Maria-sama ga Miteru

""We will begin accepting applications to partic.i.p.ate in the Sœur Tea Party! The rules permit" . . ."

The words came from all around.

""The Sœur Tea Party is an experiment to create a special social setting. Your involvement in the tea party does not const.i.tute a firm decision to obtain a sœur.""

It had all started in the morning and continued on into lunch; everyone was talking about the news that the Lillian Kawaraban announced. It was not an exaggeration to say that the rumors of this Sœur Tea Party circulated as rapidly as a flower bloomed.

""In addition, Rosa Foetida en bouton and Rosa Chinensis en bouton are scheduled to attend." Wow!"

Noriko wondered how many times she had heard "Wow!" throughout the day as she dropped her gaze onto her paperback book. If it was this loud, then how could the other book readers meet? Since Noriko had been at the school for over half a year, she had gotten used to the low hush of gossip at an all girls" school — but today was different. Because this time, the gossip dealt with her, so she couldn"t help but react to what she heard. She couldn"t just dismiss it with a, "Ah, Kojima-san"s gossiping again," today.

"Hey hey, Noriko-san. We wanted to ask you about the Sœur Tea Party."

Again, cla.s.smates came to Noriko, believing that she would have top-quality news.

"Ah, well . . ."

She didn"t want to ignore them, so instead she tried to act friendly.

"I don"t know anything more than what"s written in the paper about it, except that the boutons want anyone who meets the criteria and who is interested to apply as quickly as possible," Noriko said, and raised her head out of her paperback, giving her best business smile.

"Well, we want to, but —"

"The requirements . . ."

The girls turned towards each other with sad faces. Of course, those two must be Atsuko-san and Miyuki-san, zealous partic.i.p.ants in the Bible Studies Club. But each of them had accepted a rosary from uppercla.s.smen in the club, so they could not go to the Sœur Tea Party.

Noriko decided she would spend no more time talking about the matter and returned to her reading, but the two girls didn"t leave the side of her desk. When Noriko was about to say something back to them, Atsuko-san spoke up.

"By the way, Noriko-san."

"Yes?"

"Is Touko-san invited?"

"Touko?"

When discussing the Sœur Tea Party, she had prepared answers to questions regarding certain topics. But she had not prepared for any questions dealing with the "Touko" topic. Why were these two sœurs of second-years the first to ask a question dealing with a proper noun, Noriko wondered. She inclined her head and pointed to the print-out that Miyuki-san held in her hand.

"You"ve read the Lillian Kawaraban, right? So you know it said that the applicants are picked at random, right?"

"But . . . well —"

"First of all, I don"t know whether Touko will apply or not. If you want to know about someone, why don"t you ask her yourself?"

After Noriko finished speaking, she realized, "Well now, Touko isn"t with those two." As soon as the school year had started, they said to each other "I"m Touko," "I"m Atsuko," "I"m Miyuki," as if they were idols introducing themselves, and somewhere along the line they had become a group.

"Touko-san . . . she wouldn"t apply . . . would she?"

"Eh?"

Wondering what they were talking about, Noriko furrowed her eyebrows. But she dropped the matter, and let Atsuko-san and Miyuki-san go back to their conversation.

"Ah, but, if Yumi-sama comes to the Sœur Tea Party, then she really doesn"t have any preferences, does she?"

"Maybe the party is just camouflage."

"But then, who? Kanako-san?"

"That"s exactly who. I wonder how it"ll go."

So then, Kanako-san was very high on the list of potential sœur candidates. But right now, the person closest to becoming Yumi-sama"s sœur was Touko. Whenever people were found talking about the tea party, they would keep whispering about a rumor that Yumi-sama would give someone special treatment — in other words, show attraction — as if it were true.

"Well then, good luck to Touko-san."

"Didn"t she say "I want to become a Rose some day" in middle school?"

And then they suddenly fell silent. Perhaps they wondered what would happen if Noriko became angry. Noriko wondered would happen if she lost her cool as well. She took a deep breath and spoke again.

"Well, that"s not really true. . . ."

"But, but that"s something Noriko-san doesn"t know about, right?"

"Eh?"

"Well, you said you don"t know any more about this than what"s written about it in the paper, right?"

Yes, that was what she had said.

In all innocence, in all straightforwardness, in all frankness, the angels were interfering too much today, thought Noriko.

"Well? How many people are here?" Yoshino-san asked, as she began drafting the plans.

"Starting at lunch today there were seven first-years and five second-years," Mami-san answered. She didn"t care whether she had to stay in the Rose Mansion through lunch or after school. For her, it was a mild distraction while spiritedly toiling at her life"s work, the Lillian Kawaraban. The Newspaper Club undercla.s.smen would come and go too, so the work was coming along. But for some reason, it seemed as if the place had become the "Newspaper Club – Rose Mansion Branch."

Now that the Newspaper Club personnel would come more, the third-years would come less.

"We said that we"d let you guys handle it, so this is what happens. It"s not as if we"re avoiding the Rose Mansion or something. If something needs to be done, we come, and sometimes we amble over to the Rose Mansion and just eat our lunches. It"s just that all the recent talk has been about the tea party, and we don"t want to get into that."

When the Roses put all of their reasons together, it was as if they were treating their boutons as adults.

"I understand. It"s just that you"re coming less than we thought you would."

First, Mami-san had put out the application in the Lillian Kawaraban, but now even she began collecting the applications.

"But there"s twelve people here."

Even Yumi took a break from planning the layout of the invitation and looked up. Of course, there weren"t any more people involved past those who were expected to come from the beginning.

The day when they had decided to change it from an audition to a tea party, and when they decided to announce it in an extra in the Lillian Kawaraban had been Wednesday. From that day after school they had begun to receive applications, and up "til today, the first day of the month, a little more than four days had pa.s.sed. If you exclude the Sundays that they had off from school, then it would be only three days.

"I don"t think any of them really understand what the rules are though . . ." Mami-san said, as she looked through the application printed in the Lillian Kawaraban.

