Volume 25 Chapter 7 Part1 (1/2)

School life could be viewed as a connected series of events After Christmas came the winter break, then when the third term started in the new year it was the election for the next student council As soon as that was over, it was Valentine's Day

She realized during cleaning tiathered dust and particles were a lot more colorful than usual

At first she hadn't paid it any attention, thinking that it was just a one-ti day, and as the days progressed it so

Typically, it was things that were too small to carry to the bin that were left on the floor - ht in from outside and strands of hair So when she swept the floor, the whitish, blackish and grayish particles would form a small monochrome mound

But recently, there were reddish, yellowish, greenish, and all sorts of different colored specks of fiber le shade

What was going on there?

After peering at the dustpan for a little while, she finally understood thebehind the colors

(Ah)

They were fibers fro breaks

But even so, would knitting alone make these dustballs? Well, it wasn't completely impossible If there were so their knitting, and so fluffythings for Valentine's Day, it would probably result in about that amount of dust

And so would borrow some yarn and play cat's cradle, so the first-year ca in wool fibers

Conversations about chocolate were springing up all over the place Students getting together to look through recipe books and writing down ingredients for sweets, or poring over the catalogs froazines Everyone was having fun, whether they had an onee-sama or not

It was their long-awaited high-school Valentine's Day It was probablyit

After school on Saturday

With the cleaning finished, and her hands washed, she went to take her handkerchief out of her pocket and so out with it and landed on the floor After picking it up and unfolding it, she saw that it was the special edition of the Lillian Kawaraban that had been distributed that otten that she had it in her pocket

”It's on again - the Treasure Hunt!”

The headline jumped out at her

But despite the sense of urgency in the announcement, there were hardly any details provided When she'd first read it, she thought that the newspaper was planning on releasing the information little by little in order to drum up enthusiasm, but apparently they hadn't settled on the final details

”Mami-sama said they'd publish the rules as soon as they were decided”

Noriko had explained at lunch ti to escape her classmates

Noriko's life had become a lot more hectic since the student council elections Of course, some of that was Yaather around her during breaks to ask her about the upco events

As a result, for the last few days, Noriko gave the i from one place to another There was no end to the people she had to deal with Just what on earth had happened to the ”Unapproachable Noriko-san” from the start of the school year?

Thinking about it, Touko grimaced

It was the sa of the past too

At some point they'd swapped

No It wasn't like they'd switched roles They'd both gradually changed over time, until they'd finally settled like this

”Treasure hunt … huh”

Touko returned the paper to her right pocket Her hand remained there, in her pocket

She hadn't been able to participate in last year's treasure hunt because she'd been in middle-school She'd declined her classmates' invitation to race over there as soon as school was over and had pretended to go hoot the better of her and she had walked over to the high-school area And then -

(What an idiot)

Fro crushed It was no longer folded in four, it was now just a paper ball

(What an idiot)

She walked quickly down the hallway Like she was trying to shake off the ghosts of the past Why did she have to remember that scene?

(What an idiot, what an idiot, what an idiot, what an idiot!)

She ran and ran, but it just kept chasing her

The ih the school, exactly one year ago Her desperate expression as she ran, pursued by those other girls But, the way it was framed, she looked like the lead racehorse, pursued by the rest of the field

That girl was the one that Sachiko-onee-sama had chosen