TFOA Chapter 2

"That's Ms. Violet's ranch. Karen and Greta live there. Greta is our age. She's quiet and doesn't talk much, but if you chat with her a few times, you'll become friends quickly."

'Our age?'

At his words, Niksi tilted her head and revealed her age. Gilbert looked surprised and stunned as he introduced the next house.

"And... that two-story house covered in ivy is Mr. Raul's bar... er...establishment."

"Let's drop the formalities. It's awkward."

"Sh-should we?"

"Right. Is there anywhere here where I can get furniture? I burned all the original stuff so it's unusable."

"I can give you tables and chairs since we have extras at the hall. If you want to buy new furniture, go to that house with the blue roof. Carpenter Betty lives there. Her flaw is making outrageously bizarre designs, but her skills are good."

"Thanks. Come to think of it, I forgot underwear too."

"...Unfortunately, I can't lend you that."

"Right. Soap and towels too."

"Let me change the question. What do you have?"

Niksi gave chocolate to every neighbor she encountered.

They either welcomed the new neighbor who had settled in the northern forest by the fields, or eyed her warily like she was an alien.

When about five chocolates remained, Gilbert pointed to the last remaining green roof and introduced Grandma Charlotte's house, who makes good brownies.

"If she makes good brownies, she should run a bakery. This place seems to have everything, but there's no bakery."

"That won't work. When Grandma Charlotte bakes cookies, they become brownies, and when she bakes cake, it becomes brownies too."

The sun was setting.

At Gilbert's words that Grandma would already be sleeping, Niksi didn't ring the doorbell and carefully placed the chocolate by the door.

Gilbert stretched long with his back to the sun.

"But why did you come to Auvers?"

"Huh?"

"The city is safer than here, has more people and food, and isn't frustrating. You know? The carriage only comes here three times a month."

Niksi ate jerky to soothe her growing hunger. She'd already eaten about twelve pieces, so even if wild dogs broke into the old house through the windows in the middle of the night for a jaw strength championship, she could hold her own.

Niksi replied indifferently.

"I wanted to eat candied violet preserves."

"Violets?"

"Yeah."

"Hmm..."

Gilbert made a deflated snorting sound. With a regretful expression, he broke the news that Auvers' violet fields had been blown away by bombing.

Niksi was more devastated than ever.

Gilbert stopped in front of the second building next to the village hall and went inside, leaving Niksi waiting for a moment. It seemed to be the village head's house.

The sky had already turned black. Early spring sunsets were always sudden and unpredictable.

As villagers here and there lit the gas lamps, the road glowed with a soft yellow light.

Glancing up at the sky on a whim, there were so many stars studded overhead they looked ready to spill down.

"Niksi, do you like gray or yellow?"

Gilbert poked his head out from the second-floor window and showed two blankets.

Niksi gazed at the sky and answered carelessly.

"Gray!"

Why Auvers specifically? There was no reason. She liked appropriately unpopulated, quiet rural villages.

'There are more people than I thought, though.'

She came down to a village adjacent to the southern sea because she didn't like rain and cold.

'It seems like I'll freeze to death, though.'

She also wanted to eat candied violet preserves.

'I only found out after coming here that all the violet fields were blown away by bombing.'

Even so, there was no particular reason. Life was just boring.

—Thud.

"Oh, sorry..."

Niksi immediately bowed her head to apologize to the person she bumped into.

That person was holding a large canvas. The oily smell of oil paint wafted strongly.

She couldn't see well because the canvas was blocking her view, but he seemed about a head taller than her. The finger joints she glimpsed were thick.

'Someone I haven't seen before.'

Niksi looked at the man's hair that looked yellow under the streetlight, then took chocolate out of her bag.

"I'm Niksi from the northern forest by the fields. I moved to Auvers to..."

The man moved his canvas aside to face Niksi directly.

He had eyes like violets sprinkled with sugar.

"...day."

The violet pupils that glanced down briefly sparkled and went well with his pale blonde hair like a bright wheat field.

Niksi looked down at the canvas he was holding. A painting colored entirely in grayscale. It was utterly gloomy.

The man frowned those pretty eyes and opened his mouth.

"Move."

"You met Mr. Richter?"

Niksi, who had received the yellow blanket, nodded.

Gilbert scratched his hair as he continued.

"He's someone who came to the village two years ago, and, well... he's quite a sensitive person, right? Please understand. Mr. Richter was conscripted to the Battle of Gergaung and returned alive."

"Ah, the Battle of Gergaung."

"You know it?"

"Of course I know it."

Niksi nodded carelessly.

The Battle of Gergaung.. A battle famous for turning a small river—closer to a stream really—into a lake through bombing. Of course Niksi knew about it. She was a soldier, after all.

She didn't just remember it—she remembered it vividly. She could find the bombing sites near Gergaung and the riverbanks where her unit had hidden, digging for grass roots, even with her eyes closed.

"Anyway, thanks for the blanket. But I asked for a gray blanket. Are my eyes seeing it as yellow because I looked at the stars too long?"

"No, your eyes are normal. I thought yellow would suit the new neighbor from the northern forest by the fields better."

Gilbert tilted his head and pointed to Niksi's hair.

"It's like stars. Your hair."

Niksi glanced at her own yellow hair and laughed along with Gilbert as she replied.

"Doesn't it look like rat piss color?"

Gilbert chuckled a few times before bursting into hearty laughter, showing his white teeth that went well with his slightly tanned skin.

"Wow Niksi, your senses are normal but your sensibility is abnormal."

He quite liked the strange neighbor. So instead of saying 'goodbye' in front of the hall as originally planned, he escorted her near her house.

Gilbert escorted Niksi across the wheat field and beyond the stream.

"You won't escort me to my house? I said it's scary if the path home is long and dark."

Being so brazenly forward about it.

"Then see you tomorrow!"

"Yeah, take care!"

Despite saying 'it's scary if the path home is long and dark!', the contradiction of him giving her the lantern he'd brought while walking down the dark path himself made Niksi chuckle.

After only pulling weeds for several hours, she was already sick to death of them.

Initially, Niksi had enjoyed pulling grass enthusiastically, making a fuss like 'this is an herb that can be used to stop bleeding' or 'that can be boiled and drunk as tea,' but now she silently dug at the ground with a sour expression.

Around the time she had pulled weeds from an area the size of the blanket Gilbert gave her, a clear bell sound rang from outside the fence. It was the sound of a bicycle bell.

Niksi straightened her stiff back and looked up.

Outside the old fence, a mail carrier wearing a beige hat backwards was waving. In his hand was an elegant letter.

'Who could it be?' Niksi opened the letter.

If he drank that much, he'd be dead.

While imagining her close friend dying from three bottles of whiskey, the delivery man took something out of the basket attached to the back of his bicycle.

It was five bundles of sunflowers the size of palms.

<P.S. Delivery fee is cash on delivery.>

"This crazy bastard."

At Niksi's curse, the delivery man stepped back in surprise. Niksi stuffed the letter into her back pocket and smiled awkwardly.

Right. It was also her favorite flower, and since sunflowers are rare in this season, she should overlook the high delivery fee.

Besides, it was friendship sent by her old comrade thinking of her.

"How much is the delivery fee..."

The delivery man held up his fingers. Niksi pressed her forehead.

The delivery fee for the magnificent sunflowers that had crossed the continent was far more expensive than any friendship sentiment is worth.