Volume 1 Chapter 5 (1/2)
It was the next Wednesday that Tsutako-san told Yumi that Sachiko-sama was strange.
”Strange&h.e.l.lip;?”
”Well, maybe strange is a faulty expression. Not her usual self.”
”They're both basically the same thing.”
The school festival was only three days away, so most students were running around wild. Most cla.s.ses were moved to the mornings this week, so that the afternoon would be freed for individual activities, such as club work, committees, and groups. The last spurt.
On the path to the different club houses, Yumi was told this.
”So, strange in what way?”
”She's like a fish-paste cake.”
”Fish-paste cake?”
Tsutako-seemed to want to say that Sachiko-sama's attraction was as a proud and haughty princess, an al dente that still had a wick. Yet, right now, Sachiko-sama was simply a hollow fish-paste cake, without that tough wick. She stared off into s.p.a.ce, sighed, and at the end of that-
”She even came to the photography club looking for me.”
Tsutako-san bit into her handkerchief, frustrated, ”That's not Sachiko-sama.”
”Even if it involves her, she's more the type to call people to her.”
”I don't think it's about type or suitability?”
Tsutako-san's aesthetic sense was peculiar. But anyways, that meant Sachiko-sama had gone to Tsutako-san's photography club house to settle something.
”And guess what she said? 'If you want to use the photo of Yumi and I for the school festival, you may go right on ahead.'!”
”Sachiko-sama&h.e.l.lip;”
That, was definitely strange. The usual Sachiko-sama would not allow such a thing if the person desiring something did not bring the topic up in person. Even if she heard about it from other sources, if the person did not come directly, she was strict, in that she would utterly ignore it.
”Anyways, this is, happily, yours. Congratulations.”
Tsutako-san lowered her shoulders and handed Yumi something.
”Ah, this.”
It was the two-shot photo from last Monday, of Sachiko-sama fixing Yumi's scarf. Come to think of it, this was how it all started.
”She looks different now than she used to. I wonder what happened to Sachiko-sama.”
Tsutako-san said, as she stepped over the newspaper sheets for a cla.s.s that had spilled working on their sign board to the hallway. Yumi did not have such confidence in leaping over things, so she walked around everything.
Yumi felt she knew ”what happened” to Sachiko-sama.
That Sachiko-sama had become fish-paste cake or a wick-less pasta was because she met Kas.h.i.+wagi-san on Sat.u.r.day.
”Also, Yumi-san. About the newspaper club, I heard.”
”The newspaper club? That they stopped asking about an interview?”
”Yes. Apparently that was because of Sachiko-sama, too.”
Because of Sachiko-sama, sounded ominous. It seemed certain that Sachiko-sama had pulled strings.
”Last week, Yumi-san was in dire straits, because you were being chased around, right? Maybe because she felt a bit responsible when she found out, Sachiko-sama spoke directly to the newspaper club captain. Because they're both second-years, it was probably easier for her to negotiate things.”
”But I don't think they would pull back just because Sachiko-sama asked.”
”Exactly. I heard Sachiko-sama took the interview in Yumi-san's stead. For the promise that they wouldn't chase Yumi-san around.”
”Eh&h.e.l.lip;!?”
She had no idea. That Sachiko-sama had unbeknownst to her, s.h.i.+elded her. Even though they met every day, she never noticed.
Tsutako-san said the newspaper club had become silent, because they had received the full story.
”Half of the article is already complete. Whether Sachiko-sama can make Yumi accept the rosary before the school festival, or not. And, whether she becomes Cinderella, or not. They're just waiting for the aftermath.”
”You're knowledgeable.”
”The newspaper club is in the neighboring room. When I'm developing photos by myself, I hear them talking, whether I want to or not.”
”Whether you want to or not.”
”Indeed, even if I don't.”
When they finished descending the stairs and reached the first floor, they split left and right to head to their respective ways.
”Don't you, somehow, feel of an uneasiness looming?”
Tsutako-san spun around and asked.
”Uneasiness?”
”You know. You hear about it all the time. A strict person becomes nice all of a sudden, and then they vanish. When you suddenly receive something, it turns out it was as a memento. Or something.”
”Oh come on, it's not an omen.”
Yumi chuckled. The newspaper club had drawn back in the middle of last week. Sachiko-sama became strange on Sat.u.r.day, so they were unrelated.
Plus.
Sachiko-sama would not run away. -Yumi believed her.
Sachiko-sama would never run away. Because, she promised.
On the second floor of the Rose Mansion, Sachiko-sama had drawn up a chair next to a window and was staring outside.
The cotton curtains were swaying, a telling tale of the visitations of the soft wind. Sachiko-sama's straight hair also swayed a bit around her ears.
