Volume 6 Chapter 4 (1/2)
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”You've been crying a lot lately”
Rosa Gigantea murmured
”I'm sorry”
shi+ainst She wondered how long she had been like that It was already starting to get dark
”If you like, I'll stay with you until the ”
”That's not”
”It o someplace else?”
With great effort, she stood up and stretched Perhaps thinking she had recovered, Rosa Gigantea did not lend her a hand For that, shi+rateful
”… But, crying n”
Rosa Gigantea went back to cutting the cheesecake into pieces with her fork and eating it The lights in the roouard probably wouldn't patrol this area but it would still be bad if light were to leak out
”It ood for you to show soe, shi+mako”
”My weakness”
shi+antea It felt like the first ti time that it had just been the two of them in the Rose Mansion They were the type of soeurs that always kept some distance as they looked at each other
After all, the two of them were mirrors They could see themselves in each other
”If you try to shoulder everything yourself, you'll be crushed nobody is going to criticize you if you show some weakness Or if they do, it justand you should cast the friends do”
”Yeah”
She understood Rosa Gigantea's reasoning
The people who loved her knew of the secrets hidden within her heart, so would not change their behavior towards her So the only one worrying about it was herself As long as she stayed cal deal, and her world would probably open up further
”But I can't take the next step”
”Spring will arrive very soon”
As she said this, Rosa Gigantea stood up and took a clean fork from the cutlery drawer She then skewered a piece of the cheesecake and offered it to shi+mako
”Things will change when Spring arrives, right?”
shi+mako took the offered fork and ate from it It eet and sour A hint of salt was mixed in, from her recent tears
”Yep The cherry blossoms will bloom You'll meet new people”
”I first antea”
”Right I first , shi+mako”
The two of theh the cheesecake, little by little
”shi+zuka-sama tricked me”
”shi+zuka? Oh yeah, what happened to shi+zuka? I came here because she called me, you know”
”Yeah”
Having washed the cutlery, shi+mako smiled as she dried her hands on her handkerchief
”Her forte is surprising people, don't you think?”
”Yeah”
”A real criminal mastermind But she's also quite considerate”
”Really?”
Rosa Gigantea shut off the space heater As they hadn't turned the lights on, it was now almost pitch black
”So now I finally understand”
The front gate may already be shut, in which case they would have to climb over the wall But even that would be okay Given the way things were going today, it seemed likely
”What is it you understand?”
Rosa Gigantea asked her, waiting by the open door
”The main reason for my date with shi+zuka-sama”
shi+mako answered as she hurried over
”The reason?”
”So there would be no acrimony between shi+zuka-sama's class and the boutons”
”Acrimony, huh”
Rosa Gigantea gently closed the door and then spoke
”… Aren't you perhaps over-thinking this?”
Yoshi+no had come out of her room because her mother had told her that her friend was here, but when she saas standing there she was lost for words
”Gokigenyou Can we talk for a bit?”
Her frilly dress could be seen poking out from underneath her coat Her wavy hair that appeared to have been styled with a curling iron was already wilting, no longer able to defy the passage of time
In the entrance was her hated rival for Rei-chan's love, Tanuma Chisato
”… I guess Although are we really friends?”
”What else could I do? It would look suspicious if I didn't say ere friends, right”
”Well, that's true”
Chisato-san's position was actually 'Rei-chan's fan,' but it would see Yoshi+no Certainly, it was convenient for both Yoshi+no and her family that Chisato-san had called herself a friend from Lillian's
”Won't you come in?”
Her'Why don't you invite her inside?' so, unpleasant though it was, Yoshi+no reluctantly asked her in
”It's okay”
Chisato-san shook her head and said she'd be going home soon
”So? Why did you co for Rei-chan's house, it's next door”
”I know”
”And what about Rei-chan? You didn't coether?”
”No She'd still be riding her bike now”
”Bike?”
Yoshi+no left Chisato-san in the entry and went outside Rei-chan's usual bike was definitelyfrom the Hasekura family's bike shed
”What do youthat Rei-chan rode her bike to K station today?”
She asked, returning to the entry Chisato-san said 'Yeah' and nodded, looking slightly proud
”Rei-sa the date, I said I wanted to see a movie And she said 'Let's do that then' And then she said 'But if we do that, on't have any ht? So we can each make a box lunch and eat theood She even ate ”
”Uh huh So what is it you want to say?”
”It's about Rei-sama's kindness I was fine because I used et to K station, but Rei-sama doesn't have a commuter pass, does she?”
