The first day of the third semester.
Like other schools, Lillian Girls" Academy lifted the curtains to the new semester with an opening ceremony.
"Ugh, it"s cold."
First-year peach-cla.s.s attendance number 35, f.u.kuzawa Yumi shivered, like the swaying of a horse, the moment she stepped out to the hallway.
She wasn"t fond of winter, having been born in the spring. Plus, the building she was in was structurally old, so it was absolutely miserable. Wind actually snuck into the hallways. She wanted to turn around immediately and huddle next to a stove, but part of the reason why school life was so harsh was because she couldn"t. She needed to attend the opening ceremony at the sanctuary, as it was an obligation, and in a way, a privilege of being a student.
The bell that sounded just a moment earlier sounded especially crisp as it traveled through the cold air. Maybe it was because she hadn"t heard it in a while.
Normally, as soon as the late bell sounded, the morning prayer would be broadcast. But that wasn"t the case on ceremonial days like this. We"ll just handle the morning prayers right before the opening ceremony! was the school"s very logical reasoning.
Even the homeroom teacher simply popped in for a quick new year"s greeting, and then rushed back to the staff room after giving an abridged homeroom session.
"Quickly form a line in the hallway and follow the other cla.s.s to the sanctuary."
The students obediently answered, "Okay," to the teacher"s directions.
Counting from the day they entered high school, it would be their fifth ceremony, combining the opening and closing ceremonies. At which point you ended up becoming used to it, so even if the teacher wasn"t keeping an eye on you all the time, you handled it smoothly. Actually, maybe we ended up doing everything smoothly because the teacher wasn"t here.
"The sanctuary is warm, probably."
Katsura-san smiled bitterly, she was born in the winter. She seemed to find the sight of cla.s.smates feverishly rubbing their hands against disposable hand warmers, like flies, absurd.
"Thanks for the pose!"
And that voice came accompanied with a flash.
Surprised, Yumi looked and saw Takeshima Tsutako, this time laughing and showing off a different camera than the one she had at the second-semester closing ceremony. Well, the other one was probably a Christmas present, and this one was probably bought using the New Year"s gifts. How many did she need?
"Tsutako-san, they might not look kindly upon a camera at the ceremony."
Several cla.s.smates surrounded her, glared at her, and scolded her.
Actually, there"s a reason for this. During the second-semester closing ceremony, she used her camera"s flash, and apparently the teachers all ended up staring at her cla.s.s. Fortunately, she put away her camera and sat quietly for the rest of the ceremony, but the girls around her were embarra.s.sed to death.
"&h.e.l.lip; Okay, I"ll keep my camera in my case. So don"t confiscate it!"
"Fine. As long as you promise."
The teachers had already left with the bag of valuable items, and if something were to happen to the camera by leaving it in the cla.s.sroom, that would be a whole new set of problems, so the girls let her go. Cameras are expensive, after all. But when she put her camera in her pocket, the bulge in her plaited-skirt was quite visible and ugly.
"Have you lined up in attendance order? The chrysanthemum cla.s.s has already gone in, so follow after them."
At the cla.s.s president"s directive, the peach cla.s.s also split up into two lines and began walking down the cold, cold hallway. As they pa.s.sed through the courtyard, she noticed ice needles in the shadows, holding up mounds of dirt, like a bunch of mushrooms had sprouted.
A cold day at school had begun.
We entered the sanctuary starting with the lowest grades. First, the plum cla.s.s, then the wisteria cla.s.s, then the chrysanthemum cla.s.s. Followed by the peach, pine, and camellia cla.s.ses. Once the first-years finished being seated, the second-years followed, and then the third-years. The first-year welcoming ceremony and graduation ceremonies were always lead by the spotlight grade, like third-years for graduation, but otherwise the young students always welcomed the elder statesmen into the room. That was how it"d always been.
After the second-years entered the sanctuary, while somewhat improper, Yumi spun around and searched for her onee-sama. Of course, if she were seen like this, she knew she"d be scolded, "Don"t look around restlessly!" But that was the nature of little sisters, so she hoped she would be forgiven. It was like a child during parent visitation day at school. Other first-years were also doing the same.
