Volume 23 Chapter 3 (1/2)
The second of January arrived
Yu clothes, her toothbrush, and other such things on her right shoulder, and a paper bag containing a Maple Parlor tin of assorted cookies in her left hand
In her usual clothes, jeans and a sweater with a duffel coat over the top Her mother said she should take the opportunity to wear a kiht She wasn't qualified to wear anything that she couldn't put on by herself the following hest priority
9:30am
She was heading out a bit early but there was a reason for that She thought she'd stop in at a couple of places on the way to Sachiko-sama's house
She took the bus to M Station where she transferred buses Getting on the loop bus leaving from the south entrance that she usually took to school
But she wasn't going to Lillian's Girls Acadeot off before there, at the bus stop in front of a shi+nto shrine It was the same route she'd taken with Satou Sei-sama on the second of January last year
It wasn't like she'd becoraduated Sei-sama And since Yumi didn't have her driver's license, obviously she hadn't parked her beloved car at the back of the shrine
The reason for this?
A hatsuet a fortune?
No, no She'd completed her hatsuhborhood, and she'd get discouraged if she drew ”bad luck” as her fortune, so she passed on both
”Let's do this”
After firing herself up, Yumi threw herself into the crowd of people in front of the food stalls Calarilled corn She bought two servings of each and put theht fro an eco-friendly housewife
She wanted to buy even more but unlike last year she didn't have a car to carry her straight to her destination She'd reached the limit of what she could carry by herself Additionally, it had been a bit ood place to stop She'd spend all her New Year's htlessly
Right Her goal had been festival food She could have bought soht it was better to get the saht last year, so she'd made the trip out here Basically, Yuhted
She returned once more to M Station and this tily empty, so Yuage on her lap and the other half in front of her shoes and let out a large sigh of relief
The she finally looked forwards and spotted so opposite her
”Noriko-chan?”
”Ah, Yumi-sama”
Noriko-chan must have boarded the train ahead of her, and she picked up her belongings and moved to the seat next to Yue down coat, with a cute pair of charcoal gray tights peeking out beneath that
”Gokigenyou Oh, and happy new year”
”Yeah Happy new year”
It would be foolish to ask so?” or ”How coasawara's New Year's Party They'd actually arranged to meet at the train station closest to Sachiko-sama's house but they'd run into each other a bit early
”That's a lot of luggage you've got, Yumi-sama”
”Hahaha The invitation said to bring your own, and I got a bit carried away”
Noriko-chan was traveling surprisingly lightly, perhaps because she was accusto s one size s that looked like it contained pastries
”I brought chocolates They have soreat-aunt recommended them”
”Sounds good”
”They are!”
Noriko-chan agreed, full of confidence
They didn't just sound tasty, they also sounded expensive Whether consciously or not, they'd definitely raised the bar on the sort of gifts they were bringing to the Ogasawara family
”I thought you and shi+ht have met up earlier, Noriko-chan”
”Ah, right I went home for New Year's”
Yu Noriko-chan's family lived a bit too far away for her to coreat-aunt
The train entle click-clack vibration But she couldn't relax corip on the handle of the plastic bag by her feet so that the cala out
Click-clack Whenever the train shook, the s Some distance away, an older lady in her Sunday best turned their way, saying, ”I wonder what that smell is”
”Yumi-sama, um”
Click
”Mm?”
Yumi was surprised by Noriko-chan's tone, which was completely different to her earlier, ”They are!” so she looked to her side and saw Noriko-chan looking serious
”Wh-what's the matter!?”
”I feel like I owe you a y, Yumi-sama”
What? What?
Despite being a first-year, Noriko-chan was level headed She rarely made a careless y A massive one at that
”Did you do so to me?”
Since Yu, all she could do was ask They still had a bit of time left on the train So this would be a detour on the way
”Although I'ain”
With that, Yumi immediately understood
”Is this about Touko-chan?”
Noriko-chan nodded in agree that caain” The thing that Sachiko-sama had told her to ”leave alone”
”But you didn't really have anything to do hat happened with Touko-chan - ”
Noriko-chan shouldn't have felt responsible for Touko-chan's words and actions just because they were close friends But Noriko-chan shook her head, indicating that she wasn't apologizing in Touko-chan's stead
”I've always thought it would be good if Touko was your petit soeur - no, that's not right, I thought it would be good if you were Touko's onee-sama But you never seemed to think much of her Or rather, you were never conscious of her as a petit soeur So I hated it when you innocently meddled in her affairs … I'm sorry”
”I see”
That would have been why Noriko-chan flared up unexpectedly when they asked her to invite Touko-chan and Kanako-chan to the Christmas party
”But you were giving serious consideration to her And yet, that Touko”
”Having the offer of soeurshi+p turned down is neither a good thing nor a bad thing”
Although it had been quite a shock when she was rejected But that was unavoidable There was no blame, like a school that didn't admit students who failed their entrance exam, or a company that canceled a contract when their terms weren't met, or a lover who turned down a proposal It was like that
”But”
Noriko-chan mumbled
”I don't think it's good to hide your own feelings”
There was an unshakeable self-belief there As a result, Yumi felt a little bit braver
”So you're saying that you don't think Touko-chan hates me?”
