Volume 10 Chapter 3 (1/2)
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To a degree, it could have been anticipated that things would turn out how they did
But even if it were anticipated, a direct refusal would have inflamed the situation That much was as obvious as a house fire
Honestly, it wasn't all that serious in the beginning
The one who sparked things off was Rei-chan
Honestly, if she wasn't such an idiot
”What did you just say?”
Rei-chan asked, raising her head So surprised that her fork stoppedabout ten centimeters above her plate, the piece of baked cheesecake still skewered on it
”Huh? I told you, now that the school year's ticked over, I thought it was about time I joined a club”
”I heard that What I wanted you to repeat hat came after that”
”After that?”
Yoshi+no scooped soreen tea crepe and vanilla ice-cream, into her spoon and stuffed herto savor it to its last, but Rei-chan had closed in looking so serious that either unintentionally, or against her better judg, even
Sunday afternoon
The weather was fine and they'd finished their ho spoiled by Sachiko-sa to be close to someone, so she'd invited Rei-chan to co around K station
Rei-chan earing a long sleeved T-shi+rt and jeans, fairly rough clothing, but with her long, thin legs it looked pretty good Yoshi+no was happy because it was her first ti cardigan for the year, and she was satisfied with the occasional gliht of herself in the s The coral pendant ht blue was the color of the ocean
Their enjoyable day off changed cos, not long after the food they'd ordered had been placed in front of the about club activities, and that had set things in motion
”Joining a club is fine I'ery in autu tih that you hardly ever have to sit out during PE, Yoshi+no But - ”
Rei-chan's cheesecake finally succuravity and slid off her fork The force of its direct hit on her plate caused the crust to burst apart, sending crumbs as far afield as Yoshi+no's ice-cream and black tea
”The kendo club, of all things”
Rei-chan placed her e the side of her head, coined she would be surprised, but hadn't expected she would be this concerned
”So then, is the problem that the kendo club's a sports club, or that you're a member of the kendo club, Rei-chan?”
Yoshi+no inquired, to which Rei-chan raised her head and said emphatically:
”It's both”
”Hmm, both, huh”
In other words, if she'd said the tennis club, the shock would have been reduced by half But if she'd said, for example, the handicrafts club and Rei-chan was a member of that, she wouldn't have liked it either
”I told you I wanted to try kendo before”
”I know, but”
”Why didn't you opposeserious?”
”I don't know It was right after your surgery, it didn't seem real”
”And now you're getting all flustered Ah, excuse et some more water?”
Yoshi+no held up her glass, as the waitress passed by their table
”… Don't ask for a refill of your water in the middle of a serious conversation”
As she said this, Rei-chan cru her head on an eh exhausted The cru it look quite funny Yoshi+no thought, ”And this is Mister Lillian?”
”Ah, um, did you want that water?”
Looking in the direction of the voice, Yoshi+no saw the waitress standing there, holding a silver pitcher Rei-chan's actions seee
”Pay no attention to that, I'll have some water, thanks”
After pointing at 'that', ie Rei-chan, Yoshi+no took the glass near Rei-chan's head and lined it up alongside her own After pouring water into the two glasses, the waitress said, ”Take your time,” bowed shallowly and quickly left their table If this kind of thing could disturb her, she still had a long way to go to become a pro
”That?”
When the sound of the waitress' footsteps was no longer audible, Rei-chan raised her head quickly and said unhappily However, Yoshi+no felt neither pain nor disco that face
”'That' is perfectly adequate for someone so loose, Rei-chan Calm down a bit It's shameful Here, drink some water”
”Mm”
Still with bits of crust in her hair, Rei-chan downed the entire glass of water in one go
” … I'm shameful?”
”Yes, shaet so flustered about me”
Inside Yoshi+no's mind, she whispered, ”Rei-chan's fans' illusions are all going up in smoke”
”I see, I'm shameful, huh … ”
”Pretty much”
Even though she was shameful and indecent, she still remained ”Yoshi+no's Rei-chan,” so Yoshi+no's love for her was unchanged However, the reason for Rei-chan's transition froallantry to cowardice was invariably Yoshi+no herself, so part of Yoshi+no was pleased and part mortified
”You want to do kendo?”
