Volume 6 Chapter 1 (1/2)
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It had just been a slight slip of the tongue
So she had no great expectation that she would receive an OK
Nevertheless
”Date?”
Sachiko-sama's eyes widened for an instant and she looked at Yumi (well, that's to be expected - even the one who said it was surprised) then smiled and said, ”That sounds like fun”
”Eh?” Yuh the co faithfully played out on her body, she jerked backwards, alathered ”Surprise Chocolates” once more
Valentine's Day evening
The treasure hunt organized by the newspaper club had finished, and a nus besides, until at last the two of them were alone on the second floor of the Rose Mansion
There had been a slight accident and the chocolate box had erupted, and it was all so unexpected she wanted to close her eyes
The problely blurted out to try and ss over
Lacking anything else to say, she had said it was a game of hit or miss How on earth did she have the nerve to s
As a consequence, she was asked what the prize for getting a hit was, and her oish of ”A ticket for a date together” ca her shock, she was feeling quite pleased with herself
Even still, Sachiko-sama's reaction was a surprise Or, rather, Yu any reaction at all, since she had said what popped into her mind
Instead, Sachiko was asking her questions about it
”When?”
”Ummm”
It see on a date If Sachiko was si diplomatic, she would have followed up 'That sounds like fun' with 'some day'
Back to the problem
While Yu on a date with Sachiko, she hadn't been planning this at all She was just saying whatever came to mind
”Well, how about next Sunday?”
Oncewith the flow
To the question of 'when,' the first thing that came to her mind was the date on the tickets that were the special prize in the newspaper club's treasure hunt And so just like that, thank you for the help newspaper club, but I'll be taking that You could even say it was fitting, given that it had been the newspaper club's plan that had lit the fire of her desire to go on a date with her onee-sama
”Sunday? That's fine”
Sachiko-sama had not turned her down
Thinking about it, Sachiko-sama would have blocked off that day for the date hoever found her hidden, red card But with the card now invalid, her schedule would have opened up
”Where e go?”
” U of a couple of places”
Confusion
”Ahh, onee-sao”
”There's nowhere in particular Wherever you want to go will be fine”
Ah, that type of ansas thespecific about where she wanted to go, it would have been easy But as the one who brought it up, it was up to Yumi to come up with a plan But first she had to weather the storm here somehow If her deceit unraveled, it
” Well, I'll come up with a list of several destinations by tomorrow”
”Oh well”
Sachiko-saaze The sun had long since set, but a light snoas falling so it was soht
”I' forward to it”
Taking hold of her school coat that was hanging over a chair, Sachiko-sao home?”
It was already well past the ti school
After stuffing the box of chocolates into her bag, Yumi followed Sachiko-sama out of the room
Rosa Gigantea and shi+mako-san, who she had supposed were still on the lower floor, were no longer there
shi+mako realized she had left herher indoor shoes to the shoe box She hesitated for a o back for them It was cold outside, plus she didn't really like leaving things behind
But
”What's up?”
Her onee-sa returned fro” was her response, and she hurriedly closed the shoe box
”It's cold, isn't it”
Leaving the entrance, the night air stung her exposed skin It felt like it was snowing inter up She had brought a folding u it It was just too lovely, with the leaves of the bushes and the light reflecting off the thinly falling snow that seemed to act as a veil around the deserted pathway
”Oh yeah shi+zuka gave ht warm us up a bit”
As she said this, she was ru for them
”Onee-sama, that's a bit inconsiderate”
shi+h
”Why so? I'll give you some too, shi+mako”
”That's not what I was saying”
”I see It wasshi+zuka's name in front of you But, okay It's still true that I received soht bon-bons”
So coed as she offered up the small, open box she retrieved from her pocket Inside was a neat row of five chocolate bon-bons, individually wrapped in silver paper There was a gap about the size of a bon-bon, probably from where she had unwrapped one and tasted it in front of shi+zuka-sama
”No, what I was saying was - ”
shi+ht into Rosa Gigantea's eyes
”What I was saying hat about shi+zuka-sas, onee-sama?”
”Huh?”
”If you were to share the present she gave you with me If shi+zuka-sama knew of this, how do you think she would feel?”
”shi+zuka's feelings?”
Rosa Gigantea stopped walking and looked down in thought, then, at length, raised her head and smiled
”I see You're right I've learned so”
The sain returned to her coat pocket
If it had been an act of kindness to try theiver of the present, then it had also been an act of kindness not to eat one when her little sister was showing self-restraint
shi+ood intuition and was a very kind person, even if she had done so a bit inconsiderate
”I'”
”Not at all I think I'm fortunate to have such a conscientious little sister I can be relaxed about ”
”Please don't say it”
Graduation was the word that shi+antea would say before she interrupted
”When onee-sama leaves, I'll definitely ”
With her equilibriuhts had become scattered and shi+mako was unable to finish her sentence
”You'll be fine Everyone loves you, shi+mako The world is a much easier place to live in than you think When I leave, you'll definitely beco here won't be an ordeal for you, shi+mako, but the start of a journey for both of us”
”I can't think of it like that at all”
”You will be able to think of it like that, definitely Spring will come, summer will come You'll be busy with your daily school life and notice that it's normal that I'm not there When you start your second year, there will be new first years to take our place When that happens, Lillian's will be filled with students”
”But!”
