Second Lead Syndrome (1-187) | ✓

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Author's Note: End of mass update!

The tense atmosphere between Xue and Shin disappeared quickly enough when Cecil appeared. 

It seemed like she wasn't just a pacifier for Xue, but as well as Shin now. 

Cecil looked between Xue and Shin, and that's when she noticed the torn and loose grey yukata Shin was wearing, along with the battered wooden slippers. 

Cecil furrowed her eyebrows, walking towards Shin and crouching to meet his eyes. 

Shin jerked back and he found himself unable to maintain eye contact with Cecil, looking away. 

Somehow, the way her clear eyes pierced into him made him inexplicably flustered. 

"Shin."

Shin only looked up for a second, before he hurriedly glanced away. 

"Let's go buy you some clothes," Cecil said, extending her hand towards him, tilting her head. "Hm?"

"...no." Shin answered curtly. 

"Eh, that's no good! Your clothes are all torn, and your shoes too!" Hana jumped into the conversation, crouching down beside Cecil. "Everyone deserves to wear nice clothes and shoes!"

"You are right, Hana." Cecil smiled, nodding. 

"Nice...clothes…" Shin muttered out, frowning to himself. 

He recalled the time he had disappeared from the orphanage, after the man came bearing news about his parents. 

"Shin! Shin! Is there someone named Shin here?!"

Shin remembered standing up and approaching the man. The man wore ragged clothes, and he seemed like someone who had desperately escaped from somewhere dangerous. 

The man broke down upon seeing Shin. 

It was thanks to Shin's parents that he escaped, and the man informed Shin of his parents' perilous circumstances before passing on a letter written by his parents. 

"Sorry, Shin. Looks like mommy and daddy, have to leave you behind on your own. We will love you, always. Please live on, for us."

There were dried tear stains and blood stains on the letter. 

"Your parents wanted me to...to pass you the remaining money they have--"

"No, I want to find them."

“Shin...but your parents might be--” 

“I want to find them.”

Thus, Shin set out on a journey to rescue his parents. There was no way he would leave them behind, not when there was still a chance they were still hanging on.

The man had accompanied him, determined in repaying his debt to Shin's parents. Shin had suspected him at first, but it was only when the man revealed his reason for running away.

"I can't go on any further, I apologise. This is as far as I can help, Shin."

"I'm sorry, my own selfishness and desperate attempts to save myself, cost the lives of the two precious people in your life."

"Don't forgive an old man like me."

He had an illness, and they knew instead of letting him die peacefully, the man knew he would be thrown into an area and be left to rot to death. 

The man feared that outcome, and set his mind to escape. 

"Listen carefully, Shin, you need to find a way to sneak into the heart of the monster. And then, you'll be able to find your parents."