”Yeah, I think so I' ever since I was a kid, so I'd like to give it a try”
Which hy she had mentioned it quite casually But Rei-chan had treated it as so into panic on her own
”Then, why don't you just practice with my father? You don't have to do it at school”
”With uncle?”
”When the dojo's free, I could spar with you too”
”How's that different to the kendo club?”
It looked like Rei-chan's opposition to Yoshi+no joining the kendo club wasn't because she didn't want Yoshi+no doing kendo, or even because she didn't want theether
”They're completely different, our dojo and the school club Okay? You'll just be an ordinary club member, so I won't be able to protect you, even as your onee-sama and cousin”
Protect? Yoshi+no got a bit hung up on that phrase
”I didn't ask you to protect me”
”I'h sports clubs are The dojo floor has to be , even in the middle of winter Can you do that, Yoshi+no, with your sensitivity to the cold? In a completely barefoot world?”
”Ooh”
Since the weather was so mild, she hadn't even considered winter Yoshi+no fell silent, while Rei-chan waxed loquacious, alantly so
”Froet new club ive it a try, and it's always such a bother If you're staving off boredom and just want to play around, I'll keep you coh”
Ka-chink
Inside Yoshi+no, so snapped
”Staving off boredo around? You'll keep me company?”
” … Y-yoshi+no”
”No, that's enough The school has a wonderful training hall, so there's no need for me to trouble the kendo second-dan Hasekura Rei-sama”
Danger, danger As she spoke these cruel words, a warning bell sounded inside Yoshi+no's heart
A red light flashed in her mind
This pattern was extre like this, she would undoubtedly do so unthinkable
Remember the ”Yellow Rose Revolution” of six ed by Rei-chan's over-protectiveness, handed back the rosary and announced a ters had turned out alright in the end, but there was no guarantee that it would be the same the next time, and the uproar would cause trouble for those around them
Don't do it, don't do it Bear with it
But now that those reckless words had made their way out of her mouth, even if Yoshi+no were to try to s them down, they would not settle into her stomach
”C-calm down, Yoshi+no”
Rei-chan had noticed too So while she was saying to ”cal worked up herself Which just served to irritate Yoshi+no even more
”If you're always going to be like this, Rei-chan, I'll - ”
Ah, it's no good Herdirection, and Yoshi+no was backed into a corner in her er Yoshi+no knew full well that Rei-chan was more precious to her than this She knew, but -
”I'll -”
Herher body with it She thuot to her feet
With things the way they were, she couldn't just sit down again It wouldn't look good to stay standing forever, so it looked like the only option left was to continue with her rage and leave the cafe
”The rosary - ”
(No, stop!)
Yoshi+no's ht arm reached up to her chest She mustn't do this If she returned the rosary, it would be a repeat of the 'Yellow Rose Revolution'
(What should I do?)
There was no obvious path to reconciliation like the heart surgery and kendo ht hand now that it had started
Just as Yoshi+no was thinking it was all over, her right hand grasped so round
(… Huh?)
It should have been the shape of a cross, the tip of the rosary For some reason, it felt smooth -
(Ah!)
That's it It was her coral pendant
Since it was the weekend, she wasn't wearing her school uniform and hadn't put the rosary on either Yoshi+no's panic was proof that she had only just noticed
”Yoshi+no?”
However, it was probably a Godsend that she wasn't wearing her rosary She couldn't return so she didn't have on her
Yoshi+no took her hand off her coral pendant It was soo, so while throwing it at Rei-chan htly, it wouldn't have much emotional impact
”I' home”
The fight visibly left her Yoshi+no grabbed her shoulder-bag and turned towards the exit Although she hadn't finished eating her green-tea crepe, she had finished the chestnuts, so it was no great loss
”Ah, Yoshi+no Wait”
Yoshi+no hated it when Rei-chan rushed Since Yoshi+no was doing this of her own volition, proceeding in a measured fashi+on would be fine too
”Right”
Having suddenly thought of so, Yoshi+no turned around and returned to the table Not knowing the reason, Rei-chan smiled happily when she saw Yoshi+no's face If she were a dog, her tail would be wagging
”This should cover me”
Yoshi+no flung two 1,000 yen notes on the table, then left the store
She'd wanted to fling the contents of the cup of water, but there was no way she could do that to someone with cheesecake crumbs stuck to them
Monday
They went to school without speaking a word to each other
”Take care at school today”
Rei-chan's side each other, as though being friendly, until they turned the corner and were out of sight Their families were i that they didn't want to worry their parents
It took about eight ht ery on days when she wasn't feeling well, it hadn't felt as long as today Even though it actually
Why was that?
