Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume15

Prologue

"Gokigenyou."

"Gokigenyou."

The clear morning greeting travels through the serene, blue sky.

Today, once again, the maidens that gather in the Virgin Mary's garden smile purely to one another as they pass under the tall gateway.

Wrapping their innocent bodies and souls is a deep-colored school uniform.

Walking slowly so as to not disturb the pleats in their skirts, so as to not toss their white sailor scarves into disarray... such is the standard of modesty here. Running here because one is in danger of missing class, for instance, is too undignified a sight for students to wish upon themselves.

Lillian Private Academy for Women.

Founded in Meiji 34, this academy was originally intended for the young women of nobility, and is now a Catholic academy of prestigious tradition. Placed in downtown Tokyo, where you can still see traces of Musashi Field's greenery, it is protected by God, a garden where maidens can receive tutelage from pre-school to university.

Time passes, and even now, in Heisei, three era-names past Meiji, it is a valuable academy, where nurtured ladies raised in greenhouses are shipped out in carefully packaged boxes after 18 years of schooling - an arrangement that continues to survive.

All sorts of things had happened, including the Hanadera Academy School Festival that the Yamayurikai had assisted with, but for the most part they were now over.

Well then, the next thing to look forward to would be the Lillian School Festival, but hold on just a moment.

Autumn at school was packed with events.

And speaking of Autumn.

Is it reading?

Or food?

No, this time it's all about sports.

– Well then, take your marks. Get set.

Go!

Today's Enemy: Excess Cuteness

Part 1

"There's no other volunteers?"

The brisk voice echoed around the second-year Pine classroom.

"In that case, we'll move on to nominations."

The voice coming from near the lectern belonged to someone Yumi was well acquainted with, and seemed oddly out of place in the lazy atmosphere that permeated the classroom.

– Basically, she was the only one enthusiastic about this. Rosa Foetida en bouton, Shimazu Yoshino-san.

" … Hah."

Yumi had been deep in thought the entire time that she'd been blankly looking at her friend. Thinking that, one way or the other, she had to do something.

After school on Monday.

Their teacher had finished homeroom early and Yoshino-san had appeared triumphant in front of the blackboard. For some reason Yamaguchi Mami-san was at her side, but other than when she was writing on the board her presence was so inconspicuous it was like she was a ninja.

"Now, at long last, the athletic festival is coming up next week. As a class, we have to choose who will participate in the various events."

A cry of displeasure arose from all corners of the classroom. Yoshino-san silenced them immediately with a scowl, but in their hearts, everyone was probably thinking that they just wanted to finish cleaning quickly and either head home or rush off to their club activities. Saying this out loud would only prolong things, so they remained silent – but it was written all over their faces.

Now that she'd heard this, Yumi remembered that Yoshino-san and Mami-san were both members of the Athletic Festival Organizing Committee. This committee was different to a regular club because its work was limited in time, so in that sense it was more like the School Festival Executive Committee or the Student Council Election Committee.

Now, as much as a class could be said to have a single personality, then the second-year pine class was not particularly excited about the athletics festival.

In general.

Every class has one or two all-round athletes, or stars of specific clubs, and those sports heroes, no, heroines, were typically dragged in to the sports festival.

But, sadly, there was no-one like that in this class. There were plenty of girls in sports clubs, but none that really knocked it out of the park.

They couldn't even count on their organizing committee members – if Yoshino-san entered an event, it looked like it would be her first time exercising in seventeen years, despite being on the committee.

"Raise your hand if you don't object."

In response, a scattering of hands raised from her classmates. Yumi hastily raised her hand, not having heard what was said. She wasn't sure what they were voting on, but it looked like the majority of the class supported it, so she thought she should raise her hand in approval too. She'd check the details with Tsutako-san later – there was no way Yumi was going to ask Yoshino-san.

As she followed those around her in lowering her arm, Yumi thought. One way or the other, she had to do something.

Something about Hosokawa Kanako-chan, that is.

On Saturday, a difference of opinion had turned into an argument. Even Yumi's onee-sama, Ogasawara Sachiko-sama, had got involved and broken up the fight.

There had been such a commotion at yesterday's Hanadera Academy school festival that she hadn't had time to think.

Although, thanks to that commotion, Yumi had been able to bask in the unparalleled bliss of having the strength of her soeur bonds confirmed.

But it would be a mistake to think that nothing else mattered as long as she and Sachiko-sama were happy together. Because when she was happy, the happy part of her couldn't help but wonder about other people.

Sachiko-sama had said words to the effect of, "You should let her be for now."

But after sleeping on it for a night and searching her heart again, Yumi knew she couldn't just leave things how they were. That was the answer she had found.

Yumi was suddenly brought back to her senses when someone behind her stood up and said, "But I'm already running in the club relay, doing two would be a bit tough."

"But the club relay has no bearing on the team results, right? Show a little class spirit."

Yoshino-san shot back from the podium with a bit of venom. It looked like a discussion about who would participate in the class relay was unfolding around her. Now that she thought about it, Yumi remembered that the girl who sat behind her, Karube Itsue-san, was a member of the track and field team.

"You keep going on about this class spirit, why don't you go in it then, Yoshino-san?"

Itsue-san said, just a little bit mockingly. Naturally, Yoshino-san was shaking.

"You're saying I should go in the relay?"

"You're healthy now, after your surgery, right? Don't you think that this is finally your chance to contribute to the class, Yoshino-san? If you say you're going to participate then, sure, I'll agree."

She probably thought that this would make Yoshino-san withdraw. Yumi knew full well that Yoshino-san wouldn't back down like this – she was the type that kept going, even through a red light – but there were a lot of classmates that still didn't know Yoshino-san's true nature.

"What will you do? Shall we fight together for the sake of the green team?"

Well, provoking her like that was bound to backfire. Yumi frantically tried to send this message telepathically to Itsue-san, but that time had already passed.

"… Alright. If that's what it takes to get you to race, then I'll happily take part."

Ahh. The spark inside Yoshino-san had finally taken hold. Now there was no way to stop the raging inferno.

"But, I've never once run in a race in my entire life. So I won't take the blame if we finish dead last. Is that alright with you?"

"If that happens, then the old saying about there being meaning in participation would apply, don't you think?

All the other students in the class held their breath and watched on. The tension stretched out and filled the classroom. The lazy atmosphere from earlier was now completely gone.

It was no longer a class discussion, it had morphed into a one-on-one showdown.

They weren't so much making eye contact as trying to stare the other down.

They were probably both thinking they wanted to withdraw. But to withdraw would be to lose.

As a result of their stubbornness, Yoshino-san and Itsue-san were basically forcing themselves into taking the relay spots that the rest of the class was avoiding. In other words, the winners were "everyone except those two."

"Don't you forget that then."

On the right-hand side of the blackboard, beneath "Color Relay (2x)" Yoshino-san added "Shimazu, Karube." Then she said, "With that, everything is decided. Thank-you for your co-operation," and abruptly left the podium.

"H-hold on, Yoshino-san, are you okay?"

Yumi was about to instinctively rush over to her when she felt a poke on her shoulder.

"Yumi-san, shouldn't you look out for yourself first, before worrying about other people?"

"Huh?"

Turning around, she saw the photography club's ace, Takeshima Tsutako-san.

"So you didn't realize, after all."

"W-what?"

"Earlier, when you reached up with all your might."

She turned to look at the blackboard, where Tsutako-san was pointing.

"Scavenger hunt race (5x) … ?"

" – Beneath that."

Her gaze lowered to the line showing the surnames of the participants that had been decided earlier. The last of the five names was "Fukuzawa."

"No way … "

Of all the things, she'd cast her vote for her own name.

Part 2

"And?"

Sachiko-sama asked as she climbed the creaky staircase.

"What do you intend to do, Yumi?"

"I'll participate. The way things turned out, I don't really have much choice, do I?"

Yumi answered, following her up the stairs.

She was still in a bit of shock when she finished cleaning and followed her usual habit of heading towards the Rose Mansion for her Yamayurikai work. Then Yumi saw her beloved onee-sama as she exited the school building and instinctively rushed over to her, and started speaking as though in a daze. Telling her all about what had happened during their afternoon homeroom.

"So, Yumi."

"I know. It's all my fault for not paying attention during homeroom. I'll be more careful from now on."

"Right, you're undoubtedly reaping what you've sown. However."

Sachiko-sama stopped at the top of the stairs and turned around.

"That wasn't what I was about to say."

"Huh?"

"You were thinking you had to do something about Kanako-chan, weren't you? I was about to ask how you intended to proceed."

