#had to use auto correct for restaurant :(( | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

dennou-translations · 3 years

Photo

Violet Evergarden Ever After: Chapter 5

Please feel free to message me about possible corrections. If you can, consider supporting the creators by purchasing the official releases.

← Previous || Index || Next →

Dream Chasers and the Auto-Memories Doll

Most likely, every continent had one such city.

A city where lonely girls with nowhere to go and boys with nothing but big dreams would head to after breaking away from their homes, taking only a little bit of luggage and travel money with them. A place where they would bet their entire lives to take on a battle when boarding the night train. Both the people who actually knew said land and the ones who did not know it would advise others to go to it if they had a dream they wanted to realize.

They would tell them to go to Alfine, the city of dream chasers.

Located at west of the continent, said city presented itself resplendently. Although it was on the West Side, it was the territory and capital of the Republic of Fine, a neutral country that had not participated in the Continental War. Alfine was originally a city of artisans, as well as the place where engineers employed by the royal family of Fine used to live in during the pre-republican era. Home to all sorts of artisans conceivable, who made from handicrafts to weapons, the city stood out within even the whole continent, and since ancient times, there was even a saying that preached, “Ask Alfine whether this can or can’t be done”.

Such were the origins of Alfine. Over time, the city of artisans had turned into a city of merchants.

Even if they wanted to, skilled craftsmen could never break free from their relationship with the merchants who sold their goods at high prices. A person having talent was no guarantee that they would be able to capitalize on it. After all, those who could do everything on their own were few. Moreover, putting people to good use was a talent in itself, and merchants excelled in that field. Through its craftsmen and merchants joining hands, Alfine had succeeded in developing into a commercial metropolis, boasting an assortment of goods that nowhere else could compare. Opening to the public on a daily basis, the market in the city center was as vibrant as it had been since ancient times.

Just after the end of the Continental War, which had left the continent with an enormous scar, Alfine had managed to achieve an even better advanced field. If there were any field attracting more attention than ever before, as a result of people wounded by the war seeking a new era once it was over, it would be the field of “artistic expression”. As in theater, novels, paintings, music. Meaning that many forms of “artistic expression” had their names thundering all over the world by way of borrowing assistance from merchants. Rather than being just entertainment, it had the power to move people. The city of dreams, Alfine, could quite literally be called a blooming flower by now.

However, where there were sunny spots, there were also shaded ones. Precisely due to it being a city of dreams, one could clearly tell the disparity between those who had accomplished their dreams and those who had not just by looking.

The city of Alfine was a circular one surrounded by tall walls. It was divided into three large sections: First District, Second District and Third District.

The First District was, simply put, the district of the wealthy. Separate houses with gardens densely packed the area. Only influential people could live in it. However, the residences often became unoccupied, so the place made it easy to understand the logic that even the prosperous would inevitably decay. Those who obtained constant glory were actually not so many.

The Second District was the center of the city, where the shops stood in lines. An array of artisan specialty stores lined up in rows, a market that opened at 5 AM, a theater, a bookstore, clothing stores and restaurants. If one were coming to the city for tourism, they by any means would want to stop by this district. As it faced the train station, it could be considered the gateway to Alfine.

And then, there was the Third District. If the First and Second districts were places where the sunlight could reach, then the Third District was an obscured one. It was the farthest away from the city’s entrance, the train station.

It was not as if all sections were cleanly separated, but one could tell in which district they were from looking at the buildings. The closer one got to the Third District, the more the beautiful exteriors of the constructions would fade one by one, and old houses of undetermined years of construction would increase in number. There would be few separate residences, apartment houses adjoined to each other as if casting their menace, and one would be able to see a commoner’s sight, which had a daily life feeling to it.

New buildings, renovations and constructions were spreading all over in Alfine and its complicated structure made it look like a labyrinth town, thus it was the kind of city where one would soon get lost, even if they only did as much as transit around. The Third District was the only one in this complex city with such a hodgepodge-like configuration. It had no delightful gardens, no elegant cafés or even hotels where doormen would welcome the guests.

A place scented everywhere with the smell of today’s dinner. Where everything – the yawning of cats, the howling of dogs and the laughter of children – could be overheard. That was the Third District.

A young woman walked out of a certain apartment complex in the aforementioned district. The refined girl was clad in a noble blue cape. Her manner of walking had her spine tautly erect.

The apartment complex was an old building with dead vines covering its walls. Perhaps the residents were ill-mannered, for the moment that the girl went outside, she tripped over something that someone had left over the pathway and almost fell. Dodging the unknown vases and decorative plants left there by the original residents, as well as a toy horse that some baby used to ride in the past, she went down the black iron stairway, her heels making clicking sounds.

Early winter had arrived outside, but due this year’s winter being a warm one, it was not snowing yet. Perhaps having been kicked out of home or not wanting to go back to it, there were people absent-mindedly smoking here and there or sitting on a bench arranged by someone and feeding birds. The girl cheerfully greeted them.

“Lady, are you going to work now? I’m about to go to sleep. Good luck with your job.”

The gorgeous young woman, who most likely worked at nighttime, replied while waving her hand with a smile.

“Lady, how about you spend the night with me this time? I don’t have a woman to sleep beside me tonight.”

She would always elbow the flank of a gigolo who was never short of women and break into a run. As she ran, her dark blonde hair swayed as if undulating.

She was probably sixteen years old. Coming out of the apartment complex all by herself, she was heading off to work in this big city. With the rise of independent women, this was not rare as of late, but since her facial features still retained childishness, people incidentally spoke to her out of worry.

The so-called lady was that kind of girl.

Her big, droopy eyes and small nose were adorable. Those were her most prominent characteristics, if they could be considered such. From an adult’s point of view, she was a girl that could be found anywhere. One who did not seem to have anything special and to whom people would advice, “You should think about your future before anything” or “How about getting married?” no matter how hard she worked at something.

She was that ordinary type of girl.

“Lady” was a common pet name for referring to girls in Alfine, even by someone whom they were not familiar with. In this city that showed and sold dreams, the replacement of people was incessant. However, even the people who resided in it permanently refrained from calling new residents by their names, instead giving them aliases, as if granting roles to fictional characters. Young women were “ladies”, young men were “boys” and all were “dreamers”. She, too, had introduced herself to the residents. Yet they had not kept it in mind. Being called “lady” so many times, she had decided to accept this custom and content herself with becoming one of the “ladies” of Alfine.

When walking around the city, one could spot tons of names of famous singers, writers and actors in large posters everywhere. In this place, one had to be accomplished in order for people to call them by name.

The dark blond-haired girl, who was still just a “lady”, was leaving the Third District behind and heading to the Second District. Although it was still daytime, it was unnerving for a girl to walk around the Third District alone. The flirty man from earlier was a trivial matter – there were several much drearier people around. Hence, the lady went on with a trot.

Although there were helpful people and people who would greet her in passing, there were also those who would obsess with kicking others down and treating them with malice. They were particularly remarkable in this city, where people competed against each other for an opportunity to fulfill their dreams. In Alfine, disputes were as commonplace as the twittering of birds in the morning. Therefore, even as a man bumped on purpose into the lady while she was rushing in a stride, it was not much of a surprising situation in Alfine.

“Ouch—”

Knocked down by the belly of a fat man, the lady fell on her bottom on the spot. It was when she was about to enter the last passage from the Third to the Second District. The fact that the man was coming from the front had been visible to her, so the lady had turned to the side to give way.

There were puddles on the path, probably because it had rained the day before, so if people did not give way to each other, their shoes and socks would be ruined. Since the lady was wearing brand-new shoes, this was a situation that she had wanted to avoid. If the man had passed first, they could have comfortably passed one another. However, the man deliberately bumped into the lady who had moved sideways on the narrow road. While stepping into the puddle. There was clear malice there.

“Don’t come running into me like that! You just bumped into me on purpose, didn’t you?!”

On top of that, the man made such claims. The lady was in a haze for a moment at the mud that had splashed onto her face, clothes and brand-new shoes.

“You’re the one who did that! I had properly avoided you!”

“No, you’re the one who bumped into me just now. What’re you gonna do about this?! My arm twisted from that! You’ll have to pay for my day of work today!”

A simmering rage surged from within the lady’s stomach. Of course, she had not hit the man’s arm. The man’s belly had sent her flying in the first place, so his arm had nothing to do with it. The one who had fallen down and hurt her wrist was the lady. She had to refuse him with a firm stance. The talk had to be curt. She had to show that she would not yield to a man who believed that he would get his way just by speaking out with a loud voice.

“I-I...”

That was what she thought.

“What’cha gonna do?! Don’t clam up! You’re gonna pay! Come on, show me your wallet! If you don’t pay, guess Imma call my pals over and sell you off to somewhere!” The man yelled angrily, stepping on the ground. Every time he did so, muddy water splattered onto the lady’s face and clothes, but the other party’s anger, which was close to madness, was so tremendous that she could no longer care about that.

“I—I didn’t have any intention to...” the voice that actually came out of the lady’s mouth sounded like something other than determination. Those who were not accustomed to violence would be unable to act how they had pictured when such a situation was occurring. “I-I...!” As her body came in contact with the emotions and menace that the other person was throwing at her, as well as with the fear from the aggressiveness unreasonably struck upon her, she became incapable of moving. “I do not... have any money... Besides, I... h-had dodged...”

No matter how clever a person was, the gears in their head would come to a halt, rendering them unable to speak articulately. There was a saying that went “let thy speech be better than silence”, but this was a case where doing that had led things to the wrong direction. There was no logic behind it. Regardless, whoever spoke louder would end up winning.

“Hush, shut yer trap! C’mon, just gimme the money! If you don’t, I’ll beat your face into a pulp!”

Now the situation was all but blackmail on top of a false accusation.

The lady looked around as if seeking help. There were curious onlookers observing her from the windows of buildings on both sides of the road, but once their eyes met with hers, they shut the windows. There were people behind her, but they turned back, not wanting to be involved in trouble. There was also no sign of the military police that circled around day and night to protect the public order of the Third District.

“Don’t just stay quiet! If you don’t pay...”

The only thing left to do for a lady living alone in this big city was to pray.

——Someone help me.

Anyone would do.

——God.

She had no idea where He could be, and yet...

——Help me. I’m so scared that I can’t move my legs. So please.

“Just do what I tell you, or else...”

——Help!

“...I’m gonna show what’ll happen to you!”

The man raised the arm that he had claimed to be hurt. He clearly swung it down to strike the lady’s eyes and nose, but it never hit. The man’s body did a broad withdraw as if being sucked by something, and when he noticed, his feet had been scooped from behind him, his knees had been struck, and he had fallen to the ground.

During the brief moment in which the man was falling, the lady’s frontal field of vision opened and she could see a person. It was too stunning and beautiful a woman to be showing up to someone in such circumstances. Her golden hair swayed loosely and her blue eyes seemed to shine conspicuously as if emerging from her white face. With a squeak of her boots, the one who had overpowered the man took a step forward. Wheezing, the man offed to a fountain square where people were happily eating and drinking the things they had purchased at the market.

As everything seemed to be all right now, the lady stopped in front of her savior. “Haah, haah...”

The other’s breath was not disturbed in the slightest.

“Excuse me, I...”

Come to think of it, the lady suddenly recalled, it was the first time that she was saying her name to someone else in a while. For whatever reason, giving her name in this city was extremely awkward. After all, she had no idea if she could become anything yet. However, she did not want to be the kind of person who would not properly introduce themselves and show gratitude in this sort of situation.

“My name is Leticia... Leticia Aster... Thank you for saving me... If you’d like... please let me repay you for it. What’s your name...?”

At that instant, perhaps because it was time for the fountain’s water art performance to begin, people broke into a cheer. Most of the people in that generally crowded square had their eyes stolen by the graceful movements of the waterfall. However, the lady – no, Leticia – was nailed to the person in front of her.

“It is Violet... Violet Evergarden.”

This gorgeous woman, who had a lustrous appearance and voice, was a person who had an extremely whimsical charm. She was wearing a stunning outfit that seemed to have come out of an opera play. Her figure was as clean-cut as a doll. Even in this city, which gathered beautiful men and women from all over the world, Violet Evergarden had a distinctive presence.

While a certain army colonel was waiting for a reply to his letter, which could never come, she was staying in this city due to receiving a request for a long-term job from a client living there. Said client was a well-known male composer. The request was for a music score notation job – something that she, who was so passionate about studying, had learned recently.

The contents of the request were that she had to live together with the composer and, whenever he started singing, write down the tunes and do perfect transcriptions of them into music sheets. This role was originally carried out between the composer’s disciples and relatives, but perhaps due to his quirky personality, everyone had given up on it.

Entrusted with the soundtrack of a certain work as a job, the composer was finally forced to hire someone, thus this work was contracted by the indication of a novelist. It was a mission of patience, but that was something Violet Evergarden did not have to worry about.

If people had to take a test for their perseverance, she had the disposition for achieving full marks.

