Volume 29 Chapter 1 (2/2)

Yumi's cla.s.smates let her off surprisingly easily, perhaps in part from a shared sense of achievement they felt from uncovering that buried phrase.

Leaving the cl.u.s.ter of girls, Yumi saw Mami-san and Tsutako-san standing by the door, looking at her.

”Gokigenyou. Have you just arrived?”

The pair responded in the negative to her question.

”We were just waiting for the right time to join in and help you out.”

”It started to get interesting when you said, 'It's that thing,' but in the end we were forced to sit this one out, right?”

The editor-in-chief of the Lillian Kawaraban and the self-described photography club ace looked at each other and smiled.

”Heeey.”

Since they were watching, they should have helped out. None of this watching because it was interesting nonsense.

”You got there on your own, so it's all good.”

Yumi paused to think when Mami-san told her this. Maybe she had a point.

”Exactly.”

Tsutako-san agreed as she raised her camera. It sounded like praise, but things felt kind of awkward.

”Ehehehe. I'm just heading off to my onee-sama's cla.s.sroom.”

Looking at her watch, Yumi saw it was the perfect time. The peak time for high school students arriving at school was almost over.

”Okay, take care.”

Yumi headed out into the hallway after hearing these words and the cheerful sound of a shutter clicking coming from her two friends.

Yumi instinctively drew her shoulders inwards as she stepped from the heated cla.s.sroom into the cool hallway. However, as she watched the students walking past her, she soon felt as though this wasn't necessary.

”Huh? She hasn't arrived yet?”

Sachiko-sama's cla.s.smate said, 'Yeah,' as she looked pityingly at the junior who had come all the way from a separate school building to ask the question.

”Which is unusual for Sachiko-san.”

She said, as though reading Yumi's facial expression. Since this girl's seat was right next to the door, Yumi had probably talked with her on numerous occasions.

”Umm, is it just that she's not currently in the cla.s.sroom?”

Like if she'd arrived at school, but just ducked out to go to the toilet. Or if she was on duty. Yumi considered the possibilities.

”I'll check.”

The girl swiveled her upper body around, looking behind her. Focusing on the seat in the exact center of the cla.s.sroom. Taking the bait, Yumi also leaned forwards a fraction.

”Too bad. Sachiko-san's bag isn't there.”

”I guess not.”

From what Yumi had seen over the girl's shoulder, the cla.s.sroom was deserted. There were probably only five people in there. Yumi had only caught a glimpse inside, but she hadn't seen any unattended bags either.

”Ah... In general attendance is poor, but since Sachiko-san doesn't have to take an entrance exam, she's been coming every day.”

”That's true.”

Yumi nodded. Naturally she was already aware of this, since it concerned her onee-sama. Yumi knew that Sachiko-sama had been coming to school every day without fail. Even if Sachiko-sama and Rei-sama hardly ever visited the Rose Mansion now that they were 'comfortably retired' and had entrusted the running of the Yamayurikai to the three second-years, they were still close soeurs. They would still meet at least once a day to talk, even without the Rose Mansion. Well, there were some days when they did little more than exchange greetings.

”I understand. Thank-you for your a.s.sistance.”

Yumi expressed her grat.i.tude, then turned to leave the third year pine group cla.s.sroom behind.

”If Sachiko-san arrives, I'll tell her that Yumi-san came to see her.”

”Ahh, don't bother. I'll come back at lunch-time to see if she's here.”

Yumi bowed once more to the kind senior, then strode off down the corridor.

Yumi then went directly to the main entrance and took this opportunity to peek into the shoe box room.

And even though she walked all the way there, it goes without saying that she didn't run into the person she was looking for - those fairytale stories just don't happen. Ogasawara Sachiko-sama's figure was nowhere to be seen amongst the students hurriedly changing their shoes atop the wooden floor.

The flow of students changing their shoes was uninterrupted, but in one of the quieter moments Yumi stealthily positioned herself in front of the shoe box with the 'Ogasawara Sachiko' name-tag.

(Will it be her indoor shoes? Or her outdoor shoes?)

Heads or tails. Odd or even. That was the feeling Yumi had as she opened the locker door.

( - Indoor shoes.)

Which meant that she hadn't arrived yet, after all.

Yumi glanced at her watch. The first bell would ring soon. The students' movements were even more frantic. They had probably been running, several of them were breathing heavily.

Indeed, late.

(I wonder if she's taking the day off.)

Truthfully, Yumi had thought about calling her last night. To give her onee-sama a report on the date.

Mami-san had taught her the phrase 'suppression order' to help her escape from a barrage of questioning, but there had been no formal request to keep this private. She was free to talk, as long as it didn't affect the soon-to-be-published Valentine's Date special edition of the Lillian Kawaraban.