"How I intend to proceed?"

"That's right."

Sachiko-sama placed her bag on the ground and quietly leaned against the wall. If they opened the door before them, they would find their fellow Yamayurikai members waiting inside. So this sisterly conversation should remain outside. That sort of demarcation undoubtedly existed within Sachiko-sama.

Consequently, after climbing the last stair, Yumi gently lined herself up alongside Sachiko-sama.

"It seems like it'll be quite difficult."

This morning, Yumi had run into Kanako-chan at the entrance and waved, but been completely ignored.

During lunch break, she'd gone to visit the first-year camellia classroom, but when Kanako-chan came out she took one look at Yumi's smiling face and turned around and went straight back into her classroom.

She wanted to talk to her, but that seemed impossible given the circumstances.

After lowering her desperately waving hand without getting an opening, and seeing the target of her smile disappear with a stiff expression, Yumi was at a bit of a loss as to what to do. Unapproachable seemed the best word to describe her.

"Oh? But, onee-sama, weren't you of the opinion that I shouldn't force myself to reconcile with Kanako-chan."

Yet, in spite of that, she'd been saying things to spur Yumi on.

"Yes, that's right."

Sachiko-sama looked down and smiled.

"It's not as though I've changed my opinion. But, even if I were to tell you, "This is what you should do," I don't expect that you would meekly follow what I said. Moreover, I want to respect your feelings about removing this ill-will between you and Kanako-chan."

"Onee-sama … "

They had been standing side-by-side looking in the same direction, but their gazes gradually met, until their special someone was projected on both of their pupils.

"You want to reconcile with her, don't you?"

"Yes."

Yumi answered decisively.

She hated the way things were currently. They may not be able to go back to the close relationship they had previously, but even so she wanted to at least get to the point where they could greet each other and make small talk. She couldn't bear the thought of Kanako-chan continuing to treat her as though she were invisible.

"Well then, give it your all. Make sure you properly convey your desire to reconcile with her."

The weight of her onee-sama's hand resting on her shoulder felt neither aloof nor indulgent, instead it was just right to encourage Yumi.

Magical hands.

It felt like even Sachiko-sama had been harboring this vague feeling of unease, that she'd neither named nor put words to, but that seemed to be flowing away now.

"It may not work out. But if you put your whole heart into it and it comes to naught, then you'll be able to accept that, right? If that happens, then come to me. I'll be waiting for you with open arms."

Smiling wholeheartedly, Sachiko-sama looked as divine and beautiful as Maria-sama.

Just looking at her was enough to warm Yumi's heart.

Ahh, just how much did she adore her?

Unfortunately, there was no machine to measure those feelings or unit to describe them in, so it wasn't possible to convey precisely.

For now, Yumi squeezed tightly on Sachiko-sama's left arm.

"I love you, onee-sama."

Then she quickly pivoted and did an about-face, grabbing on to the stairway railing.

"Ah, Yumi!?"

"Thank-you for your advice. I'll go and see her right away."

Yumi called out as she ran down the stairs. Full speed ahead. No time like the present.

Your onee-sama's supporting you, so go, Yumi. Go with all your might.

Reaching the ground floor, she accelerated, not letting her legs slacken, then opened the front door and burst outside.

As for the other.

Sachiko-sama found herself alone at the top of the stairs.

"… I didn't mean you had to go right this second."

Sachiko-sama let out a sigh of exasperation as she opened the biscuit door, then turned back to pick up the two school bags and carried them into the room.

Part 3

It was only when she entered the school building that she realized that Kanako-chan may have already gone home.

From what her classmate Noriko-chan had said, Kanako-chan wasn't involved in any clubs. And given the way things ended on Saturday, it seemed unlikely she'd still be stalking Yumi. Typically, students that weren't in any clubs would head home as soon as the cleaning was finished.

Yumi had been heading towards the first-year camellia classroom, but she put the brakes on, switched target and changed course.

Don't run in the hallways, walk slowly. Well, change that last bit to "relatively quickly" as she moved with a brisk pace. Even without a major school event going on, there were still a fair few students in the classrooms and hallways after school.

Arriving at the first-year camellia class shoe lockers, she saw a face she knew.

"Touko-chan."

"… Ah."

Relaxing her expression, Touko-chan added, "Yumi-sama."

"What's the matter?"

Since she'd relaxed her expression, it meant it had previously been tense. Yumi had a look out the main door to see if she could see anything, but –

"Nothing."

Touko-chan answered bluntly, and started to leave when Yumi impulsively called out to stop her.

"Ah, Touko-chan."

There.

She couldn't set aside the matter with Kanako-chan, but she was still concerned about Touko-chan's behavior.

"Yes?"

Touko-chan turned around. That done, it was now necessary for the one that had called out to her to present some reason for stopping her.

"Umm, do you know where Kanako-chan's locker is?"

Yumi asked, as a starter. And then.

"Kanako, you say?"

The muscles that Touko-chan had made an effort to relax suddenly clenched tight. It was rare that Touko-chan would be in a good mood around Yumi, but this was something even worse than usual.

"What do you want with Hosokawa Kanako?"

Her full name, but again without honorifics.

Yumi suddenly remembered that Touko-chan and Kanako-chan didn't really get along together. Indeed, they'd been called natural enemies.

"Well, I was wondering if she'd gone home already, so I came to look in her shoe locker … it's okay, I'll find it myself. Sorry for keeping you."

Better to let sleeping dogs lie. She was better off not provoking Touko-chan too much. Yumi went and checked the names on the lockers one by one.

Watching the situation unfold, Touko-chan said:

"Yumi-sama. You'd be better off not concerning yourself with someone like her. Even now … argh, so annoying!"

She almost spat this out as she looked in the direction of the exit.

"Now? … Then, ah, she's over there?"

There was no response. But Yumi said, "Thanks," and ran off.

It was only after she'd raced out the entrance that she realized she was still wearing her indoor shoes, and at that point it was too late to do anything about it. To miss this chance by going back and slowly changing her shoes would be inexcusable considering all Touko-chan had done for her, so she just had to go as she was.

The pleats of her skirt were fluttering and her white sailor collar was flapping, but even so go, go.

Kanako-chan was a bit beyond the statue of Maria-sama, on her way to the school gate. Her conspicuous figure – tall and slender, with long, black hair – made her jump into view, without having to search.

Yumi dropped her speed a little, watching Kanako-chan from behind as they walked along the pathway lined with ginkgo trees.

They had reversed their previous positions.

A few days ago, Yumi had walked down this path aware of the fact that Kanako-chan was following along behind her.

Even longer ago, she'd been unaware that Kanako-chan was there.

Yumi was walking about 20-30 meters behind Kanako-chan, and searched her heart once more.

Asking, "Do I want to make up with her?"

The answer was, "Yes." There was no hesitation. As her onee-sama had said, if she could convey her feelings then this matter could be settled.

She reduced the distance further, and the time was right to call out.

However.

"Ah, Rosa Chinensis en bouton, gokigenyou. Are you by yourself?"

Unfortunately, she'd been spotted by a group of first-years, alerting Kanako-chan to her presence. She often forget about it, but Yumi was surprisingly a bit of a celebrity within the school.

Just as she'd expected, Kanako-chan fled. The word fled may be a bit misleading, but she did pick up her pace and gradually draw further away, without even bothering to turn around and confirm whether or not it was the real Yumi there.

"Aaaah … Kanako-chan."

She stretched out her arm, but it didn't reach. On top of the natural distance in their stride length, Yumi was also surrounded by six first-years, so she couldn't give chase that effectively. She eventually shook them off and ran to the entrance, just in time to see the M station bus pull in to the bus stop. She spotted Kanako-chan lined up ready to board.

If I hurry I can make it – . Yumi was about to make a dash for it when she suddenly realized that not only was she empty-handed, she was also wearing her indoor shoes.

She'd made it all the way here but was just one step too short.

"… What a shame."

All she could do was watch in bitter disappointment as the bus pulled away in front of her eyes.

Part 4

"Pardon my intrusion."

"Welcome to our classroom … but what brings you here, Yumi-sama?"

She'd started playing along with Yumi, but then Noriko-chan returned to her usual cool demeanor to ask her question.

It was the following day, in the break between second and third period. Seeking revenge for yesterday, Yumi had mounted a solo raid on the first-year camellia classroom – where she'd been met by Noriko-chan, who was in the vicinity of the door.

"I have business with Hosokawa Kanako-san. Would you fetch her for me?"

