Volume 28 Chapter 4 (2/2)

”It all started a few days ago, on Valentine's Day, when she gave Sakae-sama chocolates.”

Those kind of details were completely irrelevant.

”Who?”

I asked, irritated.

”Want me to tell you?”

The girl from the tennis club smirked.

”If you want me to tell you then you'll have to bow down before me and say, ”Please tell me.””

What was she thinking?

”I refuse.”

My voice was shaking from anger. My face twitched.

”I have no desire to bow down to the likes of you.”

I spat out those words then walked out of the cla.s.sroom and into the hallway. Aimlessly. Knowing only that I no longer wanted to be around that girl.

”Wh, what did you say - !?”

I heard her hysterical cries coming from behind me. Like h.e.l.l I'd bow down to someone who came all the way over to our cla.s.sroom just so she could laugh as she watched me bowing.

I walked out of the building to escape the suffocating feeling. I was still wearing my indoor shoes, but that was of no concern to me. I stamped onwards. My feet were moving before I had time to think about it. Almost as though they weren't my feet at all.

My feet stopped at the fork in the road, in front of the statue of Maria-sama.

Just what on earth was I doing? I came to my senses, found it all too ridiculous, and a laughing cough slipped out between ragged breaths.

Even though there was nothing I should be running away from. If I truly believed that what I was doing was 100% correct, then I should have been able to stand my ground regardless of what anyone else said. But since I couldn't, did that mean that there was a part of me that was feeling somewhat guilty about this, after all?

If so, what should I do?

I took no pleasure from splitting apart happy soeurs.

I only wanted to s.h.i.+ne brightly and become a four-leaf clover. So why did things turn out the way they did?

I prayed to Maria-sama. I desperately wanted Maria-sama, who silently watches over us, to answer my question.

What should I do to find happiness?

No miracle would take place, no matter how faithfully I prayed.

I wasn't expecting to open my eyes and see my kind onee-sama standing there, waiting for me with lots of friends.

(But, what if.)

I asked myself a question. Would I really want to go back to the day when I informed Sakae-sama that I was breaking up with her and redo things?

But I couldn't answer. Because somebody called out my name.

”Mayu?”

I lowered my hands and turned around. Standing there was Sakae-sama.

”Onee &h.e.l.lip; ”

I started to speak, but then stopped myself. She was no longer my onee-sama.

”It's been a while. How are you?”

We were still students in the same high-school. Even after the break-up, I'd seen her around school numerous times. But never this close, and we'd never exchanged words before now.

That was because I'd gone to great lengths to ensure we didn't meet. If I spotted Sakae-sama coming towards me down a corridor, I'd turn around and head back where I was coming from, or escape via a nearby stairway. And if I found out that a second-year student I was interested in was in Sakae-sama's cla.s.s, then I'd give up on talking to her.

But there was nowhere for me to hide from this sort of surprise attack. I looked up at Maria-sama bitterly.

However, the person that I had probably hurt the most didn't say a single resentful word, instead she smiled gently at me.

”What's the matter? Did something happen to you?”

Why was she being so sympathetic to the person who had hurt her?

As though everything in the past hadn't happened. The innocence of a chance reunion with a friend that you'd drifted apart from.

”Sakae-sama.”

For a moment I thought that this could have been a miracle brought about by Maria-sama. That Maria-sama had taken pity on me and reset everything, giving me a chance to fix things.

”I - ”

Just as I was reaching out my hand.

”Sorry I kept you waiting, onee-sama.”

A student ran up to Sakae-sama from behind.

”I had left it in the cla.s.sroom, just like I thought... Ah.”

Memories came flooding back to me. The new arrival seemed to realize who was standing beside Sakae-sama the moment she saw me too.

”Mayu-san?”

”&h.e.l.lip; Akemi-san.”

After seeing the two first-years greet each other by name, Sakae-sama said:

”Huh? Oh, that's right. You've both been here since preschool. Of course you'd know each other.”

”Uh &h.e.l.lip;, yeah.”

Even as I nodded, my chest was almost bursting from the violent thumping of my heart.

Ahh, so that's how it was. I quickly grasped the situation. So I immediately forced a smile, otherwise I wouldn't be able to deal with this at all.

”I heard you two became soeurs, right?”

Despite the shock I had just received, that piece of information hadn't been forgotten. More for the sake of a peaceful world than for my own sense of self-respect.

”Word travels fast.”

The pair smiled shyly at each other.

”One of my friends from the tennis club came over to tell me about it straight away &h.e.l.lip; ”

I suppose my acting had been up to the challenge. Either that or the gentle, quiet Sakae-sama couldn't have conceived of me lying about such a thing.

”Oh, really. That's good. I was worried about you Mayu, since you stopped coming to club activities right after we broke up. But you're still talking to the first-years from the tennis club. That's a relief.”

”Yeah.”

I agreed eagerly, so as not to shatter that sense of relief. It was strange, but after that I no longer felt like I hated that tennis club girl from before.

”So, what are you doing out here, Mayu?”

”I think I dropped one of my hair-clips around here during lunch.”

The explanation that came easily from my mouth was stolen straight from Chisato-san.

”Shall we search for it together?”

Akemi-san asked, bright-eyed. She didn't know that I didn't habitually wear anything like a hair-clip.

”No, it's all right.”

I declined, shaking my head.

”The sun's starting to set, so I think I'll just come to school a bit early tomorrow and search for it then. Plus, it might not be here anyway.”

”Really?”

”Yeah, thanks anyway.”