In order to accomplish this task, Violet had not returned to the CH Postal Service in Leidenschaftlich for a while. Naturally, she had not received Gilbert’s letters, both of them living their lives in pain and passing each other. Having reached the final day of her work, after bidding farewell to the composer and being seen off by him, she was on her way back home. After a few transportation transfers from Alfine to Leidenschaftlich, she would be able to return to it.

However, an incident had just happened there.

“This is why I was here... but I just lost all the money in my possession, so you have saved me,” Violet said, well-manneredly consuming the bread and tea that Leticia had treated her to at a café, as a thank you for helping her.

Leticia said after blinking repeatedly, “So you’re an Auto-Memories Doll who was working here, and you’re on the way back from your job...”

“Yes.”

“And while you were walking around the Second District, you got lost in the Third District, then came across me being attacked and helped me out.”

“Yes.”

“And you have no money.”

“Yes, not a penny.”

“Eh, did you drop your wallet? Ah, or was it a pickpocket? There’s lots of them around here...”

“The latter. I soon noticed that my wallet was gone, so I tracked down, identified and caught the culprit, but...”

“‘But’...?”

Her expressionlessness crumbling just a little, Violet lowered her eyebrows. “The other was... a child still in his tender years... The place where I captured him was his residence, but there was no one else there except for children like him... I found out that, apparently, they were all orphans living on their own...”

With a suspecting face, Leticia asked, “Could it be you sympathized with them and let them have the money?”

“No, I did not give them everything. Some of the children inside the house were obviously ill, so I had to take them to a hospital for treatment... and half of my money was gone.”

“Wow... You’re such a good person...”

“They were planning to go to an orphanage, and once I gave them the minimum amount for transportation costs, the weight of my wallet nearly disappeared.”

Gobbling up the bread that she had bought for herself, Leticia stared fixatedly at the beautiful woman. She seemed to be someone who would call people by their name, not “lady”, even in this kind of city. Nevertheless, Leticia thought, she was overwhelmingly unsuited for this city.

“Ms. Violet... I’m not sure, hum... and I’m not saying this to be mean to you, but y’know... you might have been tricked.”

Violet’s movements came to a halt.

“I know there are orphans living close to each other in this city. But those kids are, like, raised by the city, so to say... Nobody picks them up, but apparently, they earn their daily living from the help of the adults around them, and it seems that tourists are the only ones they go after for pickpocketing.”

Silence.

“I also got robbed by kids the first time I came to this city.”

It was not as if she were reproving Violet’s actions, but Leticia wanted to give her some advice based on her own experience.

“If you go get it back now, there should still be some volume in your wallet...”

However, Violet quietly shook her head. “This might have been the case before. They might have been able to get by through nestling up to one another. However... they were really lying down with illnesses. Do the adults around them go as far as providing them with medicine? Drugs are expensive.”

“Well, indeed... there might not be someone good-natured enough to go as far as giving them medicine... so they’d have no choice but rely on someone who’s crazy-rich... I wonder if there’s anyone that nice in the First District...” Upon saying this, Leticia regretted it.

This was a place where victory and defeat were clearly visible, and the people living here were aware of that much.

“Whenever I ask for help... I also can’t tell whether it’ll happen or not. It’s not the same sum as treating someone for breakfast...”

If one sought good treatment and a good life, they had to fight for it. This was enforced in that city. A city where everything was for the successful ones. A city that was not kind to anyone. It was especially unkind to orphans who had been born there, and therefore did not know anything else or how they were supposed to live.

“Even if it is as you say, Ms. Leticia, that is all right.”

Fighting for something that could not be helped was painful. There was no salvation in it.

“And even if that were a false illness... I believe it is best for them to know where they can go whenever they are in real trouble...” Violet whispered, casting down her golden eyelashes and giving the brooch on her chest a rub. “Even wild animals seek for flocks. I believe requesting for help... and not rejecting that request when it is asked of you... is something necessary precisely to those who know no asylum... That is what I think. This, too, can... open paths.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, but that is only my opinion. Just as you say, Ms. Leticia, I...”

“No, that’s...” Unable to muster the words out for some reason, Leticia looked away from her, staring at the tea as it swayed in its pottery cup. “Sorry... about that, forget what I said earlier...”

The color of the tea was clear. Almost like Violet’s words.

She had also been seeking protection just a moment ago. It could be said that she had been driven into a corner. She wanted to ask for help, but everyone had ignored it as if ditching her. Most likely, she would have done the same thing if faced with the same situation. However, the one in front of her had come for her aid without even hearing her say “help me”. Albeit hypothetically, she had told said person that she might have been deceived, which was...

——...no good.

That was a bad statement.

As she was so expressionless, Leticia could not speculate her emotions very well, but if she had done what Violet did and been told the same things as her, she would have been hurt. Due to receiving selfless protection from Violet, Leticia could feel the weight of her words even more.

“Violet, are you seeking for help right now?”

Therefore, Leticia mustered out the courage to ask.

“I wonder. I do have some change, but it is not enough for me to go back to Leidenschaftlich... to where I want to return, so I am looking for a job rather than outright aid. I have only had two occupations until now, so it would be best if there were any work similar to them...”

Leticia’s face turned into a bright smile. “Then, I’m going to introduce you to one!” She leaned forward over the table, her face drawing close to Violet’s.

“Introduce... is it ghostwriting? If there were either that... or a security guard type of job...”

“The first one is fine since I heard you mention it earlier, but isn’t the second one weird? It’s not that kind of job. But it’s a hire-by-day one, so you can get the money soon! Let’s go once we finish eating this. There’s never enough people, so it should be okay. They’ll hire you in no time. The work feels like odd jobs, I guess. Like being a waitress, walking dogs...”

“‘Walking dogs’.”

“Rich people leave even walking their dogs to someone else. Strange, isn’t it? But it’s fun. Stay at my place until you save up enough money! I’ll cook for you too! Even if you use the railroad, it takes three days to go from here to Leidenschaftlich, right? If you work for about a week, you should be able to earn as much as the travel expenses for your trip back home.”

“You are giving me shelter, I see.”

“Is that... a no? You saved me, so take it as payback...”

“Is it all right for me to receive that asylum?”

It was precisely because Leticia already had the answer at the tip of her tongue that she answered, “Knowing that there’s a place you can go when you’re in trouble isn’t a bad thing... was it?”

Violet blinked in surprise, and as she said, “I accept your assistance” after a moment of silence, the two young women decided to huddle together for a while in the big city.

The time axis shifted a little from the same moment that Violet and Leticia had met. The stage of the story moved to a southern country – Leidenschaftlich.

In the capital, Leiden, a man reached the CH Postal Company drenched in sweat, even though it was winter. Having arrived through the transcontinental railroad after long hours, he had on a bitter expression, for reasons other than the fatigue of his boarding time. That was Gilbert Bougainvillea, an army colonel who bore a melancholic face.

Gilbert opened the doors violently enough for the visitor-announcing bell to ring stridently. That was a crude gesture unbefitting of him. It prominently displayed his current mental state.

“If it’s the reception desk for mail that you’re looking for, it’s this way...”

When a clerk spoke to him in spite of her astonishment, perhaps finally realizing that there was no composure in his actions, he cleared his throat and requested her to call the president. Fortunately, in place of the clerk who made a suspicious face at him, the one who took over was the president’s secretary, Lux Sibyl, whom he had interactions with, so she immediately hurried in and intermediated for him. Gilbert reunited with his best friend without much waiting.

“Gilbert! You were alive!”

While thinking that he had heard this line before somewhere, Gilbert raised a hand in greeting. Lux served tea and snacks in the reception room that he had been allowed into. Gilbert, who had dignity to him no matter what he did, had something in him that compelled people to do their utmost.

“President, we didn’t have any good sweets... I’ll go buy some right now...” Lux frantically rushed over to Hodgins. The height difference made them look like father and daughter.

“Eh, that’s fine. It’s Gilbert.”

“Wouldn’t you want to serve nice treats exactly because it’s Mr. Gilbert?! President, did you forget that you owe him for that incident from a while ago?!”

Hodgins felt a little pressured by his subordinate’s fierce idolization of his best friend. “I-I’m sorry... but I think he’s also not in the mood to have tea at leisure.”

“But...”

“It’s okay, it’s okay... Now, Gilbert.” Hodgins laughed as he gazed at his younger best friend, whom he was seeing for the first in a long time. He was actually amused. It was rare for Gilbert to be in that state. “You always have your bangs slicked back so cleanly yet they’re falling down.”

Being told so in a teasing manner, Gilbert brushed his bangs upward with an awkward face. He probably only made such facial expressions in front of his friend.

“I couldn’t get a carriage, so I came running all the way here. Hodgins...”

“It’s about Little Violet, isn’t it?”

“I haven’t said anything yet, but... yeah.”

“Couldn’t be anything else, right? Whenever you cast everything aside and take action... I understand everything, Gilbert-boy. Little Lux, what’s Little Violet’s schedule?”

Upon being asked, Lux agitatedly took out her notebook. The notebook that she always had in hand was densely filled with memos. Perhaps her eyesight had worsened, as Lux read the notebook with her face close to it despite wearing glasses.

“Ghostwriting business trip to Alfine... Huuum... She was originally scheduled to have returned to the head office already, but she hasn’t yet. There’s a chance that her hiring period has been extended over there.”

“What’re her plans after coming back from Alfine?”

“You said you wanted to let her rest for the time being, so she’s going to on a break for a while. It’s been few months since she had any.”

“Then it won’t cause any problems to other clients, so she might’ve accepted an extension. When it comes to Little Violet, I leave extensions and things like that to her own discretion... When was she actually supposed to have returned?”

“Five days ago.”

“It wouldn’t be weird if she got in touch with us, then. Little Lux, go check the express letters of the in-house mail; it’s either that or a telegram... The in-house mail’s been piling up lately, so there might be some heads-up from her.”

“I’ll go look right away!” Lux said to Gilbert instead of Hodgins as if making a declaration, then quickly put her small body to motion and left the room.

Feeling that the situation had escalated because of him, Gilbert stared at the direction that Lux had gone, looking apologetic. “Is it okay for me not to go with her? I came here out of the blue and yet all that I’m doing is give her trouble... She probably has other duties too.”

Hodgins gestured for Gilbert to sit on one of the chairs of the reception room, and then sat down himself. After confirming that Gilbert was seated, he spoke, “It’s okay, it’s okay. When Little Lux was injured, you arranged a hospital and an accommodation for her, right? She was really grateful for that, so she wants to be of help. My secretary’s a good kid. Let her do as she pleases.”

“About that... Violet is normally the one who’s under your care... so I wanted to pay you back for it. Now I’m gonna have to pay a bigger price...”

“That’s what bonds and favors are about, isn’t it...? By the way, you’re back earlier than planned, but is it just for a short while?”

“That’s right.”

“For Little Violet?”

“Well, for both of... us.”

“Even though you don’t come back when it’s for me...” Hodgins said as if sulking, to which Gilbert replied with dismay.

“Just try counting the things I’ve done for you. Think any other guy could do it?”

Silence.

One thing that immediately came to mind was that Gilbert had erased the documents that Hodgins was forced to sign by another company. They had been together since they were students, so he could not say anything when being told that. Hodgins feigned ignorance by whistling with his beautifully tinted lips.

“The things you’ve done for me, too, aren’t things anyone can do. I’m aware of that. If not putting it into words makes you insecure, then should I tell you that I love you?”

He almost let the teacup in his hand fall to the floor. Tremors ran through Hodgins’s body. As if to rid himself of them, he yelled, “Gilbert! You... You little...! Say that only to Little Violet!”

The one who had given him the tremors had on an unruffled face. “I don’t want to say it either. Then don’t sulk anymore.”

“What’s with you...? You sure say some unbelievable things to me sometimes even though you’re usually so cold, huh... That’s bad for the heart when you’re used to cold treatment, y’know? Made me remember our days in the army... when we had to march submerged in a freezing river... My heart squeezed that much.”

“You sure are selfish... Do you want me to care for you or not...?”

“I want you to care for me in the appropriate way; get it right.”

“Hodgins... if you’re going to call me ‘boy’, then can’t you act a bit more like my elder? More importantly... she’s back,” Gilbert said, confirming that there was someone behind Lux as she came in trotting. A blond, beautiful young man who looked like Violet, except with different colors.

It was Benedict Blue, who had a magnificent turnover from deliveryman to the president of an affiliated company.

The air around him and his appearance had changed a little from before. The heels that he liked to wear were the same as ever, paired to a slender jacket and matching pants, his hair shorter and an earring added to one of his ears. His androgynous beauty was already there before, but an adult-like sex appeal suitable of his job title oozed from him.

“Benedict, what’s wrong?”

Benedict briefly glanced at Gilbert, but then looked back at Hodgins without saying anything to him. “I was nearby so I came over. I had something I wanted to talk about before the next regular meeting. By the way, don’t pile up the in-house mail. Why won’t someone else fill in for that unless I do it myself?”

“My~, how shameful of us... the coordination to fill in for the stuff you used to do hasn’t been put to use yet. There’ll be two or three of you being born eventually.”