Today, Yumi wasn't trying to appeal with her usual friendliness. She was standing up tall, projecting her voice from her abdomen, and keeping her gaze straight. She was copying the battle-ready (ie. domineering) Ogasawara Sachiko-sama, as she played the role of the unassailable older student.

"Okay, wait here."

Understanding this immediately, Noriko-chan bowed and went back into the classroom. Her intelligence was invaluable at times like this. If Yumi were required to explain why she was acting like Sachiko-sama, then the image that she had gone to great effort to construct would undoubtedly come crashing down.

"Gokigenyou, Rosa Chinensis en bouton."

"Thank-you for all your hard work, Yumi-sama."

The students entering and exiting the classroom greeted Yumi as she stood by the door.

"Gokigenyou."

Yumi answered, producing a faint smile. This was in imitation of Shimako-san. But without a mirror, she couldn't say whether it was a good one or not.

While all this was happening, Kanako-chan reluctantly appeared.

"What?"

It was obvious from her expression that she wasn't doing this voluntarily. By using a classmate as an intermediary, it made it so Kanako-chan couldn't ignore her or run away.

"I want to talk to you."

"I have nothing to say to you."

"Even if you don't have anything to say, I do. You can just listen."

Yumi wasn't particularly experienced in using her authority as an older student, but she had to hold firm here.

But her enemy was shrewd too. She wouldn't submit to authority that easily.

"Unfortunately, I have to get ready for my next class, so now's not a good time."

Kanako-chan glanced back into the classroom. Inside, the members of the first-year camellia class were nonchalantly watching them, as they fetched cloth bags from the lockers in the rear of the classroom, or readied ones hanging on the hooks on the side of their desks. It looked like they had PE next.

"Then we'll nominate another time. At lunch, or after school. Pick whichever works best for you."

From the start, Yumi hadn't expected that they would have their talk in the small gap between classes. Her goal for this visit was to arrange some time that they could talk.

Now's not a good time? That's what she had wanted.

"Today?"

"That's right."

She mustn't compromise here with, "Whenever suits you." If she didn't pin it down to a specific date and time, then it would undoubtedly be delayed with, "Soon", "Soon."

"Today's not great, can we do it tomorrow?"

"No."

Kanako-chan seemed to finally resign herself to the fact that it would happen.

"So, decide. Lunch or after school, which one?"

"… After school."

"Does the same place as Saturday work for you?"

"Yes."

"Then it's agreed."

With their conversation wrapping up, Yumi turned and surveyed the classroom.

"Everyone here's a witness, so don't forget."

The students that had been pretending to do something else as they surreptitiously watched on forgot their situation and nodded in agreement.

With that done, it would turn into a major scandal if Kanako-chan tried to run away.

The hierarchical relationship between grades was quite strict, perhaps due to the soeur system. If the first-year Kanako-chan unilaterally broke an agreement with a second-year, then the girls around her would not be silent.

"Sorry for interrupting you. Do your best at PE."

Yumi smiled cheerfully, and started walking away, down the hallway. At any rate, her tactics had worked.

Yesterday, Yumi had felt so pathetic as she watched the bus leave, carrying Kanako-chan away. Nonetheless, even when she returned to the Rose Mansion, she was not able to give a full account to her onee-sama, or the rest of the group. When she gave serious thought to why she couldn't give a report, she came to the conclusion that it was probably because she had been so timid, in contrast to Kanako-chan.

While thinking that she didn't want to make things any more complicated, she'd accidentally seen Kanako-chan's expression. From an attitude perspective, she'd been defeated.

Since she didn't remember doing anything wrong, there was no reason to feel aggrieved. Wouldn't it be better if she acted with more confidence? After coming to this realization, she tried to come up with a plan. She named it the, "I'm Your Senior, You're My Junior Grand Plan." Although, as usual, her naming sense left a lot to be desired.

It went surprisingly well when she finally tried it out, which was a bit of a relief.

In any case, the real battle lay ahead.

Would she be able to open Kanako-chan's heart, or not? It would all depend on how she went about their after-school conversation.

Yumi stayed mindful of her appearance as she walked away, since she didn't know how long Kanako-chan would be watching. Half-way down the staircase she was finally out of sight from the first-year camellia classroom, giving her an opportunity to relax her shoulders and let out a long exhale.

It wasn't easy playing the role of the refined senior.

With her shoulders relaxed, Yumi returned to her usual self, and trotted back to her second-year pine classroom.

Part 5

And so, the agreed-upon after school arrived.

After cleaning, she went to the Rose Mansion and informed those gathered on the second-floor that she had a matter to attend to, then left.

"Take care."

"Don't worry about us, take as long as you need."

Nobody asked for the reason. They probably all had some idea of what Yumi was attempting.

"Yumi."

Sachiko-sama said, having followed her out the biscuit door.

"I won't intrude this time."

So, do your best on your own.

"Okay."

Yumi nodded.

"But, onee-sama. Back then, on Saturday, I was glad that you came. I didn't think you were intruding."

Instead, she was thankful for her assistance. If her onee-sama hadn't miraculously appeared, then the deep wounds Yumi had received from Kanako-chan's sharp, stinging words probably would have taken a couple of weeks to fully heal.

Yumi knew full well that the reason she had recovered so quickly was due to Sachiko-sama's timely first-aid and subsequent care.

"I see."

Sachiko-sama fixed Yumi's tie, then softly stroked her cheek, before going back into the room. Yumi also turned around, and went down the stairs.

Perhaps it was due to her onee-sama's encouragement, but as she went down the stairs one by one, she felt like she could give it her all. That confidence remained with her as she left the Rose Mansion, and by the time she arrived at their arranged meeting place behind the school building, Yumi had already won the attitude battle. It was like how Ivan felt in the folk tale, "The Little Humpbacked Horse," with his good-luck charm, the humpbacked horse.

A figure was already present in the old greenhouse.

"Since you enlisted my classmates like that, it was hard to shake them off, Yumi-sama."

As soon as Yumi entered inside, the girl standing in front of the Rosa Chinensis plant voiced her complaint, without even turning around.

"Did they think you were were running away?"

Yumi smiled as she slowly advanced.

"Yeah, but that said, I wasn't about to bring them here either. Because I wouldn't be able to stay calm if I kept seeing onlookers out of the corner of my eye. So it was a real help that you were so vague about our meeting place."

Complaints, one. Thanks, one. Overall score, one win, one loss.

At any rate, the fact that they were able to have a conversation together like this in private meant Yumi had taken a couple of steps further than yesterday.

"So, you said you wanted to talk."

"I don't want things between us to stay like they are, Kanako-chan."

" … What are you saying?"

Kanako-chan furrowed her brow. But Yumi continued on, unconcerned.

"I know we won't be able to return to the kind of relationship we had before, but I hate how things are now."

"You're no longer the Rosa Chinensis en bouton I admired. You completely shattered the image I had of you as an ideal person. And now, after all that, you have the gall to say you want us to be good friends."

"No, I'm not saying we have to force ourselves to be good friends."

"Then aren't things fine the way they are? Just let it be."

It looked like even Sachiko-sama's rebuke hadn't been enough to get Kanako-chan to reconsider her position, let alone apologize and admit she was wrong. As for Yumi, no matter how much she thought about it, she couldn't find anything she had done that would justify Kanako-chan's anger towards her.

They both thought they were in the right. In that case, even if they wanted to approach, they might keep running in parallel no matter how much time passed, like train tracks. If they couldn't come to an agreement no matter how much they discussed things, then in some sense Kanako-chan was right to turn her back on Yumi.

But it wasn't a matter of logic. Yumi felt that she didn't want to cut her ties to Kanako-chan.

"Can't you just leave me alone?"

If Yumi could answer, "Yeah, okay," to this then she never would have called Kanako-chan out like this to begin with. What would be the point of doing something she was so unaccustomed to, like using her status as an older student to coerce a junior, just to have this opportunity to talk?

"You know, I don't like having this sort of ill-will. If you hate me so much that you can't stand to see my face, then so be it, I'll step back for the sake of your mental well-being. But, if that's the case, then I want to hear you say it clearly. It's not knowing that gets me. So, what do you say? Do you want to run away because you can't stand to look at me?"

"… Not really. I don't care either way. To me, the way you are now, you're not worth thinking about in that way."

"So, in your mind, people are split into two groups – those you love, and those that aren't worth thinking about?"

"Two groups? No, it's not as crude a split as that."

Turning around, Kanako-chan spoke coldly.

"There's also those people I hate so much I want to kill. So, to be accurate, there's three groups."

Whether it was two groups or three, it was still a crude split.

