Ina was done choosing the flowers, so all that was left was for the owner to wrap them in bouquets.
In the meantime, she relaxed while looking at the flowers around her. If she walked over to the entrance at this point, she would see Qualia and Ace beating down two priests from the Fair Skies Church, but there was a reason why she stayed there.
One flower bed caught her eye.
(There are a lot of sunflowers here… That’s rare.)
Despite being considered a rare flower, there were sunflowers blooming like the sun in a row, seemingly comfortable as they basked in the sunlight.
(That reminds me. The one named Anonymous left a sunflower on the grave of Princess Lobelia’s friend Love…)
Then she noticed someone else was looking at the sunflowers.
“Wah.”
She was right to react that way. She saw someone wearing a thick coat, with a mask covering his mouth, and a hood hiding the supposedly exposed eyes.
But there was a reason why she was not afraid of this supposedly strange person. This person held the big leaf of a sunflower as though holding hands with a beloved girl.
Still, Ina failed to notice something important. That this person wearing a raincoat and fox mask, was Anonymous.
“Ah. You’re here again today?”
The woman preparing the flowers in the back noticed the presence of Anonymous, and spoke as though she knew him.
Anonymous did not turn around, and responded while still watching the sunflowers.
“I heard the store was destroyed. But I’m glad to see the sunflowers are doing better than I expected…”
“It was just the building that was destroyed. Ah, sorry Ina, this is a regular customer. He looks weird, but he’s not bad. Don’t mind him.”
Ina bowed as she nodded to the owner, and asked Anonymous a question without thinking.
“Do you… Like sunflowers?”
“Honestly, not really. I don’t really like flowers, or plants in general.”
“A-ah…”
“…But someone I knew did. She liked to constantly lecture me about how good they were.”
Ina felt dumbfounded, but heard that the flowers were ready.
She took them, bowed to Anonymous, and ran to the entrance.
“…You say some profound stuff.”
Said the owner with an exasperated sigh as she saw Ina run.
“Please let ‘Anonymous’ just be a nickname. I’d rather call you by your real name.”
“The little idiot who gave me that name is dead. Half a year ago… How many times do I have to say that?”
“Going deep again…”
Ina met up with Qualia. She seemed hesitant, but let Qualia carry some of the bouquets, that were too many for her to handle. Ace also helped with a few.
The owner saw this sunny world that was like a perfect picture of peace, and sighed again. This time, nostalgically.
“Yes, it’s been half a year already. Since Love died, and you started doing stupid things.”
“…”
“They’re just like you, Qualia and Ina. And you and Love… That’s why I’m behind them.”
“And when Ina dies, Qualia might become another me.”
“Ina dies… Hey, what do you know? What’s going to happen with Ina?”
“I don’t know that much, but my instinct is pointing in a bad direction. As you can see, as Anonymous.”
“That’s pretty unsettling, geez…”
Anonymous gave her a coin, as a customer, and grabbed one sunflower before turning around to leave.
“I know it’s pointless, but I’ll say it anyway. Stop doing stupid things. I’m sure that paradise you want is just a dream.”
She said, as Anonymous was just about to leave, and saw an image overlapping with Qualia and Ina.
The innocent magic doll known as love, and the back of someone who was just a boy, that he could not reach anymore.
…It was this woman who was the first to discover this tragedy.
Six months ago, there was a downpour, and crying screams that were loud enough to be heard through the rain.
There was a boy, who held a magic doll that was not moving.
He did not care that he was soaked, or that he was spitting enough blood that he might have died too. He just screamed in pain at the girl’s death.
The owner saw it. The moment the girl lost the magic stone in her chest, and completely stopped functioning as a magic doll.
The moment the boy embedded a magic stone as if it was a new heart, and rebooted as something new.
The moment Anonymous died as a person, and became a being from another dimension.
The rain was still pouring, not washing anything with it, and hiding the blue sky.
It seemed that tragedy would repeat itself in front of his eyes.
Anonymous watched Ina and Qualia, and both disappeared from his sight.
“…I’ll be back. Don’t close this place.”
He took off to the sky, as the owner quietly watched him.
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ahhh I caught up… Qualia saying ‘tasty’ over and over to describe emotions makes him sounding like a pervet to me… it feels uncomfortable… This is just me nitpicking tho