Volume 29 Chapter 3 (1/2)
The same rumor had apparently been heard in a different location
”What's Sachiko-san doing?”
The following day, as Yu she should spend the lunch break in the Rose Mansion, she was captured by Tsukiya in wait by the door, and dragged to the newspaper club's clubroom
”There's no point in asking me”
I don't know Perhaps the point of Minako-sama's question was to see what kind of a response she would get Minako-sa a blank from Yumi
”Strangely, she's cra Sachiko-san, that is Did you know, Yumi-san?”
”Mmm”
Yuh she had heard that, it was only a ru more either
Minako-sa yesterday afternoon, so she probably hadn't personally witnessed Sachiko-sa often Still, sheHer species had a talent for laboriously gathering reports fro them for their own benefit
Yumi obediently parked her rear on the seat that was drawn out and offered to her Although she really didn't want to be here all that long
”I don't know anything”
Yu out by talking to her onee-sa that would take Yumi out of her way to see her onee-sa that she intended to casually raise the next time they met
After all, it's not like the rumor was a matter of life and death, it wasAnd if Yumi were to confront Sachiko-sama over such a ru time
”Cra for the end of year exams Except third-years don't have end of year exams”
”That's true”
Since she knew nothing, Yu but listen If she foolishly opened hertrouble for her onee-sama
Besides, now that Minako-sa
”Anyway, Sachiko-san isn't the kind of person who studies for exams”
”Is that so?”
Upon hearing Yuue response, Minako-sama tensed Oops Some other phrase had been called for
”Don't play dumb with me Who do you think I am?”
”Umm”
What could possibly be the right answer under these circumstances? The former head of the newspaper club? The former editor-in-chief of the Lillian Kawaraban? While Yu this, Minako-sama stood up
”The Ya to becoladly gave her youth in the service of the Lillian Kawaraban Tsukiyama Minako”
Someone who referred to themselves as a stalker
”For three years now I've watched Sachiko-san Of course I know that she never studies for exams”
Minako-sama looked at Yumi with a triumphant smirk
”Don't you think it's odd that Sachiko-san, who doesn't study for exa for an exam?”
Indeed
”But how do you know that she's studying for an exam?”
Minako-sama would be well aware of Sachiko-sama's love of literature So she shouldn't consider it unusual to see Sachiko-sa intently
”She's scribbling answers in some kind of question workbook But the book itself has some kind of sweater-like cover on it, so you can't tell what it's for”
”The sweater-like cover, is it the sareen tea?”
”I don't remember the color, but it looked like it was knitted”
”Is that so?”
Suppose it was the book cover that Yuiven her as a Christmas present last year, then based on size alone you could rule out various types of books There were several brands of question workbooks that each came in different sizes, but it would be quite a coincidence if one of the major ones just happened to be the same size as the book cover Yumi had knitted
”What kind of exam is she - ”
”I've told you, I don't know Why don't you try asking her directly?”
Yuainst the chair in desperation as she spoke
”Oh, so naive Yumi-san Didn't I tell you that I was a stalker?”
Tsk-tsk-tsk, Minako-saer back and forth like a metronome Well, she had a point, probably
”She's going to Lillian's Women's University”
”That's what I've heard”
It was around Christ to Lillian's University”
Yumi had never actually seen the notice, but assu after that
It hadn't even been three months since that declaration, so it seeed her ed her e for her not to tell her petit soeur about it For one thing
”Are there still entrance exa on at this time of year?”
”They're pretty much all finished”
”In that case”
Before Yumi could finish her rebuttal, Minako-sama coolly interrupted her
”Do you know about second round applications?”
”I guess”
It's a system where universities have a second round of examinations to fill places that were left over after the first round of exams Therefore, it's not unusual for these exa of April
”By second round application, you mean for Lillian's?”
”As usual, you're quite the airhead Why would soranted priority entrance to Lillian's Wo the second round exam? Besides, Lillian's doesn't usually have a second round of offers”
”Oh, I didn't know that”
But her onee-sa to Lillian's University So ould she have to study for some other university's exam?
”Maybe there's sooing to a technical school That must be it”
Minako-saer aloft However, wasn't she funda the point?
”Wouldn't the technical schools have their exams about the same time as the universities … ?”
”Ah”
Was she really so for university exams? However, Tsukiyama Minako-sama was not one to back down quickly
”There are schools where you don't have to take an entrance exam”
”But if there's no entrance exaht?”
”damn it”
Noho's the airhead?
”Maybe she's going to study abroad?”
”I have no idea”
Yu in circles The first she'd heard of any of this was yesterday after school, during the conversation about Sachiko-sama's study addiction
Well, Sachiko-saer ca it to school on tio she had hurried back to her classroom immediately after Yumi had presented Touko with her rosary
(Oh … ?)
It was strange, after all The way she acted back then just wasn't normal for her
Looking at each incident individually, there was nothing there But when you put theether in a short period of time, it seemed to point to the existence of some unseen force
”Anye'll have to end our little chat here”
Yu out to her
”Huh?”
”Sorry, but I need you to read this now If there's no problems, we'll print it today and distribute it tomorrow”
It was the Lillian Kawaraban extra edition Well, the test print of it anyway There were some places where corrections had been written in red pen over the top of the printed words
Even if it was called an extra edition, it was about half the size of the regular one The headline and photos of Yue, the article itself wasn't that long The revieas quickly completed
”So you didn't drag me here just to talk about the rumor?”
