Volume 3 Chapter 1 (1/2)
She had a feeling so
It didn't take long after the start of the seht But it's a ”now that I think about it” sort of thing, so that
At the tiiven that it was semester exam time, so she simply wondered, ”What is it?” and quickly switched her mind back to a different channel After all, for an ”Acadee” student, the scope of the japanese history exaies for the periodic table were far more important information than the hushed whispers of classmates
Of course, her goal was ”Surpass Average-ness!” but if she slipped, she could fall under it Being in the h
(Rosa Chinensis en bouton having bad grades would be horrible…)
First-year peach-class attendance nuhed heavily
The student council of the Lillian Girls' Acadeh School, the Yamayurikai staff, was filled with students with extraordinary acade a co acades she worried about was painful
As long as you attend classes regularly all the time, there's no need to craasawara Sachiko-sanored that and during the break period between exah the reference book like an express train
People who end up at the top of the chart acade much effort simply were built differently up there Coht up a bit to Yoshi+no-san and shi+mako-san, her onee-sama would look bad, too
”-Rosa Gigantea…”
(Rosa Gigantea?)
Despite that situation, Yumi still reacted to her classmates' voices
Rosa Gigantea obviously antea
(Rosa Gigantea, with the very non-japanese face and stone-statuesque figure, a , and still popular a underclassmen anyways?)
Of course, no one else was called Rosa Gigantea, anyways
Well, she was always being talked about, so Yumi heard that name said aloud all the time Then why'd she respond to this one? Well, it wasn't accompanied by pink heart marks, but had a more secretive tone And that tonearound
(What's going on?)
When she looked up toward the voices, she saw Katsura-san and a nu to one another
Speaking of Katsura-san, she was si the type to dive into reference books before exa all her effort into gossip Curiosity, rather than the exam in front of her Well, that wasn't too far off of her, either
However
(I don't know)
Katsura-san's subject see Yu at them
Yu on her textbook, and tilted her head How does Rosa Gigantea co about a book?
(Maybe she borrowed the book froantea)
However that was antea's little sister But she hardly had any contact with Katsura-san, so that was unlikely
Or maybe the book had been left behind And the naantea's
(That ht work)
And because few people call her by name, she wanted to confirm the name with her classmates
(But)
Then you would ask shi+ for a few days
When she glanced at shi+h her text book, like she was gazing at a antea” earlier
(- but this isn't the time for this!)
She hurriedly looked back at the textbook, but her piqued curiosity was like lint in a drying et rid of it that easily This personality of hers hy she was probably destined never to be able to get out of being average Even shi+mako-san, who easily took first or second in academics in the class, was completely focused on her textbook At this rate, rather than catch up, Yu
Maybe I should just give up on japanese history, she ry face of her onee-saht away
It would be so much easier if she had a more suitable onee-sama for this kind of situation- Katsura-san and others were still in a clu to each other
Incidentally, Oda nobunaga's sister, whose face was on the textbook page she was opened to, looked a bit like Sachiko-sama
”Ahh, I'm sorry, I've actually been out of the loop for that one, too”
Tsutako-san folded her arms and nodded
”Really?”
”I 's up, but only a handful of people are in on it”
Afternoon, after another safely concluded exam day Yumi was still curious, so she tracked down Tsutako-san and asked for her opinion
She could have asked Katsura-san, but she seemed to keep her distance from Yumi as she stealthily left school, and at some point shi+mako-san vanished, too And then she noticed Tsutako-san, so she was like, ”Nice ti!” Tsutako-san's always useful in these circuht next-door to the newspaper club, so she picked up little gossip all the time
”Only a handful of people?”
”Right now, it just see about it I don't know about other classes, but I doubt they've really caught on The newspaper club wouldn't let it go if it were, you know?”
”- That's true”
”That's all, see you”
”Ah, wait”
Even Tsutako-san restrained herself fro exam time, so Yumi hurriedly put on her school coat and followed after Tsutako-san Even Yu her own timetable to ether during exaood opportunity to listen to Tsutako-san more
If it was just an irresponsible ru deal out of it by speaking to her onee-sa so
”But I don't think that would be the case”
Pointing her ca her shoe out of the shelf, Tsutako-san quickly answered
”No?”
”Yu that the book Katsura-san was holding belonged to Rosa Gigantea, but that's not the case”
”Why?”