Sachiko-sama didn't notice Yumi entering the room. She remained staring out, like an imprisoned princess.
”When did you come?”
Eventually, the princess noticed Yumi.
”About ten minutes ago.”
”I see.”
”Has no one else arrived?”
”They're probably busy with their cla.s.s business, I think? How about s.h.i.+mako?”
”&h.e.l.lip; Environmental Care Committee.”
”Ah.”
Even the residents of the Rose Mansion did not spend their entire non-cla.s.s lives devoted to the student council. They all took part in other clubs or committees, so when they were inquired upon, they would appear there.
”Sachiko-sama, are you in any clubs&h.e.l.lip;?”
”No.”
Her answer came back matter-of-factly. Since she was stuffed with obligatory lessons her entire life, it might have been a result of that. As a result, the two people with no cla.s.s or club or committee activities milled about in the Rose Mansion.
Sachiko-sama quietly sighed out the window.
She was probably thinking of Kas.h.i.+wagi-san. -She intuitively thought.
Such a gloomy sigh was not befitting of Sachiko-sama. Yumi gathered her wits and asked.
”Sachiko-sama.”
”Eh?”
”What is the matter?”
”Matter&h.e.l.lip;?”
Maybe she had been intending to be acting as usual. Sachiko-sama replied, her face expressing, ”What is she talking about?”
”Umm, you seem to be distressing over something.”
”If I were, would you save me?”
As she was asked with a straight face, Yumi timidly responded, ”If it's within my power.”
”Then, accept my rosary.”
”Eh!?”
”You would help, if it were in your power, correct?”
Sachiko-sama stuck out her rosary, as if saying, ”Here.” Looking over it again, it was sparkling and beautiful. But, it came with heavy baggage, and she couldn't simply say, ”okay,” and accept it.
”If there is anything else-.”
”This is all I request of Yumi.” Without any further ado, the rosary was stashed back into her pocket. She had simply tried saying it, it seemed.
”Do you dislike it that much?”
Her desire to have Yumi accept the rosary was not based on the pure intent of making Yumi her little sister, that much was certain. As long as she could seduce Yumi by the fixed date, Sachiko-sama could extricate herself from the Cinderella role.
”Of course.”
She had not specified about Kas.h.i.+wagi-san, but Sachiko-sama had understood the meaning behind the question and answered in kind.
”But you have practiced with him a number of times&h.e.l.lip;”
”It is not a matter of getting used to it”
Sachiko-sama spoke, as if spitting venom.
But that was opening a whole new set of problems. After all, Rosa Gigantea's plan was to have Sachiko become used to men.
”I hoped, maybe it would be alright, if I met him. &h.e.l.lip; But that was not the case.”
Sachiko-sama sighed, again.
Yumi thought.
Was it not the case because Kas.h.i.+wagi-san was a man. Or was it because it was Kas.h.i.+wagi-san.
It seemed the same, at first, but she felt it made a difference.
Sachiko-sama seemed to feel that there was, in fact, a difference.
Time pa.s.sed, pressed onward by the sighs.
There were many things that needed to be done and still more than people wanted to do, so there was no choice but to flutter around wildly in the last three days. Even after receiving entire afternoons from the school, people were too greedy, so they were unable to use their time as wisely as possible.
Last spurt, Yumi memorized Cinderella's lines at home, rather than watch television. During recess, she practiced the dance steps with s.h.i.+mako-san on the courtyard gra.s.s.
She didn't know herself why she worked this hard, but Yumi was the backup for the Cinderella part, so she felt obligated to do her best, for emergency's sake.
But what was that emergency? But because emergencies were extremely rare, she decided not to think about it.
And the day of the time limit crept ever closer.
”Okay, we'll finish with testing Yumi-chan's transformation scene one last time.”
Rosa Chinensis shouted, using her rolled-up script as a megaphone.
”I mean, I've said it a number of times, but this is a point of showing off our skill.”
”Yes.”
Yumi put on the dress that was a collaborative effort between the handicraft club and the invention club. At first glance, it was a servant-work dress made of ragged material and covered with soot, but it had a trick, where pulling a number of cords turned into a dress using the same material as the gorgeous ivory dress. But this was just a temporary dress designed for this transformation. For the ballroom scene, they would switch to their petticoat and skirt dress.
Even Lillian, on the day before the school festival, was savage. Had the ordered goods not arrived yet, or they'd found a misprint on the fliers, or seats borrowed from the school had been double-booked, et cetera. The pleats for the angels' skirts were always completely disordered, and their sailor scarves tossed and turned. Today, even the Sisters consciously tried to remain out of sight as much as possible. They did not want to see their students act like this.
Even Yumi and the Yamayurikai were like this.
