Bonus Short Stories
A Day With Olivia and Evanson
The Southern Quarter of Fis
Today... Today is the day...
Evanson paced back and forth, back and forth in front of the shop, stealing nervous glances at the apron-clad figure on the other side of the glass. Just then, someone behind him tapped him on the shoulder. He turned, full of trepidation, and found himself face-to-face with Olivia, her head cocked to one side.
“You’ve been wandering around here for a while. What are you doing?”
“Oh, it’s you, General Olivia...” Evanson said. “Please don’t surprise me like that.”
“It’s not like I was trying to frighten you...”
“What brought you out to a place like this all of a sudden?”
“Me? I just came back from the castle.”
“You mean Letitia Castle?” Evanson said. “I beg your pardon, ser, but what were you doing there?”
“I got summoned by the king.”
“By His Majesty King Alfonse?”
“Yeah, he was all ‘Sofitia this,’ ‘Sofitia that.’ It was such a pain,” Olivia finished, puffing out her cheeks.
Evanson quickly looked from side to side, then said, “Please, you mustn't criticize the king in a place like this. If the police were to overhear, it would not be good.”
“But what are you doing here, Evanson?”
Evanson sighed to himself. He had thought he had successfully diverted the conversation, only for it to fall apart in the end. Still, if it had been his older sister Ellis, things would have been far worse.
Evanson coughed loudly a few times. “I just..fancied some bread...”
“Bread?” Olivia, peering through the shop window, cocked her head at him again. “But they have bread here. Aren’t you going to buy any?”
“Um...”
“Oh, this is perfect. I just missed out on my tower cake, too.”
“You what? H-Hey!” Olivia seized Evanson’s arm and, just like that, dragged him into the shop.
“Oh, um... Welcome...” The girl inside met Evanson’s eyes, her cheeks turning a delicate pink as she greeted them.
“I, u-um, you’re welcome!” Evanson felt his face growing hot and looked down, while Olivia, after a puzzled glance at the pair of them, immediately began to order.
“—a-and altogether, that comes to two silver pieces.”
Olivia put her mountain of bread down on the counter and turned to Evanson. “Two silver pieces, she said.”
“What? Am I supposed to pay for that?”
“Well I don’t understand how money works,” Olivia said. “And I don’t carry any money on me anyway.”
“About that,” Evanson muttered, “as I keep telling Major Ashton, I don’t see how that’s anything other than an excuse, to be honest.” Still, he took out his purse and handed two silver coins over to the girl. As he did so, his fingertips brushed her hand.
They both gasped, pulling their hands back and looking down. Olivia stared intently at them, then a smile blossomed on her face.
“I get it! Evanson, you like her!”
“Eh?!”
“Not only that, you like Evanson too, don’t you?” Olivia said, closely examining the girl’s face.
“E-Er...” The girl gripped the front of her apron tight. Evanson wished the ground beneath him would open, even just a crack, and suck him in. He was strongly aware that his ears were the hottest they had ever been.
“Hey, I did well, right? All this time learning about humans has paid off. Actually...” She paused. “Right! I’m being a third wheel right now!” Cradling her bulging bag of bread under one arm, Olivia left the shop, waving over her shoulder at them.
Evanson had never imagined he would have his feelings for the shop girl exposed by Olivia, of all people. “Well, um, I just thought...” he blurted out desperately. “Only if you’d like to...would you...go out with me...?”
Silence hung over them for a brief moment. Then—and Evanson didn’t know how he still heard her voice so clearly for how quiet a whisper it came out—the girl said, “Yes.”
They both looked up at one another and shared a tiny smile.
For Evanson, spring had come early.
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