Episode 6 (Heinz’s POV): “In Order to Accept”
“Christa, Christa.”
“What is it, Mother?”
“…It’s nothing.”
Fighting back tears with a desperate smile, Claudia pulled Christa into an embrace. Silly Mother, Christa said, laughing happily all the same.
To anyone who didn’t know the truth, it would have looked like an ordinary, happy moment between mother and daughter.
(But this Christa is a fake.)
The first thing he’d felt, seeing the magic doll version of Christa, was fear.
His whole body had trembled at the thought that he might have made some unspeakably terrible request, that the witch who’d done this might be something far more dangerous than she seemed.
But seeing his wife’s smile, he’d been certain all over again: there had been no other choice but this.
“Mother, Father. It’s almost time for dinner.”
Christa said it suddenly, pointing at the clock. The moment she did, the air in the room went taut for an instant.
Magic dolls couldn’t eat. It was one of the things Fiine had explained to them.
They looked exactly like the real thing, but their bodies were built on a completely different structure from a human’s inside. Because of that, she’d said, eating or using the privy simply wasn’t possible for them.
Christa herself surely understood that.
“Christa, but…”
Before Claudia could start crying, Christa gently laid a hand against her mother’s belly.
“Mother. If you don’t eat enough, it’s bad for the baby too, isn’t it? Besides, you’re much too thin.”
“…Christa.”
“I can’t wait for the day I get to meet my little brother or sister. I’ll teach them to dance, as their big sister. Just like Diana looks after her little brother — I’ll take good care of them too.”
Diana was one of Christa’s friends — the daughter of Count Hensler, an old friend of Heinz’s, and the same age as Christa.
Because of that, Diana had often come to visit the estate since they were small, and Christa had gone to the Hensler manor just as often in return.
(At the funeral, that girl wouldn’t stop crying…)
Once Christa had fallen ill and could no longer leave the estate, Diana had thrown aside her dance lessons and tutoring sessions, coming to visit almost every single day.
Since Christa’s death, she’d become withdrawn, and he’d heard she’d grown noticeably thin as well.
“…I’d like to see Diana too.”
“Then let’s go see her, Christa. I’m sure she’ll be glad to. I’ll send word to the Hensler house right away, so let’s get you ready to go out—”
“No, that’s all right, Mother. I’ve decided today is a day for family.”
Christa gently pulled at the hand of a half-risen Claudia, smiling softly.
“Besides, I already had Diana make me a promise. She’ll keep it.”
“…What promise was that?”
“That when my little brother or sister is born, she’ll come and see them.”
By the time that happened, Christa wouldn’t be here anymore. Surely even Christa herself understood that.
While she lay ill in bed, sleeping the days away — what had she been thinking, all that time?
What feelings had gone through her, asking her closest friend to look after the sibling she’d never meet?
Something clenched painfully around his heart. He fought back tears with everything he had, only because he didn’t want to trouble his daughter.
“Anyway, let’s go eat, shall we? Mother, you really do need to eat properly.”
“…All right.”
“You too, Father!”
Christa closed the distance suddenly and threw herself into a hug. Catching her in surprise, he felt her whisper softly against his ear.
“Father. Don’t tell Diana about today, okay?”
“…Christa?”
“I already said a proper goodbye to her.”
She pulled away from Heinz at once and returned to Claudia’s side, supporting her unsteady mother as they made their way toward the dining room.
(A proper goodbye, huh.)
Without his even realizing it, Christa might have grown up quite a bit, somewhere along the way.
Taking a light breath, Heinz followed after the two of them. Christa’s footsteps were light — far brighter than the girl he remembered.
It wasn’t because this Christa was fake. It was because she understood.
—That this one day existed for the sake of accepting a goodbye.