(Well, other than Shimako-san.)
Shimako-san, sitting diagonally in front of her, didn"t betray her expectations, sitting straight and looking ahead. Well, that sœur was special, so that"s just how it was, with them.
(But Yoshino-san, with how glued to Rei-sama she is&h.e.l.lip;)
But when Yumi glanced at the chrysanthemum cla.s.s in front of her, she noticed Yoshino-san was just whispering with her cla.s.smate. Even though it was Rei-sama"s entrance scene, she didn"t even show signs of wanting to look.
Come to think of it.
Shimako-san was in more of a "not my responsibility" sisterly relationship, and Yoshino-san was always with Rei-sama anyways, so neither of them really needed to confirm anything. -Which meant, embarra.s.singly enough, Yumi was the only first-year in the Rose family that was restlessly looking about.
(Am I standing out&h.e.l.lip;?)
She blushed. Just then, with good timing, the second-year pine-cla.s.s students entered.
Onee-sama"s name was Ogasawara Sachiko. Because the attendance numbers were ordered by name, being number seven, she was always near the front.
Her heart beat.
Even though she"d be scolded that it was unladylike, her eyes kept wandering in that direction.
One, two, three, four&h.e.l.lip; Maybe some students were absent. Sachiko-sama showed up on number five. As she appeared, she must have noticed Yumi, as she made a scolding "hey!" face before taking a seat.
(W, w, wow&h.e.l.lip;!)
Even though she"d just been scolded, she had to stop herself from smiling outright. If she could, she"d go by onee-sama"s side and be scolded directly.
(Am I m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.tic?)
Compared to when onee-sama was just an adored uppercla.s.sman, Yumi"s "Sachiko-sama sickness" was definitely advancing.
"It"s certainly not a good condition. I"ll prescribe you some medicine, so make sure you take it every day."
She imagined Rosa Gigantea, dressed up as a doctor, show up and give her an evil grin. When Yumi snapped out of her illusion, the third-years were already coming in.
"Yumi-san, it"s about to start, so you should wake up."
Katsura-san, sitting next to her, whispered the warning. -It seemed she"d been daydreaming for about five minutes.
Yumi stifled a yawn. It seemed she was a bit sleep deprived. Of course, the reason was onee-sama. When she thought about seeing onee-sama for the first time in a few days, she became too excited to sleep. She definitely had a serious case of "Sachiko-sama sickness."
(No, no.)
When she started s.p.a.cing out, the illusion of Rosa Gigantea returned, trying to drag her into the kingdom of sleep. The sanctuary was warm, so her eyelids automatically began drooping.
She straightened her back and look straight ahead. When she locked eyes with Maria-sama, standing on the platform, she felt like her sleepiness had been whisked away.
It wasn"t the white Maria-sama statue that stood at the fork among the gingko trees, but rather the full-color Maria-sama that was in the hallway of the visitor entrance, right before the offices. She embraced Jesus in her left arm and wore a fabulous crown on her head. Apparently she"d been brought to the sanctuary today, specially for the ceremony.
(Huh?)
A cla.s.smate who"d vanished after attendance was taken was on the platform, singing a hymn, wearing a white, ap.r.o.n-like clothing on top of her uniform.
(Oh, yeah.)
The third-years retired from the choir, she remembered. Until then, the first-years only did backstage work, even if they were part of the choir. Of course, you learnt the hymns while doing the backstage work. But today was the first-years" choir debut.
After the students all entered the sanctuary, Yumi looked around again. The third-year neighborhood looked especially lonesome. Even for the relaxed Lillian Girls" Academy, the third-years at this time of year must be busy.
Compared to the first-years and second-years, it felt like many third-years were absent.
"That"s not too surprising."
Answered onee-sama, in the Rose Mansion.
"Those taking exams are likely busy with that, and the third-year supervisor said they didn"t need to force themselves to come."
"Is that so?"
Yoshino-san brought a warm cup of black tea to Sachiko-sama, who"d come in after them. Yumi, who"d been beaten to the punch because she stood up a second later, put her cooling teacup to her mouth and shifted slightly away from Sachiko-sama. It was a bit nerve-wracking. She was lonely when they didn"t see each other, but once they sat next to each other, she had no idea what she was supposed to do. "Onee-sama" is a mysterious being.
