„Hey, Minato, where are you?"
Soft, womanly voice filled the air.
"Right here, mommy."
"Oh, there you are! What are you doing? Playing alone on the kitchen floor again?"
"No, mommy," a woman saw a big, wide grin on the little boys face "I'm building a castle with my friend."
"Your friend?" she asked with a curious tone. "What's his name?"
"Ryouji."
Woman sat on the floor next to her child. "Nice to meet you. Mr. Ryouji" she said, looking at the undefined place somewhere next to kitchen table. "Please take care of Minato."
"No, mom! Ryouji is here!" Minato pointed to the space on his right, about 20 degrees from the place his mother faced to. "Don't you see him?" Boy sounded disappointed.
"… well, maybe he doesn't want to show himself to me". She didn't know what exactly to respond.
Minato gave her an offended look. His mother stood up and sighed. Then suddenly boy's face cheered up.
"You know what Ryouji said? He doesn't mind you can't see him. And he'll definitely take care of me, because he likes me!"
"Alright then. Play safely, honey. And put toys back to their places when you finish."
"Ok!" Boy shouted onto his mother's leaving back. Then he looked at his friend. Ryouji was the same age as himself, and made a great accompany; he enjoyed to play in the sand, especially liked making castles, and then Minato pretended to be a knight who has to defend it, when Ryouji was a dragon, whose aim was to turn the castle into a dust. He also knows many places to hide in handy-dandy, can climb trees and learned Minato a song. But most of all, he doesn't complain, like other buddies from the playground, that Minato is sad looking, slow or forgets the play rules. Instead, he's always there to spend some time with the boy, and always arrive when mostly needed. Of course, Minato realized others can't see Ryouji, but he never thought it was something awkward. That's too bad. For them.
"Hey!" Ryouji shouted suddenly. "You know what, Minato-chan? I'm gonna show you something aaaaaaaawesone tomorrow!"
"What is it?"
"It's a secret! I can't tell you!"
"Why can't you tell me?"
"Because it's a secret, stupid! If I tell you what it is, it won't be a secret anymore, right?"
"…Yeah."
"Oh, and it has to be tomorrow morning at the school playground. So… You can't go with your parents to the shopping mall."
"…"
"Just tell them anything. Say you want to go to the school… hm… to see a football match!"
"I don't know, Ryouji…"
"Please, I'm counting on you. Pleeeeeseeeee, please, please-please-please!"
"…ok."
"So you'll come?"
Minato nodded.
"Yay!"
2.