"And now, I've been demoted into the group of people that aren't worth thinking about."

Yumi didn't think she'd had that much effect on Kanako-chan's life to warrant being put into the group of people she wanted to kill.

Although, taking her at her word, it meant that there were people in this world that Kanako-chan hated so much she wanted to kill. But her attitude towards Yumi seemed different than it would be to someone she wanted to kill.

Kanako-chan's likes and dislikes were wide and deep. The truth may be that, for people that she needs from the depths of her soul, "someone she wants to kill" was just the flip-side of "someone she loves."

"At the very least, couldn't we move to somewhere between "love" and "not worth thinking about?""

"You're so annoying. Couldn't you just leave someone like me alone?"

"You're running away."

"Running away?"

"Am I really that scary?"

After Yumi said this, Kanako-chan's expression twisted as she repeated, "Scary?"

"It's just unpleasant. Because, one day, the Fukuzawa Yumi-sama that I admired suddenly had her personality changed."

"I had my personality changed … "

This time it was Yumi asking for an explanation. As the person in question, she had no memory of changing her personality, or having her personality changed.

"The Fukuzawa Yumi that disappeared was my twin, who became an astronaut, and is on her way to Mars right now."

"Huh?"

"… If you think about it like that, we can build a new relationship, can't we?"

"Don't joke about this."

"But I'm being completely serious."

The moment Kanako-chan realized that the picture she had drawn of Fukuzawa Yumi in her mind was mistaken, it meant she no longer existed in this world. That was, undoubtedly, something close to death. But that was a bit morbid, so Yumi thought it was better going with, "She's gone into space." Because, even though you couldn't reach out to her, she was still out there somewhere.

"So, first of all, Kanako-chan, will you help out at the school festival? With the Yamayurikai play?"

"Why me?"

"You're not in a club, right? We can work around your class' schedule."

"I have no obligation to help you. It's like I'm paying the penalty for losing a bet."

"Alright then, let's make that the penalty. If you lose, you have to help out."

"Huh?"

"Let's see, what should we bet on … ah, right. The athletics festival is coming up soon."

Yumi thought she'd hit on a brilliant idea. There was plenty of time between the athletics festival and the school festival.

However.

"What event would we make our wager on? We're in different grades."

"Oh, right. We won't be competing directly. Ah, but there are some events where all grades compete together. I'm in the scavenger hunt race."

"The scavenger hunt race … "

The corners of Kanako-chan's mouth rose slightly.

"What?"

"No, it's nothing. I was just thinking that was fitting for you."

The scavenger hunt race in a high-school athletics festival. Being told that it was fitting for you was not a compliment. Because, while integral to the event, it played a secondary role.

"What about you, Kanako-chan?"

"The color team relay."

"How fitting."

This time around it was undoubtedly a compliment.

The tall Kanako-chan was, naturally, a fast runner. And being a fast runner was a huge advantage in a foot race.

"Then how about we bet on which of our teams will win?"

Kanako-chan's camellia class was on the red team, Yumi's pine class was on green.

"Isn't that beyond our individual ability to control?"

"Right. I suppose you could call it a gamble."

"If we were gambling, then I'd want to bet on the yellow team."

"That won't work. You have to give it your all to get even the smallest amount of points in the hope it brings your team victory."

"Alright."

Kanako-chan agreed to the conditions surprisingly easily.

"And? If I … in other words, if the red team wins, what will you do for me, Yumi-sama?"

"Uh."

"It would be strange if I was the only one risking something. In a bet, the two outcomes have to be evenly balanced, don't they?"

"That's a completely reasonable position."

Yumi wiped the sweat flowing over her temple with the back of her hand. It was a spur of the moment idea, so naturally she hadn't thought it through to the end.

"How about this – I'll do one thing you ask, no matter what."

"No matter what?"

"Ah, well. Nothing that involves someone else, like asking me to return my rosary to Sachiko-sama. Also, nothing that I couldn't do by myself, like asking me to give you a million yen. And don't ask me to kill myself, or anything like that."

"That's quite a lot of conditions to add on to "no matter what.""

"The two outcomes from the wager should be balanced."

"I'll think it over carefully and let you know. Thanks to this, I'm actually looking forward to the athletics festival."

Smiling boldly, Kanako-chan left the greenhouse.

When she was left on her own, Yumi said:

"Did I just made a crazy promise … ?"

– It was too late for regrets now.

Part 6

The following day, Wednesday, at lunchtime.

As soon as Noriko-chan arrived at the Rose Mansion, she walked straight to Yumi, who had just started eating her lunch, and asked a strange question.

"Yumi-sama, what on earth did you do?"

"Huh?"

It was so sudden that the surprise caused Yumi to drop the rolled omelet she was holding in her chopsticks. Luckily, it fell onto her rice, so it was safe.

"You're asking Yumi-san what on earth she did? Well, how about you, what on earth are you going on about?"

The suspicious inquiry came from Yoshino-san, who had also opened her lunch box and started eating. Well, if she knew what was going on from this little information, that would conclusively prove that Yoshino-san had ESP.

"Well, yesterday afternoon, you had a talk with Kanako-san … right?"

Noriko-chan's confidence seemed to drop as she kept talking, to the point where she seemed to fade out at the end.

"I did. And what of it?"

Yumi tilted her head in confusion. Yoshino-san wasn't the only one that didn't understand what Noriko-chan was trying to say.

"Well, that."

"That?"

Noriko-chan went over to the window and Yumi followed her. They both looked down into the courtyard, and in among the students eating their lunches on the lawn they saw a few girls practicing a baton hand-off. One of those girls was none other than Kanako-chan.

"She's taking the initiative and organizing relay practices. Two days ago, she was complaining about being in the relay, and skipped out of the red team's all-grades practice."

"An all-grades practice?"

"Yeah. And Touko was furious at her for that. Saying she was uncooperative. But this morning, it was like she was a different person. So the rumor going around the class was that you must have said something to her."

"Hmmm."

That was indeed something. Kanako-chan had started training because she was taking their wager seriously. If she did her best in the high scoring "color team relay" then it brought victory that much closer. Incidentally, Yumi's "scavenger hunt race" was more of a side event, so it wasn't worth that many points.

"At any rate, it's admirable, isn't it?"

"It's not admirable at all, Yumi-san. What do you think will happen if the red team give it their all? Our green team will come dead last."

Yoshino-san said, brandishing her chopsticks.

"What do you mean?"

"The yellow team's the favorite to win this year, while the green and red teams are expected to be fighting it out for last place. Haven't you seen the "Lillian Kawaraban?""

Yoshino-san pulled a copy of the school newspaper out of her handbag, held it up in front of Yumi and tapped on it.

"How can they know that without seeing the teams perform?"

"You can mostly work it our just by looking at which classes the major players are in. Look, see this bit here."

The yellow team was made up of the first, second, and third-year chrysanthemum classes. They had plenty of short and long distance runners from the track and field club. On top of that, they had a regular starter from the softball club, the captain of the volleyball club, and prominent members of the tennis and gymnastics clubs.

In comparison, Yumi and Yoshino-san's green team, as well as Kanako-chan and Noriko-chan's red team, were a lot more sparse. Of course, they had some stars from the school sports clubs, but there weren't that many of them. It looked like the talent wasn't evenly split across the classes.

Practicing because they were in danger of coming last. The red team's actions were properly constructive.

"But the white team doesn't seem to have that many stars."

Yumi muttered as she looked over the data.

In that case, wouldn't it be a three-way fight between green, red, and white? But then Yoshino-san said:

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Yumi-san, don't you know about the white team's jinx?"

"Huh? What jinx?"

"The white team. They never come in last."

"They never come in last?"

"See, the white team is made up of the plum and cherry classes, right? Because the class name changes based on the grade, neither class wants to be seen as weak. So they all make a huge effort."

"Hmm."

When she heard that, it made sense. Most of the classes had the same plant names for all three grades, but the plum class was only used for first and third-years, while the second-year class was the only one called cherry.

"At any rate, why is the second-year class the only one with a different name?"

"Look, that's really not something we should be worrying about now, don't you think?"

Instead of that, Yoshino-san pressed her on, "What happened with Kanako-chan?" Noriko-chan looked on with intense interest too.

"I simply said that we should have a competition at the athletics festival. Over whether the red or green team would win."

"What, is that all?"

Hearing Noriko-chan's drained voice, Yumi asked:

"What do you mean?"

"You thought that Yumi-san might have made Hosokawa Kanako-san her soeur, didn't you Noriko?"

Shimako-san said from behind them, having entered the room at some unknown point in time.

