MaruMAːMini-novelːCrossheart
Crossheart[edit]
That day, there was a strong wind blowing since morning, so I couldn't really go outside.
A big event is approaching, making everyone in the castle run around in a hurry. Even the annoying Günter, who's always taking care of government affairs, isn't around. Yuuri is sinking in his luxurious office chair, staring at a piece of paper while resting his chin on his hands. He only looks like he's "at work", with his body leaning towards the desk, but while everyone was very busy going about their work, he himself had no work to do. And the paper that was placed before his eyes, wasn't an important document or anything like that.
Even though I should welcome this peaceful day off, I feel like I've been left behind.
"Ah, I almost got it"
"What?"
Wolfram is sitting on the chair close to the door, keeping the grumbling Yuuri company.
Stationed in a place similar to that where a secretary would be, when I asked him if it was okay for him not to be working, he replied that the events taking place had nothing to do with the Bielefelds. And even though I was hit with the wry remark " That's why I could be relaxing in my room", I'm thankful to have a partner to talk to in a day like this.
Because I'm not very good at being alone.
"What's going on? You've been mumbling meaningless words to yourself for a while now. It's not that you can't read that document, right?"
"No, it's not a document."
Wolfram closes something similar to a sketch book, making Yuuri quickly pick up the paper on the desk, and fluttering it in front of his own face.
"Günter said that I could memorize words while playing. It seems to be just a crossword puzzle."
"That's a children's game. Günter is really trying by all possible means."
"Eh―, don't put emphasis on the "children" part ―! Crosswords are a hobby for grown ups on Earth. Though the degree of difficulty might be different. This is...."
On the paper Yuuri was holding, there was nothing more than simple columns and rows.
"Well, I guess it might be for children. But it's quite difficult~. For example, this one. A pet name used often to address children... ... By pet name I guess they mean something like a NICKNAME, right? It's not my fault that I don't know something like that. By the way, what was your nickname? What were you called when you were a child?"
"I don't think I was called in any special way."
"There was something, right? Like Wol-chan or Wol-nyan[1], or something. Ah, that wouldn't be Wol-nyan, but Wol-mee instead?
Wolfram tilted his head slightly and looked up at the ceiling with his green eyes.
"Now that you mention it, mother often used "my little honey-chan" or "my sugar doll-chan", you know?"
"Honey-chan―"
Yuuri, conveniently forgetting about his own past, uhm, well , reacted a little embarrassed to the word. It was certainly a suitable name for the blond Wolfram, but as a Japanese person, he had almost never heard it.
"So you were honey-chan! I see, huh? That hair color is like honey, right? No, but it's really nice, honey-chan. Maybe I too will start calling you that from now on, honey-chan."
"Wait―, I wasn't the only one called that. That probably is a widely used name for children. Older brother, and Conrart must have been called that too as babies."
"Seriously, honey-chan...?"
Yuuri felt a little limp and helpless imagining Gwendal being called a sugar-doll. Although there might have been an 'expla-taste'[2] for it, he still hadn't attained that kind of spiritual enlightenment. He tried it out, counting the squares with his fingers. HA, CHI, MI, TSU, CH ,ya, N[3]. The number of characters was perfect.
"Ah, it's true, that's the right answer. Then, how about this one? There's only one square missing in this line, but I don't know the first syllable. Uh, the name of a mountain mouse, the small animal that's the symbol of the Rocheford territory, which has been depicted in picture books and musicals. __ cky .... What!? No way, what's missing is one of the characters from the MA row[4]...."
"Ro"
"That's right it's not "mi" it's "ro". .... What? It's "ro"?
When he heard Wolfram's answer, Yuuri gave a sigh of relief. Thank goodness. For a moment he thought that the hardworking mouse had made it all the way to this world.
"It's Rocky. His favorite food are raw eggs."
"So he's an Italian stallion."
"No. He's called Rocky, because he's from the Rocheford region. It's the nation-wide famous "The Adventure of Rocky Jack, the Mischievous Mountain Mouse"[5]
"I see. In other words, it's children literature like Poison Lady Anissina, right?"
"No, that doesn't mean it's aimed for children."
A breeze sneaked in from somewhere, shaking the flames of the candles in the room. Since it was daytime, this was not really a problem, but the swaying of flames make people uneasy. On top of that, because Wolfram started using a serious tone, Yuuri unconsciously straightened his back.
