Once there was a school, and at that school were two students who were very, very dear friends.
One of them was a boy named Bruno. His hair and skin were both pale. He was tall and slim, and his family was rich. He always had a quiet smile on his face, and everyone at school, boys and girls both, loved him.
Beside him was Annie, a girl from his class. Her hair was red, and her skin was brown. She was athletic and always cheerful, and she, too, was beloved by all the other students.
It was six months earlier that these two popular young people had become friends. They had shared interests, and by now they were inseparable. They could always be found in each other’s company. They came to school together; they spent their breaks together; and when it was time to leave, they went home together, too.
And they stopped together at the crepe shop on the way.
It seemed that things between them would always be just like this.
“Mm, that’s delicious!” Annie said, taking a mouthful of a crepe loaded with cream.
Bruno, standing beside her, just smiled. “You’ve got cream on your mouth, Annie.”
“What? Where?”
“Right here.” Bruno brushed Annie’s cheek with a pale finger.
Annie flinched at the intimate gesture. “Hey! Gosh. I can do it myself, you know!” she said, smacking him on the shoulder.
Yes, they were the picture of two friends.
Except, for some reason, today Annie’s face was flushed red.
“But…I guess, I mean—thanks,” she said softly, her fingers brushing her cheek where Bruno’s touch had been a moment before.
“Oh… Yeah. Sure.” Bruno was red up to his ears, just like Annie; he glanced away from her and stuffed some crepe into his mouth. One might almost have said he looked like he was trying to hide his embarrassment.
Silence fell upon them, like they were both trying to figure out what to say next.
This was not how they always acted.
Well now, when had this started? This young pair, who had begun simply as good friends who shared the same interests, had at some point become aware of each other as members of the opposite sex.
“Annie…”
“Yeah?”
“I just… Uh, this crepe’s pretty good, huh?”
“Yeah…”
They sat shoulder by shoulder, so close they were almost touching. They each stared at the ground, neither quite able to look at the other—but each keenly aware of the other’s presence beside them, cherishing it.
We have but a few short, shining days before we grow up.
A time in our lives people refer to as youth.
“Now you know all about it. I want you to break up their little love story.”
This request came from Cattleya, another girl at Bruno and Annie’s school who had just described the affectionate couple for us. She had short golden hair, and sitting across from me, she cut a formidable figure, legs and hands primly together and looking as if she belonged here.
I nodded and said, “Sorry. Come again?”
“I want you to destroy this blossoming romance.”
Right. That’s what I thought she said.
Maybe I misheard?
“Their…their friendship?”
“Yes. Eviscerate it.”
There was a ripping sound as Cattleya grabbed a nearby piece of notepaper and tore it in half as if to say, Let me demonstrate.
It was a weekday afternoon, and I had been passing the idle hours here at Riviere Antiques as I so often did, mumbling, “Sigh! Another day, another big block of time to kill…”
Just then, Cattleya had burst through the door, crying “I have a request!” in a voice like a warrior looking for a deadly showdown. Then she had launched into her exposition and finally lobbed her request at me. “This shop sells sancta, doesn’t it? That means you must have some way of splitting up two people who are falling in love!”
And she wanted us to do just that.
Cattleya seemed to be working on the assumption that of course we would take her up on her request without a second thought. Much to her chagrin. I shared a glance with Riviere, who was sitting beside me. She gave me a puzzled look and said softly, “I’m having a little trouble connecting the dots here.”
That made two of us. I nodded, turned back to Cattleya, and said, “Um… I’m sorry, but do you think you could go over that again?”
She huffed at us and said, “Which part?”
“Uh… The whole thing, ideally.”
“Oh, what the shit!”
“Gosh. That mouth…”
Another day, another, uh, unique customer at Riviere Antiques.
“Look, I’m just confused about why you want us to break up these lovebird classmates of yours,” I said. That was the thing I wondered about the most, regardless of whether we were actually going to help, so that was where I started with Cattleya.
Maybe she could explain to us why, exactly, we should interfere with Annie and Bruno’s love affair.
Riviere nodded in agreement. “This shop doesn’t help with any dirty business,” she said. I nodded emphatically. That was the spirit! Riviere Antiques only took on the squeaky-cleanest of jobs!
“Ugh. Well, I figured you would ask that.” Cattleya shrugged as if she couldn’t believe she had to do this, but nonetheless she reached into her backpack and took out a sketchbook. She must have created it for this exact moment, because the cover bore the title Why Annie and Bruno’s Love Must Be Shredded (for Total Morons).
“Is…is she mocking us? Why?” I asked.
“Kids these days,” Riviere grumbled.
Cattleya ignored us and pointedly held up the sketchbook. “All right, listen up, because I’m only going to explain this once!” Whack! She smacked the cover of the book, then flipped to the first page.
“Wow!” I exclaimed in spite of myself. She was nothing if not prepared. Just as the title promised, the sketchbook depicted Cattleya’s story, right up to the present day—all the reasons she was concerned about Annie and Bruno’s relationship.
Young Annie and Bruno had known each other for a long time, but it was only about six months ago that they had suddenly become inseparable. It was clear for all to see that they were developing feelings for each other. Surely it was only a matter of time before they started going out.
That was a prospect Cattleya couldn’t stand.
Let’s turn back the clock a bit—about six months, in fact, to when Bruno and Annie were first beginning to get close.
“Ah… Hhhkk…”
There was Cattleya, secretly sobbing. She clutched a handkerchief and glowered at the main thoroughfare from the back alley she was peeking out of.
She was looking right at Bruno.