Chapter 58: Fateful Opportunity
With these half-revelations in mind, I left the back gardens and returned to the normal gardens, much to Hilda's relief.
"Let's not do that again, okay, little dummy?" It sounded like a request, but the quiver in her eyes betrayed the fact that she was begging me.
Seeing this hyperactive little monkey begging me-
Pleading to me-
Hehe.
It makes me want more.
"Why?"
Hilda hiccuped over herself, "W, what do you mean-"
"What's wrong with going into the back gardens? I'm going to go again soon anyway."
Crocodile tears oozed out of the corners of Hilda's ruby-red eyes; they slipped down the cheeks of this tall, developing girl...
Hehe.
"It was a joke."
Leaning on my crutches, I reached up and rubbed my fingers across her tear-soaked face, the cold liquid trickled onto my fingers, contrasting greatly with Hilda's warm skin.
Sniffling, "D, don't make bad jokes again..."
She's such a kid.
"...I'll think about it."
"Eh?!"
Hopping away from Hilda, I heard her bewildered voice quake as she ran up to my side again:
"W, what do you mean?!"
Yep.
Teasing her is the best.
"What do you mean?!!!"
-----
"Gently..." Esme wrapped her arms around my waist, pressing close to me, enveloping me in her warmth and pleasant scent.
Helping me onto the picnic mat, which Hilda set up under Lily's prying gaze, Esme patted off the tufts of grass that had stuck onto my shoes.
The crutches lay by my side as I thanked Esme for her help.
"No problem." Smiling tenderly, Esme glanced left and right, checking that no one was paying attention-
Chu~
-and at lightning speed, she pulled my mask to the side, shut her eyes, and pecked my cheek with soft lips.
"Hehe~"
Her cheeky chuckle reminded me of mine.
Even though I've lived a past life, and am not a pure-born baby, we are still so similar.
We are twins for sure.
Anyways.
We're having another picnic.
It's still early in the morning, and we can't interrupt the resting patients, so we're set to enter St. Neuvae's Clinic at around 2 PM. Moreover, the victim isn't set to pass away until tomorrow, so I have two opportunities to meet them-
Unless they pass away overnight.
For that reason, I plan on pulling all the stops and surveying every damned corner of the Clinic.
I'll find you, whether you like it or not.
The method?
Simple.
I glanced at the grass lining the edges of the mat, at the faint, soft tufts of white haze lingering in the depths of the greenery.
It was a small amount, yet present nonetheless.
If they said that they can see it...
They have a bed beside a window facing the park, or the white haze is in their room.
Shooting my eyes over to the distant Clinic; there aren't many rooms that face the park.
I'm hoping that it's the former, and not the latter. In the case where it's the latter, I'd have to search every room.
And I can't do that in these crutches.
"Open up~"
Nom.
Eating a fruit sandwich straight from Esme's hands, a smile inevitably came to my lips. Irrepressible joy filled my heart, and the butterflies in my stomach fluttered gently.
From one mood to another, only Esme could do this to me.
Ideally, she'd do it all the time, hehe.
Pushing my palms under the mask and onto my puffed cheeks, I gobbled the creamy, sweet fruits and tender white bread.
"Not fair." A disappointed Hilda grumbled with crossed arms, but then her eyes caught sight of fluffy pancakes, and she promptly covered them with syrup and stuffed them into her mouth. Her disappointment disappeared like smoke in the wind.
How fickle.
"You should have some too, Lady Esme." Lily passed over Esme's preferred fruit sandwich on a plate in the form of bite-sized pieces.
She had neatly cut them for her.
Their mini picnic party was in full blast, a menu of delectable foods, a pretty view, nice weather, and a harmonious atmosphere.
No worry over my health issues and no useless riff-raff.
Just us and a good time.
A pleasant prelude to the truth that may soon be unveiled.
A horror that I was not prepared to face.
The white haze.
The Mistress.
The personification of madness.
...And Flamm's.
They are linked.
Frankly speaking, I am scared.
Scared not in the manner the average person is, such as being scared of the dark, or loud, abrupt sounds.
But a fear of what this could all mean for Esme and me.
And Yulei, Esme's friend, who was intricately linked to Flamm's, was a victim herself.
Properly enjoying this picnic, these thoughts swirled in the back of my mind in a cloud of splodgy darkness; a darkness disgustingly familiar to me.