"I think it would be best if we put big letters in the paper that simply say, "Submit Your Applications at the First Floor of the Rose Mansion." That way, overenthusiastic people, and people who simply misunderstood the rules, would have no problems," Noriko-chan said. There were no mistakes in the Lillian Kawaraban, after all.

For that matter, the restrictions were a bit harsh. Among the applicants who did not have pet.i.te — or grande — sœurs, n.o.body knew how many would actually be interviewed. Even amongst them, the amount that was thought of as willing to cooperate in the tea party was not really that large.

"Girls who double over in fright when they enter the Rose Mansion shall not become our sœurs!"

"Yoshino-san . . ."

Yumi"s face wasn"t the only one that said that she was wrong. Mami-san, Shimako-san, and Noriko-chan"s glances added to the accusation.

"What?"

"This is about picking our sœurs, but, for now, come on."

"I see. So it"s just going to be a gathering of regular people, huh? But I"ll bet there will be some strong candidates in the mix."

Yoshino-san understood, and took a seat. Right now the car was in park, but at any time it could drop back into drive with full throttle.

"This way, the applicants will take care of themselves."

If one were to suddenly go up the stairs, they would see the chaos. From the Rose Mansion"s first floor desk, the path would lead to the filled-out application forms and a ballpoint pen. Also, there was a 30 x 4 cm box created to deposit and withdraw letters. During lunch and after school, letters would be placed in the box, and beside the box there was a gathering of other materials. Right now it was the Newspaper Club first-years who were in charge.

"About twelve applicants, huh? It seems there was no reason to make the box as big as it is."

"That"s because the number applicants has been constantly decreasing."

Noriko-chan had said that neither the amount of applications they had prepared from the start, nor the amount of applications they will have received by lunch today, would equal the number of actual applicants. But that wasn"t necessarily what would happen, and it was a bit wrong.

"There are some who filled out the form incorrectly, and had to have their forms voided. There must be some people who came once, but returned because they were unsure of whether to apply or not, right?"

"I don"t think there are any more than forty people who either made mistakes on their forms or an unsure of whether to enter or not."

Said Mami-san tiredly, in her retort to Noriko-chan"s crisp question. Then, as if remembering something, she searched around in a paper bag and fished out a tea bag.

"There must be some returned applications too. But since those aren"t related to the regular applications, we don"t really count them."

"Huh?"

Both of them rose at the same time.

"You know, requests and encouragement? Those sorts of letters."

Mami-san said, as she raised one piece of paper in the air and read from it.

""Yumi-sama – Good luck, and pick a fantastic sœur!""

"Oh my."

""Yoshino-sama and Yumi-sama should know what their prospects for finding sœurs are, shouldn"t they?""

"What?!"

""We just wanted to ask. Could two regular second-years help out? We could invite a lot of first years""

Everyone"s general requests were being mixed in with the bouton"s sœur-picking applications. If these sorts of comments kept coming in, there would be no meaning in having a tea party any more.

"There are more, but they are all mostly the same thing, so I"ll save you from having to hear them. There are about twenty in total. But maybe there is some value in looking over them, so you can skim them later."

But the problem was that there were more messages from people who were not applicants than from those who were. There was no point in moving the submissions box to the second floor of the Rose Mansion. It wasn"t as if she were feeling cold towards them, it"s just that she wished that people who were not applicants would not spend the time to go up the stairs and deposit their message.

"But, you know, there"s no real harm this time," Yumi proposed. "The ones who are applying would apply anyway, so whether the others go into the trash or are submitted here shouldn"t have any effect, right?"

"This isn"t a trash for everyone to put things into. This is for partic.i.p.ants."

But they couldn"t change things around because there were too few applicants. There were only two more days until the End of Registration date. How could they change the date so close to the end?

"Something relating to the applicants must be failing to excite them. So we need to reflect on the applications, and the tea party itself. There are also some interesting things happening outside of the Rose Mansion."

Mami-san said.

"Interesting things?"

"So far this year, the number of sœur relationships being sworn is increasing."

"Really?"

This is the sort of rumor that distant Yumi would likely have heard for the first time, but it seemed even Yoshino-san and Shimako-san haven"t heard it. Noriko-chan was a Lillian first-year, so she obviously did not know what was usual for a year. Maybe Tsutako-san was the one who noticed it. She received requests for pictures, so she would probably know about the situation well.

"During first term, around May, when new members join the club as beginners, a large ma.s.s enters and they become sœurs. The spit really flies."

Mami-san continued with her lecture.

"The next period is the School Festival. After that there"s Christmas, Valentine"s Day, and those sorts of events, so it"s easy to get together. The next big one is the school closing ceremony. Even if they rejected requests before, people will go on vacation on the next day, so they make different decisions."

Of course, of course, the heads nodded.

"So right now, as far as sœur pairings go, there"s a relative lull. Last year, because of someone, there were several breakups and reconciles, but that"s rare in most other years."

When she said "someone," all gazes turned towards a person: the very person responsible. The one responsible for the Yellow Rose Revolution, Yoshino-san, looked back with a face that said "There"s something wrong all of a sudden?"

"How did Mami-san come to this conclusion?"

"Maybe if you call it a last-minute buyout, it works. "Do you have some first-year you like? Well, she obviously doesn"t have an onee-sama, right? You like her, but you don"t do anything definitive, so you just stay friends." But then, this year there"s the tea party."

"Hm?"

"Maybe someone wanted to partic.i.p.ate in the tea party. She probably thinks "Should I apply or not?" And then, she suddenly thinks "But if someone else gets the Rosary, that would be very unfair.""

"Oh, of course."

"If a second-year says, "Don"t go to the tea party, but become my sœur instead," then a first-year will think about it — and that"s how the sœur relationship is made, and with someone who she knows. This doesn"t happen to everyone, but this must happen to some."