When Yumi asked as she snapped her shoes, Tsutako-san seemed to have liked her bent-over pose, as she took several photos
”Tsutako-san!”
”I'ot carried away What was it?”
”You-”
”Oh, right It's not Rosa Gigantea's book … I ht?”
”I only noticed it was a novel, though”
She caught a glimpse of the front cover because there was no book cover, but she wasn't able to check the title
”You didn't notice after seeing the front cover Huess Yumi-san doesn't read that sort of book”
”That sort?”
”Perfect Let's take a detour”
”Eh?”
After they left out the front entrance, Tsutako-san grabbed Yumi's arm and walked across the street
”L, Library?”
”Yup”
”Why?”
”It's faster to show you than to explain, right? If Rosa Foetida en Bouton were here I don't think we'd have to go to the library, though”
Why is Rei-sama mentioned here-? Yu to be carefully untangled
hello, Tsutako-san Weren't we talking about Rosa Gigantea?
”Oh just come on”
Without explaining anything, Tsutako-san happily pushed open the fogged-glass door and pushed Yu a bewildered expression, inside
It's ah one doorway can lead you into a whole different world
Libraries feel like they have this soft, but heavy feeling drifting in the air Maybe it's because of the material of the walls and the floors It's a bit like the nified
”What're you standing there for, it's not the first tione into a library”
After a quick bow to the librarian working at the front office, Tsutako-san grabbed Yuh the sound-proof door to the left And then A spacious roohting The reading rooh school and middle school students was in view
”Umm Where was it”
After heading to the bookshelf she was looking for, Tsutako-san quicklyYumi's arm
”I feel like I'ht to the police”
”If you don't like it, walk faster”
”… Yeees”
Probably because it was exa in the library But there were almost no students at the bookshelves or the counter They were all packed into the seats and desks They were using the library to study
”Here we are”
Tsutako-san abruptly stopped in front of a bookshelf stuffed with novels Yuh not for the first time, that different bookshelves were used for different shapes and sizes of books The gap between the shelf holding the encyclopedia and the shelf holding the novels was like co a sumo wrestler to a newborn baby
”Yuht?”
Yumi looked at the book Tsutako-san pulled out and nodded It was a beautiful cover, and the light-pink flower insignia was outstanding
”Wow, Tsutako-san, you saw the title?”
”-Of course not Even with glasses, ht is just 07”
I see Her tradelasses weren't just for show Then why, Yuht, but her question was immediately answered Tsutako-san pulled out another book and showed Yumi ”Here”
”Huh?”
They all looked the same The book Katsura-san held included But the titles were all different
”They all use the same cover?”
”I think there are four different colors You really don't know?”
”No”
”Cosmos Book Collection That the very typical Yumi-san wouldn't know of them is quite an astonishment”
Tsutako-san grinned and looked at Yumi
She would have preferred it if she wasn't being looked at like a rare animal Typical, , so it wasn't a particularly fond way to be called
Apparently, Cosmos Book Collection was a type of book collection published by Kyuuteisha, and it specialized in shoujo novels In reality, they didn't all use the same cover, but rather, they used yellow, blue and white, other than pink, to signify genre
(But I thought shoujo novels had cute, florid covers like co?)
”Yu why Cosmos Book Collection doesn't use illustrations for their cover despite specializing in shoujo novels, aren't you?”
Tsutako-san, you've even picked up
”Of course, illustrations are iinations of young maidens”
Tsutako-san fit into that ”young ht But she spoke like she was ten or twenty years older
”Plus, for first-ti way toward introducing the story to theht? Even if the author doesn't have nah of an impact, they'll pick the book up”
”Um… Tsutako-san-”
The story was becoents, and once she began speaking, she was like a rolling sobll As tiains speed
”I understand the cover illustration is important”
Finding a good time to interrupt, Yumi quickly blurted that out She decided it was better to cut her off now
”It's not just the front cover See”
Tsutako-san opened the book and flipped through the pages for Yuinal path, but she kept rolling onward
”No illustrations inside, either Because-”
Roll, roll, roll, roll
Yuave up and decided to listen to Tsutako-san She decided if she spoke up and said so down a brand new path She brought up the topic, after all Just because she'd becory, it wouldn't be proper to abruptly close the curtains and say good bye
It would take a while to use Tsutako-san's exact words, so to summarize, Cosmos Book Collection basically strives for adult-oriented shoujo novels Or put another way, novels supporting irls
Co break time, people like to read in all sorts of situations But they don't often like having the book they're reading identified
Norure out what the book is about by its cover and title But shoujo novels are different in that they often have whole pages devoted to an illustration What could one illustration do? you ht wonder, but at the very least, it beco shoujo, and if the illustration is a boys' love scene, that could be pretty bad
So Cosmos Book Collection eliminated every illustration The story was introduced by the catch-copy sash that comes with the book, a summary was found on the other side of the cover, and they color-coded the books and made them a bit more pleasant to see Boys' love is blue, for instance People who don't know about Cos of the colors, and if so of a deal And if people are bothered by even that, they can just slip on a book cover
”… So I don't knohat book Katsura-san was holding”
After speaking at length, Tsutako-san finally returned to the original topic There're no illustrations, the covers are the sah we know it's by Cosht nohich book they were talking about -Gosh, that took a while
”Even so, it's definitely not Rosa Gigantea's book She doesn't read novels”
”How do you know Rosa Gigantea doesn't read?”