“That’s kinda gross, so stop it. I’m just myself... Also, this is it, right...?”

The name of the sender written on the letter that he brusquely held out to them was “Violet Evergarden”. Apparently, he had excavated it from the company’s post, which had stagnated due to personnel changes within the corporation. Most likely, unable to ignore the petite Lux as she was almost falling into the mailbox, he had helped her out. The hand that held the letter was right between Hodgins and Gilbert, but Benedict retracted it broadly to the side the moment that Gilbert reached out to it.

Silence.

As if to tease Gilbert’s quiet irritation, Benedict said, “Mr. Soldier, that’s in-house correspondence. Get what it means? Confidential.”

“It seems you hate me quite a lot.”

“It’s not about hating or liking. Doesn’t matter if you’re dating V or whatever; I just can’t forgive anyone who makes her feel down. You’re way older than V and yet you’ve got no qualms, do you?” Lux mutely hit Benedict’s flank, but he continued speaking, “I’ll probably never be able to stomach the things you’ve done and are gonna do to her. ‘Cause it looks to me like you’re jerking V around.”

Lux’s attack had now turned into a series of fist strikes using both arms, but regrettably, as she was light and delicate, it did not work on Benedict.

“Violet and I don’t exist to please anyone. That’s our problem alone.”

“Nooope, she ain’t just your girl soldier anymore. She was your subordinate, yeah? If that’s how it is, she’s my little sister figure, she’s basically a daughter to the Old Man and she’s Lux’s best friend. Plus, she’s an awesome Auto-Memories Doll to the clients that she met. She doesn’t belong to just you anymore.”

Strangely enough, Hodgins was looking at Benedict with a slightly uplifting gaze. At first, he showed signs that he was about to try to stop Benedict, but now not anymore. After all, Hodgins knew that if Benedict were being hostile for real, he would not leave it as just that.

“But V’s in love with you.”

This was Benedict’s pick-off throw.

“If you... snatch her from us...”

As well as his ultimate concession.

“...or make her unhappy...”

And, most likely, forgiveness.

“Are those your conditions to show me the letter?”

“That’s right. ‘Cause it’s confidential. You may be lovers or whatever, but we have no obligation to let you know where our employee is and what she’s doing right now. But she’s been sad lately...”

Silence.

“That’s also probably your fault.”

“I...”

“Listen up; you gotta deal with the things you’ve done on your own. Make V capable of smiling the next time I see her.”

At last, Gilbert properly directed the gaze that he had cast away towards Benedict. Upon closer look, he did resemble Violet a little. Golden hair and beautiful eyes. Those eyes conveyed the truth that this man cared for the woman Gilbert loved as if she were his actual sister.

“She rarely ever smiles. It’s hella hard... Make sure you do that in exchange for receiving this.”

He had a rude attitude, but there was no lie in his affection.

“Understood, Mr. Blue. But Violet has been smiling around me more often lately.”

“You! You didn’t have to say that, did you? Can’t you compromise with me a bit more?!”

Hodgins snorted without thinking. The talk between Benedict and Gilbert was almost like the ones they used to have in their youth. Hodgins and Gilbert had also clashed at first.

Hodgins squeezed himself in-between the two men who were quarreling because of a woman. “How about we leave the argument as that and just open the letter to take a look at the contents? I’m curious too... Little Lux, lend me a paperknife.”

Lux already had it in hand before Hodgins even asked. It was a special CH Postal Company paperknife. He carefully opened the letter. There was a message from Violet to the CH Postal Company inside. It had only a few lines of simple words written in neat calligraphy.

“Eeerm... I’m gonna read it. ‘Due to losing all the money in my possession, I have no prospect of returning as of now. Fortunately, I found myself a supporter, who introduced me to a job through which I can secure transportation expenses. My scheduled return date has already passed, but the current bookings for me are a few ways ahead, so I would appreciate it if you could treat this as a vacation... For now, I shall list here the address of the first place where I will be staying. Violet Evergarden’...”

For a moment, a heavy silence drifted among the gathered four. Although their feelings were somewhat different, they all had one thing in common. Violet Evergarden never asked them for help in such circumstances. This was her resignation to it.

Lux opened her mouth after everyone had heaved a sigh, “That’s very much like Violet, huh?” It was a thoughtful remark in her own way. If Gilbert were not present, she would have said, “Violet, you dummy! Why don’t you ask us for help?!”

“Did she drop her wallet...? Did something happen...? She should just pick one. It’d be great if she had written, ‘come pick me up’ or anything like that, but telling us to treat the days that she won’t come back like the vacation that she was scheduled to have is just...”

Benedict was exasperated at this point. She was his dear little sister figure, but he did not like that part of her. If she were there, he would have hand-chopped her head.

“Really... why did she make that decision...? If she had asked someone to come pick her up in that letter, I could understand.”

“She’s blunt about the weirdest things, yet she’s all reserved in times like that.”

Gilbert, who had lived with and educated Violet for four years, listened to the conversation between them with pained ears.

——Must be my fault.

He could not refrain from thinking that the nature of their relationship and the fact she used to be a weapon were big factors as to why she ended up having that type of personality.

“Ah~, hey...” As if noticing what Gilbert was thinking, Hodgins spoke in order to change the topic, “Well, that’s also a lovable side of Little Violet. More importantly, we have to decide if we should really wait for her return. She’ll probably come back without us having to worry, though...”

“That’s right. If it’s Violet, I think she’ll definitely come home no matter the means, but...”

“I won’t wait for her return. I’ll go pick her up myself.”

Hodgins raised a voice of dubiousness at Gilbert’s stirring statement, “Gilbert, will your work be okay? Little Violet’s in Alfine. Be it by railroad or car... or even if someone from the mail service like myself sped up through the shortest routes I know, it’d take a day and a half to get there.”

“This talk was leading there to begin with. I came here after leaving my work to the subordinates that I brought up and taking a one-week break to stay over.”

“Won’t you two pass each other even if you go there...?”

“Maybe. Even so... I’m going.”

Two emotions, one regarding his “best friend Gilbert” and one regarding his “being the guardian of Violet Evergarden”, fought each other inside Hodgins, causing him to worry about every single thing.

——Why is it that all the people I like are reckless fellows that just can’t be left alone?!

Hodgins had concluded that Gilbert going through the trouble of taking a break from work to come over meant that the relationship between the two of them was about to collapse, to the point it had to be mended in person.

——You should try harder to go in the direction of living happily. My heart won’t last.

Being so altruistic, he found himself thinking about other people’s problems as if they were his own.

“See ya, Hodgins.”

“No, wait.”

“I’m off.”

“Hold on, I’m gonna check if there’s anything I can do.”

“I owe you one.”

“I’m letting you to wait up—wait, you blockhead! I’ll manage with my connections and arrange someone to look for Little Violet in Alfine!”

Gilbert nodded, but did not take off the cloak that he had put back on. “I see. Then I’ll be on my way in the meantime.” Apparently, he did not intend to yield his decision of going to pick her up, even if out of stubbornness.

“Geez~! Shouldn’t we wait for the result of that before going out? What’re you gonna do if Little Violet comes back tomorrow?!”

Gilbert went silent for a moment. Hodgins’s worries were understandable to him. He was not a child. He was an adult man with a position to hold. Rather than looking for her and taking action at random, he should go for something more certain. That was undoubtedly an ideal course of action for a grown-up.

“If so, it’d be a relief that she’s safe. Even if we pass each other, I’m fine with it as long as her safety is ensured.”

However, not working in logical ways is what emotions are about.

“Hodgins... Indeed, she’s probably all right. I think so too.”

The so-called “infatuation”...

“But my going to look for the one I love is a whole different matter. Whether she’s fine or not, I’m going there to protect her. I’d never cut corners when it comes to her.”

...was an effect of “love”.

At Gilbert’s words, Lux naturally clasped her hands against her chest while Benedict went red up to his ears, his face twitching.

“Colonel, I... even if people oppose to your relationship, I’ll root for you no matter what.”

“You... sure... can say... something like that... in front of others, huh?”

The one they had spoken to was making a nonchalant face at the different reactions from each of them. “You can say whatever you want. I love her more than you think. And I’m sure I made this clear before, but... if it’s about being a watchdog, I come out on top.”

The next insult that Benedict wanted to say caught in his throat at Gilbert’s words. “You serious?”

“I don’t know what you’re referring to, but when it’s about Violet, I’m always serious.”

“That so?”

Benedict had asked if he was serious both for Violet and his own sake. Most likely, there would be questioning eyes looking at him in the same way as Benedict from now onwards as well.

“Hodgins, no matter how many times you stop me, I’m going.”

And Gilbert Bougainvillea would continue to love Violet Evergarden, even if he had to thrust them aside. Benedict finally understood now that this was the kind of man he was.

“Aah, geez...! Gilbert, you’re such an impatient guy! I get it, I get it! I’ll call the phone lines that get through to Alfine and try to connect to it, so when you get there... huuum... Little Lux, gimme something to write on!”

On Lux’s notebook, Hodgins frantically wrote down the name of a liquor store in Alfine that his house, which was a commerce, did trading with. Gilbert folded it carefully and put it in his cloak’s pocket. When he attempted to leave again with a “see you then”, his arm was pulled.

Biting his lip and making a face like he was holding something back, Benedict quietly said, “Wait...”

“Something the matter?”

“Y’know, you can... go to Alfine from Leidenschaftlich’s train station, but it’s faster to get over the bridge with a car and go from the station of the next town.”

“I see. Thank you for this useful information, Mr. Blue.”

“I’m not done talking. ‘Nyway... I’ve become a CEO, so I came here on my new car... Not to brag, but it’s a pretty fast one.”

Silence.

“You’re a rich guy, so you’ll probably order a carriage or car from someone. If you wanna go there as fast as possible, get in my beloved car. If we hurry now, there’ll be a train for you to board. What’cha gonna do...?”

His attitude was brusque and not even as flattery could his manner of speech be considered friendly.

“If you don’t wanna go in my car, do whatever you want.”

Regardless, even someone like Gilbert, who was not close to him at all, could understand that this was his best attempt at kindness. Seeing his shy expression, looking as if he were enduring something, anyone would be able to.

“You have my gratitude, Mr. Blue.”

“Stop calling me that.”

“Mr. Benedict.”

“Stop, stop—just ‘Benedict’ is fine. I won’t use titles with you either.”

“I’m truly grateful, Benedict.”

As Benedict clicked his tongue and said, “You’ve got a debt with me, Bougainvillea”, Gilbert laughed in front of him for the first time.

The story of two young women huddling close to each other was unfolding with Alfine as its stage. Such was the daily routine that Leticia Aster usually did by herself.

After waking up in the morning, she would douse into soup the hardened bread that she had bought from the bakery on the previous day and eat it. And then, she would go do waged work first. Those were short-period jobs that did not take more than three hours.

Once her busy time from morning to noon was over and she was able to have a meal, she would head to the next place. She would go from the Second to the First district to walk big white dogs that a popular actress doted on. They were three in total, so the slope she had to climb while being pulled by them was quite literally the way to hell.

After returning the dogs to their home, she had a short break until her nighttime job. She would stare at the lovely dresses lined up in the show-window of a clothing store that she looked up to. They cost a sum that she would never be able to afford, so she in fact could only look at them. Her very hectic day was usually a one-person battle.

“Do you like that dress?”

“I do.”

However, she now had a limited-time roommate, whom she could not call a friend nor an acquaintance, by her side.

Said roommate was a very eccentric girl, who at first glance appeared docile and frail, giving off an air that she had never lifted anything heavy in her life, but in reality, this was by no means the case. If anything, she moved around a lot and worked well.

While Leticia washed three dishes, she had already washed twenty; while Leticia was pulled around in circles and lost her breath over a single dog, Violet would be strutting and carrying the dogs that had become tired of walking under her arms (which Leticia advised her to stop, as that could not be considered taking them on a walk).

As she flawless and expressionlessly did twice the amount of work of an ordinary person, her figure was almost like a mechanical doll. This was Leticia’s first time ever meeting an Auto-Memories Doll, so she had no idea, but there was no way that all of them worked like Violet. She simply had the disposition of a hard-worker. Even though she had only just started on those jobs, Leticia was the one learning from watching her most of the time, making the latter often impressed.

Reflected in Violet’s blue eyes was pure-white dress made of scattered lily petals – the one that Leticia had said she liked.

“Looks like it’d suit you better than me,” Leticia said in earnest.

However, Violet immediately shook her head in disagreement. “These kinds of things do not fit me. I have prosthetics, after all.”

Having already been living with her for a few days, Leticia already knew what lay behind the creaking of Violet’s hands. As well as how cold and hard a touch they had.

“They also have wonderful long-sleeved and long-glove dresses. What about that one?”

However, it was not rare to see amputees, even in Alfine. Although the Great War had ended, the era of the people who had lived through it was not over. Even now, everyone was still fighting against the aftermath of a war that should have come to an end.

“The ones with capes are cute too, huh?”

As Leticia was still a girl, she did not know what do to when meeting someone who had a story that she was unfamiliar with.