"Yes. I thought the only thing that could make Kanako-san put in that much effort for her class would be a direct order from her onee-sama."

"And when you thought about her onee-sama, the first one to come to mind was Yumi-san, right?"

"Yumi-sama was acting in a very conspicuous manner yesterday. I was confused by my classmates' speculation, so I thought that must be it … I didn't think Kanako-san would be that enthusiastic just because she wanted to beat the green team."

Well, it wasn't just beating the green team that had her that enthusiastic.

"But it's strange, isn't it? Kanako-chan's a fan of Yumi-san, isn't she? Why would she be so happy about going up against her?"

"Hahaha. It seems like you've got the wrong idea about something."

"What, so she's just being excessively cute? What a cheeky first-year."

Yoshino-san wrung the nearby curtain like it were a washcloth. Noriko-chan seemed like she wanted to run away as she said, "Sorry."

Now then, Noriko-chan.

Even if your classmate was clumsy, there was no need for you to apologize as the class representative.

But, seeing how much of an uproar this had already caused, it seemed like Yumi was better off not mentioning their wager and what was riding on the outcome of the athletics festival.

"Listen up, Yumi-san. We have to beat the red team, no matter what."

Yoshino-san ignored the one member of the red team present (Noriko-chan) and gripped Yumi's hand tightly.

"Now that we know this, we can't take things lightly. I'm going to take charge and organize special practice for the green team relay, starting tomorrow."

Um, hello, Yoshino-san? Just as Yumi was about to call out, the Yellow and Red Roses entered into the room.

"Oh, you seem to be in high spirits, Yoshino. Is something interesting going to happen at the athletics festival?"

Rei-sama seemed to be happy that her petite soeur was so lively.

"Stay over there, onee-sama. You're on the yellow team, so you're an enemy."

Yoshino-san shooed her away with her hands, like she was driving away a cat.

"Ah, Sachiko-sama, you're an ally, so you can come over here. Let's give it our all at the athletics festival."

"Huh? Yeah … "

Under pressure from Yoshino-san, Sachiko-sama agreed uncertainly.

Now that she thought about it, the Yellow and White Rose families would be fighting on different teams.

Shimako-san's second-year wisteria class was on the purple team, while Noriko-chan's first-year camellia class was on the red team.

Rei-sama's third-year chrysanthemum class was on the yellow team, while Yoshino-san's second-year pine class was on the green team.

Only the Red Rose family, with both members in pine classes, were not split into opposing teams.

It wasn't just limited to the Yamayurikai leadership – soeurs would be separated and competing against each other, so even though the athletics festival was only one day, it looked like it could be quite the ordeal.

"Yoshinooo … "

Hearing Rei-sama's forlorn voice, Yumi was glad she was on the same team as her onee-sama.

Return to Main Page

Back to Prologue

Forward to Everything Prepared?

</noinclude>

Everything Prepared?

Part 1

The wide, blue sky enveloped them, like Maria-sama's soul.

When the weather cleared up perfectly like this, especially after times of rain, it led to spontaneous exclamations of, "It's our reward for good behavior," and, "It's because Maria-sama likes us." Especially at a Catholic girls' school.

At any rate, after all manner of things had happened, fine weather greeted them for the day of the Lillian Girls' Academy High-School Athletics Festival.

"Gym uniform, check. Lunchbox, check. Alright, I'm heading out."

After doing her final check in the entrance, she was just about to head out. But upon hearing her farewell:

"Ahh, Yumi-chan."

Someone called out to stop her.

"What is it? If you're after the invitation, I gave that to mom yesterday."

She responded with an answer to what she thought was the question, but it turned out to be something different.

"How do I look? Is this okay?"

Her father looked down at her uneasily, standing at the edge of the entrance way, wearing a cream polo shirt. In his hands he held a number of other outfits, that he had apparently been unable to decide between.

"That's fine, isn't it? It doesn't matter."

"It doesn't matter? Take a proper look, and pick which one would be best."

The range spread from well worn clothes to brand new ones. Just how many pieces of clothing had made the final cut? Ah, when she looked closer, she saw some of Yuuki's clothes mixed in there too.

"You know, it's just your daughter's athletics festival. There's no need for you to put on a fashion show."

It was Sunday.

Her father didn't have to go to work today, so he'd decided to come and watch the athletics festival. But he was getting a bit carried away.

"But I don't want to look bad compared to the other fathers … wouldn't you be embarrassed if I stuck out like a sore thumb? Especially since you're Rosa Chinensinth's little sister."

"… It's Chinensis."

He was probably getting it confused with hyacinth. They were both pretty flowers, but completely different plants.

"Please, Yumi-chan."

It looked like he was overthinking it and had completely confused himself. At any rate, he probably wouldn't be satisfied if she picked one immediately, so Yumi hesitated for a moment before choosing.

"Then, the polo shirt you've got in your right hand. Green suits you, dad. Plus I'm on the green team, so it'll be a lucky color. Probably."

There wasn't really anything wrong with the cream polo shirt he was wearing, but there wasn't any reason to choose it either. By offering up some sort of explanation, her dad would feel better about wearing the shirt.

"Okay, I see … but is it alright to not wear a suit?"

A charcoal gray suit was draped over his left arm. That might be the best choice if this was "Parent's Day" at school.

"Dad. The athletics festival is a sports meet. Casual clothes are better for cheering her on, don't you think?"

Yuuki said, yawning as he arrived, then took the suit from their father's hand. While he was at it, he spotted his clothes, and took them too.

"Well, you see, your father's heart is burning with a secret rivalry with Sachiko-sama's father."

Even her mother joined the conversation, lured in by the noise in the entrance.

"But Sachiko-sama's family isn't going to be there."

Previously, her mom had been so panicked about Yumi getting invited to the Ogasawara family's villa that she'd caused the Koshihikari scandal. The reason for her current strange calmness was because she knew this beforehand.

"Oh, did I forget to tell you? Sorry about that."

Mom said, smiling openly. Then, without a moment's delay, Yumi followed it up with:

"They're going to a relative's wedding."

"… Well, it is Sunday."

With all tension suddenly gone, her father turned around and walked down the hallway, to return the clothes he was carrying to the closet. Yumi called out to her younger brother, who was following their father.

"How about you, Yuuki? Are you coming?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Why not? Because I've got other plans to go out."

He left after this curt answer.

" … So he says, but he's actually embarrassed. He~y. I've made lunch for you too, Yuuki, so I'll leave it here and you can eat it at lunchtime."

Her brother's response of, "Okay," came from further in the house. He was going to have lunch at home … so that must mean his explanation of going out was just a made up excuse.

Looking at her quietly chuckling mother, Yumi was impressed. She'd known exactly what her husband and son were thinking.

"But still…"

Was a girls' school athletics festival really that embarrassing?

"Boys his age have a delicate mentality … it seems you don't yet understand that, Yumi-chan."

"Uhh."

On top of that, she'd read her daughter's mind. She was not someone to be taken lightly.

"It's good that you're enthusiastic, but don't injure yourself. Winning is secondary. The athletics festival isn't over until you return home."

"Isn't that for school excursions?"

"The same theory applies here."

Yumi's mother saw her off with a smile.

"Take care. We'll come and watch you later."

"Yep. I'm off."

Yumi responded energetically, then headed outside.

She took a deep breath of the clear air.

Winning is secondary.

But what if there was a penalty hinging on the outcome?

Then you wouldn't be able to say something as easy-going as that.

Part 2

She went to check on the first-year camellia class as soon as she arrived at school, but Kanako-chan was nowhere to be seen.

"Her bag's here, so it looks like she's at school today."

Noriko-chan said, surveying the inside of the classroom.

"Her uniform's neatly folded, so she's changed into her PE clothes … she might be practicing the relay somewhere."

"… Morning practice?"

It looked like she was putting a lot of effort into this. Yumi thought she might be able to find out the details of her punishment before the athletics festival started, but it looked like that wouldn't be possible.

"I could tell Kanako-san to go to your classroom when she returns. Or if there's a message you'd like me to deliver – "

"Ah, no, it's okay. It's nothing urgent, and when the athletics festival starts I'll probably be able to meet up with her out on the oval."

Yumi waved her hands as she refused the offer, and stepped back. She wasn't flustered, but if she kept talking to Noriko-chan then she might accidentally let something slip, so instead she said, "See you," and turned to leave.

"Ah, Yumi-sama?"

Noriko-chan said mysteriously, but she didn't follow after her. Instead, it was someone else that came flying out of the classroom.