Rather than creating partic.i.p.ants, the tea party can act as cupid, and make sœur couples. But, even indirectly, if the goal was that two girls who wanted to become sœurs, but could not find their partner, could instead find a meeting place, then that made Yumi happy.

"At this rate, we"ll have to invite all of the applicants to the tea party itself. Well, the number of applicants will probably increase by the final day. But there"s been a stampede of sœurs."

Mami-san laughed coldly as she finished her a.n.a.lysis.

"Well, it"s four "o clock, so we are finished accepting applications for today," said the Newspaper Club first-years, as they poked their faces into the shadows of the biscuit-shaped door.

"Ah, thank you for the effort. It"s been cold. Come in."

Yumi pulled out chairs, and handed out tea. The two had met in the Newspaper Club clubroom. They were two "Hopeful Rookies."

"How many came?"

"About ten people. There were about seven people who submitted application forms. Some of them had come to register, but. . . ."

Opening the ball-shaped lock on the back, they dumped the newly submitted letters onto the table.

"Ah, you"re right. There"s no name, there"s no cla.s.s, there"s not even an appeal comment on it, only something on the back is written . . . wha—?! It"s like an opposing vote: "Matsudaira Touko-san is eyeing Ogasawara Sachiko-sama." What is this? It"s kinda scary. . . ."

Then Noriko-chan joined in with a black expression on her face, "It really has a bad feeling about it."

"Yeah."

It wasn"t just Noriko-chan; these weren"t complaints that were tolerable to listen to. Everyone in the room said, "Yeah, it does," and nodded. But the reason Noriko-chan had said "a bad feeling" had not been just because of the statement.

"Even in cla.s.s, it feels this bad. The girls who don"t like Touko-san seem to have a sort of weird filter over their eyes when they look out. There are rumors about whether Touko-san is partic.i.p.ating this time. Ask the person directly, I"d say."

Stopping when she felt it appropriate, Noriko-chan essentially had dropped a scary bomb upon the conversation, after which the conversation became dark.

"So then, what about Touko-chan?!"

Yumi asked, and then Noriko-chan shook her head and replied "Everything."

"Maybe she hasn"t noticed it, or maybe she"s just ignoring it, but she shouldn"t be pressured about whether she"s entering or not."

"Of course. Touko-chan is a very delicate person after all."

The moment after Yumi finished talking, for some reason, the room fell quiet.

Huh? Did people not think that Touko-chan was delicate? Or is it that, words like those weren"t wholly in character for her?

"Yes," Shimako-san whispered to herself, after much thought. "But why is Touko-chan so angry?"

". . . Ahh."

Noriko-chan did not answer. Was it because Noriko-chan thought her answer was vague? Or maybe it was because she was confident in her answer, but was not comfortable with speaking so freely about it? Or maybe she just couldn"t find the correct words to frame her answer in? Well, the reason she didn"t say must be one of those.

"Well, there is Matsudaira Touko-san, but," Mami-san opened an application that she took from the box and read it. "Hosokawa Kanako-san still has not applied."

Then one of the Newspaper Club hopeful rookies, looking as if they would add something to the conversations, raised their right hand into the air and said, "Yes."

"Kanako-san has declared that she will not become Yumi-sama"s sœur, though."

"I have heard it. But, you know, a woman"s heart is fickle. After she began coming to the Rose Mansion to help out, perhaps her opinion changed."

As Yumi heard this, she thought to herself "Maybe that"s true." Even Touko-chan had said this recently, but Kanako-chan had definitely changed from before. She had taken out her sword and readied herself. She had also become a bit more open in socializing, but did she feel like she was getting closer to her or drifting away? If you roughly handle and hurt Kanako-chan, then you should move your hand back as soon as you can.

"Huuuh. That girl."

Mami-san slapped the one page application in front of her and laughed.

"She wrote her appeal comment out straight."

Mami-san stood up, and trained the pitch in her voice, as if she were performing a play on a street for a crowd of onlookers chanting, "What, what?!"

""From the moment I entered the Student Council, I felt as if I had become a main character amongst the cast of Roses. Whether it is Yumi-sama or it is Yoshino-sama, either one of you, won"t you please make me your sœur?" and that"s it."

Either one of you. Well.

"That"s a frank admission, but if you look at the impression that such an admission normally gives, it makes you feel as if their true feelings are masked in silk. . . ."

"Maybe a person with too much self confidence? Or a kid who knows no struggle? Or maybe it"s the result of a fight between two sœurs. . . ."

Yoshino-san rolled her sleeves up meaninglessly.

"First Year, Chrysanthemum Cla.s.s, Naitou Shouko . . . do you know her?"

Noriko-chan answered "No" to Mami-san"s question.

"Isn"t that . . . maybe it"s Naitou Katsumi-sama"s little sister?"

Yoshino-san said.

"The one who, in order to spend her third year in the same cla.s.s as Torii Eriko-sama, pushed herself to reach Rank Two on her exams? Of course, she must have a little sister. She"s using her real sister to get revenge upon the Rose Family, huh?"

"Isn"t that reason a bit weak?"

Shimako-san broke the madly rambling Yoshino-san.

"Why is Shouko-san becoming Yoshino-san"s sœur a form of revenge?"

"Because, as soon as she becomes sœurs with me, she would have all the leeway to be as violent as she could want. As her onee-sama, she would ha.s.sle me."

All the leeway to be violent. Ha.s.sling the older sister. Just who was the person who was saying all these things? But Yumi stayed quiet, because if she voiced her thoughts, this person would start acting violently.

"Well, if that"s what she"s planning, then why didn"t she write "Yoshino-sama, I want to become your sœur"? She said either Yoshino-san or Yumi-san, either would be fine. That"s kind of strange, isn"t it?"

"Oh, really? Then what is her real motive?"

She understood the point of what Shimako-san was trying to say, but Private Eye Yoshino, when she talked about this "Naitou Shouko" whom she hadn"t seen, her eyes took up a certain cast that knew she would not easily let go of her conviction.

It was one-sided, because Yumi was included too.