“Leticia, come to think of it, the price in the tag has... become cheaper.”

“No way! That’s true... I see. Surely they’re planning to change this show-window. Eh, but even with it being cheaper, it’s still expensive... If I had a dress like this... I could also...”

“Shall I add my money to that? Perhaps it will suffice if I do.”

“But then, Violet, you won’t be able to go home. You’re putting the cart before the horse... Still, thank you.”

Violet made a slightly regretful face. “It would be great if there were better jobs...”

“For real... It’s enough to live, but not to buy the stuff we want, right?”

Most likely, this was something that people from everywhere across the globe would think at least once. Ever since money was invented, people were all but swayed around by it.

“How my parents and everyone else were so rich is... nothing but a mystery to me now.”

“Is your family wealthy?”

“Yeah... but I’ve left home, so it’s got nothing to do with me.”

Looking reluctant, Leticia took her eyes out of the dresses and started walking away, Violet chasing after her with a delay. There was spare time until their nighttime work, so the two were wandering about, for they had nothing to do in the Second District. Violet, who was not the best at aimless action, could only follow her around. As they walked in silence for a while, the bell of the clock tower standing in the middle of the Second District rang stridently. The duo involuntarily stood still. The clock tower then started playing a song that served the purpose of informing the time. It was a sweet and gentle sound, similar to the tune of a music box.

“It’s ‘Star of Dawn’ today.” Her melancholic aspect of earlier dispelled, Leticia turned to Violet with a smile.

The one she had turned to was tilting her neck. “What would ‘Star of Dawn’ be...?”

“You don’t know it? Never sang it when you were little?”

“I have no memory of being taught such a song. It would have been of no use to teach me many songs as a child, so I support the decision not to.”

“I-Is that so...? This is a pretty well-known nursery rhyme, though... This clock tower plays a different song every time it tells the hour. The ‘Star of the Dawn’ goes like this...” After taking a breath, Leticia began singing with a beautiful voice that reverberated loud and clear, which one would not expect from her appearance.

“Overlooking the eastern skies, the Star of Dawn shines in the sky before daybreak If you are crying, look at it this beauty will cease your tears You, who were once in your mother’s arms, and who are now crying that you can’t stand up, Are forever staring at the same thing Overlooking the eastern skies, the Star of Dawn shines in the sky before daybreak It’s always looking at you The Star of Dawn watches your life as it goes on Overlooking the eastern skies, even should you close your eyes, The Star of Dawn shines down on the whole world Overlooking the eastern skies, Even should you die, right before you close your eyes Overlooking the eastern skies, The Star of Dawn shines”

As the music ended, with facial traits that still retained childishness in them, Leticia smiled and said, “That’s the kind of song it is.”

Silence.

Dumbfounded, Violet moved her hands as if being manipulated and applauded on automatic. Leticia had sung for Violet, but the people in their surroundings also gave little claps.

“T-T-Thank you... very much.”

Even in the middle of the city, many entertainers earned change with their art in the Second District, so people might have thought this was her case. As a passerby commented, “You have a good voice”, she bashfully replied with gratitude.

“You are good at singing,” Violet said as if awe-inspired, which caused even more joy and bashfulness to well up within the depths of Leticia’s chest.

——If it’s now...

Leticia looked into Violet’s eyes.

——If it’s now, I might be able to say it.

Those blue eyes were as transparent as glass, reflecting the person opposite to her.

“I’m hoping to become a singer.”

After voicing this, Leticia thought, “I really said it”, and immediately regretted it. Whenever she told someone that she aspired to be a singer, the reaction she would receive in return was already obvious – it was either an apathetic “do your best” or being told to “live a decent life instead”.

This was not limited just to those who wanted to become singers in particular. Talking about one’s dreams was, in fact, a very simple think, yet it was sometimes treated as if it were a problem. Those experiences were the reason why Leticia’s mouth was so heavy.

On top of that, Leticia was a mere “lady” in this city. “Lady” Leticia had nothing, and yet she spoke of her dreams. This was already registered in her mind as an embarrassing action.

“‘Singer’,” Violet muttered what she had been told as if to confirm it.

“Yep... singer,” Leticia muttered it in the same way.

Once she said it, the fact that this was indeed true even for herself pierced through her. It pierced her chest rather sharply. Whenever she said it to someone, the words would gain power.

——Aah, I...

This had always been the case.

——I... I...

Still, talking about it to someone from the same generation as herself was what put the nail in the coffin.

——I really do wish to be a singer.

She was a dream chaser.

“Will you laugh?”

She was still a dream chaser, who did not want anyone to ridicule her confession.

Violet Evergarden took a short while to decide on how to respond to the question. The light footsteps of children running around the winter city. The shoe sole noises of someone walking steadily with heels so high that it seemed like her legs would crumble at any moment. The sounds of pigeons flying from one roadside tree to another. So much time passed amidst the stillness created between the two of them that all of these things could be heard quite clearly.

Was it that difficult a question? Leticia gradually became unable to bear it, hanging her head as if to stare at the ground. As Leticia closed her eyes, a voice devoid of its usual dignified ring, from which she could feel hesitation, finally ensued.

“I will not make fun of you.” Violet gave an extremely sincere answer. She spoke so normally that it turned into just a daily conversation. To Leticia, this topic was an essential one in regards to her life.

——Well, Violet’s got nothing to do with it, so I guess that can’t be helped.

However, perhaps stuck on something, Violet continued with an inquiry, “My apologies for taking so long to reply. I was thinking... Leticia, why did you tell me that while expecting me to laugh at you...?”

Silence.

“I felt that it was a very important question. Therefore, I took some time, reflected on it and answered with my honest feelings, but did I hurt you with that?”

“Nope.”

“I’m glad.”

Silence.

“Regardless, I did not understand why you assumed that I would laugh.”

“Erm... about that...”

——This girl is an uncoverer.

At that moment, for whatever reason, that was what Leticia thought. Being with Violet made her feel this way sometimes. It was like peeking at the image of herself reflected on a water surface, like seeing herself reflected on a mirror while holding another mirror, and also like uncovering her own grave. That was how Violet made her feel.

“That’s... Well, you see...”

But this was not an unpleasant way of being exposed. After all, even if she dug up a grave that she did not want to be exposed and were faced directly with a disagreeable reality, her roommate would not run away from it, but would instead stay there for her. And then, quietly, she would ask questions. She would think of the other person and properly listen to them. As she did this, Leticia found herself wanting to speak up in spite of her embarrassment and shyness.

She wound up asking with trembling lips, “I mean... isn’t it awkward?”

Yes, as one would expect, the more she explained the matter in detail, the more embarrassing it was for some reason.

“It’s already a business that’s grown so quickly after the war.”

After all, she had not accomplished anything yet.

“And yet, even when we say it’s a form of art, most adults tell us that it’s just for amusement.”

She would then attempt to protect herself by listing all sorts of reasons.

“That this kind of thing... is just young people fooling around and not looking at reality... and stuff... like that.”

It would be great if she had more confidence when talking about it.

“They say we should find jobs that are useful to people and poke fun at us...”

She simply liked to sing. She enjoyed it very, very much and just wanted others to listen to her. That was what she wanted to do with her life, and she wished to have more confidence when saying so.

“I’m a nobody, so when I talk about it, everyone tells me these things, as if they’re trying to make me wake up from a fever... When this goes on repeat, you become unable to say... with confidence... that you’re a wannabe singer.”

“You were told that?”

“About a hundred times already...”

“You asked a hundred people?”

“No, not that many... H-Hum... that’s why, Violet... I’d wanted to ask... if you, too... if even you... were going to mock the fact that... someone like me is aspiring to be a singer. That’s all... Sorry, I kind of asked a complicated question, didn’t I?”

There was a short pause. Violet had probably discovered common ground between Leticia’s answer and her own self-questioning.

“Leticia.” Violet displayed herself slamming one of her gloved prosthetic hands onto the other. “I am an ex-soldier. These were attached to my body after I was injured.”

“I see...”

“Back when I was a soldier, this was necessary.”

“I see.”

“After the war, following my occupation as soldier, I changed jobs to Auto-Memories Doll. I still did not understand at the time, but the president of my company has excellent foresight, and after the war, the so-called postal companies... the so-called Auto-Memories Dolls were a necessity. Because many people are unable to write for several reasons, but they were finally able to afford spare time for wishing to deliver their feelings. Of course, they were needed during wartime as well... but they did not suffice...” Violet was looking back at Leticia with eyes more determined than before. “If this business grew after the war, that means it is now necessary. So is my ghostwriting job. It is needed now.” Her glowing eyes reflected Leticia, who was still a nobody, while accepting her. “So... you are not an embarrassment. Even if someday... you are not needed anymore, much like myself when I was a soldier...”

Violet’s words sounded almost as if she were saying them to herself.

“Is that so?”

After saying this, she nodded and whispered once again, “Even then, you will not be an embarrassment.”

“Violet, do you also have times when you think of yourself as embarrassing?”

Silence.

“Sorry; you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

Violet moved her hand to touch the brooch on her chest. However, she stopped midway, her hand hovering in the air, all but balling into a tight fist. She then gave an answer that Leticia could never have predicted.

“When I think about... the person that I am in love with, I find myself embarrassing.”

Leticia was taken aback. Through the four seasons, a lot had happened to her on this year as well, while she lived her life aiming to be a singer, but this winter was when she heard the most surprising thing of the whole year. As in, that the doll-like young woman in front of her was in love.

“You have a lover?” It looked ridiculous, but both her hands and voice were shaking.

“Yes.”

The impression she had when looking at Violet changed dramatically from just one second ago.

“Eh, no way. Is that so...? Eeh... Is that so...? Y-You’re a grown-up...”

Until just earlier, she somewhat had the impression that Violet had no humanness in her and moved as adroitly as a doll, but now her humanity had increased a hundred fold.

“Violet, you’re such an adult...”

“I have just realized.”

“Realized what?”

“That I have no confidence... When it comes to my beloved, I lose confidence. Leticia, I thought that you do not have to mind the things you talked about. But if I were told the same thing, it does not seem to me that I would be able to dispel this feeling... If we lack confidence, dreams also turn into an embarrassment.” Violet then muttered little by little, “So embarrassment is linked to not having confidence. Whenever I am with the object of my affections, I feel that I – that my existence – is too unsuitable of him... That is embarrassing... I have no confidence.” Her voice sounded awfully lonely.

“Violet, it’s all right.”

She did not know what was all right. However, Leticia spoke up. She reached a hand out to Violet’s hard prosthetics and gripped them as if to warm them up.

“It’s all right, so...”

While saying it, she herself thought about what an irresponsible and meaningless sentence this one was. Still, this girl responded to her with so much innocence. She sympathized with Leticia. Therefore, Leticia wanted to say something that would dismiss the abstract “fears” that plagued the two of them. Although Leticia had no god, she wanted to pray for Violet’s sake.

“It is...? It does not affect my daily life activities,” Violet gave a completely unexpected answer, tilting her head.

As if to assure her, Leticia said over again, “It’s all right.”

——So Violet is the same.

Albeit feeling bad for her, somehow or other, Leticia had received courage from that fact.

——Everyone has something about them that is embarrassing.

This loneliness, shame and agony were not merely something of hers, but also of the person in front of her, she realized once more. Everyone had a terribly fragile bit in the depths of their hearts, even if they did not show it.

“That’s right; wanting to be a singer and having a dream isn’t an embarrassment.”

Having it poked would cause them to feel pain and shed tears. Having it warmed would give them happiness, but even then, they would shed tears. Everyone had one such something.

“Yes. Leticia, your dream is not embarrassing.”

Therefore, chasing a dream was not shameful.

“Yes.”

“Thank you... but... there’s another thing that I find to be embarrassing... It’s that I can’t be considered talented the way I am. There’s lots of people who are better at it than me.”

“Is that so?”

Violet was innocent. That was exactly why Leticia spoke as innocently to her. “Yeah, I have no talent,” she said as her chest ached acutely. “There’s lots of people who can sing like me and this city is filled to the brim with them, so just being able to sing a little well... can’t be called having a talent.”

Leticia’s eyes reflected the countless people who, much like herself, were living in this city and chasing their dreams in the Second District.

After this, they went to work as helpers in a small theater-restaurant on that same day.

The establishment’s configuration would be an odd one in other places, but in Alfine, there were several of them. People would enjoy shows while relishing in food and chatter. The main performances were song plays and dances, and Violet and Leticia were to arrange the props and assist the people featured in said shows to change clothes.

Perhaps it could not be helped that Leticia asserted she had no talent. The standards were high for everything in Alfine. All of the people participating in the show mastered the arts, and from the point of view of those who lacked it, they were effortlessly displaying a praiseworthy artistic performance. Anyone who had listened to Leticia’s voice would know that it had something special to it, but if they were asked whether it was outstanding or not, they would not be able to tell.

This city had as many gems as there could be.

