Volume 29 Chapter 1 (1/2)
In thebus departure time meant a world of difference in ambient temperature
You could say that this was obvious, since the sun would have had less time to warm the Tokyo atmosphere, but as she rode the bus that looped between the north gate of M station and Lillian's Girls Academy she couldn't dismiss it so simply
She had thought it hile checking if the bus that left at 7:30 was the saht on 8:00 The peak-ti to school was around 8:00am, so the bus was usually loaded to 200 capacity with students packed in tight and hanging on to overhead straps or handrails Naturally, the heat was incredible On days when you were carried through to the general vicinity of one of the heating ducts it was so stealoves, but there was no room to move, so all you could do was endure until you arrived at the Lillian's Girls Academy bus stop - That was the scene that usually played out around Yumi on her trip to school these days
(Oooh, it's cold)
So then, the only conclusion you could draw for why Yu as she sat in a deserted bus was that she had caught an earlier bus than usual Even so, there would nor this bus, but the one i late and scooped up all of the students waiting on the platform, which meant that when this bus departed it only had about ten students on-board It sounded like the heater was turned on, but its rattling did very little to warm the air
Yumi placed her hand over her chest as she looked out theUnderneath the layers of her gloves, coat and school unifor fro of her heart
By following the line of thought that led to her catching an earlier bus, Yumi arrived at this rosary
(… Today's definitely the day I give this to Touko-chan)
As a result of that decision she had been assailed by waves of various e nervousness, excitement and sorrow, to the extent that she opened her eyes an hour earlier than usual thistrip yesterday, Yumi had awoken without the aid of her alarm clock
And once her eyes were open, there was nothing she could do At the very least, her e back to sleep impossible, so Yumi turned the heater on with the remote control then quietly crept out of bed while it was still dark It see,' so she decided to head to school early instead And when she arrived at M station, Yu peak she had also avoided various people asking her about how yesterday's date went
The bus stopped in front of the gates to Lillian's Girls Acade Yumi, filed out of the rear doors of the bus, all of them students at Lillian's Yumi was last off the bus, and as she stepped down, she turned and look inside the bus The lone ed woman who remained in one of the priority seats looked ill-at-ease
Of the nine other students who got off the bus with her, none of thenized her as Rosa Chinensis en bouton, but they just gave a slight nod and then hurried off ahead of her They all had their reasons why they had to arrive at school early Yumi saw them off with a smile, then sloalked after them
Yue, when usually she would have to trudge in order to keep pace with those around her Of course, there had been days when she had to arrive early as part of her Yamayurikai work, but she'd never arrived at school so early without aor task scheduled It didn't matter when she arrived at the Rose Mansion today, so the feeling of being rushed was absent
Yu in a corner of the pedestrian bridge The wind may have carried it there, since it was in a spot where dust had gathered In spite of how cold the air felt on your skin The pedestrian bridge was, just a tiny bit, closer to the sun than the ground, and perhaps it had good exposure to sunlight Spring would soon be here
As she passed through the tall gates, the nu in front of her increased Students who caught the bus that looped in the opposite direction blended together with those alked to school Sprinkled in ast these were a few university students anduniforms
After walking down the path lined with trees, now stripped back to their branches, the statue of Maria-sama appeared Normally Yumi was just one in a crowd of people when she passed by here, and was always mindful of the people behind her, but today it looked like she'd be able to take her time
Oh
The sole person in front of the statue of Maria-sa her prayers as Yumi arrived
The student turned around slowly, perhaps having sensed Yuirl turned around as though in slow-motion, and the instant their eyes met her mouth made the exact same shape as Yumi's
”Ah”
The two faint sounds overlapped each other, sounding like a voice The two of theape But surely that couldn't have lasted for very long The young lady in front of her quickly put on a sh her momentary surprise had never happened, and said:
”Gokigenyou, Yumi-sama”
This tim
Vertical hair-rolls that swayed beside her ears, a determined brow First year camellia class, Matsudaira Touko Member of the drama club Yesterday, Yumi's partner on a date And -