They could only borrow the gymnasium from two to four, so they quickly had Kas.h.i.+wagi-san, who slid in just at two, put on the prince costume, and they had just finished the 45-minute run-through of the play twice. A Sachiko-version and a Yumi-version.
”When the smoke's ready, I'll signal, so pull the string then, okay?”
They made a screen of dry-ice smoke, just like they would in the actual performance.
Sachiko-sama only took one try, but it took five tries for Yumi to get the hang of the transformation.
”Bippity boppity boo!”
Rei-sama chanted the words to the charm, waving her conductor's stick. She, too, wore a young n.o.bleman's costume under her cloak, and would join the next scene as a n.o.ble dancer, as if that was all she was.
Rosa Chinensis lowered her rolled-up script. Yumi pulled on the thin cords. Yos.h.i.+no-san crawled over, hidden by the smoke, and pulled down the cords on her waist.
(Huh&h.e.l.lip;? Yos.h.i.+no-san.)
Yumi tilted her head. It was actually the job of Sister B, so when Yumi was Cinderella, Sachiko-sama's job. Even though she had complained, ”Why must I crawl along the ground,” she had performed her duty the last five times.
There was applause, and the illumination that was covered by smoke became more clear.
”Eh&h.e.l.lip;?”
The transformation scene had ended as she was thinking. Oh yeah, and she noticed the ivory dress was in full view.
”Yumi-chan, succeeds!”
Rei-sama patted her shoulder, as she was closest.
”If you pull this off this well during the actual performance, even if you screw up a few lines, we'll forgive you.”
Rosa Chinensis laughed as she said those carefree words.
”But. I'm surprised Yumi-chan would work this hard. She's remembered the lines well, too. I look forward to the real deal tomorrow.”
As Rosa Foetida commented thus, Yumi quickly interceded.
”I appreciate the praise, but Sachiko-sama is the real Cinderella.”
”Oh, yeah.”
Everyone looked at each other, as if they had just remembered.
”Sachiko's orthodox Cinderella, or Yumi-chan's comedy. Unfortunately we can only run one of them tomorrow.”
”Co, comedy&h.e.l.lip;?”
The word ”shock” slammed into Yumi's forehead, like a comic panel. Her efforts in trying to get even a bit closer to Sachiko-sama resulted in a comedy.
”Ah, Yumi-chan's depressed.”
”No, no. All I'm saying is, both of you have your own distinct flavors.”
”It's so effort-filled and cute, like a home-drama, Yumi-chan's Cinderella.”
”Exactly. Just as Yumi-chan can't imitate Sachiko's Cinderella, Sachiko can't imitate Yumi-chan's Cinderella. That's what individuality is, right?”
Hearing the rather relentless words that could be taken as consolation as well as encouragement cheered Yumi up.
Ahh, so that's how it is. She felt she understood things better.
The Roses were not expecting perfection out of Yumi. Even if Yumi were a comedy, they loved the comedy for what it was.
When she thought about it, that was always the case. Even when Sachiko-sama declared Yumi to be her sœur, while they worried about the circ.u.mstances regarding it, they never had any dissatisfaction with Yumi herself.
Yumi was the only one fixated on whether she was ”worthy” of being Sachiko-sama's little sister.
”Speaking of which, where's the prince?”
”Isn't he changing out of his costume?”
Rosa Gigantea looked around.
”Sachiko's gone, too.”
”Ah, Sachiko stepped out, saying she felt ill. I offered to accompany her to the health room, but she said she was alright, and requested that I take over for Yumi's strings.”
Yos.h.i.+no-san reported.
”Oh. Then we shall have to check on her later.”
They began cleaning up, as the time to vacate the gymnasium was approaching. About five minutes before four, the story-telling club members began arriving, so Yumi and others vacated the gymnasium as if they were being chased out.
Sachiko-sama was not at the health room. Yumi returned to the gymnasium just to make sure, but there was no sight of Sachiko-sama.
When she reported back to the Rose Mansion with that truth, everyone's faces turned pale. Apparently the first-floor room that had been used as Kas.h.i.+wagi-san's temporary changing room still had his school uniform cleanly hung, with no trace of him having arrived.
”Maybe they're together&h.e.l.lip;”
Someone anxiously mentioned.
”But they went out separately, did they not?”
”Yes, Sachiko-sama left earlier.”
”I don't think anything would happen between the two of them&h.e.l.lip;” As they spoke, their tones became more and more distressed.
”Umm, let's go look for them.”
Yumi stood up.
”Sachiko-sama may have collapsed from illness, and Kas.h.i.+wagi-san may have become lost.”
”Y, yes, that's true, what Yumi-chan says is correct.”