At first, Violet was reprimanded for the lack of energy in her greetings, the owner of the restaurant disappointed that “a useless one has arrived”, but with time and effort, such impressions were cleared away. She was not friendly, but just one time was enough for her to memorize what she was told, and once she memorized it, she would do everything before anyone said the word. She could also do accounting and was polite.

Although she indeed was not friendly, people gradually started finding this to be adorable in her. Amongst the show’s singers and dancers, she was referred to and registered as not “lady” or “dreamer” but as “Little Doll”. She would listen to the endless talk of unpleasant guests, and whenever drunk men trespassed into the backstage, she would be twisting their arms and taking them out before the guard came over.

“Little Doll, Lady, see you. The snacks we gave you won’t last long, so make sure to eat them today.”

“Yes; good night.”

“Good night.”

What Leticia liked about this nighttime job was that people who had realized their dreams as performers of a big theater would sometimes treat someone like her, a youngling who was still a dreamer, sometimes strictly but mostly with kindness. As dream chasers would experience a poor daily routine until earning the foundation of their lives through performing arts, they were often given food. As Violet was also there, the ingathering had doubled.

“What kind of snacks did you get?”

“What are they, indeed...? Candies and... baked sweets.”

“I got a combination of cookies. Amazing; we could have a tea party with that, huh?”

“Were we not out of tea?”

“Uhuhu... I sneaked some in from the theater, so we have it. Let’s have a nighttime tea party, Violet.”

“You should not do that...”

“I’ll repay the debt someday when I achieve success.”

Upon returning to Leticia’s home, the two held a small tea party. The apartment complex, which had rooms that could not be said to be good ones even as flattery, was most certainly freezing, even though no cold wind was blowing. The two boiled water and covered themselves with blankets, snacking on the tea and sweets while leaving the curtains just slightly open to gaze at the night view that spread out from the Third to the First District. The terrain became a little higher as it went from the First to the Third District, so they naturally could see it from above.

“Sorry for the room being like this. It’s cold, isn’t it?”

“I often do camping when I go to unexplored regions to work as a ghostwriter, so I am fine with it.”

“Violet, must people be as sturdy as you in order to work as Auto-Memories Dolls?”

Due to the fact that the two had just recently talked about dreams, their conversations were more lively than before, but since Violet would go quiet if left alone, Leticia was mainly the one who spoke. At work, Leticia’s role was mostly to listen to people’s orders and instructions, as well as hear complaints, so the presence of someone who listened to what she had to say made her talkative.

“I see... So, Violet, you’re an orphan, but now you have a family that took you in...”

“Yes. It is no overstatement to say that I was taught everything about lady’s etiquette over there.”

“If they taught you something like that, they must be very wealthy. Violet, wouldn’t it be okay for you not to work?”

“The two often talk to me about this, but I was taught the meaning of doing this job by many people. I do not have the option to quit working. Besides, I am no longer a child, so I can feed myself on my own. For me, no matter where I go, there are people who will welcome me when I return home... This alone is enough.”

These words stabbed Leticia. She brought the ends of the blanked that she was wrapped in closer together, gently attempting to warm up her steadily pounding heart.

“I...”

This pain was definitely something that would not go away.

“Y’know, there was never any inconvenience for me, but I left home.”

Unless she talked about it.

Leticia Aster was originally the daughter of a good family. She was a girl born not in the big city but in a remote region fitting of its idyllic landscape, to a household of wealthy farmers.

Never was she made light of just for being from a family of farmers. Raised by her father, who had solidly laid the foundation as a leading figure in the whole area, Leticia was a young mistress through and through, referred to as “young lady this”, “young lady that” by the people around her since she was little. She herself accepted this situation quite naturally.

Leticia had been taught the etiquette that Violet had learned at the Evergarden house at a much younger age. If Leticia were to be defined, she would be “someone born in an extremely blessed environment”.

Her parents had decided to have her live without any inconveniences even in the future.

By the time that Leticia was eight years old, her parents were already discussing at what age she would marry her fiancé and where the ceremony would be held, leaving the people in question out of the conversation. Her partner was going to be the eldest son of a merchant that her father had always wanted to add to the administration of his business. Their fathers, who were friends, had decided everything on their own accord for the two, as they had been born in the same year.

Nevertheless, Leticia had also accepted these circumstances quite naturally. She was looking forward to marrying that person, having children with him and growing old surrounded by said children.

The other was always kind to her in front of her parents, and everyone around them expected her to play her role as a “young mistress”, so corresponding to it was what she must do. It was all she could do for the people around her. That was what she used to think.

“But, you see, I was surprised. One day, that person... told me something. That he didn’t like me in the slightest.”

It had happened suddenly on a certain day.

Their wedding was still ways ahead, but whenever their relatives gathered, the two of them were treated as a set without any questioning. On that day, just as always, Leticia’s and her fiancé were together at their relatives’ gathering. When they did so, they would receive many “thankful comments” from the adults. Such as, “After you get married, it’s best to have one boy and one girl” or, “Once you join as a member of the administration, I’ll let you do this kind of work”.

Leticia was grinning as she listened to it, but her fiancé yelled out of the blue, “Shut up...!”

Most likely, he had never shouted in his life. He had clearly exaggerated – it was close to a scream, as if hurting other people had hurt him as well. And so, leaving the astounded people behind, he ran away from the place.

“I went after him. I chased him and asked why he had done that.”

Leticia conceptualized her fiancé as someone who was always smiling gently. He was the person who would go into a pond to retrieve her hat when it flew off, not minding getting wet up to the knees. The person who, should there be any festivals happening nearby, would prioritize Leticia over playing around with his friends and escort her to it. No one would envy her marriage with him – that was what she believed.

“I questioned him. And then, he... yelled at me.”

She had never imagined that there would be a day when he would angrily shout at her.

“‘Because you’re... Because you’re an idiot,’ he said.”

The person she had chased after was not the fiancé that Leticia knew. It was just a terribly upset, bawling boy. Even as seen from the side, he was in a state of chaos and out of his mind, so what he told her at the time was something like badmouthing that he had surrendered to his emotions, but even now, Leticia remembered it word by word.

“‘I never liked you as a girl and I don’t wanna marry you. How did you become so submissive? How can you stay quiet when people tell you things like that on repeat? Why don’t you think? Something’s wrong with your head. You and everyone else are all idiots. A bunch of idiots who stopped thinking,’ he said.”

Under the shadow of a windmill in the countryside, contrary to the bucolic scenery, he yelled at Leticia in a fury-driven manner.

“He said it many times. That I definitely didn’t want it. That there had to be something else I wanted to do. ‘We only live once, but you and everyone else don’t understand that. Why do we have to do whatever our parents tell us? You and all of them are crazy,’ he told me, over and over...”

Back then, she felt that the fact he was crying had a bigger impact on her than the fact she was hurt. He was that kindhearted and smiley at all times.

“I couldn’t do anything except clutch the hem of my brand-new dress and tremble.”

Sadly, Leticia had truly never thought that she did not want to marry him.

“In that moment, I realized that my life, my peace was made up of someone else’s restraint.”

Accepting of her fate, Leticia used to love her life in her own way, without thinking of anything. Having been born as a rich young lady in a remote countryside, it was precisely due to Leticia being blessed that “thinking” had never been widely necessary for her, thus she had never practiced it.

She truly had never disliked it. Never questioned herself about it either. But he had always been thinking. In that gentle land that felt like the end of the world, he had always been thinking about it, the depths of his heart clouded in smoke.

And so, as a result of this, he became disgusted of everything that surrounded him, even of himself, who had the role of mediator, and destroyed it all. Along with the heart of a “young lady” named Leticia Aster.

“After being told that, I went home crying. I cried a lot. ‘Aah, everything I used to believe in were all lies,’ I thought. Being nice to me and celebrating my birthday without fail were obligations to him and he didn’t like it. That made me really sad... You see, that was my first heartbreak... But, y’know, after I cried so much, I noticed something. He had mustered out the courage to do that because he wanted to choose his life for himself.”

Thus, the story went back to the current “lady” Leticia Aster.

Covered with a blanket as if wearing a bridal veil, Violet was looking her way. Her eyes seemed somewhat worried. Even now, Leticia could say that she had moved on, but she had gotten back on her feet, enough to be able to talk about it. Therefore, she showed a smile, as if to tell Violet not to worry.

“So, this was the first time that I thought about my life. He said it again and again. ‘We only live once. You and everyone else don’t get that. Why do we have to do as we’re told if we only have one shot at life’... I was hurt, but this resonated with me so much. And then, I remembered that, before my parents told me that I had a betrothed and things like that, I was a child who liked to sing... I’d forgotten about it, or rather... the Continental War happened, and although my hometown was pretty far from the wartime fire, I was told that it was imprudent to go about singing, so I hadn’t been singing all that time. But then I started singing under the starry sky when no one else was around. And so, the act of singing quickly grew bigger and bigger in me... It’s not something to replace that person, but just like that, I got addicted to singing, almost as if I’d fallen in love. And before I realized, I had left home and arrived here. Once I did, I laughed. There are countless other girls like me. Dreaming girls... No, not just girls; there are also many boys in this world. I was like, ‘What~... I thought I’d had such a turbulent life, but I was just an ordinary girl’...”

That was a slightly lonely way of putting it, but reflected in Violet’s eyes, something about Leticia shone brightly. She was talking about her dreams in a corner of a big city, inside a room that did not even have enough lighting. Even if she lacked power, the figure of this living dream chaser sparkled even in the pitch-darkness.

“But, y’know, it’s okay... I only have one shot at life and I’m the protagonist of it, so for me... I’m special... That’s why it’s okay...”

Silence.

“Sorry, I kind of have always been living by myself, so... it looks like there were actually lots of things that I wanted to tell someone. The tea... has gone cold, huh?”

As Leticia said this, Violet replied that she had accidentally become absorbed in listening to her. This was Leticia’s first time being told such a thing, thus she was quite bashful.

“You flatter me. I’m just a dream chaser that you could find anywhere.”

“So people who chase after their dreams are called ‘dream chasers’?”

“That’s right. This city is filled with people like that. It’s rarer for somebody not to be one.”

“I am not one...”

“Violet, you have no dreams? Like something you want to do in the future...”

Silence.

“Since you have a boyfriend, living together with him someday... and stuff like that... is also a dream. As for me... my dream of marrying someone who I thought to be my lover was destroyed... and smashed to pieces in the end, so... Violet, I want you to be happy...”

“I will think about it. Please wait a moment.”

“Huhu...”

“Leticia.”

“You done thinking?”

“No, this man... would he not be pleased to know that you are chasing your dreams? Perhaps you could... talk to him one more time or tell him your current situation through a letter...?”

By the looks of it, while analyzing her own dream, Violet was also thinking of Leticia. Despite smiling, Leticia’s chest ached bitingly.

“That’s... not gonna happen, I guess. He left our homeland before me... and before he left, I told him that I was also going to try doing what I wanted to do. When I did so, he told me, ‘Someone like you can never be anything’ and left.”

Silence.

“I’d always been doing what my parents told me and never decided anything on my own, so I couldn’t make big decisions by myself... I should keep living in safety while being protected by other people, is what he said.”

That might have been his way of showing kindness. However, this wound up deeply engraved into Leticia’s mind. Unrelated to her extraordinary voice, her principle of action to not show it to people was noticed by someone else before she could notice it herself.

“This pissed me off, so I left home as if to rebel against it... So, well, being told that might’ve done me good...”

“I think not.”

This time, Leticia burst into laughter at Violet’s composed retort. “But, if it weren’t for those words, I probably wouldn’t have left home, so...”

“Words have power.”

“Hm...?”

“I believe words that restrain people like this... can even turn into something akin to a curse.”

“Never thought a word like that would come out of you...”

“I have been an Auto-Memories Doll for several years, after all. I have seen instances where words bound people down, others where they gave them shine, both granting power to them and stealing it away from them.”

Perhaps that was true, Leticia thought. She had the feeling that, from now on, she would surely remember his words when making a big decision of some sort. “Someone like you can never be anything”. Scared, Leticia shook her head as if to stop thinking about it.

“Violet, are you done thinking?”

“If I were to speak while my thoughts are not yet in order... That person would have no gains from being with me... I wish for his happiness, but if there is anything that I would consider as my own happiness, it is to be by his side... However, if I were to think of his happiness, it would be best for me to be away from him...”

“Wait; this is too hard.��

“It is. Do dream chasers never give up on chasing their dreams? Or, if they feel like giving up, what should they do?”

“Dream chasers live in and run along their dreams. We can’t stand not chasing a dream. No matter how much we’re trampled or ridiculed, we still chase our dreams...”

“Even then, you chase your dreams.”

“Yep. We do get embarrassed and try to quit midway... but in the end, before we realize it, we’re chasing them again. Today... you listened to me, Violet, so I got a lot of energy to pursue my dreams.”

“I was merely listening.”

“You lent me an ear. You didn’t make fun of me. These things... aren’t commonplace. Just that is already a very wonderful talent.”

“‘A wonderful talent’?”

“Violet, if you’re uncertain... wouldn’t it be better for you to properly listen to what your boyfriend has to say...? I just got a personal feeling that listening is extremely important.”