”Thank-you for yesterday”
As expected She was someone as able to act properly even in such circumstances
”It seeht the bus just ahead of yours As our bus was leaving, we could see the next one pulling in to the bus stop and all the students on board sighed Ahh, if only we'd waited for the next one”
Not only that, but she seemed the same as usual
”Yep It was deserted”
Belatedly, Yumi smiled and walked forward Then stopped in front of the statue of Maria-sama Yumi's heart leapt when she passed in front of Touko-chan, but she took care not to show it Because it was kind of annoying It would be eh they were getting all excited
But the truth was, Yumi was all excited Because the face that she had been picturing as she walked along the path had suddenly appeared in front of her And since she didn't knohy this good fortune had befallen her, Yumi couldn't help herself
When she lowered her hands that had been joined in prayer and turned around, Touko-chan was still there So close that Yumi could almost reach out and touch her
”Sorry to keep you waiting”
Yu from her neck asked if she was sure about this, but Yus
Their chancein front of the statue of Maria-saive the rosary to Touko-chan, but Yumi didn't think so
In order to retrieve the rosary, she would have had to undo the buttons on her school coat
Would have had to call out to Touko-chan to stop her fro away
People would have noticed While Yu this, two other students had already walked past them
But she knew ier reason why she thought that this wasn't the right time
For instance, if her coat jacket was to co and she could see that there was no-one else around, it would still be no good
As they walked, Touko-chan spoke
”For some reason I woke up earlier than normal today”
So that hy she had arrived at school somewhat earlier than usual
”Hmmm”
Despite responding indifferently, Yumi's heart fluttered It may simply have been a problem with her sleep cycle But there was also the possibility that Touko-chan arose early due to excitement
The pair stopped in front of the entrance to the school building When they entered inside, they would each go in different directions, first to change into their indoor shoes and then on to their classroo she wanted to say, noas the time
”Today at lunch-time”
That was probably all Yumi needed to say for the astute Touko-chan to understand
”Okay”
At Touko-chan's small nod of assent, Yumi added, 'In front of the statue of Maria-sama'
Students alking around the Some students didn't even look at their faces Others looked inquisitively at the pair ere the center of so many rumors
Yu, 'Umm'
”I have so to ask of you”
Despite the presence of a group of three first years noisilytheir way past, Touko-chan drew close to Yumi and whispered in her ear
”At that time - ”
When she heard what Touko-chan said, Yu by Touko-chan's expression, she hadn't misheard her
Touko-chan had been thinking about the sa
Yumi was elated at Touko-chan's request, evenup early
First year camellia class, Matsudaira Touko
Member of the drama club
Yesterday, Yumi's partner on a date
- And the girl ould become Yumi's petit soeur in a few hours time
Yumi's predictions were confirmed when she opened the door to the second year pine classroom and saw that there were hardly any students inside, and the room seemed colder than usual
”Gokigenyou”
Yu the three students who had arrived ahead of her After that, she walked over to her seat and placed her schoolbag and purse on the table Then she took off her school coat and gloves, and put them in her locker at the back of the classroo out the notebooks that she would use for today's classes when she was confounded So
”Oh, what's this about, you don't have to go to the Rose Mansion?”
Yuued, as she remained seated
”I just felt like co to school early today, for no real reason”
Yumi's class, 'My, what a luxury' When she asked about this, Yuularly arrived at this hour because of the public transportation near where they lived If they caught a later bus or train they would risk being tardy, so their only option was to wake up early
”It must be hard to do that every day”
As for Yuestion e when a bus would arrive compared to a train, but thankfully even if she if she did miss the bus she only had to wait about ten minutes for the next one to arrive
”Because you do it every day, you get used to it”
”Right, right And once you're used to it, it's surprisingly pleasant”
”You get to skip therush hour”
All three of the girls spoke Yuht that they were the ones who had the luxury
”And there are other girls who have club activities or coet here even earlier than us”
That was true There were a nuht Most clubs had canceled their regularpractices because the 'Third Years' Farewell Party' was drawing near, but so special club activities
”So what do you usually do during the thirty minutes or so until everyone arrives?”