(Naitou Katsumi-sama, and her little sister, Shouko-san . . . huh.)

When she heard the two names in her head, for a moment it seemed as if she remembered something. But because her head was filled with thoughts of the tea party and Touko-chan and Kanako-chan and onee-sama and other such thoughts that she could not forget, her head had no way to store any extraneous information, and she would soon forget about it.

She would remember it when, days later, she would meet with the real Naitou Shouko-san.

"Does Yumi-san have any connection with Touko-chan"s situation?"

As everyone was leaving, Shimako-san and Noriko nonchalantly split from the main group as they walked down the row of trees. Then Shimako-san stopped and began speaking to Noriko. When she looked surprised at the question, Shimako-san smiled back at her.

"And that"s why you couldn"t say anything."

"Wow ... you get it all, Shimako-san."

"Funny, isn"t it?"

Yumi-sama and Yoshino-sama walked ahead, and the three Newspaper Club girls turned onto a lightly-curving path and disappeared from sight.

"If you don"t want to talk about it, then I won"t force an answer out of you. But I thought that maybe you would want to lighten your burden by talking about your thoughts with someone."

Shimako-san said the thing that she should have said, and began walking again. She kept her hand within reach, so Noriko grabbed it.

"No, I don"t want to talk about it with Shimako-san. It"s nothing, really. Keeping it to myself is pretty tough, but I want to see the whole thing through."

When Shimako-san was just being herself, she was something. When it came to herself, she would become confused about what to do, but she would always watch over others. That was why Noriko could speak plainly with Shimako-san. Why is such an incredible person my Onee-sama, Noriko sometimes thought to herself.

"The things Touko has said ... well, I think she said them because of everyone else"s jealousy."

Noriko spoke aloud what she was thinking.

"I see."

Shimako-san nodded quietly as she smiled. The two held hands and began walking slowly down the road in front of the rows of trees, as the group that had pa.s.sed them up earlier came into view again.

"It"s because Yumi-sama is popular."

Inside the splendid façade of the Rose Family, Yumi-sama was the gregarious "Onee-sama of the People" and the idol of the first-years. Noriko too did not want to lose to the people, but she lacked an easy sense of familiarity. She had a presence, but she just wasn"t Yumi-sama.

"I don"t know who started it, but everyone thinks that Touko has become Yumi-sama"s number one sœur candidate."

"Number one sœur candidate?"

"I think it"s because Yumi-sama had asked her earlier to help out at the Rose Mansion, but...."

The idol of everyone could become the Onee-sama of only one person. Everyone had vaguely prepared themselves for the day it would eventually happen, but they didn"t really want to see it. They just had an idea of what it would be like.

Then again, for the people that already have an Onee-sama, how do they talk to her about so many things. If she tried to see how it would feel to involve someone else into her own affairs, Noriko could understand.

"But that"s it?"

Shimako-san said after some deep thought.

"Last year, when I had come to help out the Yamayurikai and even when Yumi-san came to help during the play, there was a bit of commotion, but no one really hated it. It was the same with you, right Noriko?"

"Yeah, well."

Noriko nodded.

"But Touko has said and done some things in her past that make it hard for people to like her."

"What did she do?"

"During monsoon season ... remember when Rosa Chinensis and Yumi-sama started fighting or something, and things got dark between them? Well, everyone says that Touko was the one who caused it."

In early summer, when Rosa Chinensis had taken off from school, a lot of students saw Touko and Yumi-sama"s argument in the milk hall. Then Yumi-sama tactfully asked Touko to help out at the Rose Mansion, and immersed her into it, after which the rumor sort of died down, but....

"That"s true."

Shimako-san whispered nostalgically. She was thinking about the first few months right after that monsoon season.

"I know I"m being nosy, but when Touko, who had bullied Yumi-sama, was asked to help out, wasn"t it sort of interesting? Because that happened, she inadvertently got closer to Yumi-sama when she had been targeting Rosa Chinensis."

"So then, Noriko, you don"t think that Touko-chan is picking Yumi-san to be her sœur because she wants to get closer to Sachiko-sama?"

Noriko nodded easily. Touko admired Rosa Chinensis, but she would never do something like that.

"So then, what"s happening with Touko-chan?"

Noriko shook her head in response to Shimako-san"s question.

"I don"t want to talk about it. I"m trying not to hurt Touko after all."

"Well well."

"Well, not forever, but it"s like "We have to clean that, so move it" or "You"re not using the bamboo stick, so lend it to me" or something"

"Are you trying to sew a yukata with regular cloth?" [1]

"Yeah."

"You"re really saying as little as possible, aren"t you?"

"Ah, oh yeah. There"s something else I wanted to talk about. I had brought the latest edition of the Lillian Kawaraban with me, and I laughed when I thought about whether Noriko-san had talked about this with them, But really, I shouldn"t have laughed."

Her cla.s.smates were excited by it, but Touko was very angry.

In the shadows, many rumors flew around; none of them with any real hate.

To help out Touko, Noriko had tried to be the one friend who had kept a straight face about this.

But for some reason, it felt as if she was just running in circles.

Keeping everything inside of her felt bad, but first-year Camellia cla.s.s, on the surface, looked as if it would keep going smoothly.

(Maybe only my thoughts are strange.)

Everything really seemed to be fine, but inside of Noriko, her strangeness made everything feel as if it tottered. That must be it.

"I thought Yumi-sama didn"t want Touko."

And Noriko stopped abruptly. Shimako stopped walking.

"But, Touko is —"

Shimako-san got that far, when she realized that glistening things fell from the tops of Noriko"s cheeks.

"Hmm? Why are you crying?"

Shimako-san set her bag down, took her handkerchief out, and wiped the bottom of Noriko"s eyelashes with it. She stared directly at Noriko"s face and smiled.

"Noriko, you like Touko-chan, don"t you?"

"I do, a bit."

As she pointed this out, Noriko realized she liked her more than she thought.