“Leticia, when I look at you, I find myself thinking... that it would be great if I also had a dream... Dream chasers have something like a force of attraction to them.”

“Is that so...? Ehehe. Even if you don’t have anything you want to be, it might be okay if it’s a place you want to go or something you want to eat.”

As Leticia said so, Violet opened her mouth as if a thought had just dawned on her, “The autumn colors of Roswell are beautiful and the cityscape of Drossel brims with flowers.”

“Hm?”

“The nights in Iustitia, the capital of astronomical observation, look almost as if there were gemstones scattered about in the sky, and the gifts of nature from the D’Arthur Region’s Jacaranda River are something to behold.”

“H-Hm?”

“I want to show these things to the person that I am in love with one day. Surely, he will look at them with crinkling eyes. He is the kind of person who goes horse riding on his days off and enjoys nature.”

Yes, it was then that Leticia finally understood Violet’s remarks.

“If I am allowed to have a dream, I would like to share with that person the beautiful sights... that I have seen.”

This was her dream. What a modest dream it was. However, both her eyes and her manner of talking were seriousness in itself.

“That’s wonderful.” Leticia became very happy for some reason, not even thinking about teasing her for it. “Really wonderful.”

Smiling with her whole face, Leticia affirmed Violet’s dream. And then, before going to sleep, the two of them decided to sing just for a little bit. With low voices, as if they were telling secrets. Leticia also sang love songs for Violet’s sake. Like two skylarks nestling close to each other, they came to a mutual understanding, and so dawn broke.

The night in which they talked about their dreams became a small turning point for Leticia.

Thanks to someone else listening to her story, Leticia became even more determined to pursue her dreams, resolving to sing in the streets other than doing auditions in theaters. It was difficult when there was no audience, but with Violet accompanying her, she was able to muster courage.

Time flexibility was the only thing that the dream chaser Leticia had going on for her, and so, as she made sure to sing in a fixed place many times a day, her voice echoed so strongly that one would not believe it was coming out of her small body. There were people who came up to talk to her and invite her to auditions, but as she readily went along with the invitations, she was met with unreasonable situations, such as explanation meetings for suspicious goods and requests for her to be a model for paintings, to which her singing was unnecessary. In the model case, she was offered a large sum by a dubious man at the meeting place, as well as other things that Leticia’s train of thought could not conceive.

“VIOLEEET!”

On such occasions, she made sure to call for Violet, who would be waiting outside.

“Violet, I’m so glad you’re with me! I’m so glad you’re with me!”

As Leticia said this while crying, Violet could do nothing but stroke Leticia’s shoulder.

“I don’t have an eye for people... or luck.”

This was Alfine. The city of dream chasers. Many young people gathered in it to pursue their dreams, but that was not all. There were just as many adults preying on said young people.

Even so, as a dream chaser, Leticia sang in the street the day after being deceived.

On her own, Violet had a certain thought crossing her mind, and so she went to visit the composer of the First District. The composer was taken aback. Of course he would be surprised to have the person he had hired, whom he believed to have already left the city, visiting him. However, after listening to the story of Violet’s current situation, he immediately offered to cooperate. The composer had also intended to ask Violet for an additional job while they were at it.

This visit would later bring great connections.

While Violet’s daily life in Alfine hectically went by, Gilbert and Benedict were in the latter’s car, arguing over which of them was closer to Hodgins. Seen off by Benedict after shyly shaking hands with him during their farewells, Gilbert boarded the sleeper train. All he had left to do was worry about Violet. This quiet agony gnawed at Gilbert’s body and mind, but as he was still healthy and youthful despite being in his thirties, it only managed to weaken his stomach and guts.

With each and every person on the move like this, one could not help but admit that human beings were such busy living creatures. Everybody thought of somebody. A person would care about another, and one tiding would summon the other, making destiny move in unimaginable directions. In any case, those were probations and good news granted to people who put themselves to action. While receiving the probation, they would not know if there would be any good news. However, once the good news arrived, there would be a moment when everything would come to light, as if the fog that hindered their field of vision was clearing away.

If there was any deity of fate, they were unmistakably fond of mischief.

“Violet...?”

If a renowned Auto-Memories Doll were to reunite in a certain city, where she was staying due to unforeseen circumstances, with a famous novelist that she had met in far-off days, during a time when autumn maple leaves were floating on the surface of the water, then said novelist would write down in one of his books that this was a prank from the god of fate.

“Master...”

To Violet, he was one of many masters, but that was not the case to him. Rebellious red hair, thick-lensed black-rimmed glasses and, although his outfit was giving off a more polished air, his sensitiveness to cold had not changed.

“Violet, so you really were still in this city... I heard about it. Crowley is working you to the bone, isn’t he? Ah, wait a minute, you don’t recognize me, do you...? I hired you a pretty long time ago, after all... I’m...”

“Lord Oscar, who lives in Roswell.”

As he was replied to with so much certainty, the features of Oscar, who was now becoming popular again as a playwright, slowly crumbled. “Yeah.”

Somewhere inside, Oscar had the expectation that, if it were Violet, she would remember him. She made it come true magnificently.

“That’s right. It’s me, Oscar. Violet, I’m so glad that you seem to be well.”

Their reunion was truly a happy one to him. Violet’s eyes crinkled at Oscar’s smile.

“You smiled,” Oscar whispered in surprise.

“This is the function called ‘smiling’.”

“It’s not a joke when you’re the one saying that. I’m glad you seem well... I’m really happy to see you.”

“Yes, me too... I was hoping that there would be a day when we would see each other again. Lord Oscar...” After a rare display of slight unease, Violet opened her mouth again, “Your umbrella.”

“Hm?”

“I always walk around with the umbrella that you gave me.”

“Aah... that makes me happy. Thank you.”

“I am not an Auto-Memories Doll at the moment, so I do not have it with me... but I always... bring it along. It is a very good product, so I can use it no matter where I go.”

“Yep... it’s a pretty good product, fitting of you.”

“I had planned to show myself with it the next time we saw each other, but...”

“Eh, hold on. I accidentally let a remark slide... Did you quit being an Auto-Memories Doll? But why?”

Violet glanced at Leticia, who sang amidst a crowd. Today, too, she was singing. Perhaps realizing that Violet had not been looking at her, she sang while giving her a “Who’s that guy?” kind of look.

“If I were to explain... it would take... a little while.”

“That’s okay; I’m so curious that I couldn’t live otherwise. Tell me.”

“Is that not an exaggeration...? I have not quit, but I need money, so I am doing other jobs. It is a secret... but there is something that I wish to purchase, so I accepted an additional job by the composer Lord Crowley. Lord Oscar, did you come see Lord Crowley?”

“I’m commissioning my next work to Crowley, so I came here to have a meeting with him. Back when I was with you, I’d never have imagined that a shut-in like me would come to Alfine all the way from Roswell... Hum, y’know... if you would, can’t we talk a bit more? I want to apologize for introducing you to that obstinate Crowley, so how about a quick meal...? Besides, if you tell me what your situation is right now, there might be something I could help you with... Ah, I don’t mean it in a weird way. That’s not it at all.”

From the sidelines, Oscar’s words must have sounded as if he were courting a woman. However, in his heart, he merely wished to relish in his reunion with someone he was seeing for the first time in a while, who had helped him fulfill a promise to his late daughter. Even after so long, his feeling that his daughter would indeed have turned out like her if she were alive had not changed. Neither had the fact that he wanted her to have lived.

“Yes; I do not have to work today, after all.”

As Violet accepted it right away, Oscar had to calm his chest down with rubs. Although his personality was not fundamentally a cheerful one, he gave her a bright smile in a natural manner. “Aah, but wait a moment. Can we go after you tell me that girl’s name? My next work is also a script for a play and the actors have already been decided, but we’re going to create a theme song and sell it. She has a good voice, so if she doesn’t already belong anywhere else, I’d like to make a proposal to her.”

“By ‘that girl’ do you mean the one in the middle of this crowd surrounding us right now?”

“Yep. I wonder if she already belongs to some group... No, she probably does...”

“She does not.”

“How come you know that, Violet?”

“Lord Oscar, she is a dream chaser, currently pursuing her dreams.”

“Violet, w-why are you coming at me with so much pressure...?”

“I have information that is extremely valuable for both of you. By all means, please wait until she finishes singing.”

“Got it. I’ll wait. Violet... erm, I’m happy and all, but it hurts a lot when you hold my arm like that...”

By the looks of it, Violet had become unusually emotion-driven due to the bizarre connections that people could bring about to one another, so she did not let go of Oscar’s hand until she was done introducing him and Leticia to each other. Once the song was over, Violet hurried to bring them together. Leticia was in shock as Violet headed her way while holding hands with someone.

——Eh, is that her boyfriend?

She had understood it completely wrong, but as they finished their greetings, the misunderstanding was solved. And then, once again, she received from Violet her biggest surprise of the year.

There was nobody in Alfine who did not know about the playwright Oscar.

“Leticia, he sees good prospects in your singing.”

“I think you have a good voice, Leticia. Is it okay if I call you Leticia?”

He was such a big shot that just speaking to him would make one break into dance. She had heard through rumors that he was quite a moody person, but the one beside Violet looked like a kindhearted adult man.

“N-No... I’m not worthy...”

“If you’d like, why don’t you join an audition that isn’t open to the public? I’m from the staff and I’m looking for individual participants, but I haven’t found that many. I’m considering recommending you.”

Leticia’s face convulsed at the sudden developments. She was happy. So happy that she could not help herself, yet her heart ached as if it were being spanked with a stick. The noises that entered her ears sounded vague. Her throat was dry and her eyes became sore from being so wide-open.

“What can you sing? Can you use a higher voice too? Or do you specialize in lower pitch?”

Violet looked uncharacteristically happy. Leticia had to thank her for making this encounter happen. However, her voice did not come out.

“Leticia is good at anything.”

——Don’t say that. I’m not. I mean, I haven’t yet...

After all, Leticia...

“Well, how about it, Leticia?”

...was still a “lady”.

——Aah.

It was then that Leticia realized. She understood. Surely, she had conformed herself once again.

She had come to this city chasing after her dreams. She knew what reality was like, but had been doing her best without yielding to it. But the feeling of wanting to go back to her hometown one day existed somewhere within her.

After all, if her dreams ever happened to come true and if she turned into someone with a name other than “lady”...

——...I won’t get to blame anything on anyone anymore.

Suddenly, her fiancé’s face crossed her mind.

Until now, she had somewhat held a grudge against her fiancé for hurting her. But just how much had she been spoiled by him for those words to surface in her mind?

——This is my life.

The moment that the gears started spinning, she became scared and felt like throwing everything away. Because running away was definitely easier. Giving up was simple and facing it was trouble. Depending on each person, making decisions could be a big burden. And it was exactly at times like these that the person’s trauma would attack them with no mercy.

“Someone like you can never be anything.”

“I’m sorry, but the load is too heavy for me.” Before she realized it, Leticia had spouted words that completely contradicted her feelings.

After that, her memory was cut short. If she was not mistaken, she had the impression that she walked the way back home. Violet had called her countless times from behind, but she did not turn around.

Looking back on what she had done, Leticia had her face burning in shame, then became pale.

——I have to apologize.

To Violet and to Oscar. Both of them. They had tried to do her a favor, yet she was rude to them.

She frantically stood up, but her legs had no strength, and so she fell down in her room. She was able to confirm that she was in her bedroom, but Violet was not there.

Putting on a coat, as she went to the apartment complex’s outer corridor, she ran into a fellow female resident. It was currently evening and she was about to go out earn money in the world of the night.

“Ah, Lady.”

As always, she was referred to as “lady”. Even though she might have been able to become somebody, she had thrown it away on her own. She had talked so much to Violet about what dream chasers were like, yet when the chance came to her, she ran away.

In the end, that was how far she could go. She could not be anything anyway.

“You finally woke up... Thank goodness. It’s already time for you to go to work. Y’know, that blonde girl who’s been living with you lately.”

“Violet...?”

“Yes, her. She said that if you woke up, you should stay home and not go looking for her.”

Silence.

“She was going to work in your place, she said. Also, wait just a bit... Oscar!”

This was the nth event that had her flabbergasted today. The one that the female resident had called over from downstairs was no one other than the very person that Leticia had ditched.

“Leticia woke up! Come here!”

Oscar raised a hand, climbing up the stairs. Leticia was in panic rather than surprised.

“Eh, h-how?!”

“You mean Oscar? Dunno. I just got to know him a while ago. He was put off about going into a girl’s room without permission, so he told me to call him when you woke up. I accepted it and said it’d be okay in the meantime that he was smoking. He’s such a gentleman, isn’t he? Is it normal to wait outside even though he wasn’t smoking at all? Violet said you passed out after you came back home, so did... some sort of big deal happen?”

Silence.

“It’s fine if you don’t wanna tell me, but go thank them.” Saying this, the woman announced that she was headed off to work, her heels clicking as she dashingly took her leave.