"Yumi-sama."

Her arm was grabbed at the same moment that her name was called, so Yumi looked back over her shoulder. What she saw was a young lady standing there, already changed into her PE uniform.

"… Touko-chan?"

Touko-chan was looking at Yumi with an exceptionally serious expression as she said, "We need to talk."

"Have you made some sort of promise to Hosokawa Kanako?"

Touko-chan said, after they'd relocated to the empty emergency staircase.

"Noriko-chan explained it to our class as just a rivalry with the green team, but … "

After pausing for a little while, she continued.

"But I think there's more to it than that."

Yumi could hear the sounds of some class counting out, "One, two, three, four," as they hurriedly prepared something in the courtyard. She placed both hands on the railing and leaned out. From here, she could see the Rose Mansion.

"That sort of thing wouldn't be enough to motivate her."

Touko-chan continued, after waiting for, "Five, six, seven, eight."

"And it seems unlikely that you would have called her out just to say, "Let's both do our best.""

"… You've given this a lot of thought."

It was at that point that Yumi finally opened her mouth. It looked like the topic of Touko-chan's talk was, as suspected, Kanako-chan.

"What are you plotting here, Yumi-sama?"

"Plotting?"

Yumi questioned this, but the word felt so incredibly appropriate that the corners of her mouth turned up a little.

"I don't know what you're plotting, but that girl has been very lively and happy recently."

In contrast, Touko-chan did not seem very happy as she said this. Her nostrils were flaring.

"But that's good, isn't it?"

Yumi said.

"G-good!?"

Touko-chan's trademark ringlets jolted abruptly, at the same time her eyebrows raised like a seagull spreading its wings.

"Huh, an I wrong? It's led to an atmosphere of everyone working together in your class, right? That's of benefit to you, isn't it, Touko-chan?"

Kanako-chan's refusal to co-operate had unmistakably angered Touko-chan.

"Well, I don't know about that. Something that seems beneficial at first glance may turn out to be detrimental in the long run. Got that, Yumi-sama? I wouldn't be complaining if this feeling was something that spontaneously arose within Hosokawa Kanako. But, if this is her side of some sort of bargain with you, Yumi-sama, then – "

Then you'd complain, right, Touko-chan? At the very least, it was wonderful deductive work.

"This is no laughing matter."

"Ah, sorry."

For Yumi, the way this young girl in front of her was protesting so earnestly was kind of sweet and innocent, that she accidentally let slip something that she hadn't even confided in her onee-sama.

"Kanako-chan and I have made a deal that the loser of the team battle will do one thing the other asks."

"Huh!?"

"So I think that's got her all fired up."

"–"

Hit by this surprise attack, Touko-chan was lost for words. Since she'd already said this much, Yumi decided to reveal all the details.

"If Kanako-chan loses, she's going to help out with the Yamayurikai play."

"And … if you lose?"

"She hasn't told me yet."

"Are you stupid?"

Even to a senior, her words were as sharp as ever.

"What are you going to do if she asks to be soeurs?"

"I don't think she will."

The newspaper club had previously asked Kanako-chan what she'd do if Yumi asked to be her soeur, and she'd said she would decline. And that had even been before their fight. With their relationship now strained, it seemed obvious that ship had sailed.

"But you have no guarantee of that."

"Well, that's true."

"People's feelings change, you know."

"That's for sure."

But even so, Yumi thought it was completely impossible that Kanako-chan would make that sort of demand of her.

But what if she did ask, "Make me your soeur" –

At that time, she'd think about it after she'd been asked. Until she was asked, worrying about each and every possibility would be a waste of time. If she had that sort of free time, she would be better off using it to stretch her legs so she didn't disgrace herself during the scavenger hunt race.

"Why are you so tolerant of Hosokawa Kanako, Yumi-sama?"

Touko-chan said with a sigh.

"Tolerant?"

"Well, Hosokawa Kanako did something horrible to you, didn't she?"

"How did you … "

The only people that had been there were Yumi and Kanako-chan, and then Sachiko-sama. It seemed unlikely that either of those two would have leaked anything.

"That isn't something I've heard from anyone. It's just a feeling I have."

"Is that so?"

By watching very carefully, she may have intuitively picked up on it. Especially since Touko-chan regarded Kanako-chan as a natural enemy, she was probably always conscious of what Kanako-chan was doing.

If this were a test, it wasn't like math, or physics, or chemistry, where anyone could derive the answer given the variables and the equation, it was like a language test where the answer sheet could be filled with answers that felt vaguely correct.

"She's just a spoiled brat. She pities herself, blaming the circumstances around her. Even though there's a lot of people in this world in a similar situation, and many more that are truly worse off than her. I get so annoyed watching her sulk about being the only one ever to experience hardship."

Touko-chan said, like she was spitting it out. As though she were the spokesperson for the "people in this world in a similar situation," and the "many more that are truly worse off."

"Everyone experiences things their own way. Even if they suffer the same injury, the damage they take will be different."

"But there are objective distinctions. A scratch, or a bone fracture. Of the two, which one hurts less?"

Well, in general it would be the scratch. But whether Kanako-chan's injury was a scratch or not wasn't something that could be decided by anyone but her.

"I see. So then you must know Kanako-chan's circumstances."

"Yes. This is just something I've heard though. Should I give you a general run-down? Her father – "

"Enough, Touko-chan."

Yumi stopped her.

"I don't want to hear."

"… Yumi-sama."

Touko-chan looked into Yumi's face as though she was a bit surprised. It looked like this was something that she thought Yumi would want to hear unconditionally.

"If Kanako-chan were to tell me directly, I'd listen. But it isn't something that I need to hear from you right now."

As she spoke to Touko-chan, Yumi felt her thoughts gradually settle.

"Whatever may have happened to Kanako-chan has no bearing on our bet. You may be worried about what damage I'll receive if I lose, but to me, what matters isn't who wins or loses today."

"What ever are you talking about?"

Touko-chan furrowed her brows. It was almost as though this was her first time hearing those words spoken.

"It's that I'm able to have a competition with Kanako-chan. I think there's value in that, in and of itself."

"I don't really follow what you're saying."

Touko-chan seemed to have given up, as though it would take a lot of effort to understand the meaning behind Yumi's words.

As a result, Yumi made a special effort to inform just Touko-chan.

"I just want to have some relationship with Kanako-chan. While this contest, or bet, is going on, she'll be willing to talk to me. That's my goal."

No sooner had she heard this then Touko-chan's head dropped, as though it were shackled, and she muttered:

"So naive."

"Huh?"

"Honestly, your way of thinking is far too naive, Yumi-sama."

Touko-chan's head jerked up, and she looked at Yumi as though she were issuing a challenge.

"How can you not understand that if you do that, Hosokawa Kanako will only become more impudent. I hate that naive, soft side of yours, Yumi-sama. Do you really think that's befitting of Rosa Chinensis en bouton?"

"Uh."

Touko-chan hurriedly turned her back on Yumi, probably thinking that it would be futile to discuss this any further, and reached out for the emergency exit's doorknob.

But, just as she was about to open the door:

"Ah, right."

She looked back over her shoulder, as though she'd forgotten something she wanted to say.

"There's one thing I'd like to correct. You seem to have misunderstood something, Yumi-sama, because I'm not worried about you at all."

"Ah … is that so?"

"It is. Well then, goodbye. You shouldn't loiter here too long either, Yumi-sama. You should hurry back to your classroom. Unless you want to participate in the athletics festival in your school uniform, that is."

Leaving her with a fearless smile, the ringlets disappeared inside the school building.

"I'm … loitering here?"

And just who was it that had stopped her on her way back to her classroom and dragged her out here? But even if she wanted to air this grievance, her companion was no longer here.

"That Touko-chan."

Even as she grumbled, Yumi was aware that she was smiling.

"She hates that soft side of me, huh."

Yumi said, then hurried off towards the second-year pine classroom.

Part 3

They held a brief homeroom after the regular morning prayers.

"At any rate, be enthusiastic, but don't be reckless. In the past, some girls had to miss the school trip because they suffered a serious injury."

The first part of their homeroom teacher's advice was more or less the same as what her mother had said, while the second half seemed more like a threat.

How serious would an injury have to be to miss the school trip? Something like a broken bone, or whiplash, or a full body pummeling. The students in the class all fell silent for a moment. Those options all sounded extremely painful, but to then also miss out on the school trip added to the injury.

Because, the school trip. Held during their second year of high-school, it was in the top 5 events of their school life. The athletics festival and the school festival were each held once a year, while the school trip was a one-off. Miss it and they'd be regretting it for the rest of their lives.