Yumi bowed her head as she asked Since they were all experts, they undoubtedly had so use of the time
”Nothing ht?”
The three girls exchanged glances
”Around Christ similar But, these days? We'll usually just finish off solish vocabulary”
”Yeah, that's it Because we have to wake up early, we also have to go to bed early And it's just ”
”Ohh”
At least for today, fukuzawa Yumi had finished all her homework and was fully prepared for class Naturally, she hadn't brought along so either And she wasn't such an avid reader that she always carried around a book to read
”Oooh”
Yuht about the many occasions when she was low on time but desperately wanted some more, but now that she had unexpectedly found herself with some spare time she didn't kno to use it
”Yumi-san, you're really…”
”Looks that way”
Her three class that she was dull and lacked interests
”Anyway, if you had some Yamayurikai work to do, you could do that”
That was true, so Yumi couldn't really object
”Or how about going to the Rose Mansion? There's probably so there to do”
”Maybe”
The next Yaanized event was the 'Third Years Farewell Party,' so of course there ork to do But the Yamayurikai members had decided to co-ordinate when to coether Even so
”I'o down if I went to the Rose Mansion early and started working by myself”
”Ahh”
Since Yoshi+no-san would be the only one shouting about 'throwing off the pace' or 'breaking a promise' it would probably be okay, but then Noriko-chan would show up early to to meet Yumi What was simply a way for her to waste some time would turn into a major drama
”Really, what I want to do is go and see my onee-sama, but I don't think she'd be here just yet”
Yuirls looked surprised
”Oh, is that so? Sachiko-sama seems like she's the type of person ould come to school early”
”She wouldn't be here this early unless she had so to do”
Sachiko-sa because of her low blood pressure Especially in winter, when it took quite a while for her body and brain to get in gear
Even so, it's not as though she would burst through the school gates rushi+ng toher skirt and tossing her sailor collar, would be such an offense to Sachiko-sanity that it would rank as one of the most indecent acts she could perform
While they were chatting, the nu Then the other three girls left her with a cryptic re to their respective desks
”Yuood luck”
”Huh?”
Good luck, they said But what on earth would she need luck for? Before Yuroup of students tramped into the classroom
”Ahh - Yumi-san's here”
In the time it took the one person to say that, she had been surrounded by six of her classmates
(Ah)
Belatedly, Yu of the 'Good luck'
”Is the rumor about yesterday's date true?”
”What happened? Your partner was Matsudaira Touko-san, right?”
”Where did you go? I tried looking around K station yesterday”
”Well”
Yued to be constantly in the spotlight But she couldn't just sit there dumbfounded, she had to think
So then, hoeather this storm?
If she were shi+mako-san, she would only have to smile to evade their concentrated attack Even if Yumi wanted to emulate her, they were funda them out with a forced smile
(That's right There's a phrase that's perfect for this situation)
Yuht, 'What was it?' as she looked at her class to see ould coic phrase that would get her out of this kind of situation
”U”
Yuer, and twirled it around
”That thing?”
Her classmates shook their heads blankly
”Right That, that thing”
It was on the tip of her tongue, but she couldn't quite get it out What was it? She knehat it was, but she just couldn't find that phrase thatlike a promise
”Oooooh”
Well, she'd coirls asked her, 'Are you okay?' and 'Does it hurt?' as Yuh her larynx
”It's annoying The words aren't co out”
”Huh?”
Instantly the worried expressions all changed to relieved expressions, well, all except for Yumi's
”There's a phrase for it”
Yu to recover fro said that there was a phrase, she was still no closer to working out what the phrase was
”It's not so iven an order A … mumble, mumble order”
”Hasekura Rei?”
”No!”
”An order to show cos?”
”Shorter than that”
”A suppression order?”
”That's it!”
”That's it, huh?”
After a cheer of relief, there were high fives all around
”Well, if you're under a suppression order, that's all there is to it”