Onee-sa the new first years shi+mako sed her words Even if she said it, there was nothing that could be done about it and she didn't want to eantea
Certainly, she had becoood friends with her fellow first years, Yuh they were in different grades, she had become close with her fellow boutons, Sachiko-sama and Rei-sama
Still, none of them were Satou Sei
And none of the new first years would be Satou Sei either
In the whole world, the Satou Sei in front of her was the only one There was no-one else who could take her place
”What's the matter? This isn't like you, shi+mako”
”I'm sorry”
”There's no need to apologize Now then, what should I do?”
Rosa Gigantea gently wiped away shi+ unnoticed before speaking
”Should I eive you a kiss or anything else”
”That's enough”
shi+mako shook her head
That Rosa Gigantea had said that to her was enough
The two of theet too close Closeness, fawning over each other, would just be re-opening each other's wounds
In this way, Rosa Gigantea was shi+uardian When shi+antea would coh they were looking into a mirror, and they saw their own existence
So shi+antea would be by her side If she could look at Rosa Gigantea, that was enough She didn't want to be held close
”Really, what should I do? You seem a bit uneasy today”
shi+ traces of her tears frohtly self-deprecating way But Rosa Gigantea didn't laugh
”Your gloves”
”Huh?”
”What happened to your gloves? You alear theht?”
”Ahh”
The time to recall had arrived
”I seem to have left them in the classroom What with the treasure hunt, and the co”
”Hold out your hand”
”Huh?”
”The commotion was the cause? I think it must have been me”
Rosa Gigantea swiftly grasped shi+mako's empty left hand and put it into her coat pocket Not the left side pocket she had put shi+zuka's chocolates in, the right side one
”Onee-sama”
”The marble cake was incredibly delicious”
After giving shi+ht squeeze, Rosa Gigantea sloalked off shi+mako too walked off, as her hand was still held inside Rosa Gigantea's pocket Although their teantea's hand felt very warantea's pocket felt warh they were made from the same material
As they walked along, they had a conversation about antea steered the conversation towards food, probably because she was hungry
When they arrived at Maria-sama's statue, shi+ed on her hand, a little forcibly
”Onee-sama?”
”That's enough for today”
Without waiting for a response, she walked off in silence It was as though she wanted to leave this place without even a second's delay
Soantea's mental state, shi+mako accompanied her in silence As a result, today was the first day she had not perfor in front of the statue of Maria-sama
It see reflected
When they arrived at the bus stop, outside the school gates, Rosa Gigantea let out a sigh and finally returned to normal
”I hadn't really thought about it, because she didn't receive any other than mine”
Yoshi+no-san sighed
”And how many do you think Rei-chan received?”
” A decent catch”
”Darn right, a decent catch Fisher”
It was a different kind of catch though But pointing this out would only double Yoshi+no-san's gru
The Rose Mansion, on the day after all the excitement
It was lunch ti with Minako-sama from the newspaper club They stopped by to say this, then headed out to the newspaper club's clubhouse for a review of the event
And so, just as before, Yumi and Yoshi+no-san were left by themselves On the table, Yoshi+no-san had an over-sized paper bag from which she pulled out box after box, all apparently full of chocolates
”Those are all for Rei-sama?”
”Yep Since Rei-chan's so popular”
This ti that fondly But, still, Yu this out When started, Yoshi+no-san's ”Rei-chan material” went on and on and on
”I thought I'd at least be able to commiserate with Yumi-san, who'd be in the same position as me, but what happens? Sachiko-sama doesn't accept chocolates from anyone other than Yumi-san”
”I huize For my fastidious onee-sama”
Co from Yumi, it was filled with love
”Oh, is that what you call it In that case, my onee-sama is overly kind”
”A sweet”
”Same to you”
The pair turned to each other and bowed in thanks Well, they had just finished eating their lunches, so it did have the proper appearance
”So how come you have all these chocolates for Rei-sama?”
”Why indeed? Rei-chan's collector gave them to me”
”Collector?”
”Like, yesterday, the boutons were busy, yeah? So it'd be hard for thee of being the collector for Rei-chan They were going to present theht afterwards”
”Hmmm”
”So they gave the theet them to Rei-chan that day”
”I see”
Plus, Yu Yoshi+no-san as the intermediary, they didn't have to put up with her on the way home
Even if you didn't kno scary Yoshi+no truly was, surely they would have so chocolate to someone with a petit soeur As for Yoshi+no-san, it was probablywith all the chocolates, rather than publicly be given them one at a time
Still, is such a business-like approach really appropriate on this once-a-yearopportunity?
”It's good, don't you think?”
Yoshi+no unfolded the report writing paper she had brought along with her lunch, and started writing some kind of list
”Really?”
”Yeah, it's best that they can ave you chocolates” appeal to Rei-chan It's not like she's Rosa Gigantea, no-one has huge expectations of Rei-chan”
As Yoshi+no-san was speaking, she was also picking up the presents one-by-one, carefully looking at the wrapping paper as though inspecting the paper, for some reason or another
”Oh, how fortunate Everyone's name and class is written in a visible location The collector h I' addressed to Rei-chan”
She had been grus like 'Oh look, so silenced her
”U?”
Yuht it rude to interrupt, but she had become concerned and asked
”Huh? Oh, I'ive return gifts to all of thehed once more
It see a first year, Rei-sama received a nuladly accepted them Then, on White Day, she ave theifts fro out last year had joined in this year, and so the decent catch
Apparently Yoshi+no-san wasn't depressed about Rei-sama's popularity, sothe list of the stack of chocolate, and thinking about Rei-chan conscientiously h on the petit soeur who had to follow such a broad minded onee-sama like Rei-sama
Thinking she should do so to help, Yumi lined up the scattered presents on the table so that the names where visible when, suddenly