As twilight descended, the obscuring of her surroundings was a blessing. It was a blessing that she was away from everyone else, Noriko thought.

Yumi-sama could not notice her feelings for Touko.

Noriko-chan tightly grasped Shimako-san"s hand.

And to keep the traces of her tears hidden from everyone else, Noriko turned to watch a bus go by.

When she thought about it, if she introduced Naitou Shouko to Eriko-sama as her soeur, then Eriko-sama would be very surprised.

Yoshino daydreamed as she lifted her chin from the top of the paper on her desk.

She had no expectations for the Naitou sisters, but if she were just going for impact, then at this moment, Naitou Shouko was the best she could get. But you couldn"t find a soeur by just filling out some doc.u.ments, so she needed to meet her in person. But if she did make Naitou Shouko her soeur, she didn"t think it would be as bad as it was supposed to be.

Maybe it wouldn"t be that bad, but she knew she was playing with a danger that you could only shake your head at.

The paper was actually a problem set handed out in math cla.s.s to take home and finish, but because it had become a nuisance for her thought process, she had not finished a single problem.

Perhaps because she was bad at math and wanted to not deal with it, or because she had been thinking about too many other things, or because her thoughts were not letting her solve the equations correctly. Either way, when she stared at the paper, her thoughts seemed to evaporate into thin air.

"Let"s do it."

Now to start, she thought, and rose with determination. When she looked at her watch, it read slightly past eight. It was about time.

Yoshino trailed down the stairs, and she saw her mother in the living room, with a bag.

"I should start preparing now. You"re right on time."

"Huh, what"s that bag?"

"Did you come from next door? It"s a pastry I bought today at the store. I wanted to share, so I gave your aunt a piece."

"Why didn"t you give me any?"

"Because today you and Rei-chan came back at different times. I knew I had to meet your aunt. I had a reason, but for some reason, I would cancel each time. So I thought I"d let Yoshino do what she wanted, and if Rei-chan came back to her house, I"d give her a little souvenir."

"If I or Rei-chan doesn"t get back, how does it matter?"

"It"s not a fresh sweet, so it"s fine. The expiration date is the last day of the month."

"Last day of the month?"

She had remembered something bad.

"But I had to go meet her so... eh? Am I wrong?"

"No, you"re not."

Yoshino took the paper back and went out of the door. When she looked inside, she was a little annoyed, but it was her mother, so she let the matter drop.

"Good Evening!"

It was next door, but they were right next to each other. Their front doors were a cheerful stroll apart.

"Welcome. Could you wait a bit, I just finished peeling an apple. Did you bring that bag from your friend? Still this year? I"ll fill up the bag, so just wait there."

"Ah, sure. Thank you very much."

No matter how you looked at it, her aunt and her mother seemed to have the same thoughts. Her mother had just talked about sharing a pastry, so the apple made her smile widely.

But.

"Rei-chan."

Rei-chan looked as if she was completely unprepared for a visit. She was idly staring at the newest edition of Cosmos Friend while sitting on the bed.

"Huh, Yoshino. What"s wrong?"

"I came to share some pastry with you."

"Huuuuh."

"-- Well actually, I came to ask you for some help on homework."

Yoshino placed a gla.s.s platter where she had put her aunt"s peeled apple and the paper she had brought from home onto the low table.

"What"s it about?"

Rei had no choice but to get out of bed.

"It"s not that simple. But if you just told me which formula to use, I could solve it."

"I know that. But you came here just to ask me which formula to use?"

Those were not the words of a person who taught, Yoshino thought to herself.

"There"s no way you can use the wrong formula here. Open your book. Hey, wait a second. It"s the second-year book, so I need to find out where it is."

Rei-chan would look over her problems, no matter how much time it took. Yoshino held the hand of the person who, in her heart, was her Onee-sama, was her sempai in a club, was her neighbor, and was her beloved cousin.

"Rei-chan, you know, today at the Rose Mansion ..."

"... Yoshino. We"ll gossip later."

Rei-chan looked busily through her bookshelves. The ends of her disheveled hair had dust that resembled powdered snow. Yoshino unheedingly went on talking.

"Um, you know. When looking through the list of applicants for the Tea Party, the name of a first year kinda like Naitou Katsumi-sama"s little sister was there. What should we do?"

"Huh?"

Rei-chan turned back swiftly. She had said that they would gossip later, but she fell straight into it.

"Don"t you have a bad feeling about this? Because wasn"t Naitou Katsumi-sama Eriko-sama"s rival?"

"Aren"t you changing the subject, Yoshino? If Eriko-sama or Katsumi-sama were still in school, then maybe. Now that they"re at different universities, there"s no reason for them to compete. Aren"t you interfering a bit too much on the affairs of Katsumi-sama"s real little sister?"

Rei-chan said, as she took out the math book she used last year. Yoshino loved Rei-chan"s textbooks. If only one word could describe them, then they would be "beautiful". They had not the beauty of disuse, but the beauty of much use. It had important notes added into the margins, and colorful underlines. It had an unmistakable feel of a "girl"s textbook."

"Well, the two sisters."

As if having won a compet.i.tion with a small hint, Rei-chan whispered about memory.

"Last year when I fought in that Taisho"s Fight with that girl Tanaka-san."

"Oh yeah, I should be the one who gets revenge for you Rei-chan."

Unfortunately, because she was a third year last year, Yoshino"s wish to cross swords with her could not be fulfilled. Even though she didn"t yet have the strength needed to play in an actual match.

"That Tanaka-san who graduated, you know this year her little sister is entering. As a high rank too."

"Hmmph. Is she highly ranked?"

"Well she"s rumored to be. Tanaka-san"s grandfather runs a dojo, and the four Tanaka sisters have a big reputation."

"Four sisters? From the top, which sister is this?"

From her shelf Rei-chan searched in the book and pulled out a fat volume named "Kendo 3". These were sc.r.a.pbooks where Rei-chan cut out magazine and newspaper articles. There were others like "Pastries 6" and "Handicrafts 2".

