wasn’t around?

“The cleaner’s daughter has mental problems. She couldn’t communicate normally with the cleaner. Is it possible that she was framed every time?

“The brothers said that their family was once the manager of this street. Did they use this method to chase the father and daughter away? Or was this a simple prank by the brothers?”

The merchants rented the shops at Peace Street. The limping cleaner and the girl affected their business, so they sided with the managers.

“There are many ways to chase people away. Why would it end in a fire? Was it an accident or arson?”

The despair of this nightmare was that the fire had burned away reality, and death paved the way for a new Peace Street.

Footsteps came from outside. The players entered the room.

“They’re quite fast.” Han Fei put away the album and entered the deepest part of the room. He wanted to find the princess’ crystal shoes.

Wiping away the ash on the wall, Han Fei found a small cubicle behind the headboard. It contained many girls shoes and clothes. These appeared to be handmade by the cleaner for his daughter. Some shoes had crystals, and other shoes had cute dolls sewn onto them. Each shoe contained a father’s love.

“The princess’ changing room?”

Han Fei could imagine the scene in the room. The two people who were afraid of the world hid in the simple wooden shed. The daughter lay on the bed and tried on the beautiful clothes and shoes her father had made for her. She had a simple and bright smile on her face. Two broken souls found comfort in each other.

“The princess’ crystal shoes should be here.”

There were many shoes in the cubicle, ranging from baby shoes to young woman’s shoes. They were arranged neatly.

Han Fei searched for a long time before he found a pair of shoes different from the others. This pair was larger than the rest, and it was covered in cartoon stickers.

The cleaner didn’t have the money to afford stickers. He normally picked the used ones. Therefore, the undamaged stickers were treasures to his daughter. However, this pair of shoes were covered in undamaged stickers.

“The cleaner wouldn’t use his daughter’s treasures to make a shoe. Plus, this pair is too big for her…” Han Fei picked up the shoes. “Is it possible that the daughter made this pair for her father? The crystal heels made Cinderella a princess, and being adopted by the cleaner turned the abandoned baby into the princess of Peace Street.”

The abandoned baby was the princess, and the cleaner was the black knight. The golden pumpkin carriage was the garbage truck, and the big horse was the stray cat they fed.

The father who had nothing tried his best to give his daughter everything.

The girl’s life was changed by the cleaner. Her crystal shoes were her father’s love.

In this burnt room, the pair of shoes touched Han Fei in ways he had never felt before.