Yoshi+no realized why that was Because Rei-chan would hold her bag and walk alongside her Rei-chan would talk non-stop to cheer her up,her stride
Yoshi+no was truly grateful for that Every day she told herself that she had to co-operate with the unexpectedly delicate Rei-chan so that they could spend their time peacefully However
On days like this, when she was forcing herself to walk a few steps ahead, sighing and looking exhausted, those feelings were cohts
Thoughts of, ”Why should I have to do anything? Rei-chan has no right to object”
Yoshi+no walked on, spitting venom at the very short hair in front of her, and eventually the main entrance to Lillian's Girls Academy came into view
(Oh boy, it's still a long way from here)
The tree lined with ginkgo trees lazily stretched out froarden at a fork in the road, and in there was the statue of Maria-sah they'd walked there in silence, they still lined up beside each other and prayed as usual
Yoshi+no didn't ask Maria-sama to help them reconcile Because beside her, Rei-chan would undoubtedly be pestering Maria-sama for that
There was still a little ti to get crowded Since this was the point where students cole stream
Yoshi+no went inside immediately and was about to walk away from Rei-chan at the entrance to the shoe-locker room The reason for that was simply because the second-year and third-year lockers were in different areas, not necessarily because they were fighting
Most days, they'd ain after they'd been to their lockers, but today they probably wouldn't be waiting for each other The reason for that was
”Yoshi+no”
Just as Yoshi+no was starting to walk away, Rei-chan opened her ” Yoshi+no was thinking that the reconciliation had co Well, it would have been troubling to Yoshi+no if Rei-chan had apologized so readily anyway
”I didn't get to tell you this yesterday After school today, shi+ Noriko-chan with her”
”Ohhh … ”
Yoshi+no raised her eyebrows, so it was finally happening Ti a second-year like Yoshi+no, shi+h time she took a petit soeur
”Ah, but after school today - ”
Rei-chan was supposed to have kendo club practice
”Make any necessary arrange this too”
Rei-chan responded curtly
”Right”
They both i the words 'club activities' The unnatural way they avoided it still left a gloo
Even so, Yoshi+no found it somewhat pitiable that she had the schedule of soraved in her brain
”Is there anything we should be preparing?”
The Yellow Rose family may be in the midst of a quarrel, but there was still room for them to find joy in the happy topic of the White Rose family
”Sachiko said we shouldn't do anything special”
”Hmm”
Sachiko this, Sachiko that Yoshi+no was irritated - what's your opinion, Rei-chan?
It wasn't so she'd usually notice, but Yoshi+no was annoyed by Rei-chan's wishy-washy personality, and the way it seemed to fade in and out
”Well, that's that then”
Having conveyed her e, Rei-chan disappeared into the third-years' area Hey, are you just going to dump this irritation here and leave?
”What's up with that?”
Yoshi+no snorted, turning towards the tall retreating figure separated from her by a swarm of students
”Such a pigheaded person”
They were both pigheaded, but people tend not to notice their own failings
”I tell you what, she really gets oat”
Yoshi+no flung her locker open and threw her indoor shoes on the floor They hadn't done anything wrong, but she had to let her feelings out The rubbery tip of the shoes hit the ground and they scattered in different directions
”Evenme”
At times like these, Yoshi+no wasn't the sort of person to reflect on her actions, thinking that such an eventfrom Maria-sa the leather shoes like slippers, Yoshi+no sullenly chased after her indoor shoes
Having picked up her left shoe frohboring second-year peach class, Yoshi+no spied her right shoe just inside the second-year pine group area and was reaching out to it when -
”What are you doing?”
A voice cas that had appeared in front of her