”I think it was around May this year, they had an interview article in the 'Lillian Kawaraban' She said she doesn't read a”
”Oh”
Ever since she entered high school, she only watched Sachiko-sama, so she didn't remember Come to think of it, she didn't even know about Rei-sah the 'Lillian Kawaraban' had apparently run a big article about it, so she felt like she was a rather blissful creature
”Ah”
And everything clicked together
”And that's why you mentioned Rei-sama”
”Exactly”
Contrary to her boyish looks, Rei-sairl And because she said she loved shoujo novels, she e about Cosmos Books
”Rosa Foetida en Bouton ht be able to sort this out for us, but she's not really the type to delve into other peoples' gossip, so I don't know”
Tsutako-san did her careat observational skills
Yu the sa Rei-saossip
Speaking of Rei
While the two laently opened her math textbook to a set of problems
Living close to the school comes with its own set of joys While other people are busy being tossed and turned inside buses and trains, she would already be home, so she could sometimes even eat lunch there
She'd beco distance that she couldn't io one way And with that, it'd been a quick twelve years and ninea school for princesses, contrary to her boyish looks And now, she was soraduating high school, she'd probably end up going to Lillian's college or junior college
”Gosh, Rei-chan's lunches are the best This hot sandwich, the cheese is so neatly e soood!”
One of the reasons for Rei being fastened into Lillian - her sœur and cousin, Yoshi+no, popped the last bit of the hot sandwich into her mouth and admired the lunch menu
”Flattery won't bring you anything Come on, if you're done, open your textbook”
”I'!”
As she exclaimed, Yoshi+no reluctantly placed her tray on the floor, and brought her textbook onto the table
This was Rei's room
It was the year-end bargain sale or soether, so in turn, Rei had called Yoshi+no over to have lunch Incidentally, their mothers weren't blood-related, but they'd been classmates at Lillian, so they were rather close friends
They were such close friends that they married each others' brothers And then they settled down next doors, so they ay too close, Rei soht, somewhat exasperated at their mothers
But she could understand now She wanted to live next-door to Yoshi+no forever Ahh, she didn't want their relationshi+p to be ain
- And as she was senti that
”Rei-chan”
A super-close-up of Yoshi+no
”Woah, you scared me!”
Placing her hand on the low-dining-style table, Yoshi+no leaned over like she wanted to tell a secret, and whispered
”Rei-chan, umm I just remembered, at class today-”
She should have been used to it, but it still
”… Yoshi+no, if you want to just chat, save it for later”
Sheher embarrassment
”Weren't you the one that asked for help, because you were in trouble for tomorrow's math exam?”
”But, Rei-chan”
”Private tutors usually don't come with a meal”
”Fiiine”
In truth, the math textbook Rei had opened was ”Math I” fro it out of her bookshelf for Yoshi+no Yoshi+no was hospitalized for surgery over the fall, so she'd fallen behind in classes Let's have lunch together, of course included a study session afterward As her ”onee-saed to help her little sister avoid the hell of red test marks
”For starters, I want to kno far along you are, so go through all of these problems Then…”
She glanced at Yoshi+no She was fiddling with her braids, and looked like she was almost about to explode Gosh, who did she think Rei was spending such valuable time for, anyways?
Sheesh Rei shut her textbook
”So, what?”
”Eh?”