If Akemi-san put her mind to searching for it, it seemed likely that she'd really find a hair-clip that didn't exist.

”Well then, I have to head back to the cla.s.sroom.”

”Okay, gokigenyou.”

After confirming that they were walked away, I turned back towards the school buildings.

* * * * *

On Monday, I ate lunch alone at my desk then left the cla.s.sroom. I was walking down the hallway, on the way back from Milk Hall, when I b.u.mped into Chisato-san.

”Got a minute?”

Chisato-san pointed towards the courtyard.

”Sure.”

Thinking she just wanted to have a chat, I nodded my head and we walked outside together.

Even though we were in the same cla.s.s, the only thing I had said to Chisato-san all morning was ”Gokigenyou.”

As soon as the lunch break started, Chisato-san had been surrounded by our fellow cla.s.smates barraging her with questions about her half-day date with Hasekura Rei-sama on Sunday, so there had been no opening for me to approach her.

”What happened to all the people you had glued to you?”

”I kept telling them that I couldn't say anything until the report was published in the Lillian Kawaraban. Eventually they got the message.”

”I see.”

This place had seemed like a frozen winter garden back when we walked around here searching for that hair-clip. But now, with the sun overhead, it felt so warm it was like a completely different place.

It had only been a matter of days since then. I suppose that meant spring was just around the corner.

”So? How was your date &h.e.l.lip;. oh.”

I trailed off mid-sentence. Chisato-san had just said that she couldn't talk about it until the report was published. Nonetheless.

”That was just an expedience. There's no gag-order, or anything like that.”

Chisato-san stuck her tongue out cheekily.

”I just didn't want to talk about it. But there was something I wanted to tell you, Mayu-san... See, because of what happened, I've changed the way I've been thinking about things.”

”What?”

”You told me to split them apart, right?”

”You're talking about Rei-sama?”

I asked, even though I had said that.

”While you were the one who said it, in truth, I'd been thinking it as well. After all, I'd cherish Rei-sama so much more than Yos.h.i.+no-san does. I thought that if I could just get close to her, then she'd see that there were other girls out there that were so much nicer. That was my honest expectation. For our date.”

”And? Your expectations were dashed?”

I asked, and Chisato-san's response was, ”Not quite.”

”Rei-sama was even more wonderful than I expected. But then I realized, somewhere within that wonderful Rei-sama was Yos.h.i.+no-san.”

”You mean in her thoughts?”

”That's not it. I don't really know how to explain it, but a part of Rei-sama's charm existed because of Yos.h.i.+no-san. Let's say I managed to s.n.a.t.c.h Rei-sama away from Yos.h.i.+no-san. I think I'd feel like there was something missing from that Rei-sama. What I like is the Rei-sama that's mixed with Yos.h.i.+no-san. And so &h.e.l.lip; ”

”I get it.”

I said, and Chisato-san's eyes widened in surprise.

”Really? From an explanation like that?”

”Yeah, I get it. Because I've been thinking something similar recently.”

This time it was my turn to tell the story.

”Sakae-sama has a pet.i.t soeur.”

”&h.e.l.lip; So I've heard. The girls in the tennis club were all making a fuss about it.”

”And her partner, a masterpiece. Koiso Akemi-san. It's like, geeze, I give up. Well played, Maria-sama.”

Chisato-san apparently didn't appreciating my attempt at humor because she had a sullen look on her face.

”I mean, Sakae-sama looked to me like a wonderful lady.”

”A wonderful lady?”

”Right, a wonderful lady. And I was shocked to think that I had broken up with such a wonderful lady.”

But the thing that shocked me the most was how happy I felt after seeing them together. It was funny the way the sense of utmost regret turned to acceptance of what seemed inevitable.

”It was Akemi-san that made her such a wonderful lady. Again, a complete defeat for me. But that complete defeat was really refres.h.i.+ng.”

”Yeah. That's how I felt too.”

As we walked around the courtyard, we rubbed shoulders and laughed. Each of us with the knowledge that the one who best understood our feelings was the friend beside us.

”Ah, so that's where it is.”

Chisato-san suddenly squatted down and said, ”My hair-clip.”

”Really? So you didn't find it earlier?”

I leaned over and followed Chisato-san's gaze.

”Wait, look. That's got to be somebody's prank, right?”

The silver hair-clip, decorated with flowers, had numerous pieces of clover growing through the part that holds on to the hair. The whole thing looked as though the clover was hair that the hair-clip was fastened to.

”Wouldn't it just grow naturally like that because of all the warm weather we've been having?”

I gently stroked the leaves of the clover that had been bunched together by the hair-clip. Clumped together as they were, it looked like there were five- and six-leaf clovers, never mind just three- or four-leaf ones.

”Maybe.”

Chisato-san extracted her hair-clip from the bunch of clover.

”Even though I've finally found it, I won't have any use for it soon.”

I looked at Chisato-san, uncomprehending, and she said:

”I was thinking of getting my hair cut short. Just like that.”

My friend smiled as she made a chopping motion across her shoulder-length hair. She'd probably look good with short-hair. But I, with my shorter hair, couldn't drastically change my hair just by cutting it.

So I decided to ask Chisato-san for that hair-clip for which she would soon have no use.

”Sure. It's only a cheapie, though.”

As she said this, Chisato-san stepped behind me, gathered the hair from the side of my head and clicked the hair-clip in place.

And with that, the lie that I had told Sakae-sama and Akemi-san had been turned into truth.

Freed from the hair-clip, the three-leaf clovers fluttered in the breeze.

”It's beautiful,” I thought.

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