Chapter Text
The fluttering snow fell on the beautiful stony path. Vil usually took this route, it was less crowed and quieter than the main route the other kids would pick. It wasn't that he wouldn't be able to defend himself, as he had told that kid Jack the other day. Vil was proficient in boxing and fencing, and he could easily beat anyone who tried picking a fight. It was simply that he preferred the quiet of this road, with no hushed murmurs trailing his footsteps, no scornful eyes and pointing fingers on his back.
"Ah, you! You appeared on TV yesterday!" A girl with bright green eyes and a mole under her right one, long brown wood-colored hair pointed at Vil, and the boy stopped in his tracks. He didn't want to find a new route again, he thought as the girl ran closer to him. "I have a question. Why? Why was Wickham so mean to Laurent?"
"Eh?"
"Isn't he lonely? If he acts like that, people won't like him. So why is he mean?"
"...I can't tell you."
"Eh?" The girl tilted her head, moving closer to Vil, unaware that she might be rude. "Why not?"
He was expecting her to call him a bully or yell at him for those mean things he said in the show, not asking him a thousand questions he couldn’t answer anyway.
"I'm not supposed to say before the episode airs."
"Awwww..." the young girl pouted, as she puffed her red cheeks. "How long will it take?"
Vil shook his head, and she puffed her cheeks even more.
"You will have to wait for the next episode."
"But that's not until next week!"
The girl wasn't the patient kind. But Vil wouldn't tell her the answers to her questions, no matter how similar to a chipmunk she looked.
"Will he get a friend?"
Good question.
He didn't know.
"If he needs a friend, I'm Ann!" The girl gave Vil a big bright smile.
"That...it doesn't work like that."
What a weird girl. She wanted to befriend Wickham, the bully.
"It's ok, I can be your friend too!"
"...I'm Vil...thank you."
And she wanted to befriend Vil too.
"You look scary on TV, but you're actually really nice, hehe!" Ann laughed as she walked by Vil's side. He winced at her words, staying behind as he tried to hide the hurt from his eyes.
"...Do I look like a bully...?"
"Huh? Not really? Just because Wickham is mean doesn't mean you are! But uhhh, how to say it? You looked a bit lonely. Mama says you should be nice to everyone, especially those who look sad. But she told me I sometimes am too direct and I have to pay attention and not upset others. Uh, am I upsetting you?"
Direct was an understatement.
The second time she met him, she got really close to him and said, "Woah, your eyes are really pretty! You look like a doll with those frilly dresses! But you speak funny like an adult! Like you're 50!"
"That's rude! I'm older than you, and you should pay attention to how you talk."
But he didn't mind.
"You're not bothering me. But I didn't look lonely back then, I like to walk home quietly. This road isn't as crowded and the view is prettier."
The road was flanked on one side by several bushes and flowers of different colors and shapes. Not only that, but as one went up the hill leading to the residential area, one could come across a small patch of flowers that he sometimes liked to tend when no one was looking.
"Huh…It didn't look like that to me," Ann cocked her head to one side, her gaze sharp and inquisitive, making him turn away. However, she giggled as she drew closer to him. "It's ok, I don't mind walking home with you on this road, Vil!"
Even though Vil huffed and increased his pace, pink cheeks hidden under his big scarf, he didn't mind walking home with her either.
"Don't cry," an older Vil, fourteen years old, said as he patted Ann's back. The young girl refused to let go, his words making her cry even louder. "We can stay in touch."
She mumbled between tears, something trying to sound like 'I promise to watch all your films! And I'll write you always!' but he couldn't be so sure.
Her family was moving away due to her father's job, something about researching plants for medicine. It wasn't certain when they would come back, if they did at all. Thus, this was a hard farewell, with the uncertainty of the future from one's first love.
"I'll watch when you receive your award! And you better call my name, even if I'm just your annoying neighbor!"
He had kept hold of his tears, Ann crying for the both of them. Still, he couldn't ignore the hole in his heart as he saw her tear-stained face from the car window as he bid goodbye to his friend.
In the end, there were no letters.
Vil himself moved to other parts of the world, traveling with his father wherever he had a shoot, and he never knew where she had lived. It was before easier methods to connect were prominent, and once he had found a way, he couldn't even reach her.
In the end, there were no awards either.
He wouldn't be able to keep hold of that one-sided promise, for better or worse. Vil thought it was how things were meant to be, sometimes you worked hard and it would lead to nothing.
Still he would sometimes wonder as he looked at the stars if she still remembered him. Even if it was a silly thought and he was Vil Schoenheit, no matter how much he asked the stars, he wouldn't get a reply, he wouldn't get an award, he wouldn't get what he wanted.