However, when Yumi asked Sachiko-sama 'May I call you after the date?' on Sat.u.r.day, Sachiko-sama had immediately replied with a firm 'No.' Her reason being that she had various events she had to go to, so didn't know what time she would return. And since Sachiko-sama had said that she could wait until Monday to hear how the date went, she had, at least on Sat.u.r.day, been planning on coming to school today.

Maybe she caught a cold? Just as Yumi was idly pondering this.

”Yumi-san!?”

Yumi returned to her senses after hearing her name called out so emphatically. Turning towards the voice, she saw a surprised looking person standing near the second-year lockers, looking back at her. Naturally, she knew the girl with the trademark twin long braids veeery well. They were both in the same cla.s.s, and both in the same position as boutons. That fearless warrior, s.h.i.+mazu Yos.h.i.+no-san.

”I have no idea what you're doing, but if you keep standing there you're going to be late.”

Looking around, Yumi saw there was hardly anyone left. Everyone had dashed off to their cla.s.srooms.

”Oh no.”

No matter how early Yumi had arrived at school, if she wasn't in the cla.s.sroom in time for morning prayers she was out. She had been saved by Yos.h.i.+no-san's arrival. As Yumi chased after her friend, who moved with unbelievable speed for someone whose weak body meant they could only spectate during PE until midway through their first year of high-school, she felt an inexplicable need to look over her shoulder.

(Huh?)

Yumi couldn't believe her eyes. What she had seen was just too incredible.

”What, why have you stopped? Let's go.”

At Yos.h.i.+no-san's urging, she resumed running.

The chimes started ringing all too soon, so Yumi couldn't run off to double-check. Therefore, the most likely conclusion was that she had been wrong about what she saw.

Because.

The girl with the long, disheveled hair running in the direction of the third-year cla.s.srooms had been, well, Ogasawara Sachiko-sama.

And that was absolutely, completely, impossible.

”Well, you must have been mistaken.”

Yos.h.i.+no-san decisively declared. Cutting through the Gordian knot. As expected, her rationale was that there was no way it could have been Sachiko-sama. It was inconceivable for anyone who knew Sachiko-sama's usual behavior to think that the running figure could have been her. This was the same opinion that Yumi held.

It was during the break between the first and second cla.s.ses.

In the end, Yumi and Yos.h.i.+no-san had arrived at their cla.s.sroom just in time for the start of the morning prayer broadcast. That was immediately followed by the morning hymn, which they both sang while still out of breath. Then came homeroom, which pa.s.sed uneventfully. And while they both had the same first cla.s.s of the morning, regrettably, their seats weren't close enough to allow them to talk.

But then the first cla.s.s had finished about five minutes early and Yos.h.i.+no-san came flying over to Yumi's desk as soon as the formalities of standing and bowing were completed. Finally they were free to talk.

They both knew a little bit about each others date yesterday. But they wanted to hear the particulars - where they went, how their partner acted - so badly that they had barely paid any attention during the preceding cla.s.s. As evidence of that, Yos.h.i.+no-san had to ask their teacher to repeat a question twice before she could answer it.

There were so many things Yumi wanted to ask but she was a bit reluctant to do so, having recently used the 'suppression order' excuse. The question was, would she be able to hold out until after school, when they could discuss this at the Rose Mansion?

”By the way, Yos.h.i.+no-san, why were you so late this morning?”

Yumi thought she'd try asking an innocuous question.

Yos.h.i.+no-san usually arrived at school about the same time every day. Since she walked to school, she was unaffected by bus or train delays.

”That's because...”

Yos.h.i.+no-san looked sullen as she answered.

”I overslept.”

”Ohh... That's unusual.”

”It's because I wasn't going to school with Rei-chan.”

Yumi was taken by surprise when Yos.h.i.+no-san slammed her fist down on the desk.

”Whaa? Yos.h.i.+no-san, does Rei-sama usually wake you up!?”

Just what you'd expect from the closely related and closely located Yellow Rose sisters.

Not satisfied with her onee-sama merely serving as a house-sitter, tea server and target for her to throw cus.h.i.+ons at, Yos.h.i.+no-san had also turned her onee-sama into a subst.i.tute alarm clock.

Now here was a scoop for the front page of the Lillian Kawaraban. The headline practically wrote itself.

”The Opposite Sisters: Pet.i.t Soeur Master and Grand Soeur Maid.”

At Yumi's obvious excitement, Yos.h.i.+no-san said:

”It's not like that.”

”Okay.”

Yumi smiled, relieved. Ahh, what a surprise that had been. And while she was sure it wasn't Rei-sama she had seen this morning, it was completely believable that Rei-sama would have done such a thing, unlike Sachiko-sama.

”&h.e.l.lip; It doesn't happen all that often.”

”Huh?”

Even if it doesn't happen all that often, it still happens. As was her custom, Yumi secretly tried to imagine herself in the same situation as the Yellow Rose sisters, but the thought of Sachiko-sama coming all the way to her house and then waking her up was just so unlikely that she couldn't picture it.

