Volume 10 Chapter 8 (1/2)

Sunday, 7:50 am A call from Sachiko-sama arrived at the fukuzawa house

She had so out, so despite being the closest to the phone she didn't reach for the handset

If she didn't answer the phone, she wouldn't knoas calling She wanted to get out of the house not knowing She wanted to wipe away the reality of the phone call, like wiping clean a blackboard

However, while she was living with her fa her oay Her mother clattered out of the kitchen and cheerfully picked up the receiver

”hello, fukuzawa residence”

While listening to the person on the other end, Yu about this

”Yuasawara-san”

Yumi's mother held out the handset to her Obviously she'd coasaas Sachiko-sama's last name, because usually when she had an opportunity to talk to Sachiko-sareeted her properly, but this tih it was from one of Yumi's classmates

Yuht Yuuki had taken it to his room and he hadn't woken up yet Besides, she felt it would be somehow better if someone else was nearby, so she accepted the receiver

”hello, this is Yumi”

”It's Sachiko”

By the tone of her voice, without hearing any o ”I' to be the follow up

”I'm sorry, Yumi”

Yuh, since it was exactly like she'd predicted But in truth it was no laughing matter Even so, the shock hadn't fully hit her yet It would come later, bit by bit Which made it even worse

”Today - ”

”You can't make it?”

Yu, ”That's what I thought” To show that it wasn't such a shock She wanted to put on a show of courage

”Yes, so came up suddenly”

It was strange that soent business would co and cancel

”Even though I kept today open because I've been putting off our arrangeain”

Sachiko-sah the receiver But, not knowing how to reply, Yumi listened in silence

”I was looking forward to it too”

That's so cruel, onee-sa to do now that you've called off our date? Who are you going to see? Who is this person you have to prioritize overtheht her comfort However, Yu:

”I understand”

- That's all

”I'm sorry … Well then”

There was no lingering aftertaste The telephone call was ended quite abruptly

”Yumi-chan?”

Her mother asked, worried, as she took the receiver from Yumi

”We're not going out today”

As she said this, she felt like she was going to cry, so she ran up the stairs Halfway up she crashed into Yuuki, who'd woken up and was co downstairs, but she didn't want him to see her tear-stained face so she silently fled into her bedroom

”Yumi? Onee-chan? Hey, what's the matter?”

She answered the sound of the knocking with, ”It's nothing” Even though, in truth, it probably wasn't nothing

However, there was nothing that her brother could do for her

Yu her voice

She wasn't annoyed about not going to the amuse Yumi sad

”It's nothing, don't worry about it”

It was nothing Nothing to do with her family

Because the tears were aimed squarely at her onee-sama

There was nothing that anyone other than her onee-sama could do for her

The rain was closing in

Monday

She was still feeling depressed fro what it was supposed to which put her in a terrible ht from the start of the day

Heading into school, she saw Yoshi+no-san attacking her indoor shoes Yumi didn't knohat happened, but er in s were possible, no-one would ever have any problems

During lunchtiirl with the familiar vertical hair rolls appeared at the entrance to the Rose Mansion

”Gokigenyou, Yumi-sama”

”… Gokigenyou If you have some business in the Rose Mansion, why don't you come inside?”

In co Touko-chan, Yuh, the only one who noticed this was probably Yumi herself

”That's okay I' to have lunch with ht I ht meet her here”

Touko-chan o to meet, but Yumi didn't need to ask Both the speaker and the listener understood that it was Sachiko-sama, so the sentence was properly formed

Whether for good or for bad, the person herself arrived at that point

”Oh, Touko-chan?”

Well, that answered the question of who she was going to greet first For today especially, those sorts of sestures were on Yumi's mind

”Rosa Chinensis Here”

Touko-chan took a step forward and held so out to her

”Ah, you caive me this? Thank-you”

”I paid a visit to your classroo the break, but you weren't there”

”I would have been at my elective class”

Sachiko-saolden object from Touko-chan's hand and wrapped it around her left wrist It was the watch that she usually wore

(How did onee-sama's watch end up in Touko-chan's hands - )

Yumi had definitely seen that watch on Sachiko-sa

So then, as they were leaving school, had Sachiko-sama loaned it to Touko-chan for some reason?

(But, in that case, ould she say, ”You came all the way here?”)