”Yes”
Of course It was kind of reassuring
”Then I must have made some kind of mistake”
Yuh to herself
”A mistake?”
”Like with the tis, or how I asked her … that sort of thing”
She looked out theto see where they were, but the glass had clouded over so she could only faintly make out the scenery outside
They stood around chatting by the ticket gate of the train station that they'd arranged to meet at, and after about five minutes shi+mako-san arrived
”I'm sorry Did I make you wait?”
”No, we got here a bit too early”
There was stilltiet a bit flustered when she saw theate accompanied by the pitter-patter sound of zouri sandals
That's right shi+ant long-sleeved affair, but neither was it just a wool enseht in thesome sort of coat over the top so they could only see the collar and from the waist down
”Is that a komon kimono?”
”Yes You're quite knowledgeable about kimonos”
”No, no, it was just a lucky guess”
In truth, Yuo, but she'd opened that rarely used drawer and it seemed like the sa New Year's last year, so she thought she'd ask The kimono had a small floral pattern across it As for the color, she could see gray and pink and green But just by wearing the ki that she'd be able to put it on by herself Impressive
”So, then, do you have a yukata to sleep in, by any chance?”
Yuhed
”Sadly, no, just pajamas”
At that point, Yu over their conversation out of the corner of her eye
”Ah, sorry I ju”
”Not at all, I didn't mean to rush you”
So with that, the three offered their greetings together
”Happy New Year”
Let's look after each other this year too After bowing their heads and exchanging greetings, Yumi noticed an unsteady atmosphere between the White Rose soeurs
”Is this, perhaps, the first time you've met this year … ?”
”Yes What about it?”
That's right Noriko-chan said she'd been spending New Year's with her faht here
”Sorry, I didn't realize I'll leave you alone for a bit, so take your time - ”
She quickly picked up her bags and turned around but then shi+rabbed her upper arm and said, ”Oh Yumi-san, there's no need for that”
”What, even after all this ti out for us?”
”But, well”
It was the first time the soeurs had met this year, wasn't she just a third-wheel?
”If you're going to do that, wouldn't we also have to hide somewhere e arrived at Sachiko-sama's house?”
In theory, that would be right But those two hadn't been soeurs all that long … not all that long … then Yuers and corrected herself It had been six months already They couldn't be called veterans, but their relationshi+p was probably in its pri over them too much
”What were Rei-sa?”
shi+ around restlessly
”I asked theht there”
Coet to this train station
”It's just the three of us then?”
”That's right”
Since they'd all arrived, they decided to leave the train station even though it was a bit earlier than planned
It was about a fifteen to twenty minute walk from the train station to Sachiko-sama's house About three bus stops They could take a bus from outside the train station, but the bus stop was a fair way from Sachiko-sama's house, so they'd still have to walk some distance
”What should we do?”
”You've visited her a couple of tio then?”
”Every time I've been to her house, someone's driven me there”
”Huh, so it's like your first ti to her house too?”
A palpable sense of ”Are we going to be okay?” was radiating from Noriko-chan But Yumi had been instructed by her onee-sama to safely escort the first-ti like, ”I'm not sure”
”Hey Well, she did fax me a map Huh, which way is which?”
Yu it around when Noriko-chan said, ”Pardon me,” and relieved her of it
”The station's here and north is up, so it should go this way around So with that, this street's that one over there, so I guess we should go straight ahead for now As long as we're heading in the right direction, we can revise our route at any cross streets on the way”
There was a reason behind Noriko-chan's unsure words The ue … and after walking for a while they were still in a residential area, with no sight of the shopping district or large building landmarks that were on the map
Well, even so, Sachiko-sa, but a plot of land large enough to be a public park, so they'd knohen they were alongside it The other people living in their neighborhood probably used the Ogasawara estate as a landmark
”Ah There's a hill over there We ht track after all”
Hanging fro of festival food Yuh spirits and took the lead, either because she was the only first-year, or because the two second-years weren't being all that energetic
”Quite a reliable petit soeur you've got”
”Yes, she is, isn't she?”