Chapter 26: Violet Evergarden #1
Violet Evergarden knocks on the door to the bathroom. "Hikigaya-san, you are late. Hiratsuka-sensei would be displeased by your tardiness."
"I have other things to worry about. Look, just give me a secon- mother fuc-!" he cuts himself off at the last second from cursing in front of a woman. Though she is on the other side of the door and couldn't probably see him – thank god for that – but still it is a matter of principle.
"May I be of assistant?" Violet asks, though she doesn't know whether she could be of use in this particular instance. After The Snap and The Blip, she had found employment as an Auto Memories Doll. But before long the practice went out of fashion and she had to seek employment elsewhere.
The people at Neo Tokyo University hired her as a non-teaching staff. Till now her work had been limited to paper work and she preferred it as such. But this morning, Hiratsuka-sensei, one of the teachers of the liberal arts department, asked her to fetch a certain student named Hachiman Hikigaya.
He had been involved in an incident, a witness to a fight that had taken place on the campus grounds between a heroic spirit, an alchemist and a spirit world warrior. The administrators wanted to know the facts of the matter and since, Hachiman Hikigaya was the only normal student in the mix, he was asked to present himself in front of the guidance councilor and explain the situation.
However from the looks of it, he seemed to be employing delaying tactics. Violet didn't want to presume, but locking oneself in the bathroom, especially in a boy's dorm, where three other students used the same facilities hardly seemed like a smart idea.
"Hikigaya-san, how much more time do you need to make yourself presentable." Violet asked in a voice devoid of emotion.
"At the moment, I'm not thinking about being presentable. I'm just thinking about my future." Hikigaya replied from the other side. "Oh, no! Why is this happening!?"
Violet presumed he was worried about his academic future in the university. Unfortunately for her, that was not the case. Hachiman Hikigaya was worried about a more rather literal future, in a sense, that is, whether he could have children in the future. It depends on how you take these sort of things.
"Your future is in your hands." Violet said from the other side.
Hachiman scoffed. "Isn't that the truth." This time a curse slipped past his lips. "Shit, this is getting worse."
"Hikigaya-san," Violet Evergarden was a former child soldier. She knew when men felt pain, when they felt alarmed, when there existed nothing but doom and dread in their voice. She had been the instrument of death for too many times herself. But now, she was living to know the meaning of a few choice words. Perhaps, pain was one of them. She could never know, unless she tried to learn them.
"Please unlock the door." Violet Evergarden said. "I'm coming in."
"No, you can't! I'm not fully dressed!" Hachiman said from the other side. His voice was close to sounding alarmed. Internally he was panicking. The pain, wasn't helping much either.
"Hikigaya-san, I will ask you to unlock this door again." Violet Evergarden didn't threaten. "If you don't, I will break it open."
"That's a bit of an overreaction." Hachiman tried to make it sound like a joke. But he didn't feel like joking at the moment. With a heavy sigh, he willed himself to open the door to the bathroom and let the woman walk in. However, he was not quite so bold to expose himself, so he shied away to the other side and tried to hold onto whatever remaining dignity he could scrounge in that very vulnerable moment.
"You seemed to be dressed." Violet Evergarden said. Then she observed the unusual position he was in, trying to move as farther away as possible from her while also hunching forward. "Why are hunching forward like that? Are you in pain?"
There was no reply from his end for close to a minute. Violet didn't lose her patience. She waited there for him to respond. After what felt like a lifetime, Hachiman Hikigaya mustered one word.
"Yes."
"Yes what?" Violet asked.
"I'm in pain." Hachiman replied.
Violet Evergarden noticed the tips of his ears were turning red. Perhaps he was feeling anger because of the pain which had him hunched over. However she couldn't aid him without having an extensive knowledge of his predicament.
A part of her did wonder whether this fell under her duties. She was supposed to handle paperwork, and on this given instance, she was to bring him in front of the impatient Hiratsuka-sensei. But apart from that she wasn't qualified to help him ease his pain, whatever it might be.
"Should I inform the infirmary?" She asked. "Are you in any condition to walk?"
"I can't go outside like this!" Hachiman blurted out. "The whole campus will think I'm a flasher!"
Violet was confused. "A flasher?"
"An exhibitionist!" Hikigaya explained. He tried to adjust himself, moving away from her, while also trying to do something with his pants that led to a pained expression to flash across his face. "Goddammit, Why!?"
"What seems to be the problem?" Violet asked, patiently.
