Volume 3 Chapter 5 (1/2)

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-If this is how I', I won't desire for another person, ever again

On my sixteenth winter,

I experienced a farewell so painful it cut my body apart

I firstthat I arrived at school far earlier than I usually did

Why did I co planned? Frankly, it's because I thought it was tih all ofpreparations an hour early, hopped on the earliest train, and didn't realize my mistake until I noticed how much less crowded it was

I hated keeping tiin with, so I don't really double-check what tiet to school late than hear the alar, so I've come to accept this sort of mistake happens

When I stepped off of the circulation bus froht was blinding to my half-awake eyes

shi+elding ate The blue sky looking down on ko trees looked like it was etching out a soft pathway, like Milky Way

(Milky Way…)

It had an e class, what kind of faces would everyone make?

-How unexpected That twisted Satou Sei-san has a cute side to her, too?

But I had no intention of pleasing them

Flipping th hair, I muttered, ”Idiotic”

(What is?)

But the closest word to the answer to that was ”everything,” as well as ”myself”

Like the innocently s, I have no dissatisfaction with this world

Like those pathetic parents that never questioned if they were raising their children properly

Like the school that didn't bother labeling rades

Likeannoyed by everything

All of those, everything

If I can't find anything to love in this world, including est problem probably lay in myself

This world existed long before I did, and so it probably headed toward a better place by majority vote People who can't confor unable to conform

I'd figured thatlow But a sixteen-year-old adolescent so to play out the role of a ”pure maiden”

Why do I have to laugh with everyone?

Why do I have to involve myself in conversations that I don't care about?

So I keep myself silent

Nothing I can do Because this is the els

So Maria-sa in the middle of the fork in the road, looked to me like Nio

(See…)

She looks so serene, so kind, but in reality, she was dividing students walking into the school into good or bad

I forht hand and pointed it at the white Maria-sama statue The holy reen forest, and prayed to heaven for the sake of her students every second

”Amen”

”Bang!” I sounded in

Rapture

Running down the pathway of freshly-budding trees was invigorating I'd alanted to do it once, when there was no one around

I didn'tquestioned for it was a pain

I didn't believe in Maria-sama, so I wasn't afraid of divine punishment Jesus of Nazarene and his o After 2000 years, even ghosts otten bored

And if Maria-sama was really that close to God, she was supposed to save these bad sheep Now, come, save my aimless soul!

-Amen!

I ran, shouting that, over and over again

It was the

I'd just becoh school

It wasn't that I had any dissatisfactions I just had no war in the dark, in a dried, vast wilderness

I didn't knohat I should do

I didn't even knohat I wanted to do

Panting, I leaned against the sanctuary wall I'd somehow ended up here My subconscious seemed to have run s

Oh well I'll rest here for an hour, and I entered the sanctuary

After a few steps into the dark, silent corridor, the first thing you sahen you opened the thick, decorated door was a wooden statue of a crucified Jesus Christ When you glanced to its left, a full-colored Maria statue And to its right, a stained-glassof brilliant colors Long, wooden benches were on either side of the passage down the middle

Theprayer of the sisters must have ended, as there was no one inside

I chose a seat by the wall on the second row froels was painted on the ceiling It was the first time I'd looked at it, relaxed, like this

I wasn't a Christian, but the sanctuary was a beautiful place, I could say that ht siion-based architecture

I wrapped my arms around my shoulders and closed my eyes It soothed me It felt like I was rolled up in a ball, surrounded by a tough shell

Don't touch et about me

My body wanted sleep, but ht, I rolled over to my side

How much time passed? Eventually, I lost track of ti, when I heard so

Like an herbivore that was at rest, -powered doll Who cares if someone saw you, a voice whispered inside my head

And they were apparently surprised at my sudden movement, as the person who'd made the noise before spun around -She sat in the front seat, near the middle

Both of the they were there

She had probably been kneeling and praying, and I gulpedher stand up slowly

With the stained-glass 's light shi+ning upon her right shoulder, she looked so white, so divine

”… Gokigenyou”

S the Lillian Girls' Acadeht hair reached down to her waist And her skin wasn't as pale as I'd first thought

”… A first-year?”

I

”Yes I'd just arrived at Lillian this year”

Her bright voice sounded soothing

”-Probably”

I didn't remember each and every face in school, but I probably wouldn't have forgotten her if I'd seen her a single time

”Your name?”

”Kubo shi+ori”

Kubo, shi+ori

I carved that name in my heart It was just a naed to her made it so much more special

I'd never bothered with other people before, but when it came to the first-year student named Kubo shi+ori, I becaht at her Not satisfied with her name, I asked about what class she was in, whatsuch impolite questions

At first, shi+ori looked bewildered But becausecritical, she politely answered each and every one of them

shi+ori graduated froasaki, and she was recommended to Lillian But her lack of an accent was because she was originally from Tokyo Her parents died in a car accident when she was in third grade, so she was taken in by her uncle in Nagasaki, and now that her obligatory education was over, she decided to return to her home She had no relatives in Tokyo, so she attended school from the school dormitories

shi+ori bluntly spoke of her tragic fifteen years of life At the very least, that moved me Her tolerance for an rude upperclassness to accept me, it felt incredible

She was mature, and she looked like even my twisted, thorny self could hold her hand, and she would be so divine that not a scratch would befall her

”Will that be all?”

After a moment of silence, shi+ori looked at her watch and spoke

”Inow”

I was conflicted, by the desire to stay like this, and the realization that it was beco aard But I nodded anyways And after I nodded, I felt incredibly heartbroken

”I' taken your time”

”No worries, I'm used to it”

Transfer students from other schools were often questioned like this, she smiled, with no hint of bitterness

”Oh, my name is-”

”I know Rosa Gigantea en bouton, Satou Sei-sama”

”What…?”

”During the first-year ceremony, you were introduced”

After answering thus, shi+ori politely bowed her head and stepped out of the sanctuary Having lost shi+ori, the sanctuary felt like it had lost some of its luster

I'ht

shi+ori knew aboutcereantea, to help out, but it wasn't fun, but I wasn't allowed to escape, so I also re there

If I'd paid attention, could I have found shi+ori from the crowd?

The answer is yes, of course No matter how many people there are, there was only one shi+ori, and she would look unique, separate from the rest

”Kubo shi+ori?”

Mizuno Youko looked surprised