"I say it every year, but it always works on the second-years."

Their teacher laughed in amusement. No sooner had she said this, then a cry of criticism rang out.

"Wha? So it's a complete lie?"

"It's not a lie. It's happened once, about ten years ago."

Their teacher brought it to a close by saying, "So make sure you pay attention."

"Here, Yumi-san."

The girl in front of her passed Yumi the bag to store their valuables in. As Yumi and the girl beside her placed their purses and watches in the bag and passed it on to the girl behind them, the programs were distributed, and at some point Yoshino-san and Mami-san made their way to the podium at the front of class.

"Alright, listen up. Except for the people that have other jobs, we should all be assembled in our space by five minutes to nine. We're the green team, so where are we sitting?"

When Yoshino-san asked this, Mami-san cupped her hand to her ear as though she was hard of hearing, coaxing an answer from her classmates.

"Next to the libraryyyy."

They answered like children, with everyone going along with the joke.

"Exactly. Okay, anyone that has a specific task to do, please go to your stations. We'll see you later. Best of luck, everyone."

With this powerful declaration, Yoshino-san jubilantly led her group out of the classroom. She was heading off to the main gate, to help with visitor check-in.

Because it was a girls' school, at every function they had strict checking to ensure that no-one unrelated was allowed in. It also happened for the school festival and the graduation ceremony, but they were at their most vigilant for the athletics festival. The Lillian PE uniform wasn't particularly revealing, but because it wasn't often seen out in public, it seemed like there would be a fair number of people that would think, "I want to see that." It was a lot of work, making tickets with the students names on them, checking against the register of graduated students, etc.

With the class dissolving, Yumi also stood up. Tsutako-san asked her, "Oh, are you helping out with something, Yumi-san?"

"Yeah, I'm carrying some of the supporter gear from the gymnasium."

"Ah, like cheerleader costumes … "

Tsutako-san was excused from the tasks that had been assigned to the class. In exchange, her classmates had asked her to take all manner of photos, not just of themselves, but also of their onee-samas running, the Roses dancing, and the like. Strangely, she seemed to be completely smitten by a photo of cheerleaders from a certain third-year class that she'd just happened to run into during practice.

Incidentally, Yumi's onee-sama, Sachiko-sama, was a member of the green team's cheer squad, so Yumi had been assigned the task of carrying their gear, being told, "You want to be with her as much as possible, right?" Rather than being a fair allocation of roles, it felt more like she'd been smooth-talked into it. But it did let her be with Sachiko-sama for a little while, so, well, she supposed it was okay.

"Tsutako-san, make sure you take good photos. Then give me a print, please."

Yumi asked, acting a little bit flirtatiously. She imitated Touko-chan, putting on a fawning look.

"If Sachiko-sama says it's okay."

Tsutako-san answered bluntly. While she did take photos like she was a peeping tom, her rule was to never publish or release the photos unless she had the subject's permission. No matter how good a photo, if she were told "no," then she would firm her resolve and burn even the negative.

Still. Even without Yumi saying so, it looked like Tsutako-san knew who she wanted photos of. Well, it was true, Yumi wanted photos of Sachiko-sama more than anyone else.

"But what if Sachiko-sama says no?"

"She won't. But I'll go one better, and take a photo of the two of you together. To completely make up for last year's athletics festival."

"Together, huh."

A goal, beyond just a speck, the size of a pencil's eraser. This year, she could put a photo into her album of them standing together, wearing the same green headband … maybe.

"Ah, she's been distracted by something shiny. Pause your flight of fancy, and hurry off to the gymnasium. If you keep dawdling, you'll be scolded with, "You're late, Yumi.""

"Yes."

Somewhat fooled by this imitation, Yumi instinctively came to attention and bowed.

"Hey, hey, I'm not Sachiko-sama, you know."

Despite her surprise, Tsutako-san still managed to raise her camera and click the shutter.

Sachiko-sama had already arrived at the green team's spot in the gymnasium, but she didn't say, "You're late, Yumi."

"Ahh, Yumi. Can you take that drum and drumsticks that are over there, please. To the supporter's area in the oval."

"Oka~y."

It was the first time they'd met today, but she omitted saying, "Gokigenyou," and jumped straight to the matter at hand. It was a small thing, but seeing this, Yumi thought, "Our relationship really does feel natural."

Although they were still a long way off the old-married-couple style of soeur relationship that Yoshino-san and Rei-sama had. But still, she was happy. When she thought about how, one year ago, all she could do was watch on, it felt like a dream.

– Then she felt someone watching her and turned around, to see Touko-chan over in the red team's space looking her way. As soon as Yumi turned to face her, Touko-chan turned around and started working on whatever it was she was doing. But her actions were completely meaningless – she picked something up and moved it, then returned it to its original position.

Absent-minded Touko-chan. She was probably looking at her beloved Sachiko-sama.

"Sorry we're late. Gokigenyou, second- and third-year onee-samas. We look forward to working with you today."

Having arrived late, the two girls from the first-year pine class that were assigned to carry gear bowed approximately 90 times.

"Don't worry about it. As first-years, this is your first athletics festival, so I'm sure your homeroom teacher was warning you about each and every little thing."

The head cheerleader said with a smile, as she checked the costumes next to Sachiko-sama.

It made sense, the younger grades' homerooms probably would have taken longer. That may have been why Yumi wasn't scolded.

"Um, Yumi-sama, is there anything we can do … ?"

One of the first-years timidly asked as Yumi was about to leave the gym carrying the drum. The head cheerleader would normally direct them, but she was off negotiating with the pink team's leader about something, while the second-in-command (Sachiko-sama) had just this moment left carrying the cheer team's uniforms.

"Should we take these to the cheer team's seating?"

"Oh, the flags? They're going to be used as part of the entry parade, so they should stay here. The placards are out for the same reason. This cardboard's going to be used in the afternoon, so I think the plan is to carry it out later."

Apart from the things she'd mentioned, nothing else remained. But since they'd come all this way to help, it seemed kind of sad to tell them to just wait here.

"So, if you could take this drum. And these drumsticks."

Yumi gave the miniature taiko drum to one of the first-years and the drumsticks to the other, then saw them off.

"You should run into Rosa Chinensis out there, so ask her where they should go."

"Okay. Thank-you very much."

The two first-years left the gymnasium with a smile – were they really that happy to be given a job to do? Lured in by this, Yumi also smiled and waved them farewell, when a low voice came from behind her.

"You've become quite dependable, Rosa Chinensis en bouton."

Startled, Yumi turned around and saw the green team's head cheerleader standing there, arms folded, and nodding, having returned at some unknown point.

"It must be a relief to Sachiko-san too."

"Huuuh."

Then Yumi hastily covered over this with, "Pardon me." Despite receiving a generous compliment, Yumi had spoiled it with her vulgar reaction.

"… My apologies."

Because, it was only just this morning that she'd come to the conclusion that, "we're well matched." As she was thinking back on this, Yumi glanced at the red team's area, but Touko-chan was no longer in the location she'd been earlier.

(… Hmm?)

Just what had she been expecting? It was a little deflating.

The two first-year students and Sachiko-sama arrived back at the gymnasium together. The timing was just right, so they headed off to the green team's gathering spot, next to the library.

Having not carried anything earlier, Yumi picked up the green flags and trotted along behind Sachiko-sama. It was like a sumo wrestler's entrance ceremony, with the grand champion followed by his sword-bearer. Sachiko-sama looked as grandiose as ever, so the image matched exactly.

After handing the flags to the cheer team leader, who was waiting at the front of the formation with the other third-years, Yumi started to move towards the ranks of second-years when Sachiko-sama called her to a halt with, "Yumi."

"Yes?"

When she turned around, Yumi's eyes leapt to her onee-sama's determined expression. Then Sachiko-sama raised her index finger and roared:

"Fighting over the wooden spoon is foolish. Got it? Since we're doing this, we should aim for first place overall. The red team isn't worth worrying about."

Haughty, domineering, and dazzlingly beautiful. Sachiko-sama was as magnificent as Yumi expected. It felt like a bolt of electricity ran across her entire body when she heard this stern command.

"Okay!"

Sachiko-sama nodded, satisfied by this energetic response.

"Just what I expect from my soeur. Let's give it our all."

As she returned to the group of second-years, Yumi thought, "Be that as it may, you weren't particularly enthused back when Yoshino-san was talking about it so passionately, Sachiko-sama." Perhaps her competitive spirit had finally ignited now that the day of the event had arrived.

