Anthony watched indifferently as Clark stirred the egg whites.

That day, he told Clark about Nolan, originally meant to be a joke, but the kind-hearted little reporter offered to help him make a cake.

Clark: "Nolan is incompetent when he hears it, and we can help him!"

Anthony drooped his eyelids and kneaded the dough in his hands. The dough is added with egg yolks, slimy.

Clark was in high spirits, quickly stirred the egg whites, and came over to carry the basin away. Anthony sighed, went over to wash his hands, and looked for cream from the fridge.

There was a microwave and soon the cake was ready. Anthony first coats it with white cream and then garnishes it with florets. Clark said with interest: "I heard that there is a 3D printer for the kitchen recently, and it is very convenient to print chocolate decorations.

"But before that, you need to assemble and build a model.

Anthony lay on the kitchen counter, watched Clark find a square cardboard box and put the cake in place, then pasted colored paper and tied a bow, and said: Wouldn't it be nice to go directly to the cake shop and buy one?

In a sense, Nolan is a genius. He has a meticulous mind and should not be bad at art, but he has great difficulty reading, writing, and exercising--- which is a learning disability. Coupled with being treated as a fool for a long time, neglected and even abused by his parents, Nolan should now have a serious mental illness. And according to his behavior with a gun, he should have developed in the direction of the clown.

Sending "Disqualification in the World", Anthony can't say what he thinks. Do you want him to be as completely depraved as Osamu Dazai's protagonist, or do you want to give him hope?,

Anthony tied a bow to the book with the ribbons left over from the tied cake and put them in the back seat of the car. Clark got in the passenger seat, and the car drove to the other end of the metropolis.

On the way, they meet up with Fanny--- a girl who is willing to befriend Nolan --- knock on the door of Schmidt's house.

Soon, the door opened, and inside was a middle-aged woman who was not very friendly. Anthony spoke first: "Mrs. Schmidt, we are friends of Nolan, and we have come to celebrate his birthday.

Mrs. Schmidt gave them a suspicious look, "Nolan can still make friends?" Oh, Nolan isn't home today, he's gone to the library." The

one-way glass door closed in front of Anthony, and Clark and Fanny stood behind with blank expressions.

Anthony: "No way, I told Nolan that I was going to come for his birthday today. Clark

couldn't help but look through and found that there was indeed a child in the room on the second floor.

"Maybe he's hiding in the room?"

Anthony exited the courtyard and looked up. The curtains were all drawn. He pondered for a moment, and then said to Fanny, "We went to the public phone booth and called Nolan to answer the phone, and said that we needed to tell him about some experiments.

Fanny looked a little worried, handed the gift box to Anthony, and walked into the phone booth.

"Hello, is it Schmidt's family? I'm Custer, Schmidt's classmate. Can you get Nolan to answer the phone?"

"Maybe you can tell me and I'll tell him." "

But Madame... I'm afraid not, I'm going to talk about some arrangements for chemical experiments, which you may not understand... Please, this is the task assigned to me by the teacher, if I can't convey it to Schmidt, I'm very embarrassed..."

There was silence for a while, but the boy's voice came: "Hey, Custer?"

Clark turned his head to look. The Schmidt family was not visible from here, but he could see the boy standing at the corner of the stairs.

Fanny looked at the note Anthony handed over, and stumbled and said, "Teacher Pate asked me to tell you that next week we will have a class experiment test, and we will have a new experiment to do, and the acidic solution will be energized... Schmidt, is your mom around?"

"... I don't think I really want to attend... She had just come downstairs. "

Very well, Nolan," Fanny said affectionately, "can you tell me about yourself?

I don't think so.

"Can you go to the window at the back of the house?" on the first floor?"

I don't think so. "

What about the second floor?"

Let me think about it.

"Can you flip it down? Mr. Pate will help you." "

“... Maybe, I mean, yes. The

phone hung up, and the boy on the stairs looked downstairs at his mother. The woman asked impatiently, "What did your teacher tell you to do?"

It was just a surprise lab test that told me what I needed to prepare. "

Why didn't you write it down?"

