The Little Giant [Spring Pirika]

The twins ran away from home.

It has been three days since they disappeared.
However, I didn't look for them right away.
That's because I thought I would be fine
even without the twins.

Since the twins ran away, I've been stumbling and bumping into things.
I keep falling over.
Why did I suddenly lose my balance?
Thump. Ouch.
What on earth is going on? I can't walk properly.
Come to think of it, this started after the twins disappeared.

I often used to make fun of my little toes.
It makes me angry that they get bumped so often despite being so unimportant.
Just recently, I bumped my little toe again as usual.
But on this day, I just couldn't calm my irritation.

"If they're this much of a nuisance, I don't need my little toes."
"In the first place, there wouldn't be any problem even if I didn't have little toes."

I said it to my little toes over and over again.
It was from the next day onwards.
That the twin little toes disappeared.

I honestly didn't expect that it would be this difficult just because those little toes were missing.
Still, where on earth did the twins go? Honestly.
I end up complaining to a friend.

"It's really troublesome without my little toes. Do you understand how I feel?"
"I knew that. But you were always saying, 'Little toes are just extras, they're useless.' Of course the little toes would want to run away."
"Do you think they'll come back..."
"Well? Who knows."

I hadn't understood anything at all.
What do you mean 'little toes are extras'?
Even though they helped me so much.
I looked down on my little toes just because they were small.
I really am the worst person.

As I was blankly thinking about the missing twins,
my vision suddenly blurred, and I felt the strength leaving my body.
Oh, what on earth am I going to do now...

...

When I came to, I was on a bed in the infirmary.
It seems I slipped and fell down the stairs.
According to someone who witnessed it, right after I missed a step on the stairs,
I 'braced myself with both feet,' so it didn't turn into anything serious.

This had never happened before.
But for the current, incomplete me, is this natural...?
Will I continue to be exposed to danger like this?
How much was I supported by those little toes?
At the same time as I thought that, tears spilled out.

"I was wrong, I was wrong. I'm sorry..."

Throb.

At that moment, I felt pain in a place where I shouldn't have been able to feel it.

"Oh, this feeling..."

When I took off my socks, there were
the little toes I thought I would never see again.
I touch them timidly.
Oh, these are definitely my little toes.

"Did you... come back to someone like me?"

I hugged the twins with my hands out of sheer joy.
Then the twins curled up tightly, responding to my hands.
That felt like a handshake of reconciliation to me, and I couldn't help but smile.

"Thank you for forgiving me."

Then we skipped together.

(1100 characters)

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This is an entry for the Spring Pirika Grand Prix.