"Hey look. It"s in here."

Rei-chan pointed to something that seemed as if it had been copied out of an area or munic.i.p.ality map. There were even pictures. One picture, which looked as if it had been copied countless times, had a gruff-looking person in it who Yoshino did not recognize at all.

"But it says "The Three Tanaka Oonakas"."

"No, I"m pretty sure that there"s a fourth. A long time ago, when I was in middle school, I had seen the four lined up on a map."

"So then maybe the fourth one isn"t an Oonaka?"

"I see. Maybe because she"s a middle school student, she"s not an Oonaka yet!"

Yoshino hit Rei-chan with her palm.

"Hey, Rei-chan. They may be sisters but, not everyone goes to same school."

"Ah."

Both the Naitou sisters and the first three Tanaka sisters went to the same High School, so not going to the same high school seemed like some illusion.

"Of course. Fufufufu."

"Haha..."

Rei-chan"s laugh was for some reason androgynous. But the two laughed their guts out. After laughing, stopping, then laughing again three times, a broadly smiling Yoshino spoke while she wiped tears off her face.

"Rei-chan. You know, I"d be happy, if I had a soeur."

"Eh?"

Rei-chan looked up with a slightly surprised face.

"Whatever kind of soeur she will be, I think my relationship to her will be completely different than my relationship to you."

".... Yoshino."

Rei-chan mad a painful-looking face, and then Yoshino clapped her hands together.

"It"s not like I"m going to ignore the relationship we have together, Rei-chan. Don"t get me wrong there. The two of us are real cool together, we"re great friends, and I"m proud to think that we get along really well. But you know, it"s a very special relationship. If you look around, there aren"t other soeurs like us."

"Yeah. You"re right."

"Rei-chan, were you happy being Eriko-sama"s soeur?"

Rei-chan nodded, but a bit guardedly.

"I"m really jealous. If Rei-chan looked at it later, she"d understand. But even now, I think you"ll understand. Growing up in a different style with a person you don"t know. Making new acquaintances. How should I say this, it"s a very refreshing feeling. So I won"t just let whatever happen to Rei-chan. Whatever happens, even if I find a soeur, I will always really love Rei-chan."

Clasping their arms together, Rei-chan giggled a bit, and flicked Yoshino"s forehead.

"Well then, I wonder if soon I"ll be able to enjoy both Yoshino and her soeur."

That would be nice too.

Tuesday.

During lunchtime, Hosokawa Kanako-chan came to visit the Rose Mansion.

At the time, because Yumi and Yoshino-san were in front of the first floor stairs looking through the letters, when Kanako-chan first came in, they thought that she had come to enter the Tea Party.

"I"m sorry that I came while you were in the middle of work. I wanted to speak with you, Yumi-sama, but... it looks like I can"t."

Kanako-chan said as she observed the scene. But before she set foot into the Rose Mansion, it seemed as if she did not know that this was the place next to the window for the Tea Party applicants.

"It"s fine. One person can handle the letters. If you need some help, just call up to the second floor, and Noriko-chan or Shimako-san will come down."

Yoshino-san replied to Kanako-chan, or perhaps to Yumi.

"Oh? Alright, then have fun talking."

Yumi rose from the seat she was sitting in, and joined Kanako-chan in walking outside.

Earlier there had been a number of first-years who had come to have fun, but none of them ended up submitting applications, so the Rose Mansion began resembling a closed store left open. If she left her waiting area now, it seemed as if everything would be okay.

She left the Rose Mansion, and began walking towards no direction in particular.

In the clear autumn day, students in the courtyard were taking walks after eating, and were having fun, but they turned around abruptly behind the school, and the figures of the others disappeared.

"A while ago, I had thought I"d try to come after school to see First-Year Camellia Cla.s.s."

"Ah, yeah."

Unfortunately, neither Kanako-chan nor Touko-chan were in the cla.s.sroom then. It hadn"t seemed like they had gone home, but the timing had felt a bit odd.

"I"m sorry. I hadn"t sought you out, even though every day after school I just plod around..."

"It"s fine" Yumi said, as she patted Kanako-chan.

"I wanted to say sorry for asking you to help out during the School Festival. I also wanted a two shot picture with you, so."

"A picture ... ahhh"

Kanako-chan whispered as if a she had just come up to a realization. Yumi wondered what had happened to the picture, but when she thought the idea shown on her face, she added "Of course, I haven"t forgotten about it."

"Maybe, if you work hard during the School Festival, then we can take a picture together, is what I had promised."

"Take a picture together? You have the gall..."

It was that, the Kanako-chan she knew directly after the Athletic Festival looked dangerous, so she used an excuse to become friends with her. Because in spite of what had happened, Kanako-chan had once been a person who hoped to have a two shot with this now un-deified Yumi-sama.

"Well, whatever you had said about the pictures, Yumi-sama thought that I worked hard with her during the School Festival, and recognized my value. Then I"m happy."

"Of course."

"Good. If I can return the favor, then."

It had been a long time since she had last talked to Kanako-chan like this, even though it hadn"t really been that long since she had last talked to Kanako-chan. If Kanako-chan felt the same, Yumi wondered what she would do.

"Because during the School Festival, I put myself in a place where I have to thank everyone so."

Kanako-chan laughed.

"Eh? Huh?"

"For my Dad, and Yuuko-sempai. And Chikako."

Ah, that... she nodded and then shook her head.

"But I didn"t do anything."

"No, you definitely did. That"s why I have to get you something soon."

"Kanako-chan..."

Kanako-chan had really changed, Yumi observed. A lot in a very short time. But just how she had changed, Yumi could not put into a single word. It was as if she had taken off her heavy sh.e.l.l, and became light and nimble.

"So then, the reason I came here..."

Kanako-chan cut in.

"You said you had something to talk about."

Yumi confirmed, and then nodded.

"The talk of the Tea Party is becoming pretty lively even around me."

"Sorry. Has it been tough?"

