“I’ll use this and this … like that and …”
After fumbling around to find what she had been looking for, she sat down at Darish’s side and took his crutch. She had retrieved a cable and a spare part with a rubber shock-absorption pad. She pulled the rubber pad off, put it on the tip of the crutch, then fixed it in place by wrapping the cable around it. With the rubber pad in place, Darish could sneak away from the men silently and unnoticed.
Winry handed the crutch back to Darish.
“Here. As long as you’ve got this, you’ll be able to get away even if I’m caught,” she said, then once again got onto the ground and searched through the shelves. “Now we just need a weapon. We need to have something just in case.”
As Winry searched for something to fight off the men once they were found, Darish silently patted the crutch that had been placed on top of his knee.
“Why did you come to help me?” he muttered falteringly.
He could see the sweat glistening on Winry’s face even in the gloom. He was grateful that she had run around trying to find the warehouse and was still doing all she could to help him escape. But, when he thought about his immobility holding her back, his gratitude soured into irritation.
“I know I told you I wanted you to understand how I feel, but taking on all of a customer’s problems like that is just going to put more of a burden on you. You were out late yesterday night because of it,” Darish said.
“Oh, that’s right. I still haven’t apologized to you yet. I’m really sorry about last night. I know you came all the way over,” Winry responded, looking up and apologizing to him in a heartfelt way after hearing his halting muttering. That made Darish violently shake his head.
“That doesn’t matter! I’m asking why you’re trying to help me even though it means you’re just taking on more responsibilities! You’re a mechanic. You’re not under any obligation to go this far. What if you get hurt?” Darish said.
He looked down at his own aching leg. Faint moonlight from the window hit it, making the ill-fitting prosthesis glint dully from where it was strapped to his leg with a belt. The pain that had become a daily part of his life was even worse at the moment from having been roughly forced to sit down. The pain was like torture to him—not just physically but also mentally.
Darish was exhausted from all he had been dealing with.
“All they’re after is money,” he said. “If I go out there, they won’t do anything too bad to me. I was about to accept their offer earlier. I was going to sign. Even if they’re a little more expensive than other places, what does it matter so long as I choose a mechanic to make my automail? You’re the one who told me to hurry up and choose someone, weren’t you?! Just leave me alone!”
It hadn’t been his intention, but at some point his tone had turned accusatory. Winry blinked in surprise, but Darish just couldn’t stop. “Or what? Are you going to tell me to let you put your automail on me? Then be my guest. Any leg’s the same to me!”
Darish threw his crutch down and leaned carelessly against the shelf behind him.
When he looked down, he noticed Winry’s hand trembling. She had come to rescue him despite knowing she was heading into danger and he had probably hurt her by saying all of that. Darish, thinking he might have made her cry, peeked at her to see if she was crying. The next moment, a pale palm whooshed into his field of vision.
“You dummy!” Winry said in a quiet but sharp whisper. She had slapped Darish on the cheek.
“… !”
As Darish held his cheek in surprise, Winry’s shoulders trembled and her lips pursed together.
Darish didn’t know that Winry had decided she wouldn’t compromise between the pursuit of knowledge and attending to her automail clients. However, before Winry could tell him that, Darish’s words had inspired unadulterated fury in her.
“Sure, I know that the prosthetic leg you have right now and any other artificial limbs you wear in the future aren’t the same as your original leg. But, even if they’re not the same, it’ll still be part of your body, regardless of that!” Winry looked Darish straight in the eyes. “What we mechanics can do is explain your prosthesis to you and how rehabilitation will work. We make better prostheses by communicating with our clients. But it’s your job to hear the mechanics out and choose the prosthesis you want. You need to choose a mechanic you can trust with that. You can’t make an arbitrary decision. You need to think about this for yourself. You can’t say you don’t care! It’s your body and it’s important—it’s your leg!”
As her anger worked its way into the words she spoke, Winry’s eyes started to tear up.
“Hm? I think I heard a voice over here just now,” someone said.
They heard the sound of shoes scuffing the floor near them. Winry and Darish froze, still looking at each other.
There was someone on the other side of the shelf right next to them. The person mumbled to themselves about not being able to find their target and flicked on a lighter. It was the large man. He strained his eyes as he looked around at the surroundings his flickering flame illuminated. However, it seemed the lighter was almost out of fuel since he switched it off immediately.
“Damn it. Can’t find anything like this!”