A/N: Hello! TPDoH is starting to go to its climax! But there's still going to be a surprise to everyone... A tragic one... (I'll apologize beforehand, it can be very heart-breaking...)
But anyway, please read this chapter too! ^^
The very first thing I heard that day was that the Raggs Kingdom had declared a war against the Barsburg Empire. I honestly was shocked when I heard it. I needed to make sure that my family was alright before I would go to the battlefield which was required even though I was just a begleiter. I knew that Ayanami-sama would be on the battlefield because his family was hated and the officers wanted to get rid of him. I had promised to myself that if someone would die, it would be me and no one else. I honestly didn't want to see Kanon-chan or someone else dear to me die.
I was running down the hallway with a letter to my family in my hands when I almost bumped into Hyuuga. I stopped my running right in front of him and accidentally let go of my letter. Hyuuga crouched down to pick up my letter and his face darkened.
"Don't promise anything to your family, Yuki-tan", he muttered. "You can die on battlefield at any second."
"Yes…" I mumbled and watched as Hyuuga walked away. He surely wasn't himself today. He wasn't as cheerful as he usually was and somehow it scared me. Depressed Hyuuga wasn't Hyuuga at all. I quickly put my letter into the nearest mailbox and returned to help others with carrying and collecting things we needed for war. I could easily carry three boxes of tiny equipment while Kanon-chan could carry only one. That being the case, I was stuck with her to carry the boxes of all the little equipment we needed.
"Why did we just suddenly get the order to go into the battlefield against Raggs?" Kanon-chan mumbled. "I just don't understand…"
"Me neither…" I mumbled. "But we can't really question the decisions of the empire. We just need to walk along with the mass."
"But shouldn't we use our brains?" Kanon-chan asked. "It feels like we are just being used for something bigger."
"We should but we can't complain right now", I said and smiled at Kanon-chan. "We can do it when the war is over."
Kanon nodded slowly and started walking faster. I had trouble to keep up with Kanon-chan's speed. When we turned left from a corner we saw Hyuuga sitting on a stair in the staircase.
"Why are you here?" Kanon-chan asked.
"…I don't want Aya-tan go to the battlefield", Hyuuga mumbled. "We can't know what those upper officers are planning…"
"That's why we are there, Hyuuga!" I said suddenly. "That is the exact reason Ayanami-sama has a begleiter and other people who he can trust! We will be the ones who protect him!"
Hyuuga smiled and stood up. He ruffled my bangs a bit. (That's because I was too tall for him to ruffle my hair properly.)
"Don't you go and die, Yuki-tan", he mumbled. "Let the older guys do that."
Hyuuga strolled away and once again looked like the cheerful idiot I knew. I smiled a bit and continued following Kanon-chan who was walking to the opposite direction. Kanon-chan looked like she was laughing at our discussion with Hyuuga.
"…Are you laughing, Kanon-chan?" I asked.
"What else can I do?" she asked. "It's so funny too see you being even taller than Hyuuga or brother…"
"Well, I really can't help it…" I said. "I was told that my father was a tall man anyway…"
Kanon-chan suddenly stopped and I almost bumped on her. I had to dance a bit in order to not let the boxes fall off from my hands. I looked at Kanon-chan and saw that she was blushing.
"If… If someone would tell you they loved you, what would you do?" she asked.
"…Come again?" I asked with confusion in my voice.
"If… If I told you that I love you, what would you do?" Kanon-chan asked with a clear voice.
I suddenly felt a wave of nausea swooping over me. Something in me said that I shouldn't answer Kanon-chan's question.
"I… I don't know…" I whispered. I wanted to tell her how much I loved her but I just couldn't bring myself to do that. Somehow I knew that if I said something, I'd surely be killed and it'd hurt Kanon-chan so much. "I just…"
"You don't have to answer", Kanon-chan said with a blush. "I just wanted to know how you would react if I asked that."
I sighed. I would have wanted to answer her question but it might have been better to not answer.
"YukikazeIloveyou", Kanon said suddenly.
"I- WHAT?" I said. I had just given the three packages I had been carrying to another officer. My legs suddenly felt like they couldn't carry me at all.
"I need to go!" I yelled and ran away. I couldn't understand why I ran away but I knew that I couldn't see Kanon-chan right after that. After running some time, I stumbled on something and fell onto the floor. When I looked up, I saw Hyuuga's sunglasses staring at me.
