Violet Evergarden

”I didn’t think this would happen. Like, normally… normally… people imagine themselves becoming adults, finding a lover, getting married, having kids… I-I… I… I thought I would be able to take care of you. I didn’t think… that I would be shot without really knowing why… and die in a country so far away from you. I’m sorry. I’m also sad… but the two of you… clearly… will be sadder. I was supposed… to come back to you safely… since I’m your only son. I was… supposed to come back. But… I won’t be able to. I’m sorry. Sorry.” He resented so much not being able to see his parents again and felt so guilty that his tears recurrently halted his words. ”If… the two of you end up being reborn… and becoming a married couple… I’ll go to where you are. And then… I want you to give birth to me again. Please. I didn’t mean for things to end like this. I had wanted… to become happier… I was supposed… to show my happy self… to you. That’s the truth. So… please. Dad and Mom, you pray too. Make me your son again… please.”

Violet wrote down every single word he sputtered. ”I could make it more accurate, but at this rate, I feel it will be better if the letter contains Master’s manner of speaking.”

”Seri… ously? Would it be okay… even without prettier words?”

”Yes… I believe that this way… is better.”

”When you say it like that, I kind of feel… into it…” he compulsorily laughed, coughing more blood.

Violet wiped his lips with an already blood-soaked handkerchief. ”Is there anyone else you wish to write to?”

As he was asked so with a hint of urgency, Aiden was quiet for a moment. His eyesight was blurry, even though tears were no longer coming out. Violet’s voice was also somewhat distant. If she was in a hurry, he must have been looking terrible. He was about to die.

The smile of a modest girl with braided hair came to his mind.

”To… Maria.” As he whispered her name, his love engulfed him to the point of making him want to bite something.

”Lady Maria… is it? Is she from your town?”

”Yeah. If you deliver this together with my parent’s, you should be able to find out who she is. She’s a childhood friend from my neighborhood. We had been together ever since we were small… and she was like a little sister… but after she confessed, I realized that I probably… liked her too. But… I came here… without having done with her anything that couples usually do. It’s kind of awkward to date a childhood friend… Haha, we should have… at least kissed… I would have been glad to, honestly. I’ve never… done it before.”

”I shall transfer these feelings of yours into the letter. Master, just a bit more… Please do your best.” As if making a wish, Violet tightly held Aiden’s hand.

Unable to feel her warmth or even her touch, he started weeping again. ”Yeah.” After organizing his foggy thoughts, Aiden began to speak, ”Maria, are you… doing good?”

——The reason why I’m starting this letter with such a casual greeting… is because I don’t want you to feel me dying.

”I wonder… if you’re… lonely… since I’m not there. It would be a problem… if it turns out that you’re crying everyday… but I’ve… being seeing your crying face… since we were kids… and it’s cute, so you shouldn’t… cry in front of men.”

Memories of the time he spent with her replayed one after another.

”I wonder if you remember… when you… confessed to me. You had… told me to not reminisce… to that time, but… y’know, I… I… was really… really… really… happy back then.”

——The way you smiled in my arms with your cheeks dyed pink.

”I was really… so happy…”

Her figure when she was still an infant. The time she had started letting her hair grow long. The woman Aiden loved unfathomably just from the moments they had spent together was carved deep within him.

”That was probably… the peak… of my life… for real. I mean, I can’t remember anything else. Much more… than when I… won a baseball tournament… or was… praised by Dad… the thing that made me… the happiest…”

——My Maria. My Maria. My Maria.

”…was being told… that you… were in love with me.”

Being told for the first time by someone other than his parents that he was loved without any hesitation.

”To tell the truth… I used to… only see you as a little sister… but you’re… too adorable, so… I soon… fell for you… You will… become even more gorgeous from now on, right? Aah, I’m jealous… of the guys that will be able to see it. If I could… I had… wanted to… make you… my bride… build a small cottage… and live… in that countryside, with you. I… loved you. I love you… Maria. Maria… Maria…”