Left behind, Leticia faced Oscar, who shrugged his shoulders, looking cold. She had to say something. Or so she thought, but she was unable to squeeze the words out.

“Leticia.”

“Y-Yes!” Her voice came out in disarray.

——I can’t take any more of this. I’m such a pathetic idiot. I wanna die right here.

Keeping a distance from Leticia, who looked like she was going to cry, Oscar spoke, “I’m sensitive to cold; what about you?”

“E-Eh...?”

“Also, my favorite food is soup. Because it’s easy to make.”

Oscar had begun to talk voluminously about himself out of nowhere. In general, this information was nothing much. After listening to all of it, she was able to understand that he was an artist who lived a somewhat crumbling life.

“Also... Also, that’s right. I’m striving towards using the rest of my life... to create works that will make my late family happy. I guess that’s it... Now tell me about you.”

“About me?”

“Yeah. Just to put it out there, I won’t give up just because of what happened. Artists like you are usually too delicate, hard to handle, self-important, ignorant to everything other than the things you like, and try to challenge yourselves even though you’re cowards. That includes me. So it’s not like you’re the first person to run away from me after I made an invitation.”

“Is... that so?”

How strange. Was it because he had told her about his own nature? Albeit only by a little, the fear she had felt when meeting him for the first time was fading. It seemed stupid of her, but she finally could see him as a human being of flesh and blood.

“First, I want you to know that I’m not scary. And then, if needed, I can also explain everything to your parents, and if you’re insecure, I can even keep saying that it’s all right until you’re not insecure anymore.”

Silence.

“Y’see, weirdoes like us who chase after their dreams might be embarrassing, but don’t you want to show people things that only those like us can do, and entertain them late into the night?”

“Did Violet... tell you anything?”

“No, she didn’t. But you’re just the archetype.”

Silence.

“You’re an ordinary, stereotypical dream chaser, and also the kind of girl who runs off when scared.”

Silence.

“But your singing is incredible.”

In that moment, those words made Leticia Aster think.

——I don’t want this. I really do want to chase my dreams. I don’t want to run away.

That she did not wish to remain a “lady”.

——I’m scared. My tab for never deciding my life by myself is coming to me now. But... But... this person praised my singing.

She herself thought that he was such a simple guy. An irresponsible and alarming one, too.

However, he had given her courage.

This novelist was still a dream chaser as well. Although he was an accomplished adult, he believed himself to be an embarrassing person.

“Are you really okay with picking me?” The words came out properly at last. “I, hum, have never... had a decent track record until now.”

“That’s the kind of people I’m after this time, so it’s okay. I also plan to polish not famous people but gems like you, who are still mixed in the crowds.”

“H-How should I dress myself to go? Is there anything that I need to have? As in, anything that I must do right now?”

“Nothing. Go put on an outfit that you like. Just for the heck of it, we have to check whether it’ll look nice on-stage, so a dress would be best, but if you don’t have one, then your usual clothes will do.”

“Why did you choose me? Because I’m acquainted with Violet?”

“You have it in the wrong order. I found Violet while I was watching you. Then I found out that you knew each other, so... well, I might end up favoring you, but I’m not the only one who decides. I want you to tackle this without any expectations or enthusiasm.”

“All right.”

“But I do have a few expectations on you.”

“Yes... Thank you, very much. I’m sorry for running away...”

“I told you, didn’t I? I’m used to it. But that sensibility of yours is probably... something necessary for people like you, who go up on the stage...”

That night, as Violet returned home, Leticia welcomed her with a hug and an apology.

“Violet—Violet, I have some stuff that I want to... tell you.”

“So do I.”

“Y’know, I just had a turning point in my life.”

“Let’s talk about it in the order of events.”

Reuniting with Oscar had become a turning point for Violet as well.

Having been told about her circumstances, Oscar had offered financial assistance to her. As Violet had refused, he requested it be taken as advance payment for a ghostwriting job. It would be to write names and addresses on replies to fan letters. He apparently had brought them with him, intending to work on it whenever he had free time during his stay in the city. As she finished the job in less than thirty minutes, no matter how one looked at it, her payment was way over the appropriate amount.

“I cannot accept it.”

“The play I made with you as the subject was a hit and I haven’t run out of jobs ever since. Let me do at least this much for you.”

“I cannot accept it.”

“Someday, when I hire you to ghostwrite for me again... When that time comes, you can just cook for me. I only found out afterwards, but it seems that’s not part of an Auto-Memories Doll’s job.”

“It was because you were such a troubled person, Master...”

“Give me an earful with that one more time... Violet Evergarden.”

Violet was unexpectedly able to earn more than enough to cover for her travel expenses to return home.

Encounters between people could cause rather significant twists and, in the blink of an eye, create something that could be considered a century’s worth of time. This time, what had occurred in the life of each individual was a small change, but if they were not making efforts to live their lives, none of it would have happened.

And if something was beginning, it also meant that something else was coming to an end.

Several matters had been solved for both Violet and Leticia. They no longer had a reason to be together.

Being informed that Violet was going to leave the next morning, Leticia did not have any sort of disproportional reaction. As she had somehow already realized it, it seemed she was going to become conscious that they had to part, and if she did so, she felt like she would start bawling, which she was scared of doing.

“Violet, I’m so sorry.”

“You have said this several times already.”

“But I want to say it many times more. I’m sorry for running away when you did so much for me today. I was... terrified... Even though I was aspiring for it, I was stupid enough to chicken out and bail on it, huh...”

“I am also running away from the person I like... even though he does so much for me... I am stupid.”

“Violet, you’re not stupid! I’m the stupid one! I’m sorry...”

On that day, Leticia had many decisions to make. The last decision had arrived now. Either to peacefully bid part ways with Violet or to try saying what she had in mind.

In reality, ever since the first night they spent together after they had met each other, there was something she had always been wishing for. It was only a fantasy, but simply embracing a dream was no crime. Therefore, on their last nighttime tea party, Leticia made up her mind and said it.

“Hey, y’know... Violet, if you’re okay with it... how about we live together forever?” she asked, despite knowing that it would never come true. “If you’re still not going to marry him... maybe you could work as an Auto-Memories Doll here or something... That’s right... if it’s the two of us, don’t you feel like we could have fun doing that? I think we could definitely keep getting along even when we become old ladies. How about it, Violet?”

There was no way that such a thing would come true. Even so, she wanted to try saying it. She also had the desire to prove that she was fond of Violet to that extent.

“No.” Violet shook her head.

Of course. She had a hometown, someone that she was in love with and a job to do. Why had Leticia told her about such a wish, despite knowing that there was no helping it?

Regardless, as if pathetically hanging onto her, Leticia continued, “I—hum—I really...”

For some reason, she could not properly put it into words. Even though there were so many things that she wanted to thank Violet for.

——Violet.

“I’d be okay with living in this tiny room with you forever and ever.”

——Thank you.

“I like you...”

——Thank you for saving me from the start, even when I didn’t do as much as ask you to help me.

“...to the point of thinking it’d be nice if that happened.”

——And for not laughing at me when I told you about my dreams.

“Violet, I like you.”

——Thank you for supporting my dream and binding my fate to it. Thank you for being with me right now too.

“I’ve fallen for you.”

Within the darkness of the night, Leticia had told Violet about her dreams. Violet had given her a push on the back, stating that she was not an embarrassment.

“I know. Even as you say that, once you part ways with me, you will surely wipe off your tears and begin your battle.”

Was that not enough? Leticia wanted to think so.

She was used to being a good girl. She did not want to spew out any selfishness.

“That is the kind of person you are. You are unable to stop chasing your dreams. No matter how much you are trampled or ridiculed, you still pursue them. That is what dream chasers are about, right?”

“But, Violet.”

She must not say it.

“Violet, I’m scared.”

She should not say it, yet she could not stop herself from doing so. She was so, so terrified of the future, which had abruptly started to move, that she could not hold back.

——I still want to be a “lady”. But I also don’t. I want to see the future to come. But I’m scared of carving it on my own.

All of these things were true, and that was exactly why she was frightened to the point of shaking.

“Please show it to me. Please make sure to show me the dream that you told me about in this room.”

Unable to help herself, Leticia clung to Violet’s lap as if rushing into it.

How miserable and embarrassing the act of clinging to someone was. However, it was exactly because this person made her like this that Leticia wanted to cling to her, even if she were pushed away.

“Violet... I—I don’t know... if I can do it,” she told Violet as sobs leaked from her.

“No, you are someone capable of fighting, Leticia.”

“Why do you think so...? I’m nothing special.”

“You are in the way of becoming special. It is all right to be scared. But don’t stop fighting.”

“Yeah... I’ll do my best; I’ll fight...”

“Yes, please... do not lose.”

“I won’t... Violet... Y’know, it’s okay even if it’s from afar. Watch me...”

——I’m using this person as a replacement for someone.

A replacement to either her mother, her father, or the one who was actually supposed to be supporting her life.

Even so, Violet lent her lap to Leticia. After today, she would grow out of this kindness. Therefore, Leticia cried, cried and cried, swearing not to run away.

The next day, as Leticia woke up, she found a letter on top of a big box.

They had practically said their goodbyes the previous day, but to think she would leave without saying anything... or so Leticia had lonesomely thought, but once she read the letter, this feeling was comforted.

The letter said:

To Leticia.

This is a present. I have been turning into a human being lately. Therefore, I felt that it would be difficult to part with you and that I would end up crying. Please forgive me for biding my farewells through a letter.

Violet Evergarden

Leticia did not understand very well what she was saying, but if Violet of all people had run away due to not wanting to cry, that was just how dear Leticia was to her. The fact that Leticia managed to feel so peaceful was such a mystery that she could not bear it. She could not see Violet anymore. However, for whatever reason, she had the feeling that they would meet again, and could not help herself. She believed that Violet was the kind of person who kept her promises. She had asked Leticia to “show it” to her.

“Someone like you can never be anything.”

If Leticia truly became able to “show herself” as a singer to Violet, if she managed to become somebody, she had the feeling that Violet would definitely come to see her.

After delicately putting the letter back into the envelope, she then set her eyes on the enormous box. The sound of a ribbon smoothly coming undone echoed in the room, wherein the morning sunlight of a winter day shone through. Inside the opened souvenir box was a white dress. It was the dress they had seen in that show-window. The one she had given up on buying, as it was too expensive.

Was there anything more encouraging than this? That girl had told her to fight. And for her parting gift, she had chosen a battle attire that would allow Leticia to act suitably as a flower blooming into this world.

Had she not used most of the money that she had worked to earn on this? It was easy to imagine a hungry Violet having only enough money for the trip back home.

“I have to make sure I show it to her, I guess...”

No matter what could happen, chasers pursued their dreams. Even if they were all alone, even if said dreams could not come true, they had to struggle and struggle, living on without giving up.

Putting on the dress while crying, Leticia made an oath. That this would be her last time crying until her dream came true.

The scattered stage eventually converged into one place.

After swaying inside Benedict’s car, changing trains and arriving in Alfine, Gilbert paid a visit to the merchant house that Hodgins had relations to, which the latter had point out to him. The telephone line relay had seemingly gone well as the information had already been passed to the merchant’s shop, and so Gilbert was able to find out that someone who looked like Violet was apparently working in the city with an individual living in the forwarded address of a certain postal item.

Firstly, he leaned towards the thought that it was reasonable to go to said address, but unfortunately, nobody was there. At around that time, the owner of the residence, Leticia Aster, was taking an audition.

Left without choice, Gilbert went to the places Violet had worked at, as if trailing her footsteps. He went around stopping by many places, such as a restaurant where people bustled about setting tables, the house of a millionaire who kept enormous dogs and a tavern with a small theater that lavished nightly dreams, but was told that “the girl said she was going to leave the city soon”.

——One step too late, huh?

He had become desperate, gone from a northern land to Leidenschaftlich and made a big trip from there. Hodgins’s attempt to stop him for being foolish was now steeping into his body.

It was all right. It was all right as long as she was safe. He could do nothing but think this and smile in self-deprecation.

From someone else’s viewpoint, his actions would probably be laughed at as a waste. They actually were. Gilbert would also think the same of a stranger. However, he could not stop himself.

From the moment that he first met Violet. From the moment that she said “Major” for the first time. From the moment that he told her that he loved her. From the moment that he begged her for forgiveness, asking to be by her side. Gilbert had been slowly changing, already far removed from his boyhood, in which he was living only for the sake of his family name as Gilbert Bougainvillea.

A single girl was able to change a man this much. And the same applied to Gilbert. Just one young man was able to transform a wild beast into a girl.

However, as they were unable to validate the greatness of such actions with one another, the other party always seemed to be the only dazzling one. They would cherish the other too much and find themselves thinking that it might be better if they were not around.

However, as expected, they wanted to be together.

That was nothing special at all – they were commonplace emotions that lovers from all around the world had been going through ever since the distant past. One would get used to it once they experienced it several times. It was the first time for both of them, which was exactly why it hurt.

