Volume 9 Chapter 4 (2/2)
Noriko raised her head after she finished cutting the navy-blue cloth When she turned around, she saw that a student who usually sat a fair distance aas standing right behind her
It wasn't particularly unusual to see students out of their seats in the chaos of the horoup tables were cluttered with four people's cloth
”What is it?”
Noriko asked, and the girl either didn't have anything to talk about or found it hard to say, because she started with the obvious piece of flattery, ”That's lovely cloth you have,” before lapsing into an aard silence
”Kyouko-san, did you really come all the way over here just to compliment Noriko-san's cloth?”
Touko-san spoke those prickly words, working beside Noriko She'd been in a bad mood for a little while now, for some unknown reason Like an enemy of friendliness, her eyes were focused on the cloth she was cutting apart,presence for those at the same table
Kyouko-san, however, was unaware of this, so she shrugged off Touko-san's hostility and took a half-step forward, as though she'd firmed her resolve
”No, there was so I wanted to ask … Uantea?”
”Huh?”
That topic was so far removed from the earlier, ”Lovely cloth,” comment that Noriko couldn't respond immediately
”Well, you were talking to her earlier, right? Toudou shi+mako-sama, the second-year”
”Um, shi+mako-san's … ”
No sooner had Noriko uttered this than the air around her classan to tremble
”Did you say shi+mako-san … !?”
Everyone had been listening in to their conversation
”Ohthe honorific ”-san” with an older student”
”Do you have that close a relationshi+p with her?”
”Did you know her before you started school?”
”Have you been to her house?”
”Don't telllike that”
Since the teacher was in the preparation rooet out of their seats and crowd around Noriko
”Ah, um Hold on a minute”
Sadly, Noriko was sub and close to drowning
”Actually, it's like this”
Kyouko-san, the first to talk to Noriko, started speaking as a representative
”The Red, White and Yellow Roses are so popular they're adored not just by the high-school students but also by middle-school students So when one of them takes a special interest in someone, it's only natural that everyone would take note … You understand, right Noriko-san?”
”I guess”
She responded equivocally to the question of whether she understood But Noriko thought they'd just been talking normally in the hallway, it wasn't like they were co-workers having an affair It was odd that her classet so worked up about that
”Toudou shi+ht? She's always cal, as a second-year But despite that, everyone's concerned because she still hasn't chosen a soeur”
The ain
”Don't tell me they've already made the soeur vow … ”
Ca like a scream
”The soeur vow?”
”You've already accepted her rosary!?”
Most of the students crowding around her had coh Lillian'sNoriko behind in confusion
”Rosary? Accepted? Beco soeurs … ”
Having no idea as going on, Noriko asked the obvious questions and was greeted with the sounds of suppressed laughter, probably fro out all around her
”If you don't knohat a rosary is - ”
”I do, just not why you're all so worked up about them”
(Such an unpleasant smile)
Even Noriko knehat a rosary was
(Rosaries are those things … Christians use them, juzu with a cross attached)
But it was a complete mystery what that would have to do with shi+mako-san
Basically, one of the class Noriko explained it like this:
”For a long tirades at Lillian's Girls Acadeuidance to all the younger girls, and the younger girls abide by the direction of all their elders”
But there were cases where individuals could join together Apparently that was done through the previously ive a rosary to the younger one
”One onee-sama can only have one petit soeur It's a one-on-one relationshi+p, so the exchange of vows is an acknowledgment of the closest possible relationshi+p It's a bit like going steady with so other offers”
”We call those sisters ”soeurs””
Even with soeurs, they'd be called older sister or younger sister, or grand soeur and petit soeur if clarity were needed
”That such a system exists … ”
Norikodown
”My my But Noriko, you shouldn't be disappointed even if you haven't received a rosary yet”
”Indeed We'll offer you what little support we can”
Apparently her classmates were under the misapprehension that Noriko desired shi+mako-san's rosary They'd apparently interpreted her silence fro else entirely
(My head hurts … What is up with this school - )
Terrifying, Lillian's Girls Acadeirls' school, but thatfar more incomprehensible
”Don't cry, Noriko-san We're cheering for you”
( … ”Don't cry,” seriously, ould? )
”Noriko-san's smart and a little aloof I'm sure no-one would complain if shi+mako-sama chose her as her petit soeur”
The conversation continued around her No-one seemed to notice that the person in question had been left behind It was alh Noriko was the only one that didn't understand a thing
Until recently they'd been looking at her with interest, envy and even a little bit of jealousy, but why had those gazes changed to ones of coood little lambs beloved by Maria-sama, after all
It was at this point that, acco beside Noriko stood up
”Can't you be a bit more quiet?”
She'd been silent the entire tiotten that Touko-san was there
”Why are you all saying such iantea's petit soeur … there's no way that would ever happen!”