"Lillian doesn"t prepare you all that well for exams, so you are left to your individual autonomy, I suppose."
As she spoke, Sachiko-sama placed both of her hands around the teacup, warming them.
It was after school, as their only task after the ceremony was to retrieve their report cards from homeroom.
The Yamayurikai headquarters, also known as the "Rose Mansion," currently housed Rosa Chinensis en bouton and her sister, as well as the sister of Rosa Foetida en bouton.
The three Roses handed Sachiko-sama their contact info and quickly departed from school. Rei-sama and Shimako-san were probably busy with helping out their club and cla.s.ses, but they would probably come soon.
"It"s a bit lonesome."
Sachiko-sama mumbled, casting her eyes down.
(&h.e.l.lip; Oh, yeah.)
When the year ends, there was no escaping from the word "graduation." To Sachiko-sama, Rosa Chinensis was her one and only onee-sama, and thus was to Sachiko-sama was she was to Yumi. When you thought about your dependable onee-sama going far away, it was obviously lonesome. Plus, Rosa Chinensis declared long ago that she would be taking exams for a different university. No doubt Sachiko-sama felt that, even if onee-sama were to graduate, if she attended the university in the same premise, it would be rea.s.suring, but that wasn"t to be the case.
"Onee-sama-"
Yumi began, but she felt afraid of asking her onee-sama. What did Sachiko-sama plan to do next year? She couldn"t imagine school without Sachiko-sama. Though, no matter what Sachiko-sama planned, graduation was inevitable, so Yumi"s high school life was destined to be shut in darkness.
"What?"
"No, nevermind."
Yumi reflected on her own character after she carelessly thought, if only Sachiko-sama repeated a year, then they would be together. She felt so self-centered she couldn"t look Maria-sama in the eye.
She was envious of Yoshino-san. Rei-sama long ago declared her intention of attending Lillian"s university, so she had no need to fret like this, and they lived in what amounted to the same house, anyways, so even if Rei-sama graduated, they could see each other any time.
The creaking sound of the stairs reached Yumi. She didn"t have as superhuman a hearing as Rosa Gigantea, but even Yumi could tell it belonged to one person.
The footsteps were fairly quick, so Yumi was surprised to see it was Shimako-san rather than Rei-sama. She was normally so calm, so this was surprising.
"Has anyone heard of the word Rosa Canina?"
And again surprising was that Shimako-san, upon entering the room, skipped greetings and jumped straight into a topic.
"Rosa Canina?"
The three of them asked, at once, and then shook their heads.
"What is that?"
Sachiko-sama looked back, doubtfully, but Shimako-san also shook her head.
"I"m not sure."
Well, she probably asked, "Does anyone know?" because she didn"t know.
But, "Rosa Canina." Was it related to the Roses? -Rosa Chinensis, Rosa Gigantea, Rosa Foetida. And, Rosa Canina.
They all seemed to ponder the same thing, as they folded their arms and thought. This time, the stairs creaked really loudly, like there was an earth tremor going on. No doubt Rei-sama.
"Hey, who"s Rosa Canina?"
Without bothering to fully open the biscuit-shaped door, Rei-sama shouted to the people within. Curiously, she asked the same thing as Shimako-san, although worded quite differently.
"So, Rosa Canina is a person, may I presume?"
Sachiko-sama confirmed. Rei-sama, who"d just arrived at the Rose Mansion, simply responded nodded with an "of course" expression on her face. She didn"t know about how they"d heard the name.
"Of course it"s a person. She"s a student at our school."
"I see. You"ve gathered three more minutes" worth of information than Shimako, in exchange for coming later."
As expected of Sachiko-sama. Her ears were as sharp as ever. Come to think of, Shimako-san was asking only about the term Rosa Canina.
"Rei&h.e.l.lip; I mean, onee-sama. Onee-sama, where did you hear about this?"
She"d been completely soaked into cousin mode over winter break, as Yoshino-san struggled to resume calling Rei-sama onee-sama.