"For a long time, there has been a legend in the Rocheford territory, about small animals being able to see the spirits of the dead. Squirrels and rabbits, maybe even birds too."
"Ah―, like cats which often stare blankly into space."
"Right, the residents of the Rocheford territory believe that they see the drifting souls of the dead before they are reborn. And among them, rushing through fields and mountains, the mountain mice who can go anywhere, are said to carry the messages of family members to those who went past the mountain and never returned."
"People who never returned?"
"Those who went to war, and didn't come back."
"Ah"
After Wolfram's explanation Yuuri sunk into silence, time flowed quietly in the room. People who had lost a beloved family member or lover, entrusted the small mice with their wish, softly spoken to them. Telling them goodbye words, or also, expressing their gratitude, if they had missed their chance to do so. Suddenly a question pops in his head, and Yuuri asks in the spur of the moment with his mouth half opened. Maybe it was the uneasiness caused by the swaying flames that had gotten to him.
"Say, if I were to go over there and never return, what would you do?"
"What do you mean by what would I do?"
"If you could never see me again, would you give a message to a mouse or.... cry or something? Would you cry a little?"
"I wouldn't cry[6]."
Hearing an answer different from what I expected, slightly stung somewhere in my chest. I seriously didn't expect that. I thought that since in my case, I really wouldn't be able to handle it, and might end up crying, I was disheartened when I heard an answer different than that.
"Eh, why? That's cold hearted. And here I thought you would miss me a bit."
"Of course I'd miss you, but I wouldn't cry."
Wolfram smoothly stood up from his chair and came walking towards the window. From across the office he crossed his arms and raised his chin slightly. His fingertips that had been holding charcoal up until a moment ago, were faintly stained black. The sunlight shone directly on him. It certainly was honey-colored.
"If I were to cry, you could not live happily over there, right?"
"Wolf......"
"Far from it, you wouldn't be able to go back to your family. Because you're kind. That's why I would absolutely not cry."
While Yuuri was still unable to say anything, Wolfram suddenly narrowed his eyes, and pointed right in the middle of the white paper.
"The vertical ones are aligned."
That one is, when you share the same feelings with your partner[7].
Translator's note: This is a special story that was published with the omnibus re-release "Kyou Kara Maou! Chikyuu Kako Hen", on July 2013. As you can see it resembles drama CD 70.
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References[edit]
- ↑ "nyan" is not a proper suffix. It just means "meow". I've only heard it when catpeople talk and use it at the end of a sentence. It sounds cute, but it's not grammatically correct. Oh, and btw cats go "mee, mee" in the other world.
- ↑ The phrase should have been "Although there might have been an explanation for it " (意味があるかもしれないが) , but Takabayashi-sensei made a pun and wrote "Although there might have been a taste for it" (味があるかもしれないが) which is pretty much the same, except it's missing the first kanji. I wrote "expla-taste" to try and adapt the pun.
- ↑ Hachimitsu-chan is honey-chan.
- ↑ When Yuuri says the "MA row" he's talking about the characters MA, MI, MU, ME, MO. In this case the character/syllable that he thinks is missing is "MI" to form the word "Mickey" (as in Mickey Mouse).
- ↑ Spoof of 'Rocky Chuck', the main character of "Rocky Chuck, the Mountain Rat". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fables_of_the_Green_Forest
- ↑ Wolfram's phrase could be understood as both: "I wouldn't cry", and "I won't cry", here and every time he says it. Since Yuuri is speaking hypotetically the translation is "wouldn't" , but know he said it in a way that could be understood as "won't".
- ↑ So, I tried putting the syllables of honey-chan and rocky together, and I only got one match of what that word might be: tsuya (艶), which means love (and other stuff like shiny, too), but it sounds like a bit of a stretch really. If anyone can come up with a better one the syllables are: は、ち、み、つ、ち、ゃ、ん and ロッキー. There's always the possibility that the words honey-chan and rocky are completely unrelated to the word that was formed in the middle of the crossword puzzle. My third theory is that the word that was formed is 'heart' in English (haato), with the "ha" in hachimitsu and the long sound in rokki- and the 'to' from some other word, but then, why would Wolfram know the word haato in English? In drama cd 70, it was indeed the word heart, "kokoro" (heart) that was missing, but here, it's a bit of a mystery. The title is "crossheart", so it might just be that. And yet, the word should be a verb, not a noun.