The Roses acted quickly, having regained their composure. Yos.h.i.+no-san was told to stay behind, and they would split the search party into three pairs, each scouring a different section. The three pairs would go around the high school site in a surrounding path, so that they would meet together by Maria-sama's statue. The reason for the pairing is so that if something were to happen, one could run off to find help.
Yumi paired with Rosa Gigantea, and was to search the primary gymnasium, the grounds, the tennis court, and other such athletics locales, before taking the path by the library and appearing at Maria-sama's intersection.
”Thanks for saving us back there.”
Rosa Gigantea said, as they quickly shuffled down the hallway.
”Eh?”
”Yumi-chan cut through the moment. Everyone was lost in their depressing thoughts, you know.”
”Depressing thoughts&h.e.l.lip;”
”Even though we might look extremely reliable, we're still just high school students, so we get scared, sometimes. It was scary to think about what might have happened. There's a feeling that we shouldn't probe any further.”
She understood exactly.
She would prefer to skirt away from the dealings of men and women. Who do you like from an idol group, or who do you think looks good from the neighboring school, that kind of talk is enough to rouse the interests of a cla.s.sroom. But you also hear many stories of people turning down relations.h.i.+ps because they were afraid of being in one.
The world of imagination was beautiful, but reality was very raw and scary.
Kissing, and further. She preferred not to think of that sort of thing as being close to her.
They requested permission from the story-telling club to check the back and storage of the stage, as well as the changing room, but Sachiko-sama and Kas.h.i.+wagi-san were nowhere to be found. Rosa Gigantea looked relieved after scouring the darkness.
”If they're not here, they must have moved somewhere. That would mean they've moved to a place where there would be witnesses. Luckily, there're tons of students milling about, today.”
There was no high school student who didn't know Sachiko-sama's face. Kas.h.i.+wagi-san would also be quickly spotted in a girls' school. Plus, he was currently a flamboyant prince.
”Sachiko-sama and the prince? Yes, we saw them. We just pa.s.sed by them, in the pa.s.sage.”
The story-telling club captain said, ”right?” to the girl on the stage.
”Were they together!?”
Rosa Gigantea and Yumi both shook the story-telling club captain's shoulder.
”H, hold on, you two, calm down.”
The captain looked uncomfortable, so they quickly retracted their arms. She rolled her neck around and sighed.
”They didn't seem to be together, so to speak. The prince was walking quite a distance behind. But where they went, &h.e.l.lip; well, we pa.s.sed by them, so they must have gone to the other school building for the pa.s.sage?”
”Thank you!”
The two of them thanked her profusely and rushed out of the gymnasium.
When they started backtracking from the pa.s.sage, Rosa Gigantea stopped them.
”We just came from that way. If we didn't see them there, they didn't go there.”
”Then, where should we look!”
”Let's just take the planned route. Even if we don't find them, someone else should.”
”&h.e.l.lip; But&h.e.l.lip;”
She agreed with Rosa Gigantea, but she still wanted to find Sachiko-sama first. She felt, since they had grasped the first clue, they had the right to find her first.
Rosa Gigantea leaned into Yumi's face.
”Do you like Sachiko?”
When she nodded, Rosa Gigantea patted her head and said ”thanks.”
”I like Sachiko, too. So does Rosa Chinensis, Rosa Foetida, Rei, s.h.i.+mako, Yos.h.i.+no, everyone likes Sachiko.”
So leave it us. Is what Rosa Gigantea said. Because that was the best way.
Yumi silently nodded.
Yumi, too, starting with the Roses, loved everyone that gathered at the Rose Mansion. There was no way she couldn't trust them.
They glanced across the grounds as they hurried to the tennis court.
”However, why was Kas.h.i.+wagi walking after Sachiko?”
Rosa Gigantea was already calling Kas.h.i.+wagi-san purely by name.
”Is he a stalker?”
”But, Rosa Gigantea. You said you trusted Kas.h.i.+wagi-san, right? I forget when, but you did say that?”
”Yes. I said that.”
There was no one in the tennis court. They checked the parking lot through the wire fencing, too, but only Matsuyama-sensei from the social department's beloved car was there.
”Well, not so much trust, but I had confidence that he would not touch even the super beautiful Sachiko.”
Rosa Gigantea said, as they went back.
”On what grounds?”
”Intuition, I think. We're the same kind of people.”
”Same kind?”
Again, she was confusing things by talking about something she didn't understand. There were so many question marks jumping around Yumi's head that Rosa Gigantea turned, smiled, and said, ”If you don't understand, it's alright.”
”Then you were wrong?”
”I'm not sure. I'm pretty sure I wasn't wrong, but I can't read Sachiko, at all.”
They took a turn on the road and walked along the library.