While looking at the hustle and bustle of the crowd, Gilbert wondered if he should go home. If Violet was not in the city, then he no longer had any business in it. If he went back now, he might be able to see Violet in Leidenschaftlich, even if just for a little.

If, by any chance, he were able to see her, he would apologize for making her feel insecure. And if she accepted it, then this time, they had to talk about what the two of them would do from now on. Until both of them were convinced that everything was certainly going to be all right, even if they happened to be apart.

Thinking up to that point, Gilbert suddenly took notice of a sound approaching him. It was a sound he had heard countless times. Ever since they had reunited, whenever they met up, he would smile once he heard that sound.

The clicking of boots. Characteristically regulated footsteps, giving a glimpse of her stoic personality. This, and a word that he most likely would not fail to hear, no matter where he was or where he had gone to.

“Major.”

The first word that she spoke to him. A magic word that made his affection grow only when she was the one saying it, even though it was a mere title and did not suit him now that he had become a colonel.

Gilbert’s breath caught as he turned around.

Swaying dark red ribbons. A Prussian-blue jacket over a snow-white ribbon-tie dress. Cocoa-brown long boots and a trolley bag. And shining on her chest was the emerald brooch that connected the two of them.

She was no longer a girl soldier, no longer just “Violet”. Nor his tool or a wild beast. She was a young woman, now living as an Auto-Memories Doll.

Violet Evergarden reached a hand towards Gilbert.

“Violet.”

“Major.”

Perhaps surprised that he had turned around all of a sudden, Violet retracted the stretched hand towards her chest and dropped it. Gilbert did not let escape the hand that would not attempt to reach towards his direction one more time. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her in.

“Ma... jo... r...”

He placed his other hand on her cheek, looking at her from up close. Her blue eyes, golden hair and shapely facial traits were just like a doll’s. It was his Violet, through and through.

“Violet, is that you...?”

Incomprehensible as the question was, Violet still answered it seriously, “Yes, it is me, Major.” Perhaps unable to handle his gaze from such a short distance, her cheeks began to flush.

Gilbert exhaled deeply, embracing Violet as if to throw her into his arms. It was a slightly rough embrace for a gentleman like him, but it thoroughly conveyed to Violet just how much he had been longing for a reunion.

“Hum, I was wondering if it was a coincidence, but could it be that you were looking for me...? Until just a while ago, I was biding my farewells to the people whose care I have been under in this city...”

“I’ve been looking. There probably isn’t a single day that I’m not looking for you, but... other than that, I really was searching for you.”

“Major, were you not in a military base up north...?”

“I took a leave. Because there was no reply from you.”

Violet attempted to somehow shift her head from her immovable position and look at Gilbert’s face, but was unable to do so as his big body hugged her without any openings.

He had already embraced her once. When they reunited for the first time. They were happy to see each other back then, crying and clinging to one another, but that was all. It was her first time being embraced like this.

“Ma... jor...” Unsure of what to do as her older lover embraced her and showed no signs of letting go, her voice became high-pitched. Almost as though she were all but a young maiden. “Were—you expecting—a reply from me...?”

Her cheeks were hot. They were tinted red.

“It was while you were on a long business trip here. There’s no helping that you didn’t receive my letter... I caught up on the situation, but no matter what, I wanted to solve the misconception you had... so I ended up coming all the way here.”

Violet asked fearfully, “Did my letter hurt you, Major?”

“That’s my line.”

“You did not hurt me, Major.”

Those words pierced Gilbert’s chest.

Why did this girl never doubt him? If only she rebuked him at least in moments like these, he would have felt better. As she was not the kind of person to do so, it was awfully painful for him.

“No...” Gilbert at last slowly let go of Violet’s body and looked down at her face. “I did hurt you, Violet.”

It was Violet’s turn to have her breath catch in her throat. After all, the emerald gemstone gleaming on the face that she was staring at were wet, sadness deeply engraved in his features.

Looking at those irises caused Violet’s functions to come to a halt. There was no helping it. She could not stop herself from doing so. It was automatic.

“Violet, I never once thought that you were an embarrassment.”

That gemstone had been “beautiful” ever since they had first met. It never ceased to fascinate her.

“I can’t live without you.”

No matter how much people criticized or judged him, he was unable to give up.

“I don’t want anything other than you.”

He chased and chased after her.

“Please. Don’t try to leave me.”

Chased, chased, chased, chased and chased.

The eye of the person she loved most, whom she finally was allowed to be beside. Her affection was unstoppable. She could not detain it. Violet’s “defect” apparently could no longer be fixed. Surely, it would not be fixed for the rest of her life.

“Major—Major—Major, I...”

She was at last able to realize it. Violet Evergarden was completed by Gilbert Bougainvillea. Love had changed the wild beast that much. Infatuation had made a doll into a human being. Therefore, the wild beast faced her lord, whose gemstone-like eye shone with the joy, sadness and beauty of a lifetime – her one and only, more irreplaceable than anything else to her –, and roared.

“Major, I love you. I will not leave your side for as long as I live.”

“What is ‘love’?”

For whatever reason, her old self seemed to overlap with her current one in Gilbert’s eyes. From the time when she told him that she had not understood his confession. However, this girl had now grown up and was declaring her love, almost as if to protect him.

Tears poured like rain from his emerald eye.

This time, Violet properly reached a hand towards Gilbert. She reached out and caressed his cheek through her glove. Her artificial hand squeaked.

How much better would it be if her palm here softer? Even though her hand was cupping her crying beloved, it was much too cursed. It was excessively cold and hard.

“With these hands, Major, I will protect you.”

However, those arms were strong. They gave her enough confidence to assert that she was going to protect him.

Attempting to do something about the overflowing tears on his own, Gilbert pressed down the corners of his eyes as he spoke, “Violet.”

“Yes.”

“You don’t have to protect me.”

“No, I will.”

“You’re wrong. I’m the one who’s going to protect you.”

“I am not. I will protect you. I will put my lifetime on the line to protect you.”

Whenever the stubborn duo opposed each other, neither would step back, but Violet was usually the winner. That might be the weakness of having fallen in love first. Or, perhaps, due to her being so docile, he would be startled whenever she came up to him too strongly.

“Violet...”

“Major... Just now, I understood. No matter what I am, no matter how much criticism I have to endure, as long as you want me, that is enough.”

And so, Violet Evergarden said it. The line that she had told him in the past.

“I’ll protect you,” she whispered in the same way, but with a different level of warmth. “Please do not ever doubt this. I am yours,” she declared with the warmth of love. “Major, I love you.”

She would protect him. That was all she had in mind.

Gilbert said in a slightly stunned manner, “I have the feeling that it’s the first time you’ve... properly told me this.”

He was actually in shock. She had told him similar things before, but a love confession had never come out of her mouth so directly.

——Finally.

Gilbert realized that something – an indescribable emotion – was taking over him from within his chest.

——It now finally feels like we’ve become a normal couple.

Come to think of it, the two of them had always been on a one-way street, either behind each other or searching for the other’s back. Through both of them saying “I love you” to one another, the two at last were standing on the same spot.

Violet apologized deeply. “I am very sorry. I have already learned how to say it. I can say it as many times as necessary.”

Her attitude practically said, “Please order me to”. It would probably still take some time for that part of her to change.

Fixing on Violet a gentle gaze that he only ever showed to her, Gilbert whispered, “My heart might not be able to handle it, so I need some practice.”

“Your heart, Major...?”

“That was a joke. My heart’s actually okay.”

“What a relief.”

“Violet... do you understand... that I love you?”

“Yes, Major, you do love me.”

“And that I love you most?”

“I, too, Major... love—you—most.”

“Sorry. Did I force you to say that?”

“No. But just as you said, Major... surely... my heart is not able to handle it... Hum, when you look at me like that... the words escape me midway...”

“It happens to me too.”

“You are also like that, Major?”

“Yeah.”

Anything and everything about her was unbearably dear to Gilbert. Looking at her made him smile. Tears spilled as he did so, but Violet reached a hand and wiped them away. While doing so, she shed tears of her own.

“We are defective, Major.”

“Tears aren’t a defect. It’s okay to cry, Violet.”

“All right.”

The two joined hands in a natural manner. And, matching each other’s pace, they started walking

A girl whose arms were prosthetics. A man who had one prosthetic arm and had lost one eye. They were a peculiar duo. However, once they mingled with the crowd, none of it mattered. They could go anywhere. No matter how much others judged them. Even if they never received approval.

Violet said to the person she loved most with a slightly eager voice, “Major, while we... have not seen each other, the number of things I have to report increased.”

“Aah... by all means, tell me lots about it. I look forward to your adventures.”

“Yessir. This time, I learned about dreams from a dream chaser.”

“A ‘dream chaser’?”

“Yes. Someone who has dreams. I, too, Major... have many places that I would like to go with you.”

“Let’s go, one by one.”

“Can we?”

“You said you would put your lifetime on the line to protect me just a while ago, right? I’m the older one... so before I have to use a cane, let’s make it happen. It’s okay, Violet. We have time...”

“Major, do you have any dreams?”

“I was never asked by anyone, but I do.”

“May I ask what that dream is?”

“I probably can’t tell anyone but you.”

As Violet asked, “What might it be?”, Gilbert answered, “It’s rather commonplace, but I want a family of my own.”

“Major, would it be okay... if it were with someone like me?”

The question caused the vision of Gilbert’s emerald eye to blur once again.

——Why are you like this?

His Auto-Memories Doll lover would always say just the right words to make his heart pound.

The strength with which Gilbert held onto Violet’s hand firmly increased.

“It can only be you, Violet.”

It would be easy to reply with that. He had long stopped hiding his love for her. He could probably say it as easily as breathing, but this time, the weight of such sentence was different from before. It was an oath to bind her life to his.

If he were to say it, he wanted to do it after taking appropriate action, Gilbert thought.

“Violet.”

There was something he had always been holding back from doing. For a normal couple, said action was an ordinary display of love. It was a first for the two of them, so if he were to do it, it had to be now.

Strangely enough, Gilbert was not too nervous. He was filled with happiness, to the point that nothing scared him anymore. He was also aware that she would not refuse him.

He could tell as much now. She was his woman alone.

Therefore, Gilbert’s legs halted. He then suddenly changed direction towards Violet, who was looking up at him in puzzlement.

In the middle of the crowd, he kissed her in a way that could be considered murder.

“Ma... jor...”

As their faces broke apart, there was the figure of his lover, who was so adorably at loss.

“Ma—jor... hum, I... hum...”

“I’m sorry,” Gilbert said unabashedly.

“No... hum... It is all right, hum... I... uh...” Violet was staggering in shock. “You are... the object... of my affections, Major... Therefore, it is all right... yes...”

Her cheeks were red. Her eyes were a sea of light tears. The only one in the world who could change Violet Evergarden this much was Gilbert Bougainvillea.

——I’m sure I was born for this moment.

Gilbert was no longer afraid of anything. The loneliness that he had been carrying along ever since his childhood had disappeared. Therefore, he was also finally able to change from tool to human, smiling like a boy.

Violet Evergarden was the one who made him into a person.

“Violet, you’re the only one for me. Can you swear to me... that you won’t leave me for the rest of our lives?”

If they were together, they could definitely live anywhere.

Well, the aftermath of the story goes up to this point.

Gilbert and Violet. None of the problems that surround him and her are solved yet. There is also no clearly decided future as to what will happen to them. However, the people who have seen the story of these two through might have been able to imagine an outcome for it.

Let’s try to picture it a little.

It is not so hard. Voices, scents, colors and movements deliver words. By all means, try to spread the wings of your imagination. Imagine them a quiet place somewhere. Just the two of them, in a forest of colorful flowers and trees.

No, let’s make a correction.

This would surely never be allowed. Their crimson-haired mutual benefactor would never permit it. The people invited to it would unmistakably only be the ones who had given their blessing to him and her after they had overcome their hardships. Amongst said people, there would be a young man with golden hair similar to hers. As well as a dark-haired, beautiful woman. And a girl with heterochromatic eyes.

Now, spread your wings once again. Reimagine it.

A future in which the woods are filled with laughter. Lanterns are lighting the sunset. Within the soft light, enveloped in the fragrant scent of violets, a groom, clad in the ceremonial attire of Leidenschaftlich’s army, and a bride, wearing a wedding dress specially customized by the president of her postal company, quietly pledge their love to each other. This outcome surely exists somewhere.

She changed from wild beast to a girl. And from a girl to a human being who knew love.

The story of this girl finally ends here.

Is there any sadness in that? Once it begins, every story comes to an end.

But you can make this one eternal by reminiscing to it.

She is bound to come whenever you call. After all, she herself can go anywhere anytime. She will rush to wherever her clients desire.

Should you ever feel lonely, by all means, I would like you to call her name. The name of this girl, whom you have seen through until this point.

“Violet Evergarden”.

#violet evergarden #fyeahvioletevergarden #violet evergarden ever after #kyoani #kyoto animation #gilbert bougainvillea #claudia hodgins #benedict blue #lux sibyl #leticia aster #oscar webster #akatsuki kana #takase akiko #novel #my translation

442 notes · View notes