"In the hallway in front of my cla.s.sroom. A bunch of students were chatting. I wouldn"t have cared, but then when they noticed me, they stopped talking. Well that made me curious, so I kept in mind what I heard before they stopped."
"And that"s Rosa Canina?"
"Yup."
As Rosa Gigantea nodded, Shimako-san said, "Me, too."
"The same thing happened to me. I think they were second-years, but they were talking at the stairs, and when they saw me, they looked extremely conflicted before they went away."
"Something they didn"t want Shimako-san to hear, maybe?"
ESPer, or the reputable detective Yoshino-san groaned. No, maybe in her case, it"s more like a plain-clothes detective from a historical play.
That would make Sachiko-sama the police officer. And all of them standing in a circle was like idle gossiping at a tenement.
"I intuitively felt they were talking about me, or the Yamayurikai staff."
Shimako-san quietly looked at the ceiling, remembering. Yumi also looked up. Oh, a spider web.
"Wait. Shimako aside, how did Rei know Rosa Canina is a student?"
Good question, Sachiko-sama. But Yumi felt a bit sad, being left out a bit. She wasn"t able to find that "good question" with her own strength. Of course, so that onee-sama wouldn"t read her thoughts, she did everything possible to keep her facial muscles still.
"Uhh, I wonder why?"
Rei-sama folded her arms and looked down. And of course, Yumi, too, looked down. This time she saw cotton lint at the edge of the floor. When you don"t use a room for two weeks, even with no one living in it, it became dirty.
"Oh, right. They were talking about her doing something. That Rosa Canina."
After some thought, Rei-sama finally managed to succeed dragging out bits and pieces of her memory.
"Doing what?"
Yoshino-san urged her.
"Umm. I think they mentioned announcing her candidacy?"
"Candidacy?"
The four other than Rei-sama simultaneously asked back. But Yumi was the only one with a different tone to the question. Yumi was more like, "What do you mean by announcing her candidacy?" while the Sachiko-sama, Shimako-san and Yoshino-san had all cleared that hurdle and were more like, "She"s actually announcing her candidacy?"
"How amusing, we"ll accept the challenge."
Sachiko-sama laughed fearlessly.
"How depressing."
Rei-sama scratched her short hair.
"&h.e.l.lip; Oh."
Shimako-san simply smiled.
As for Yoshino-san.
"What should we do, Yumi-san?"
For some reason, she asked Yumi. (&h.e.l.lip;)
What should we do? Yumi thought it awkward asking for a person"s idea when that person had no idea what was going on.
But, oh.
If she were to ask, "What"s going on?" It would, without a doubt, be like throwing a weighted stone into the flow of the conversation.
To start with, that would embarra.s.s her onee-sama. Oh how much she wished she could throw herself into the river instead of the weighted stone. It was such a pinch of a situation that she wanted to just be swept somewhere else.
"At the end of January, there"s an election to see who"s going to be in the next student council. If she"s announcing her candidacy, that would mean she"ll first run in that election."
Sachiko-sama, next to her, mumbled. It was slightly louder than whispering, so that Yumi could hear.
"O, onee-sama&h.e.l.lip;"
It would be wonderful if it was something as beautiful as telepathy, but it was, of course, Sachiko-sama saving her sister from embarra.s.sment. Her onee-sama, being intelligent to make up for her sister"s deficiencies: how cynical. -Wait, it wasn"t the time to be sentimental!
"Th, th, then. Depending on that election, onee-sama might not be the next Rosa Chinensis!?"
Snapping back to reality, after she chewed on what she was told, she realized how critical this topic was.
"Hey, Yumi, you shouldn"t shake peoples" shoulders, it hurts."
"Ah, I"m sorry."
What a blunder. She"d become so agitated she latched onto onee-sama. When she let go, Sachiko-sama looked exasperated and fixed her pulled sleeves.
Yumi finally understood.
Bouton weren"t guaranteed to become Roses. Well, considering Lillian Girls" Academy stood in j.a.pan, which was a democracy, it would be odd if the student council was decided without listening to the peoples" opinion.
But, because they were "bouton," she wanted them to blossom into full-grown flowers. Though that was her personal opinion.
"It doesn"t necessarily mean Sachiko. It could mean me or Shimako."