”My mother, she's a bit of an airhead.”

Yos.h.i.+no-san twirled the tips of her braids around her fingers as she spoke.

”If I'm not out of bed after about an hour, she'll make the wrong a.s.sumption. It might seem obvious, but she doesn't think to come and wake me up. So I'll just sleep the whooole time. So then, when I'm not out the front of my house at the usual time, Rei-chan will come to my room and get me out of bed and ready for school in five minutes, and then take me to school.”

But now with entrance exams and result publications and what-not, there were some days when Rei-sama would come to school and some days when she wouldn't. Obviously, there's no way Rei-sama would wake Yos.h.i.+no-san up on those days when she wasn't going to school. Yos.h.i.+no-san probably understood that well enough, but had been caught unprepared this morning. She probably slept right through the alarm because of her exhaustion from yesterday.

”So, strange as it may seem, that could have been Sachiko-sama.”

”Eeeh?”

The 'that' that Yos.h.i.+no-san referred to was the 'mistake' that Yumi had seen.

”When you first said it, my immediate reaction was that there was no way it could have been Sachiko-sama. But there are very few things you can say about any human with absolute certainty.”

”Well, that's true.”

But would Sachiko-sama, whose favorite phrases included 'Your tie's crooked,' 'No running in the hallway,' 'Don't make such a fuss,' and 'Would you please calm down a bit,' really run down the hallway with her skirt tossing and her collar flapping?

”Anyway, if you thought it was Sachiko-sama then it must have been Sachiko-sama. A soeur's intuition is not something you question.”

”I wonder.”

”Why don't we check?”

Yos.h.i.+no-san glanced at her watch. Yumi too let her gaze fall on the dial. Fortunately, since the previous lesson had finished early, there was still a decent amount of time remaining in the break. Plenty of time to make it over to the third year cla.s.srooms and back.

”If Sachiko-sama isn't in the third year pine group cla.s.sroom, then you must have been mistaken after all.”

”And if she is?”

Yumi asked, as she rose from her seat.

”In that case...”

”In that case?”

Yos.h.i.+no-san smiled.

”The probability that it was Sachiko-sama just went through the roof, don't you think?”

And that's why, about three minutes later, Yumi was standing in front of the third-year pine group cla.s.sroom.

She was here because she had always intended to come back during her break. This was what Yumi kept telling herself. However, each time she thought it, it still sounded like an excuse. Perhaps she was feeling guilty about tracking down her onee-sama.

The front door of the cla.s.sroom was half open, so Yumi peeked inside. Sachiko-sama was nowhere to be seen inside the still mostly empty cla.s.sroom.

(I must have been mistaken after all.)

Since Sachiko-sama wasn't at school, then it must have been someone else that she had seen earlier.

What kind of nonsense had she been thinking? Yumi smiled wryly. There was no way that the angelic Ogasawara Sachiko-sama would be reduced to uncouthly running through the hallways. Yumi was glad she had taken such drastic measures to determine the truth. A happy ending all around. - After a few joyous steps Yumi ran into someone she hadn't expected to see.

”Yumi.”

”O... onee-sama.”

Standing in front of her was Ogasawara Sachiko-sama. Running into a third-year student, like Sachiko-sama, near the third-year cla.s.srooms was hardly something unexpected. But as Yumi had just recently concluded that Sachiko-sama wasn't at school, she was left fl.u.s.tered.

”Go... gokigenyou. Have you just arrived at school?”

If Sachiko-sama was in the cla.s.sroom, then the probability that it had been her went through the roof. Yos.h.i.+no-san's words came rus.h.i.+ng back to her.

”What a silly thing to say. I've been here for hours. What time do you think it is?”

As further proof, Sachiko-sama wasn't carrying her school bag. Nor was she wearing her coat. Finally, she looked just as beautiful as ever.

”I was in the bathroom. My hair was a mess, so I went to brush it.”

As Yumi outwardly nodded in acknowledgment, internally she was going over her onee-sama's words.

Her hair was a mess? She's been here for hours? - Yumi had a bad feeling about this. However her musings were unexpectedly interrupted when Sachiko-sama cheerfully said:

”That reminds me, you came to visit this morning, didn't you?”

”Ahh, yeah.”

”My apologies. I only made it here just in time for morning prayers.”

Completely throwing out Yumi's previous conclusion.

”Did you oversleep or something?”

Perhaps that sort of thing even happened to Sachiko-sama, from time to time. However, she shook her head.

”I forgot to get off at the right train station.”

Sachiko-sama seemed somewhat different to usual. This was probably the first time that she had ever done something like that.

But their short break was almost up, so as much as Yumi wanted to stay and have a leisurely chat all she could do was inform Sachiko-sama that she would return at lunchtime, and then leave.

”You said you'd be back during the lunch break.”

Sachiko-sama smiled as she looked straight at Yumi.

”And you really did come back.”

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