Violet Evergarden

…about the answer to the words of that day, which she did not give, resisting it while claiming she did not understand them.

”I have been… repeatedly told to stop doing so. However, no matter what, I… I…”

”I love you.”

”I love you, Violet.”

”Are you… listening?”

”I… like you.”

”Violet, ’love’… is…”

”’To love’ is… to think that you want to protect someone the most in the world.”

”…find myself… waiting for Major to come.” Her face was of someone enduring pain.

That was the moment Violet showed her most humane expression out of the ones Cattleya had witnessed. A small transformation had occurred within that awkward girl. It was a quiet move, which people with abundant emotions would not consider a manifestation of feelings.

——Aah. A realization dawned within Cattleya.

They were not yet intimate. Not friends, either. It was not as if she knew anything about Violet, but she felt as though she had come to.

——He took most of the happy parts of her heart with him. Is that why she doesn’t have much emotion? Cattleya speculated.

”You… have a crush on someone who isn’t here anymore.”

Unlike what Cattleya had imagined, the bush that she had been pricking was actually the entryway to a deep forest.

”’Crush’?”

The young woman wandering inside said forest was not even aware of how she had become lost in it – she had a blindfold on and did not know how to take it off, left alone to live through fumbling about. Cattleya thought of it as a pity. In reality, that was not a conversation they should be having at such a place.

”What is… a ’crush’?”

The doll whose heart had been taken away – her colleague who was younger than herself – did not know what infatuation was.

”No, it’s love already.”

”’Lo-ve’…?”

The maneuver area was more crammed than when they had arrived. The crowd was increasingly more frantic.

Cattleya pointed at the people walking by. Everyone was of differing genders and ages. Each led lives packed with hardships that could not be seen through naked eye.

”There are many types of it: fraternity, friendship, siblinghood, companionship. Yours is romantic love.”

Harmonious couples that served as examples of it were everywhere. The world overflowed with romance in a natural manner.

Yet Violet denied it. She shook her head, furrowing her brows and biting her lip. ”I… cannot… fall in love.” she obstinately negated.

”You did, though.”

”No, I cannot. I do not understand it.”

As seen from the sides, they probably appeared to be having an argument. It was not a fight, yet neither of them backed a single step. One claimed it was love. The other claimed it was not. Both were running counter.

Though steeped in irritation, Cattleya still refused to give in. ”Even I… can’t say for sure what something like that is. Love is uncertain, and I don’t get the romantic one very well. But I can tell when it happens. People in love would also be able to tell if they saw you. Your love is that type. Even if it’s towards a person you’re unable to see…”

Once the words ”a person you’re unable to see” spilled from Cattleya’s mouth, Violet’s blue eyes quivered in sorrow. Hearing them from someone else weighed much more than saying them to herself. The expression she sometimes had on was one that would cause anybody to admonish her with a, ”See, you’re making a face like that, so how come?”

”No, I cannot. I really… cannot… Major has…” still, Violet rebuffed it. Her long blond lashes were down. As Violet hung her head, her gaze went towards her own chest.

As always, her emerald green brooch lay there. It sparkled brilliantly, never fading.

”Major has…”

Even through springs of dazzling moonbows, summers of early rains, autumns of raging gold-leaf winds or winters of congealing frosty nights, just like the existence of the man named Gilbert Bougainvillea that resided within Violet, it would never fade.

”Major has passed away.” the words she whispered in that very instant were exceedingly cruel.

The clock needle between Cattleya and Violet stopped for once. That did not happen in actuality, but the two of them did not make a single movement, as if time had truly come to a halt. Their blinking and breathing was mowed by the world’s time axis for a second.

Once time finally started flowing again, Cattleya could only give a staggered reply, ”E-Eh?” Her voice squeaked.

”He is dead. I was unable… to protect him… so Major… died. Even though I was his tool, shield and sword.”

Cold sweat slowly traveled down Cattleya’s back.

——Her heart was stolen… not by someone that’s just not around, but that is dead?