The two of them raised their heads, startled out of deep concentration by Winry’s voice.
“Winry!” the worried men exclaimed.
“Winry, why were you out so late?” Garfiel asked.
Winry silently offered the bag of parts to Garfiel and Henrik when they hurried over to her.
“These are the parts for the machine. Did you find all of them?” Henrik said, eyes going wide as he accepted the bag and pulled the parts out, lining them up one at a time on the workbench.
“The cylinder!” Henrik exclaimed in surprise when, at the very end, he found the snugly wrapped part.
“Will we be able to fix the machine?” Winry hesitantly asked, hands clasped nervously together as she watched him pull out all the parts.
“Yeah, of course. You’ve saved us!” Henrik said, breaking into a broad, genuine smile now that he was sure he could finish his work. “I’ll call Weis in. If we all work on fixing it, it’ll take two hours tops. Then we can work on the orders, and we’ll have more than enough time to finish by morning! Thank you, Winry!”
Though he was thanking her, Winry couldn’t help but hang her head apologetically. Even if she had gathered the parts to fix the machine, that still didn’t change the fact that she had broken the machine in the first place.
Henrik took an umbrella and left the shop. The studio was enveloped in silence once she and Garfiel were left alone. The sound of the rain hitting the roof was the only noise.
“Come over here. I can’t believe how wet you are.” Garfiel beckoned Winry over while she stood in front of the shutters with a somber look on her face. “You have to dry off or you’ll catch a cold.”
He placed a clean towel onto her head. Winry pulled out her hairband as she was told and dried her hair. Garfiel watched her with his arms crossed, then he eventually asked her in a quiet voice, “So, about that cylinder?”
Winry’s shoulders twitched in response.
“I can’t believe you found it. I wish I could just be delighted that you saved us, but where did you buy it?” he asked, voice hard and slightly angry. Winry clutched the ends of the towel on her head and looked down.
With his arms still folded, Garfiel tapped on his arm with his fingertip as though urging her to reply. However much he wanted her to respond, Winry couldn’t just tell him she had bought the part at an establishment everyone detested.
“I’ve told you not to go near those fishy shops, haven’t I?” Garfiel said, seeing right through her silence. His shoulders heaved with a sigh as he looked down at Winry.
“It’s risky getting involved with them,” Garfiel warned in a stern voice. The corrupt traders had recently become more aggressive. “Using them acknowledges their existence and makes them stronger. You know that, don’t you?”
Still gripping the towel, Winry apologized in a whisper, “I’m sorry for what I did.”
Garfiel’s face softened and he didn’t pursue the topic any further. He placed a gentle hand on Winry’s shoulder and said, “Now, go take a hot shower, get some food in you, and sleep for tonight.”
With his usual smile on his face, Garfiel opened the door that led to the back.
“Huh? Let me help with repairing the machine too!” Winry said, flustered, as Garfiel pushed her shoulders gently from behind, nudging her out of the studio.
“We’ll figure out the rest. You’ve already done more than enough by bringing us the parts,” he said.
“But!” Winry protested, pleading with her eyes, but Garfiel flatly rejected her.
“It’s fine, so just do what I’m telling you,” he said, urging Winry up the first few stairs.
“Also, there was someone waiting for you today,” Garfiel said, looking up at her from below. His face clouded, seeming like he was reluctant to tell her.
“Mr. Pollack?” Winry asked.
She assumed it was Pollack since she had upset him by standing him up for their appointment. Normally, she should have immediately apologized to Garfiel after coming back from Milia’s house, but she had been working so hard at collecting all the parts that she still hadn’t been able to actually talk with him about it.
“I’m sorry. I forgot my appointment with Mr. Pollack and caused you trouble,” Winry apologized. How many people had she apologized to that day? She couldn’t bear how pathetic she was. However, Garfiel shook his head.
“Don’t worry about what happened with Mr. Pollack. I didn’t mean him. It was Darish.”
“What?” Winry stopped short when she heard the unexpected name.
“He came by the shop this evening saying there was something he wanted to speak directly with you about. Then he waited here until a little before nine.”
“Darish came by,” Winry spoke, hearing the tremble in her voice. Her heart was already sinking.
“And then, when he went home, he told me to tell you that you don’t need to be in charge of his automail anymore. It seems like he’s looking for another shop.”
In her mentally and physically fatigued state, Garfiel’s words were enough to knock Winry down.
“Warm yourself up and get a good night of rest today. Okay?” Garfiel consoled her as she stood frozen partway up the stairs, then he headed back to the studio.
Once she was left alone, she stayed in that spot for a while, her mind vacant. Eventually, she was able to get her legs moving up the stairs again, but it took her a few minutes. Back in her room, she found her desk and the floor soaking wet, the rain having blown in from the open window.
Winry staggered over and placed her hand on the wet schematics.
One was for Edward. She hadn’t been able to work on it for a while because of how busy she’d been recently. The other was the schematics for Darish that she had reworked several times.
“What …”
… am I even doing, she might have said to herself. Or perhaps she had been about to scold herself with a What kind of idiot are you? Winry had no idea herself which she had just been about to say. She picked up the ink-blotted blueprints.
The only sound that reached her ears was that of the incessant rainstorm.