"Why are you running like a headless cow, Yukikaze?" Hyuuga asked. "Did something happen?"
I felt a heat rising to my cheeks as soon as I heard Hyuuga's question. I also saw Ayanami-sama standing behind Hyuuga and looking at me questioningly.
"It was Kanon-chan, right?" Hyuuga asked. "She said it, didn't she?"
I nodded and Hyuuga grinned so widely that I just had to wonder how his mouth didn't hurt.
"She said it!" Hyuuga exclaimed. "She finally said it! Aya-tan, we need to celebrate!"
"What is there to celebrate when we're going to war?" Ayanami-sama asked.
"We can celebrate the fact that Kanon-chan finally told Yuki-tan about her feelings", Hyuuga said. "Come on, Aya-tan, aren't you happy for them?"
Ayanami-sama sighed and glared at Hyuuga.
"We should be preparing for war, Hyuuga", Ayanami-sama said with a threatening tone. "What part in that do you not understand?"
"But Kanon finally said that", Hyuuga whined. "That's why I want to celebrate before that war starts. What if something happens to some of us at the war? I want to make sure that everyone's healthy when we celebrate!"
"Fine", Ayanami-sama mumbled. "We have only this evening so if we can complete all the packing in few hours we can probably do that."
"Come, Yuki-tan", Hyuuga said and grabbed my hand. I looked behind and saw Ayanami-sama making a face that said "You're stealing my begleiter again." I couldn't help but smile and run after Hyuuga. We went to the armory and took many of the things that should have been transported to the warships. We started piling them up and soon we had all the weapons and other things in right places. Then we started carrying them to the ships. That way we were ready in half an hour and we went back to Ayanami-sama's office.
"Aaahh", Hyuuga sighed. "My arms hurts so much~!"
"You only carried one fourth of those weapons, Hyuuga", I said with some irritation in my voice. "You should have carried more."
"But you're so strong, Yuki-tan", Hyuuga whined. "We old uncles can't carry so much~!"
"'Old uncle'", I mumbled and chuckled a bit. We stepped inside Ayanami-sama's office and met a weird scene. Ayanami-sama had fallen asleep on the sofa and Kanon-chan was sorting something out.
"What happened here?" Hyuuga asked. "This place has never been this tidy."
"I thought that it would be good thing to keep this place tidy so that we won't have to clean up this too after the war", Kanon-chan said. "And if you're wondering about brother, he's just exhausted. He didn't sleep last night because we heard the news about war last evening. He was so worried that he couldn't sleep…"
I tried to be as quiet as I could when I was in the room. I didn't want to wake Ayanami-sama up. He looked so peaceful when he was sleeping so I wanted to see that expression a bit longer. I started gathering my personal belongings from the office. They had walked into very weird places. (One was in a flower pot where Kanon-chan kept some cactuses. Honestly, I don't even know why there is a cactus in Ayanami-sama's office to begin with.) I constantly glanced at Ayanami-sama to make sure that he was alright. At some point I realized that Ayanami-sama was waking up.
"So you woke up, brother", Kanon smiled. "How come you woke up so early?"
"Yukikaze was staring at me", Ayanami-sama mumbled sleepily. "That's why I woke up…"
How in the world did you feel that? I questioned inside my mind. And I didn't stare, by the way.
"Aya-tan, we're almost ready with all the packing", Hyuuga announced happily. "Can we celebrate?"
"Celebrate what?" Kanon-chan asked.
"You and Yuki-tan, of course!" Hyuuga exclaimed. My heart jumped and I looked at Hyuuga with a scared expression.
"Yukikaze doesn't seem to be very fond of that idea", Kanon-chan said. "And I still need to write one letter."
"Why?" Hyuuga asked stupidly. "Why can't you write it tomorrow?"
"I need to send it today", Kanon-chan said. "That little kid might be sent away otherwise."
"Then it's decided", Ayanami-sama said. "Three against one, Hyuuga. We won't celebrate."
Hyuuga pouted like a little child but listened to Ayanami-sama. I finished collecting my things and started heading home. This night would be full of everything and I should be up at 5 am tomorrow morning. I really wouldn't be sleeping that night. Later I learned that it would have been a good idea…
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