Touko-san stor
”Touko-san”
Noriko was about to chase after her, but a muttered, ”You should be more discreet,” stopped her
”You know, she's always drea the petit soeur of a Rose”
”Yeah, it must have come as a shock to her to hear that Noriko-san had become close to shi+mako-sama”
At Touko-san's vacated seat, there was soe and showy rose pattern on it, an odd choice for a skirt
The o up on Noriko unnoticed
It began with her shoes
She was on duty that day, so was leaving late after writing in the day log when she noticed that her shoe box was empty
”I'ht now Which would mean my leather shoes are unaccounted for … ”
If someone had mistaken her locker for theirs, then that careless person's indoor shoes should be in her shoe box, but they weren't First of all, the small lockers had nameplates on thein with
”Well, what should I do then?”
Thinking she'd have to go home in her indoor shoes, Noriko stepped out the entrance and saw a pair of black ballet flats lined up neatly on the mat
”??? … How on earth did that happen?”
Noriko pondered for a while, looking down at the words ”Nijou Noriko” written on the insole
” - Then, this , there were paperclips in my indoor shoes”
”Paperclips?”
Hearing Noriko's gruhtly in confusion As busy as Rosa Gigantea was, she had still appeared, lunch box in hand, at the back of the auditorium at lunch time, just as she'd promised
”Yeah, paperclips Nor to do that, it'd be thuht?”
”They'd put thumbtacks in your indoor shoes?”
shi+mako-san frowned, ”That sounds painful” Then, as she picked up a slice of rolled o like that, I wonder”
” - shi+ thumbtacks in indoor shoes or ballet shoes is a standard form of harassment”
”Really?”
” … Although that sort of a has been on the decline recently”
Even so, there were a lot of reprints lately
In Noriko's case, rather than spending her allowance on o towards her photo-albums of Buddhist statues, so she hadn't spent her own e by reading absolutely all of her older cousin's old co thea
”But that's getting off topic”
An explanation would take up the rest of their lunch break, so Noriko set the discussion about girls a to one side for now
The bookshelves in shi+a, and definitely wouldn't contain photo-albums of Buddhist statues
”But it was a paperclip, right?”
”That's right”
They had paperclips in them, but if she'd found them in the bin then that would have been a far more effective form of harassment Noay too half-hearted She couldn't even begin to fathom the state of mind of whoever perpetrated these acts
”Do you think they could have got into your indoor shoes accidentally?”
”A 5c in there? One in each shoe?”
”I suppose you're right But ould anyone be teasing you, Noriko?”
Noriko silently took a bite of her sandwich
There was no way that the girl in front of her would be thinking about how popular she was, and that othersaround her
”Ah, on top of that, Touko-san hadn't been speaking to me ever since the conversation about the rosary”
She couldn't hold it in any longer Even though Noriko would have preferred it if school was just a place for her to learn Why did she have to think about all this other stuff?
” … Rosary? Ah, that reminds me”
shi+mako-san closed the lid of her e, ”Before I forget”
”Here you go”
She was holding out a s
”Don't you reht?”
”Ah”
The juzu Because it was in an usual casing, she hadn't recognized it immediately
”Don't open it here”
shi+ers
”It would be an affront to Maria-sa at it If you like it, you can keep it for a while”
”… Are you sure that's okay?”
”I don't have your eyes for these things, Noriko More i about a rosary just before What was that all about?”
( … wait, she was actually listening?)
”About that”
Noriko summarized the events of yesterday, and shi+htly off-base question, ”Do you want my rosary?”
”I don't mind”
”I wouldn't hesitate to give it to you But is it soht now?”
”… Yeah, I understand”
Noriko nodded, stood up and folded up the handkerchief she'd been sitting on
Even without the rosary, she'd still be able to meet shi+mako-san like this They'd still be able to talk
(But)
The truth was, somewhere deep in her heart, she felt a sense of disappointment
(What would shi+mako-san have to say to me, for me to be satisfied - ?)
Did she want some proof that she alone was special?
(So then ive me her rosary)
Just then, Noriko had a realization
That what she wanted was simply to understand shi+mako-san's heart
When she returned to the classroom, a picture of Doraemon had been drawn in chalk on her desk
The girl who sat beside her still hadn't returned yet, and looking around the classroo ready for the next class No-one seeraffiti on her desk
Giving up on tracking down the perpetrator, Noriko once more looked at her desk
”It's so well done it's a shame to rub it out… ”
At present, no real harm had been done There was an innocence to the pranks That hy
(Maybe it's not going to escalate)
That was the sort of feeling she had, for no particular reason That it was just a bit ofaround
But those were naïve thoughts
Even if they were unavoidable
At that time, neither Noriko nor shi+mako-san knew that someone had witnessed the hand-over of the pouch at the rear of the auditorium