"Even" she had said, so then it was probably the same thing that was happening to Touko-chan, but now it was happening to Kanako-chan too.

"It has. But I didn"t really come here to complain. I"m pretty detached in cla.s.s, so it"s not much of an itch or a pain. But I wanted to talk to someone about it correctly. But I thought that Yumi-sama was the only one who I could talk about my feeling with about this."

"Feelings?"

The heavy echo that accompanied her words put Yumi on guard.

"I have no desire to partic.i.p.ate in the Tea Party."

"Aaah."

Not only was she letting others know that she did not want to find an Onee-sama, but she was also declaring that she did not want to be Yumi"s soeur.

And Yumi understood this somehow.

Kanako would not become her soeur.

It wasn"t a matter of Yumi not choosing Kanako-chan, or Kanako-chan rejecting Yumi, just something vague. The two of them could not become soeurs, so.

Perhaps Kanako-chan had picked up on this before Yumi did. From much earlier, at least that was obvious.

It"s somewhat vague, but if she said it outright, then it felt too harsh. It was like a balloon she let go into the wind, whose direction she would watch.

When she felt the conversation became more serious, Kanako-chan changed the subject.

"I joined a club."

"Eh? Really?"

That was like a crack of thunder in her ears.

"Is it the Basketball Club?"

It was the only club that fit her. When Yumi asked, Kanako responded "Yes".

"Before, I had rejected an offer I had been given to enter the club, but now I wanted to join again so."

She was a beginner, so first she had to go to the gym and practice with the wall, Yumi daydreamed. It seemed fun in a way. So that"s what she had meant when she had said "after school I just plod around".

"Do you think you can find an Onee-sama in your club?"

"No. The way I am now, I don"t think I want to become anyone"s soeur. Next year, maybe I will try to find a soeur of my own, or."

"I see."

She didn"t say but, to Kanako, Yuuko-sempai was the only person in the world who she could call Onee-sama. At least, that"s what Yumi thought.

"I think I had been just guessing, but I thought of Yumi-sama like I did of Yuuko-sempai."

"Yeah."

Yumi knew that for a while, Kanako-chan had been searching for someone. She knew that when Kanako-chan saw Yuuko-san from the School Festival, Kanako-chan thought "She"s the one".

"When I met Yumi-sama in this school, it was the feeling I had gotten from looking at Yuuko-sempai when I was in middle school. I won"t make the same mistake twice. So arrogantly I said, *I* will protect you."

This stuff really happened, Yumi thought to herself nostalgically.

"But I was mistaken."

The thing that Kanako-chan had been after was something higher, and of course she did not follow the real Yumi.

Kanako-chan nodded quietly, then laughed as if she suddenly remembered something.

"What?"

"Yumi-sama thought of a weird example, right? Something like, if one of a pair of twins goes to Mars. Remember?"

"Yeeeah."

It seemed as if she had and had not said it. Had it been before the Athletic Festival?

"I"ve let it go. As soon as I let it go, it was like a strange force in my shoulders was let go too. Like, it"s fine to not pointlessly fight alone."

"Kanako-chan..."

"I couldn"t see my adored Yumi-sama again. It was sad that I could not see her, but that person was someone who lived on Mars. If I broke off from this person whose face resembled Yumi-sama"s, then I could feel like meeting with the Yumi-sama who was still on Earth. And when I tried to do just that, she turned out to have more meaning for me than I had thought. Somewhere along the way, I had become close with the one on Earth."

That was a very laudable speech, Yumi thought, as she let Kanako-chan keep speaking.

"Yumi-sama was not completely different to the image of Yumi-sama I had held on to. Back then, when you looked at me you had said that everything was a figment of your imagination, so I thought there was no way I could be saved. The phantom was my thoughts. To deny the thoughts I had held to myself for so long ... to deny my very heart, that was a very painful thing."

"... Yeah."

Of course. It must have been painful.

But now, Kanako-chan laughed.

"When I met Yuuko-sempai again, I felt down when trying to think of what I needed to do. When I met her, Yuuko-sempai too was like Yumi-sama, just one of the twins. So there was nothing I could do, I thought. Maybe. The Yuuko-sempai who long ago chased after the same basketball with me was now living in Mars."

"Eh, Mars again?"

Kanako-chan squarely nodded when Yumi asked again.

"Yes. Together with Yumi-sama"s other sibling. It"s Maria-sama"s planet, I think."

"Well... Maria-sama"s planet. Well that"s."

It was a sort of quixotic thing to thing about, but now that she thought about it more, quixotic wasn"t really...

"No, please don"t look like that. It"s a world that Yumi-sama created. And I"ve come to love it."

It was where the things we loved from our past lived.

Far away, in the night sky, today too it shone well.

Of course, it was so that we would not forget those things that had once existed in this world.

The things we needed to protect, in order to move forward.

"Kanako-chan."

Yumi held Kanako-chan"s hand. What"s this. Her chest felt heavy.

"We have to take a two shot."

"Ehh."

"Yes. We have to, right now."

She hurried fate. Without waiting for an answer, she walked on. Where would Tsutako-san be now? In her cla.s.sroom? If not, maybe in the clubhouse.

"But, Yumi-sama."

"It"s not because I made a promise with Kanako-chan. It"s because I want to take a picture with Kanako-chan."

For a moment, Kanako-chan just blinked, but eventually she nodded and laughed.

Holding hands, they made off to a slow run.

The dead leaves crinkled and cracked in laughed.

The cold breeze, it felt wonderful.

Kanako-chan. Yumi looked up to the sky and thought.

Good luck.

We might not become soeurs but, we were friends after all.

Wednesday, after school.

Rosa Chinensis finally arrived at First-Year Camellia Cla.s.s.

"Has the cleaning been finished? Please call Touko-chan for me."

Noriko came out (or rather was forced by her frightened cla.s.smates) to intercept her, in a rare, dry panic, muttering "Well now, what sort of business do you have with me?" as if she had heard some weird things.