”Well, yeah Since alk to school”
”So she rode her bike there, for my sake Because the 3000 yen had to include transportation And we have to write a report, so the numbers have to match up”
That was pretty stingy of her, Yoshi+no thought Because she wanted to see atheir own lunch Because she wanted to see a movie, Rei-chan couldn't catch the bus While they were doing that, Yoshi+no had been eating her extravagant lunch and reading her book
”Because it was dark, Rei-sama took me home”
”Huh?”
”She said that I didn't have to write it in the report To say that we had split up at K station”
”… I don't understand what you're trying to say”
”She bought a ticket with her own money, and accompanied me to my home”
Now it made sense
Saying that they had split up at K station was caet had been blown by Rei-chan spending several hundred yen of her own money in order to properly escort her date home Just what you'd expect from Mr Lillian Impeccable, wouldn't you say?
Yoshi+no understood Rei-chan's immense popularity
”She even went as far as buying a hborhood”
”That's typical of Rei-chan, being so serious She'd even prepared an excuse about doing soo to the station closest to your house”
”That's what I'ht?”
Yoshi+no knew about kindness But in Rei-chan's case, it went beyond kindness to stubbornness Not just Mr Lillian but Mr Perfect
”So? What is so in a place like this?”
Unable to see the theme of the conversation even after all this ti Chisato-san standing here in front of her wasn't putting her in a good mood
Yoshi+no couldn't believe her ears when she heard Chisato-san's response to her question
”Me? I returned hoain”
”Ehh?”
Involuntarily she cried out All of the effort Rei-chan had gone to by buying a train ticket and escorting Chisato-san home had just been casually tossed aside, hadn't it?
But that wasn't the only surprising part What Chisato-san said next was even
”I quietly followed Rei-saht the same train to K station”
”Huh? Then? No way Did Rei-chan - ”
”She didn't knoas in a different carriage, and she was reading her ht a bus and came here ahead of her”
”That's pretty stupid, yeah?”
The words were out of her e she hid behind while at school was too restricting They didn't have time to mince words
”I knoas stupid I get it”
Chisato-san shot back, angrily
Well, that was probably true There was no need for Yoshi+no to objectively point this out Chisato-san would have been able to realize subjectively that her own behavior was quite odd But if she hadn't realized her strange behavior, itconversation
”Once more, why?”
Yoshi+no asked, after she had calmed down Chisato-san's response to her question was curt
”Because I had so I wanted to tell you”
”So you wanted to tell me?”
You've already said plenty, Yoshi+no thought About how kind Rei-chan had been
”The movie was fun Rei-sama listened to h she probably wasn't interested in it”
”Well, that's …”
That's precisely her tastes, Yoshi+no thought Chisato-san must have believed the incorrect information that had been printed in the Lillian Kawaraban, so she didn't know Rei-chan's preferences There's no doubt that Rei-chan would have happily watched the romantic movie
”We alsoshopping There was a cute antique doll but it was expensive so we only looked at it And Rei-sama accompanied me everywhere ent”
Chisato-san continued
”We couldn't go to the zoo or the amusement park because they have an entrance fee, but alked around the lake in the public park They had rowboats that so, but I was content just to watch Because Rei-sama was byface would be looking only at me”
”So, what You caive me your report?”
”That's right So?”
Chisato-san grinned evilly Her
”I ca to you About how fun my half-day date ith Rei-sama About how kind Rei-sama was I”
Chisato-san's voice faltered at that point
(Huh?)
The proud look on her face that had been so grating gradually contorted and then the tears tue drops
”… Hey, why are you crying?”
Yoshi+no was trying to understand, but Chisato-san just gave a sht? Rei-chan was kind, right? So as she crying and looking so miserable?
”Chisato-san”
Yoshi+no gently put her hands on Chisato-san's shoulders Even if she was an annoying rival for Rei-chan's affection, there's a te
Chisato-san slowly raised her downcast head
”I saw you, Yoshi+no-san”
”Huh?”
”On the pedestrian bridge, in front of the park”
”Oh, really?”
She had failed, and been seen Even worse, it was by the person she least wanted to be seen by
”So I thought I'dto Rei-sama's arm”
”Then you succeeded splendidly I was so jealous I wanted to slap you”
Yoshi+no was starting to get angry just re it
”I hated you, Yoshi+no-san”
”Oh, really”
Yoshi+no hadn't thought that Chisato-san liked her, so it didn't come as a shock Indeed, it would have been worse if Chisato-san had told her that she liked her
”Before your surgery you had the iic heroine and Rei-sa you out That was exactly how I interpreted it”