Hachiman gave up on what remained of his dignity. "Fine, I will tell you." He started. "When you came in so early in the morning and introduced yourself and told me, about what was going to happen, how I had to show up in front of Hiratsuka-sensei and explain what the fight was about, I kinda panicked. Because I fear her more than I fear, a heroic spirit, an alchemist, a clumsy spirit world warrior. And in my panic, I started to get dressed. However, my movement became a bit erratic and clumsy." He said the last word with a bit of pain, at the expense of his pride. "I was hurrying, which is always a bad thing. And then as I was close to finishing, I pulled the zipper of my pants and it got caught in -" he searched for a polite word. "-something." He mumbled.
"Something?" Violet Evergarden asked in a clear voice.
"Yes. Something." Really, Hachiman didn't feel like explaining his situation to such a beautiful woman. She had a doll like appearance, with light blue eyes and a fair complexion, with a slender frame. She had waist length golden hair with locks that framed her face which she had pulled up into two braided buns with two red ribbons. Her attire consisted of a white ribbon tie dress with a Prussian blue jacket and an emerald brooch on the middle of the ribbon tie.
She was a picture of beauty and grace and because of his cursed luck, she found herself with him, in the bathroom, with such a painful and embarrassing predicament. What was she thinking, Hachiman wondered.
"Are you wearing underwear?" she asked.
"Of course, I am wearing underwear!" He replied.
"Then, I don't see what the problem is." Violet said.
Hachiman couldn't believe her. Granted she was a woman, and so, she might not be aware of this particular problem, which was an extremely male problem, but still, the least she could do was show some sympathy. Instead, she just stood there, with an unreadable expression, watching him as he suffered in pain, caught between a rock and hard place.
"The zip is still stuck."
"Then let me help."
"What do you -"
But Hachiman Hikigaya didn't have time to ask what Violet Evergarden meant by that. In a fluid movement, where his rotten dead fish eyes caught sight of her blonde hair, he soon found the woman lowering herself in front of him, down on her haunches and inspecting the front of his pants, her hands floating dreadfully close to the pain inflicting zipper which had been stuck to his, well, you know, little hikki.
"-think you are do- Aah! Fuck!"
He thought he would die from that second of pain. He closed his eyes and opened them to find himself staring into the light blue eyes of Violet Evergarden. She looked unperturbed, as if this was no big deal, as if this was just something she did on a given Wednesday.
"Are you bleeding?" she asked.
"No?" That came out as a question. "I don't think so."
"Good," Violet didn't nod. She turned and walked out of the bathroom. "If you are feeling better, please follow me."
"Okay." Hachiman said.
"I'm sure, you could explain the reason of your tardiness to Hiratsuka-sensei. She would understand."
"Okay- Wait a minute. No, no, no!" Hachiman had grown red from embarrassment. What the hell was this woman thinking, was she touched in the head. Granted, she had helped him in a tight spot, but this matter needed to be hushed up. "Please forget what happened. I beg you! You cannot tell this to anyone."
If others found out that he had made a woman zip up his pants - never mind whether it was stuck or not - they would kill him on the spot for subjugating a woman to such horrors. And he wouldn't even stop them from killing him, he felt that much ashamed with himself at this moment.
After what felt like eons, Violet Evergarden gave a single worded reply.
"Roger."
Hachiman was immediately reminded of his roommate, Sousuke Sagara. So, perhaps, Violet-san had a military background. It would explain the unnatural stoicism and the inability to understand social etiquette. For a second, he wondered what made her become a non-teaching staff at Neo Tokyo University.
He might have been tempted to start a conversation, but Violet Evergarden unwittingly put a halt to that with a simple, well minded suggestion.
"Might, I advice you on how to avoid such a situation in the future." Violet asked while walking.
Hachiman decided to humour him. "Okay."
"Wear less tighter pants."
The most frightening thing about Violet Evergarden was she meant every word. Even Hachiman Hikigaya, couldn't take it for snark or some form of sarcasm.
What she had told him, was the truth.
A/N: Yeah, not what I expected to come out, but somehow it did, and I am kinda happy with it. Tell me what you think?
Now, here are the options for the next chapter. This voter list was provided by Guest:
Option 1: Eucliwood Hellscythe (Kore wa Zombie desu ka)
Option 2: Kiana Kaslana (Honkai Impact 3rd)
Option 3: Mashu Kyrielight (Fate/Grand Order)
Option 4: Moka Akashiya (Rosario Vampire)
Option 5: Momoyo Kawakami (Majikoi)
Option 6: Naomo Tanizaki (Bungou Stray Dogs)
Option 7: Teletha Testarossa (Full Metal Panic)
Option 8: Reimu Hakurei (Touhou Project)
Please pick any of the above options or suggest a character in the review.
You can also send a voter list.
Hope everyone enjoyed reading this chapter.
Leave lots and lots of reviews, follow and fave.
Won't betray your dreams.