Rei-sama laughed and pointed out.
"Even if the possibility is equal, the probability is not."
"Shimako."
Sachiko-sama said the name in a scolding manner, but Shimako-san continued to express her opinion, undeterred.
"If that Rosa Canina is a second-year student, it might actually be natural."
(Ah&h.e.l.lip;)
What Shimako-san was trying to say. Even Yumi could see it.
Currently, there was no second-year student in the white rose family. That was simply because Rosa Gigantea chose a sister two years her junior. That was why Shimako-san, despite being a first-year, was forced to carry the heavy burden of being Rosa Gigantea en bouton.
At this rate, she would be Rosa Gigantea next year, despite being a second-year. But if there was another person, a second-year, who was just as capable as Rei-sama and Sachiko-sama, maybe it would be more fitting than herself? Might be what Shimako-san wanted to say.
So if one of the boutons were to not become a Rose, it would be herself, because she was a year under the norm.
Would that be called withdrawing? No, it was different, there was a more appropriate word for it-.
"You"re running away?"
With perfect timing, Sachiko-sama said. It was the right nuance, but Yumi thought it was a harsh way of putting it. If it were Yumi, she would apologize, "I"m sorry," and tearfully beg for forgiveness, even if she"d done nothing wrong.
"No."
But Shimako-san. Even if she was in a different grade, she was a bouton, too. She looked Sachiko-sama straight in the eye and answered.
"It would be an inexcusable transgression against onee-sama, who chose me as her sister. I will run, in the election. And I have no intention of losing."
"What a pa.s.sively strong stance."
But Shimako-sama simply smiled, not answering Sachiko-sama"s pointed remark.
Shimako-san was unfathomable. -Yumi thought, yet again.
Anyways, it got them nowhere thinking about it then. So, they broke up, with the intention of coming up with a counter-measure tomorrow after school, after everyone"d individually sought out information.
When they stepped out of the Rose Mansion, they noticed the school was empty, even though it was just past noon. There was no regular club activities after the opening ceremonies, so it was after most students had already left. The group of them thus silently walked down the quiet hallway toward the school gate. It wasn"t that they were showing diffidence to those around them, but rather, they were all mired deep in their own thoughts.
Pa.s.sing the library and showing up in front of the Maria-sama statue, the five of them lined up and put their hands together.
What were they each praying?
Were they saying their usual prayers? Or were they praying about the Yamayurikai election?
Either way, they were all isolated while they stood facing Maria-sama. When they close their eyes and put their hands together, people confront their own holy person. Even the closest of people to them are removed. Basically, it was truly impossible to enter someone else"s soul.
The gingko pathway felt much colder than the morning.
After going separate ways with Yoshino-san and Rei-sama, even while she stood at the bus stop with Sachiko-sama and Shimako-san, and even while she rode the bus with them, Yumi couldn"t stop feeling lonely.
"Are you cold?"
Sachiko-sama softly inquired.
"No."
They were far from the students" departure peak, so the bus was extremely empty, and as people stepped on and off the bus, the cold wind quickly flowed through the door and throughout the bus.
"Come closer, it"ll help."
Sachiko-sama was sitting at the back of the bus, on the long, connected seat, and she pulled Yumi, sitting by her side, closer. Their arms and waists became glued to each other, and they felt each other"s warmth through the coats and uniforms.
It was warm. But Yumi felt even more lonely.
Why did she feel like crying the more she felt onee-sama"s warmth?
"What should we do, Yumi-san?"
Yoshino-san"s words suddenly came back to life inside Yumi.
(&h.e.l.lip; Oh, so that"s what.)
Yoshino-san probably understood, having been a little sister for so long. That one day, they, too, would be fretting over this.
It was their onee-sama"s crisis, so they needed to be a crutch.
(But I"m always being cared for by onee-sama, and I"ve never been able to repay her.)
What should we do.
(You"re right, Yoshino-san.)
For their beloved onee-sama, what could they do? The time to seriously think about that had come.
The bus took a sharp, right turn.
Sachiko-sama and Shimako-san both looked out their respective windows. But neither of them were looking at the winter city.
Even though she sat next to them, they felt very far away.