”What you were saying I'll listen But you have to pro afterward, okay?”
And sihtened like a lamp
”And that's the Rei-chan I know”
”I'm way too soft”
But there weren't many people ouldn't be el's ss they don't have, and that definitely felt true here
”Umm, it's mainly about our class, but there's this weird ru”
Yoshi+no happily began
”A weird rumor?”
She had a bad feeling about this There was never anything good to coot wrecked by the ”Yellow Rose Revolution” gossip just lastsister, Rosa Foetida, took off on its own, and half of the student body actually spoke of it like it was the truth She still couldn't understand hoisdoet confused
”Ah, this has nothing to do with Rei-chan and I, by the way”
”That would be dreadful … So?”
Relieved, she urged Yoshi+no on And there, she lowered her voice a bit
”This tiantea”
”Uh?”
”This tionist of the rumors”
Crimson October, Yellow November, and now White What a lovely order of stories It was enough to make her wonder if the newspaper club caused all of this, but if that were the case, they'd run it as a scoop article Given that club captain that definitely felt more likely
”But If it's Rosa Gigantea I can't findsurprised at whatever she did”
Aloof, flirty, carefree Unless she did so super extraordinary, it was easy to just say, ”Oh it's just her”
”Then, how about an autobiographical novel?”
”What do you mean?”
”For exaantea composes a frank confession of a hidden part of her past? That would be incredible, and it'd cause a lot of uproar, wouldn't it?”
”… She did?”
”Well, that's the 'rumor,' anyways”
”But that's a lie, right?”
”Oh how cruel! Rei-chan's doubting me!”
”No, that's not what I mean”
That ru misunderstood her, Yoshi+no became excited and tossed a cushi+on at Rei
”Even if I don't like studying I wouldn't lie to get away”
”That's not what I meant”
On one hand she felt she should be happy Yoshi+no was this energetic again, but it wouldn't be funny if it got to bloodshed, so she used both hands to stop Yoshi+no, as about to lift a tray filled with dishes
”I don't think the first-years, Yoshi+no included, know”
Rei said to Yoshi+no, who looked clueless That meant she'd have to explain
”Rosa Gigantea's past… is like, taboo, I guess? We're not really supposed to talk about it”
”What do you mean?”
”An unspoken agreement, sort of Everyone who knows about it closed their mouths to protect her”
”What happened?”
”I don't know… I was just a first-year, and they never told me about it”
But she knew soht before Christmas
”Past, you mean, last year?”
”Yes”
Around winter last year, Rosa Gigantea changed Yoshi+no inable with this Rosa Gigantea, being extremely cold and apathetic
What could possibly change a person this much? It probably had to do with the student that suddenly vanished froht of a lot of scenarios, but she never found out the truth But she could assu happened
So, it was uniantea would turn that into a novel on her own accord After all, everyone staying silent around herher further with just their words
”If the ruantea probably will coood to shut down these irresponsible rumors before they spread”
They are rumors after all, so they needed to act quickly if they wanted to shut it down
”I don't think it's possible to suppress it, though”
”Why? We just have to find where the rumors started, and then deal with it”
”Where the ru about, Rei-chan?”
”Where Rosa Gigantea's book is supposedly going to be published The literature club? If it's just a 'Lillian Kawaraban' special, it would be the newspaper club”
It was the middle of exams, but if the situation called for it, she was prepared to walk into the classroo She'd been helped by Rosa Gigantea so many times that she wanted to help her whenever she could
”Ummm”
But Yoshi+no still looked troubled
”Where did it come from?”
This time, Rei probed Yoshi+no
”I think Rei-chan will be stunned”
”Stop dancing around, spit it out”
Then, Yoshi+no pointed at the bookshelf, stuffed with books with floral symbols
”That”
”… What?”
”Kyuuteisha's Cosmos Book Collection”
- This was no longer the time for math study
By the next day, the rumor had spread like influenza
The virus had certainly spread throughout the entire class, and if this were a real case of influenza, there would no doubt have been a quarantine
”Yumi-san, hoas your test today?”
Yoshi+no-san asked, propping her head on her hand
”Bad Even though I tried to study, I couldn't get Rosa Gigantea out of my head”
”Saet some sleep, but I couldn't do that either”
”… Yes”
It was past noon, when the third exam had finally ended
The two sisters of Boutons had coh they had no particular reason to be here, and with no one to see thehed