Yumi handed back the test print as she said this There weren't any particularly worrying passages Probably no need to check with Touko
”Well of course Everything we've talked about up to now has been just a friendly chat, nothing more”
”That you'll turn into a newspaper article”
”Not really”
Minako-sama turned away
”It's just that I'm worried about Sachiko-san”
Using the test print as a substitute folding-fan and fanning herself Even though it was cold in the club room
On her way back from the clubhouse, Yumi spotted Touko
Running through the courtyard like a galloping steed
”Tou - ”
Yumi started to call out, but stopped herself
Right now, Touko wouldn't be able to hear her There was a light shi+ning in her eyes, but she wasn't seeing her current surroundings
The words that Noriko-chan spoke were hazy, but Yuh she could now understand them better
About the clear distinction between the real and the fictional About the mess you make when you put a fresh layer of paint next to a still wet layer of paint in a different color
Touko was, at present, not here
The girl with her hair rolls swinging as she ran, inside, was someone other than Touko Someone Yumi didn't know, a character from a play
Touko flew into the clubhouse building that Yuo
She had probably eaten her lunch in her classroo
After watching for a little while longer, Yumi walked off towards the Rose Mansion
Touko would be fine
There was nothing Yumi could do about the bumps and bruises She couldn't raise a fuss or distract Touko from her task
They were probably essential for Touko to become that 'someone'
”If I knew you were going to the clubhouse, I would have asked you to stop by the a club's clubroom”
A regretful shi+ for Yumi when she arrived at the Rose Mansion
”Oh, right Today's the deadline for the questionnaire, isn't it?”
”Hey, you, you're always slow”
Having finished eating and returned her lunch-box to its bag, Yoshi+no-san was leaning back grandiosely, looking up at the ceiling In contrast, Yu her lunch-box Ooh, chicken for lunch today
After thanking Noriko-chan for bringing over a cup of roasted green tea, Yumi spoke
”But I talked to Minato-san about it today, and she said she thought they should be able to complete the form”
Minato-san froa club was in the same class as Yumi and Yoshi+no-san
”Hey?”
Yoshi+no-san shot Yumi a look that said, 'Why didn't I hear about this since we're in the same class?' before she spoke
”If they can do it, why haven't they handed it in?”
Now Yoshi+no-san had curled forwards, and spoke in a low voice The busy-as increasing and things weren't progressing as smoothly as planned, and this was how Yoshi+no-san was trying to deal with it
Well, Yumi could understand, kind of The 'Third years send-off' was, in a way, their debut as Roses The pressure to put on a wonderful display, without any assistance froh to make Yumi want to scream like never before
”Their club president has been absent and it seeular members didn't know about the deadline”
Yu her chopsticks Incidentally, the a club's president was a third-year - Minato-san's onee-sama
”Surely she would have known the dates for her exa to be absent, she should have delegated to someone”
”Oh, it wasn't exams, she's had a cold”
”Well, not much you can do about that”
Yoshi+no-san finally backed down Catching a cold was one of those things you couldn't plan for in advance Although Yoshi+no-san did have a short whinge about how, regrettably, her cold see for quite some time
In contrast to that
”Did the club president take the form with her?”
Already Rosa Gigantea, and having organized a successfully 'Third Year's Send-off' last year, shi+mako-san was calm as she inquired
”Nope Minato-san thought it was probably so to look for it at lunch Even so”
'They ht She'd been to their clubrooo and there had been paper everywhere, with ink and pens stuffed into what little free space there was The ie roole print-out in there would be like finding a needle in a haystack
”Sounds like it could be difficult”
The other three seeeneral state of affairs
”It ht be quicker to write out another one for them”
Yumi took a blank survey sheet from the shelf and folded it in half
”Anyway, leave the et it from them today, one way or another”
Having assumed this responsibility, Yumi returned to her lunch
Yumi made her way over to the clubhouse after school and successfully collected a completed survey from Minato-san, just like she had promised
Apparently Minato-san had spent the entirety of her lunch-break unearthing the one-page printout from within the mountain of paper In other words, she had been in the clubhouse while Yu her little chat with Minako-sama in the newspaper club's clubroo her one-on-one rehearsal session with the president of the drama club
”Sorry about that Making you coet it”
Minato-san giggled nervously as she gently scratched her short hair Her voice was as cute as ever Her appearance was boyish but her voice eet, and yet she drew horror e
”The lunch-break was almost over when I found it, and there wasn't time to take it to the Rose Mansion so I left it in the clubroo I'd do that after school I orried I'd lose it if I took it with me”
The clubroom seemed tidier than the last time Yumi had been here, probably as a direct consequence of Minato-san's lunchtime search Initially, Yumi had been fascinated by a row of vividly colored illustrations that looked like they were on display
”What are these?”
Yu at a pile of monochrome sketches in the corner
”Ahh If we had the space, those would be on display as well They were an experias with the same layout and the same text”
It looked like there was one page that served as the layout template, and then within that template the club members were free to drahatever they wanted The layout and the text were all identical, but the final products were all wonderfully different A school story, a h the text was the same, they could use it however they wanted The fact that they were all in black and white seemed to reinforce each piece's individuality
”They're good”
Yu impact
”No, no Our o”
Minato-san de her hands like windscreen wipers
”The dra around”
”Sla?”
”They'd co out into the hallhen they used too h”
”I had no idea”
The sla quite frequently If that's the case, then it's no surprise that Touko would have a few cuts and bruises
”Are they doing so play?”