86 - Volume 9 - Chapter 3.5

INTERLUDE

TO KNOW HOW TO KILL SIEGFRIED, ONE MUST…

“Hello.”

The military hospital in the Federacy’s capital city of Sankt Jeder was relatively far from the Rüstkammer base. Despite that, Annette peeked her head into the hospital ward, prompting Theo and the other Eighty-Six boys hospitalized there to blink in surprise.

A refreshing breeze, cool but not quite freezing, blew into the room through the window, which had been opened a crack. The gray autumn sky seemed to blend in perfectly with the thin glass window.

As their bodies recovered, the boys regained their stamina, leaving them bored and restless for lack of things to do. Many of Theo’s roommates decided to read complicated books or catch up on their homework. The Eighty-Six in the bed next to his was chatting with a child who’d peered inside, looking for someone else. Theo wasn’t keen on talking to anyone, so he didn’t even look at the kid.

For some reason, Theo felt like his mind was occupied by a white void that nothing could fill. It’d made him vacant and absentminded before he realized it. He was as bored as the rest of them, but for some reason, it didn’t occur to him to pass the time somehow.

He’d been like that ever since he returned to the Federacy. When Shin and Ishmael came to visit him, he had the time to ponder on how to go about his life now. But upon returning to the Federacy, he’d lost all his spirit. Maybe he just didn’t want to look pathetic in front of those two, and after coming here, he’d finally depleted the mental prowess he used to keep himself roused.

That child didn’t know him and naturally didn’t know his circumstances, so he didn’t want to speak to him. Instead, he leveled his gaze on Annette and asked:

“…What?”

“Yo. I figured you’d be getting bored right about now. So since I was passing by, I figured I’d get some movies or cartoons that you could all watch together.”

She opened her tote bag in front of the large shared television. It was full of media data. The boys shuffled around her, raising their voices in elated cheers.

“Dammit, Annette, are you an angel? Did God send you or something?”

“This helps so much—we’ve been bored stiff in here.”

“Wait, I know this one; it’s boring as hell.”

“Huh.” Annette cocked an eyebrow at that last comment. “Fine, I’ll take them all back, then.”

“Ah, wait, wait, can’t you take a joke? Don’t go! I mean, you can if you want—just leave the movies!”

“You want to watch some movies with them, kid? Anything catch your eye?”

“No, my dad’s here, so I’ll be leaving. Bye, everyone!”

“Yeah, yeah, see ya… Do you guys know that kid’s parents?” Annette asked the boys.

“Nope, he’s an Eighty-Six kid who was too young to be drafted. He saw the news about us and asked his foster father to visit us.”

…Shit, Theo thought.

If he knew that kid was a fellow Eighty-Six, he wouldn’t have ignored him like that. The kid cared enough to come check on them, so he should have paid him attention.

The child took the hand of a man in uniform—probably his foster father—who nodded at them before leaving. Theo felt guilty for not waving back at the kid, who had already turned away at that point. Instead, he looked at Annette.

“You said you were just passing by?”

Annette snuck a glance at him but didn’t reply. Instead, she said:

“For how bored you seem to be, you’re not actually trying to occupy yourself, are you?”

“I just don’t feel like it. Not in the mood, I guess.”

The thought of doing something to pass the time hadn’t occurred to him. Or rather, he couldn’t bring himself to do anything at all.

“Since you’re here, do you mind if I ask? Hmm…”

What was this Alba girl’s first name again? Theo wondered. She was a friend of Lena’s and an old acquaintance of Shin’s, but Theo hadn’t talked to her that much before. They’d spoken a bit during the operation in the United Kingdom and a few times when they ran into each other. Still, referring to her as “Major Penrose” felt impersonal and stiff.

“You can just call me Annette,” she said.

“Thanks… Annette, have you put any thought into what you’re going to do next? Like when the war ends. Or like how you came to the Federacy military after the large-scale offensive.”

“Yeah…,” Annette muttered vaguely.

This made Theo realize his question was insensitive, which caused him to fall silent.

“Sorry,” he eventually said.

“It’s fine… My mom died in the large-scale offensive, yeah. But I got to say good-bye.

“She didn’t run away,” Annette said with a bitter smile. On the eve of the Republic’s founding festival, her nation fell. Annette told her mother that she had to evacuate, but her mother simply shook off her grasp with a smile.

“She said she didn’t want to be a burden or have any regrets. And that she wanted to see her dead friends who lived next door. And Dad—she said she’d kept him waiting for too long…”

The other boys in the room were starting a movie on the big television. They were considerate enough to listen to the movie’s sound through wireless earphones. Since Theo wasn’t wearing his headphones, the movie was just silent footage for him. The other boys had their eyes fixed on the television, and they weren’t looking their way.

“Anyway, back to your question. Yeah… I didn’t think that deeply on it. In the large-scale offensive, I had my hands full just surviving. And when I came to the Federacy, figuring out how to apologize to Shin was the only thing on my mind. For now, I just wanna live through this, I guess. There’s lots of stuff I’d like to do someday.”

“Like what?”

“Like dressing up, eating tasty food, and seeing new movies. Oh, and throwing a pie at Lena and Shin for once. One with a lot of cream. And they can’t throw one back at me.”

“…That’s the stuff you want to do?” Theo couldn’t help but ask.

No way. Something that basic? All the things she mentioned bordered on the trivial.

“It’s stuff worth doing,” she said with a shrug. “Like, if I told you there’s this stall at the plaza that sells really good deep-fried bread, you’d want to check it out, right? Not that I’m gonna buy it for you… But you focus on little things like that and then find something else to do. And you keep doing that until your time is up.”

Theo smiled sarcastically at those words. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to die because there were things she wanted to do. She was still alive, so she wanted to do something. Maybe life was all about repeating that process in perpetuity.

So if the choice was between living your life aimlessly and enjoying yourself…

“…Well, I guess I’ll make checking that stall out my objective until I’m allowed to go outside.”

“Good stuff. And while you’re at it, help me throw pies at Lena and Shin. I’m sure we’re both entitled to do that. And Raiden, as well. Oh, I wanna throw a pie at Dustin, too…”

“For Dustin, we gotta include me, Shin, Raiden, Kurena… Actually, count Lena also. And Rito—he knew Daiya, too. Anyway, all of us have a right to throw a pie at him.”

It had been four months since Dustin and Anju got stranded in the United Kingdom, but it had only been a month since the dance party. One had to wonder what Dustin was waiting for.

“Oh, and I wanna throw a pie at the prince. For no reason in particular.”

“For sure.”

They exchanged looks for a moment and then snickered.

“Guess I’ll have to figure out what I’ll do about my left hand until then… Oh, right, my sketchbook,” Theo said, as if suddenly remembering it was missing after all this time. “It’s in my room in the base. Bring it over the next time you come visit.”

Annette grinned at him.

“Roger, I’ll handle that errand for you.”