"Noriko-chan looks like Touko-chan"s knight today."

"I"m sorry."

It was almost like, to play a prank on someone, her mother b.u.mps into her. Noriko smoothed the pleats of her skirt with the palm of her hand, and hid searching for the pocket around her thighs. A knight, what a comparison!

"I"ve heard that the Tea Party has caused her a lot of difficulty. So when I come to visit, here you come out as if on watch."

"No, well that"s."

At that moment, Touko, who had gone to take the cleaning log to the Staff Room, returned. But when she saw the two standing in front of the door, perhaps she thought it didn"t involve her, so she simply nodded towards them and headed towards the wall.

"Touko."

Noriko called out to the figure whose back straightened suddenly.

"Rosa Chinensis has come to see you."

"Me?"

Touko-chan said slowly, as she turned.

"Well, what sort of business do you have with me?"

Maybe Rosa Chinensis found it funny that Touko"s words were the exact same as the ones that Noriko used. She laughed dryly.

"I just have one thing to ask you. It"ll be over soon."

"Is that so?"

So please listen to me, it seemed that Rosa Chinensis would add. The corners of Touko"s face changed slightly as she waited. Noriko had become a third party whose role of mediator was finished and who could take the stairs out and leave, but she looked back and found something catch her eye. She began talking.

"Uh, whatever you want to do, can we do it somewhere else?"

At all times of the day, the entrance to a cla.s.sroom which had just been cleaned was full of people.

"You"re right."

Rosa Chinensis nodded, when Touko stiffly said.

"I don"t mind. Please speak your mind."

Noriko-chan listened and felt her heart beat faster. Rosa Chinensis wryly smiled.

"I too do not mind. But, Touko-chan, you tell me that you do not mind even before hearing what I want to talk about. So maybe you have an idea of what I want to talk to you about."

"Touko."

Leave this to me. A mad urgency came into Noriko, and her eyes reflected it. It was as Rosa Chinensis said. Even though she did not know what Rosa Chinensis was to talk about, Touko had rashly come to her decision, so Touko herself would be the one to suffer.

"Touko-chan. You should listen to your friend"s advice."

Touko gave no answer to Rosa Chinensis"s remark. But it was obvious that that was Touko"s obstinate sort of agreement.

"It would be better if we didn"t do it at the Rose Mansion."

When Yoshino heard about what Rosa Chinensis was planning, Noriko thought to herself "Maybe what Rosa Chinensis has to say has to do with Yumi-sama."

Rosa Chinensis began walking, but she stopped once and looked back.

"Noriko-chan, won"t you come with us?"

"Huh?"

Noriko was of course surprised, but Touko made a "Why?" look on her face. Because maybe Touko thought that Rosa Chinensis"s news dealt only with herself.

"You"re Touko-chan"s knight, aren"t you?"

"What does Rosa Chinensis intend to do with Touko?"

Rosa Chinensis laughed.

"I already told you. I have something I want to ask her about."

It was the laugh of an evil bad guy. Whether Noriko would play the role of knight or not, she wound up having to come along.

"Why aren"t you applying to partic.i.p.ate in the Tea Party?"

Rosa Chinensis asked Touko as soon as she began walking.

"Why? If I wanted to apply, then shouldn"t I have a reason to apply?"

"It seems to me as if you do."

While she was looking for a place to talk, it seemed like the talk was already nearly finished. Or maybe she had chosen to ask that question while walking because of the other people who were around them. Either way, the two began talking. Noriko, who walked behind them, tried her utmost to pick up leaked words from the conversation.

"I wanted to say this so no misunderstanding would come between us. I care not who becomes Yumi"s soeur. Except I do not think it best that she choose you."

"So then why are you trying to push me into applying?"

"I didn"t come here to tell you to apply. I only came here to find out what your reasons for not applying were."

This was what Rosa Chinensis had said. With words like those, Touko could not help but feel instigated.

"Why do you want to know it? I want to ask you something. If I tell you, what will you do?"

"I won"t do anything. I"ve been watching you lately and getting a bit irritated. I want to find out a reason that will let me find out why you"ve been acting like this."

What selfishness. What high-handedness. But this was Rosa Chinesis"s cunning, this was the part of her which was her strength.

"Of course our little chat must be troubling for you. I"ve come here just to fulfill my own selfish desire after all."

"Ah. She noticed it herself," Noriko thought.

"Looking at Touko-chan is like a painful look at my past self. To live frankly is a very courageous thing, but there are several shades of that."

Touko said nothing. She held her head down, became expressionless, and stayed silent. Whether she was listening or not I did not know. But Noriko felt that she was very carefully, very acutely hearing each word.

"That was all I had wanted to say. Take some time will you."

Even though they were only part of the way down the corridor, Rosa Chinensis made a hand signal that showed that this was the end. She exited and left the two alone.

"Rosa Chinensis probably made a mistake. That"s what I really think."

Noriko told Touko. They were weren"t meant for Touko, rather than to follow up what Rosa Chinensis had said.

"But I think Touko-chan is thinking "No more" right now, so it"ll be better if I leave."

Touko had no need to do what any old person told her to do. If she believed the advice in her heart, then she would follow the person"s advice and do exactly what they said.

"That"s why, I"m probably interfering way too much but, just stop."

Noriko took out the application addressed "First-Year Camellia Cla.s.s Matsudaira Touko" out of her pocket, and ripped it into pieces. She had predicted that Touko would not come to the application registrar for the Tea Party until the last moment, so just in case, she had one application prepared. The issue wasn"t whether she would use it or not, but more that it would be used as insurance.

"That"s ..."

Touko opened her mouth slowly.

"I"ve already ripped it apart, so I"ll go home and throw it away."

She took the pieces and made them into a ball, and put the ball into her pocket.

"Noriko-san."

"Well then. Let"s go back to cla.s.s."

Nothing had happened yet.

Let the pebble that Rosa Chinensis had thrown grow and ripple in her heart, and spur its own action.

That was all Noriko could do.