That was the sort of thing you said when so you'd left behind

Left behind

What, when, where - ? An excess of thoughts floated through Yumi's mind and disappeared

Then Touko-chan too disappeared fro out plastic sheets on the grass

When Touko-chan left, Sachiko-sama finally addressed Yumi

”Yumi, I'm sorry about yesterday”

”… Yeah”

Sachiko-sa, but Yumi looked away first At that point Yoshi+no-san arrived, late, and they all went inside together leaving matters as they were

The Rose Mansion was unusually quiet that day Yoshi+no-san and Rei-sa, and Yumi seemed to be in the same boat

If the usually quiet shi+mako-san had been there, then she would have stirred some conversation, but she was nowhere to be seen, perhaps off seeing Noriko-chan Everything was stretched to the limit

Yu once they'd finished their lunches After school, Noriko-chan was going to accompany shi+mako-san to the Rose Mansion

Since they were going toafter homeroom, it didn't look like they'd have tiuest

The two Roses were looking over some paperwork for the school festival that was spread out on the table

Froaze upon her, but she ignored it, pretending to be caught up in cleaning

Perhaps she'd meant it as payback for yesterday At any rate, Sachiko-sa to Yumi

When she thought about it further, Sachiko-sama's words recently hadn't been kind, but sweet Like putting a sugar coated pastry in her ining as inside made her happy

But, that was all Nothing appeared from within, no chocolate, nuts, or splash of liqueur Sachiko-sae And because she understood that, if possible, Yu thes

She wanted words with more substance to them, even if they were spicy or bitter But thaton her part

The tragedy of spending time with her onee-sama

(It's tough, Minako-sama)

Even though she'd been advised to not just silently endure it

The inept petit soeur couldn't return the rosary, but in order to avoid being hated, she couldn't do anything other than silently endure it either

”Do you know the other naea?”

The teacher asked, in the middle of their classical literature class

They'd read through to a good place to stop for the day, but there was still so At times like these, the teacher would start to chat One of her classea from home, and their pale blue colored a section of the classroom

”I'es color As a result, it's been given a lot of nicknae kabuki dance' Like a ninja, right?”

The elegant lecturer, whointo her sixties, then spent the next tenabout the conditions that brought about the change in the hydrangea's color, the color change itself, and other such topics

When she sue of flowers, it struck a chord in Yumi's heart

- Fickleness

Yuea flower It was so pretty when it was blue Why would it change its color?

Fickleness

Perhaps Sachiko-saed too

Time itself may flow at a fixed rate, but it can see on one's state of mind

It dawdled excessively during class in the lead-up to recess, while it was gone in the blink of an eye during the recess spent waiting for someone who didn't come to visit

Yuht that it would have been nice if Sachiko-sama had come to visit her She didn't want to just meet up with Sachiko-sama in the Rose Mansion, she wanted Sachiko-sama to actively come and see her

And then, she wanted to be told all about Touko-chan If Sachiko-sao and see Touko-chan, Yuiven an explanation that she could accept

However, there was no follow through

Sachiko-sama didn't come to see her, and Yumi didn't want to bu Sachiko-sama either

There was still the chance that there h Sachiko-sa home quite early these days

Maybe she was avoiding things, and once that would have been worrying, but after seeing all these things it felt like it was better to think nothing of it, but that just made her feel even worse

And so, Friday

For the first time in a while, Sachiko-sa some Yamayurikai paperwork shi+mako-san and the newly admitted Noriko-chan were there too Yoshi+no-san and Rei-sama were at club practice, so not present

The tih

Not only was Sachiko-sa so idle chatter and quietly working away, she could probably avoid having her doubts about her onee-sama's actions exposed

However, when they reached a natural break in their work, Yumi suddenly felt the second-floor of the Rose Mansion become quite uncomfortable

Sachiko-sa anything, just sitting on her chair

(Yumi)

Any time now, that voice would reach her over the distance, but the sound didn't come

No matter the subject, Yumi would have welcoht, she was scared of Sachiko-sama's words

Yu some tea, but their newest member Noriko-chan was on-the-ball and had already started preparing some

shi+ out theIt looked like it was still raining, as she was looking up at the sky and sighing

It was at that point that Sachiko-sama spoke

”Noriko-chan Do you think you can do so about your use of 'shi+mako-san'?”

Noriko-chan was a first-year shi+mako-san was a second-year The tradition at Lillian's Girls Academy was for junior students to use the honorific '-sa their seniors

But for some reason, Noriko-chan had always used 'shi+ to shi+e to Yumi at first, but over time she'd become used to it, to the point where it didn't bother her anymore However, it seemed Sachiko-sama didn't feel the same

”These are the sort of things that shi+ you”

The harsh scolding went as far as including shi+mako-san's responsibility When that happened, Noriko-chan couldn't remain silent Those who remembered the Maria ceremony would understand that she wasn't one to back down even when her opponent was a third-year