A darkness inherently existing within me.
...
Indeed.
...
We shall see.
Responding to the bastards, I watched the time pass by, the aurora float by, while we held small talk and exchanged intense laughter.
What a good time.
Taking a deep breath, I glanced at the time visible from the distant clock tower.
Tap.
I was facing a pond, Esme sat opposite me, Lily to her left, and Hilda sat to my right.
We sat in this order.
Tap.
Because of that.
Tap.
I could not see the face of the approaching person.
Tap.
...But I distinctly remember this moment.
To this day.
She won't stop.
Over.
And over.
Again.
Again, the Prophet will not cease her reassurance.
Again, and again, over, and over, and over again-!
She says it is not my fault.
But I remember that day well.
The day I received a portion of the truth.
The day I had the opportunity to meet her, to, perhaps, change the future.
Yet I did not.
For I was a coward.
A pathetic child entirely unaware of the obvious truth.
A cowardly puppet too afraid to hurt Esme for the sake of a better future.
A disgusting creature who did not want Esme's gaze pointed at herself.
Thus.
That day.
I turned my head away.
Tap.
When Senuela, the poor child's mother, came to us.
Tap.
When I received a fateful opportunity.
Tap.
The day I acquired the chance to change the future.
"Excuse me...?"
Yet failed and let it slip through my fingers.
.....
"Little lady, it is you, right...?"
A voice came from behind us.
Looking back, I caught sight of a vaguely familiar face. If I paid close attention, removed the eyebags and exhaustion plaguing her every movement...
The underground market?
"Ah! It's the Mommy of the boy who ran into the little dummy back then!" Hilda jogged all of our memories awake, somehow, out of the four of us, the monkey was the first to recall who this lady was.
Her?
I distinctly remember coming across her a month ago in the drug store.
"Yes, little ladies, it's me. Sorry to interrupt, but I have something I want to ask the masked little lady."
"Me?"
"Indeed. This may seem rude to ask of you, but if you remember my son..." The mother fidgeted with her fingers, her demeanour vastly different from what I vaguely remembered.
Lily, Esme, and Hilda huddled up, surrounding me from all sides as we waited for the lady to finish her sentence.
Her words had trailed off, lingering with the drifting winds.
She seemed to struggle to put her words together, faltering at the most crucial point.
"Go on." So I gave her a push.
In return, she completed her sentence.
"He's sick. He was already sick before you met him. But. When he saw you-"
Biting her lips.
"-he showed a sliver of real emotion for the first time."
The mother bowed to us.
"I know this might seem abrupt. Maybe even sudden or random. But, please, can you visit him before he... Before he-" Her voice cracked, struggling to put together the final words.
But we all knew what that word was.
It was clear.
He's about to die.
Lily, the oldest of us, was the first to speak out, "I'm sorry for your tragedy, miss. But I don't think it's appropriate for strangers to be there during his final moments, he would want his mother, not us-"
The lady's face grew downcast, but she nodded, fully accepting of Lily's logic.
And, just as she was about to turn away, to accept this reality-
"Wait."
I spoke out.
"Your son, what is he sick with?"
Her face seemed to shine with the light of the aurora at that moment, "Flamm's. He's sick with Flamm's."
A shockwave seemed to rattle my body.
Today's date: 31st of June.
Tomorrow's date: 1st of July.
Another child was set to pass away tomorrow from Flamm's concentrated on the head.
So, I pushed my luck.
I asked:
"In what location did his Flamm's flare up?"
Hilda's hand immediately gripped my thigh, squeezing it with nervousness at this rude question. Lily and Esme also cast questioning gazes towards me; don't look at me like that, Esme.
My heart fell to the pits of my stomach, and I immediately regretted asking that in front of Esme.
But then the lady, as kind as she seemed, pulled me out of this quagmire of regret, "The head. So, please, give me this opportunity to see him truly smile one last time..."
She bowed towards us, her head lowered to a group of children.
Her despair, hopelessness, and sorrow oozed from her flesh like binding ropes tightening about her body.
Hilda, Esme, and Lily still held some apprehension in this situation.
And, to be honest, so did I.
What are the odds that I'd run into the exact person I was looking for?
Yet.
I did.
Even so.
I-
"Okay. I'll visit him."
I immediately accepted her request.
And it was odd.
Because-
Ididnotwitnessthewavesofchestnutandblue.
Theskywasclear.