Volume 32 Chapter 2 (2/2)
”Huh? Why did you come back here, Katsura-san?”
Katsura's strength drained from her body when Yumi-san asked her this question with a blank look on her face
Why did I come back here, you ask? Well, why Probably because I orried about you, Yumi-san, and chased after you
”Well, let me turn that question back on you Yumi-san, why did you come back here?”
”Hht that it would be better if I wasn't there, you know?”
”Better if you weren't there?”
”How can I explain it It's not that I couldn't stand as happening But for the people that were asking Rosa Chinensis to sign their books, it probably wouldn't be good if her petit soeur suddenly appeared I'ht hold back on account ofthere So it would be rude to those that had worked up the courage to go and ask her”
”… Is that so?”
Katsura was still trying to understand why Yu rude as she mumbled this
”It's not as though I had arranged to meet with onee-sama If I had waited another ten minutes, I probably wouldn't have seen this So it's okay That I don't show up there”
”You're not worried about it?”
When she asked, Yuht away
”Why not? Other students arethem, doesn't that mean she's not completely satisfied just with you? Is that fine? Don't you want to knohat your onee-sa?”
If Yumi-san had left that place because of jealousy, Katsura would have understood It hat she wanted to have heard But she rong Her friend didn't see to endure it at all
Is that norle tennis racket? Katsura had no idea
”Katsura-san, what happened?”
Yumi-san's perplexed face was not that of Rosa Chinensis en bouton, but the Yumi-san she kneell, and Katsura cried out and embraced her
Katsura orn-out fro alone
”There was a ti close to my onee-sama”
Yu a weather forecast Katsura hadn't said anything specific, but it see her Having cli onto the eainst them
”But now I don't worry about that”
”Why not?”
”Because I have faith in my onee-sama”
Then, after thinking for a while, Yu:
”I think things started to get better after I decided to approach her directly about things that would upset me”
Katsura felt a bit better, knowing that Yu Time and all kinds of experiences didn't just result in a broken heart
”I haven't talked to her about it”
So what should someone who has no time, nor experience do?
”What do you think will happen if you ask? If you're convinced it will open a terrible door, then you're going to feel far worse if you avoid it”
Even if it didn't seeh she would end up in a position like Yumi-san's, it was the hint she had wanted
”But, you know Katsura-san If you really want to ask her, you can't run away or just bludgeon her with your feelings”
”Yeah”
And there you have it, a co from Yumi-san, it had a certain persuasiveness
”Ahh, but I think seeing your onee-sa an uproar, is another way you could go”
Yuraduation ceremony, after all
”But if it was you, you'd go and see her, right?”
”Probably It was never usually as big a deal as I was i it to be”
I get it, the anxiety you feel froht? It was true for people a long tio and it still seems to apply
”Thanks for the advice”
”No, no, I' you can use as a reference”
”Yeah I'll think about it”
Eventually, Yuoodbye as Yuency staircase
With the sound of Yu in her ears, Katsura asked the question she had been wanting to ask for a while
”Hey, earlier when you talked about 'other girls getting close to your onee-sama,' did you mean Touko-chan?”
”Bingo”
Yuaps between the stairs
”I see”
Katsura nodded to herself, then went into the school building and locked the door to the eency staircase from the inside
Rivals were probably always the biggest concern for petit soeurs
So, for now, Katsura returned to the classroo she caether
It usually wasn't as big a deal as I iathered her courage and asked It was at the fork in the path in front of the statue of Maria-sa that Maria-sama had an interest in this too
”About the racket I gave to Mizue-chan?”
Her onee-sahtly conflicted look on her face
”Yeah I want to knohat your feelings were at that time”
”My feelings”
”Yes”
It looked as though she had never iined that Katsura would ask her so directly So her onee-sa for what to say Not so that she could evade the question, but so that she could properly express herself Eventually, she came up with a sentence
”Let's see I thought that it would be a good thing, for you I guess”
”A good thing for me?”
Katsura was bewildered as to why she had come up in the conversation But she had asked her onee-sa of her to interrupt, so she should be silent and listen attentively
”I thought that if you saw Mizue-chan innocently swinging aith ht use that racket you have that you don't use”
”What do you mean, the racket that I don't use?”
Her heart was ha in her chest No way, there's no way she could have known
”Last year - ”
”How do you know about the racket that Haru-seave me?”
Ahh, she'd just ruined everything She hadn't been able to endure it and just blurted that out And she'd been playing dumb too What a catastrophe
In her heart, Katsura whispered
Yumi-san
You said it usually wasn't as big a deal as you iined it, but you left out what happens when it doesn't go as usual Adding that in, you'd say there's a possibility it would be a complete disaster, like now
Onee-saave her racket to Mizue-chan
This must have been retribution for a selfish petit soeur
But why had she done it nohen graduation was right before her
Or raduate that she had done it
”That's because”
Her onee-sama hesitated
”Please tell me”
Katsura was desperate
”I want to know the truth”
How long had her onee-sama known about it? Who had told her? What did she feel back then? What does she think about it now? She wanted to know everything
For their relationshi+p to break down on the day before her onee-sa for her mistakes It was nobody's fault but her own
Katsura had no excuse for her actions regarding Haru-sempai's racket If she was asked to return her rosary, she would just silently obey
Thinking back on it, she hadn't even known the names of all the seniors in the tennis club when she was asked to become a petit soeur She had said okay to the first person that had asked her Even so, she had been nervous, and loved her onee-sama
”You asked me why I knew That's because”
”That's because?”
Katsura pressed her As though she was blind to her own shortcoh
”Because I asked her to”
Was her onee-sama's response
”Huh?”
”I knew you looked up to Haru-sempai So I asked her Haru-sereed Sure, she said Because she liked you too”
On one hand, she thought that was foolish But on the other, she could kind of understand it Either way, she didn't think her onee-sa to her
”A year ago, I thought you'd be delighted by it So I didn't ht Haru-sempai's racket to our club activities That's when I started to think thatterrible That Haru-sempai's racket was a far heavier burden than I had ever iined I'm sorry, Katsura”
”Onee-sama”
Tattered tears fell from Katsura's eyes At that ti Even so, she had said sorry When surely it was Katsura herself who should have been apologizing
”Even after I graduate, as long as there are people in the club who remember Haru-sempai, you won't use that racket, will you? In that case, it's not just you that I should apologize to, but also Haru-sempai Therefore”
Therefore, she took a chance
”You gave your racket to Mizue-chan?”
”Yeah I told her that she had to use it, and not just hang it up on the wall”
And true to her word, Mizue had used it during practice Did that nificance
”But I misunderstood once more, and caused you even more pain”
Her onee-saer to wipe the tears from Katsura's face
”You're wrong about that”
Katsura shook her head
”I love you, onee-sa that, the tears came”
”Oh”
Onee-saer over her own cheek
”Then, in that case, I's so directly, Katsura”
As her onee-saht:
Yumi-san
In the end, you rong about it not being a bigger deal than I had ilad I took the chance to tell her about s
Soined too