I remember, and... Maybe I won't be going to school next week. -

Clark followed Anthony to the back of the house: "Nolan is having a problem talking?"

"Yes, it's not obvious, but he's slower than anyone else. I suspect it's a learning disability, he's not stupid, but he can't take the test. "

A window at the back of the house, a corner of the curtain was lifted. Nolan's face appeared, and Fanny waved vigorously at him.

Anthony looked left and right, pulled open the iron fence door behind him, walked to the base of the wall, and gestured to him to step on the edge of the window sill, step on the air conditioner, and then jump down.

Clark catches him.

They slipped out of the courtyard, and Fanny led them into a nearby café.

Anthony: "Did we break the law?" Clark: "

It's not far anyway."

Anthony raised an eyebrow and pushed the menu to Nolan: "What do you like to drink?

As they waited for their coffee, Anthony formally introduced, "This is Fanny Custer, you know, your classmate, and this is my neighbor, Clark Kent, who came to make friends with you on a voluntary basis."

Nolan nodded at them with a bit of restraint.

The cake was opened directly, and the waiter helped provide candles and lighters, and sang him a birthday song. The gift was also delivered to Nolan.

Nolan first opened the book, saw the teacher's message and signature on the first page, and put it down silently, and then the new album sent by Fanny.

They were all very ordinary gifts, but Nolan's eyes were wet. An attentive Clark handed him a tissue.

Anthony hugged the cup and looked at the boy with his head down: "Perhaps, would you like to tell us about your family?" Of course, if you feel sad, it's okay not to talk about it, let's talk about something else."

Nolan looked up. Fanny sat on his left with her hands on her knees and looked at him intently, the teacher's neighbor sat on her right-hand side, holding the cup with one hand and looking very gentle, and his teacher sat across from him, holding the cup in both hands, looking more serious. Maybe he's a little cold.

He made up his mind.

"My brother... His name is Philip, he's five years old, well, it's cute. That's right, the one on the news who was accidentally pushed down the stairs by his brother and fell to his death... Because of this, I feel very lost, I have become a murderer..."

Clark said soothingly, "We know, you didn't mean to.

Anthony leaned forward, and he could feel that Clark wasn't comforting to the point. Nolan was even more depressed.

"My parents are angry about it because of me, they lost their little son... So they forbade me to go out... I don't have much energy myself, so, Mr. Pate, maybe I won't be in school next week.

Anthony: "Is it your own decision?"

"Yes," Nolan picked at the pattern on the cup, "You can see too, I didn't do well last week, I was always distracted..."

Anthony: "Well, maybe you need a week to relieve stress." When you come back, I can help you make up for it.

Nolan curled the corners of his lips, and Anthony saw that the corners of his eyes were not moving.

"Thank you, Mr. Pate.

Nolan apparently doesn't want to talk about this topic anymore, and Fanny immediately brings up a new topic: "Justin Bieber recently released a new song, did you listen to it?"

-

They didn't talk long in the café, Nolan himself stood up and said he had to go back.

Anthony glanced at Clark and said, "If you're worried about your parents, don't worry, I can explain it to them..."

Nolan shook his head, "I just really want to go back to my room."

Fanny looked blankly at the male classmate she knew but didn't know skilledly slipped back through the back door, and said, "What do I think...

Anthony: "Maybe he was hit by an accident, it's okay, it should be a few days." -

On the way home, Anthony and Clark have their own agendas.

Clark slumped over the co-pilot, recalling the boy's performance. It is clear that Nolan is not telling the truth, or rather, not telling the whole truth. If you really don't want to go to school, how can you see Anthony so happy? And when it comes to his brother, he says he's cute, but it's not very sincere. When it comes to parents, it's even more obvious disgust, even fear.

As Superman, he could even see the bruises on the boy's back.

Clark pulled out his phone and began texting his colleague who was covering the news.

Anthony drove in the traffic. He couldn't figure out how he really had to go to such trouble making gifts to a boy with whom he didn't have a close relationship, congratulating him on the door, and even helping him "run away" for a few hours...

Blame Clark!

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