When Yoshino-san and Mami-san arrived just before the appointed time, the second-year pine class was fully assembled.

"How was it, dealing with the arriving guests?"

"We were flat out. Well, I expected as much, but the parents just kept coming one after the other. They've all come to see their daughter's big moment. My parents were getting all emotional even before they handed the ticket over, it was so embarrassing I pretended not to know them, but Rei-chan's father spotted me."

Prior to her heart surgery, Yoshino-san had never participated in a sports meet or athletics festival. This year would be her first time attempting something other than the entrance parade or dance, so her parents were probably overjoyed. Especially since she was taking part in the athletics festival's main event, the team relay.

"I wonder if my parents made it here okay."

Yumi said to herself, but Yoshino-san heard it and responded.

"Yeah."

She said, with complete confidence.

"No way, how do you know?"

"Because, the tickets all have the student's name on it, right? Although, even if they didn't, I think I'd still know … You, well, you and your brother, you take after your father."

"Oowah."

"He was wearing a green polo shirt, right?"

That put it beyond doubt. It looked like Yoshino-san hadn't just been making things up when she said she knew.

"It's kind of embarrassing."

Her parents meeting her good friend when she wasn't there. Just imagining it made her feel awkward.

"It's fine. I greeted them in honor-student mode."

"Speaking of honor-students."

Mami-san interjected, having silently listened to their conversation until now.

"Do you suppose the former Roses are coming?"

"I don't know."

"Setting aside Satou Sei-sama, since she's going to Lillian University, it would be a homecoming for Torii Eriko-sama and Mizuno Youko-sama. Neither of you have heard anything about that?"

Nope, nope. Yoshino-san and Yumi both shook their heads. She would be better off asking the previous Roses' soeurs, Rei-sama and Sachiko-sama, as the boutons were unlikely to hear any news of this sort. It was only now that they even thought about sending them an invitation.

"I see … but, they'll still allow people in once the games have started, so we should cast an eye over the guest seating from time to time."

Yumi had thought that the reception would have closed when Yoshino-san and the other girls working there returned, but apparently that wasn't the case.

"Once the peak's over, we leave the rest to the teachers."

"The teachers?"

"Like, the specialist subject teachers, or the middle school teachers. We borrow teachers that aren't directly involved with the athletics festival. If nothing else, all students have to be involved in the entrance parade, right?"

Backing up Yoshino-san's words, students were trickling in from wherever they'd been stationed. Including the health committee members from the first-aid tent, and the scorers. About the only students that wouldn't be in the entrance parade were the broadcasting committee members doing the announcing.

9 am.

Bang, bang. The sound of a starter's gun echoed around the grounds.

"The teams will now enter when their name is called."

At the sound of the mic, a shiver of excitement ran through the rows of waiting girls.

And then.

"The white team."

Yumi's second-year athletics festival had finally begun.

Return to Main Page

Back to Today's Enemy: Excess Cuteness

Forward to Friend's Affection and Onee-sama

</noinclude>

Friend's Affection and Onee-sama

Part 1

White, purple, yellow, pink, green, red.

Under their respective flags, the young girls wearing matching colored headbands stood in rows in the center of the track.

The school principal's opening remarks.

The team captains' pledge.

Then radio calisthenics.

It wasn't just the athletics festival, any event, once it started, ran non-stop. While it was happening, those involved were completely absorbed by it, so they didn't have time to worry about how they were feeling, or their body, or the time.

Supposing it were possible to put a numeric value to enjoyment, then they'd probably have to get 7 or 8 out of 10 enjoyment points from the preparation for the event, in order to get a sense of accomplishment out of it.

The family seating area was on the outside of the track, near the curve, and it was so jam packed that it seemed like they should put out, "Thanks for the full house," banners, like they did at sporting events. There were so many that there were still plenty of parents standing and watching even after the teachers had offered up half of their area.

Just as Yumi was exiting the stage, she felt as nervous as she did on parent's visiting day, and glanced into the family seats. Although they were seats in name only – her parents were in that crowd, sitting on a plastic groundsheet. Her eyes jumped to her conspicuous father, who was holding a camera and waving happily. Yumi quickly turned away.

Why did she feel so embarrassed by seeing her family at school? She thought about this as she hurried to the green team's area, but it didn't look like that riddle would be solved any time soon.

The students' barracking area was also on the outside of the track, but they were on the straight.

It was roped off into six blocks, one for each team, on a hill that sloped gently upwards towards the back. There were nylon sheets spread about, but they weren't separated by grade, so all the students in the team mixed freely together.

At the back stood large signboards, emphasizing their team color.

It didn't end with the signboards, the teams worked hard to ensure they had color-coordinated groundsheets, megaphones, folding fans, and the like. Although, not all items came in every color, so some of the teams had to dye or stick colored paper over some of their things.

Now then.

The first event was the first-years' mandatory participation "Ball Rolling Race."

This is slightly different to the more commonly known "Giant Ball Rolling Race."

The track was split into thirds, with ping-pong balls being followed by tennis balls, and then basketballs. The giant balls were waiting for them to return to the start line, at which point they would be rolled around the track – basically, it was a relay.

Last year, Yumi's cohort had found the ping-pong balls surprisingly difficult to roll. Since "roll" was in the name, the rules stated that the ball had to roll along the ground. They were allowed to use their feet, so they kicked them along using a soccer dribbling technique – except for the giant balls, which required two to three people to move. So another name might be the "Ball Kicking Race."

The four-ball cycle was run six times, with teams awarded from 25 to 5 points based on their order of arrival.

"Take your marks, get set … "

The pistol went off with a bang and the lead runners took off.

The balls were painted with the team colors, but because they were ping-pong balls it was impossible to see them from the spectators' seats. They could tell who to cheer for because of the color of their headband and the sash the runners wore.

Ping-pong balls are light. So when they kicked them, they rolled further than expected. Sometimes they'd lose sight of their ball, and inadvertently kick a different one, furthering the progress of some other team, and these repeated accidents made it fun to watch the ping-pong ball race.

Even though she knew she had to support the green team, Yumi's gaze kept straying to the red team.

Noriko-chan, Touko-chan, and Kanako-chan – the first-years she was familiar with were concentrated in the camellia class, so her eyes were always drawn to their location.

It was the fourth lap that had her palms sweating. Touko-chan was on stand-by at a ping-pong ball, Noriko-chan a tennis ball, and Kanako-chan a basketball.

At that point, the yellow team was in first, pink in second, purple in third, red in fourth, and green in fifth. The white team being in last place was a bit of a surprise – earlier they had been fighting it out for the lead, but a wayward kick sent their ball off course into the family seating area and they'd lost a lot of time looking for it.

The red team completed the third lap with their giant ball and passed the sash to Touko-chan, who started the fourth lap.

Touko-chan carefully kicked the ping-pong ball, using the instep of her sneaker.

Rolling lightly and then stopping.

It was a painstaking task, because she'd lose everything if it went flying too far.

Kick! Roll, roll, roll, kick! Roll, roll, roll.

By maintaining a good tempo, the green team steadily gained on her.

"Go for it!"

As she shouted out her support, Yumi wondered just who it was she was cheering on. The green team's first-year, or the red team's Touko-chan?

Yumi terminated that line of thought immediately. In the unlikely event it was the latter, she'd be making an enemy of every single person in the green team's section.

"Say, don't you think Touko-chan's usually more forceful?"

Yoshino-san said idly. Yumi thought she was right. Discovering this unexpected side of Touko-chan may have been a byproduct of the athletics festival.

In the end, she was overtaken by the green team before handing the sash over to Noriko-chan. But Noriko-chan looked to dispel her good friend's regret with a single kick.

"Ohhh …. "

Powerful and accurate, she kicked the ball so it would land in a good position to run to.

"Look at Noriko-chan go."

Kicking the ball hard meant it went further faster, but there was more risk too. The ball could hit one of the runners up ahead and go off track, or bounce off in an unexpected direction, resulting in an unrecoverable loss of time.

But Noriko-chan wasn't worried about that as she vigorously kicked the ball. Her control was perfect.

When she got close to the green team, she switched strategy to dribbling the ball and gradually shortened the distance between them.

Moving with no superfluous actions.

Her footwork made it look like she was making all sorts of instantaneous calculations as she moved.

Distance, speed, time, angle, friction … Yumi wasn't quite sure, but it looked like various math and physics formula were flitting around her.

In the end, Noriko-chan caught up to the green team and handed the sash over to Kanako-chan with a narrow body-length lead.

But, when it came to Kanako-chan. She took off, and flew. She didn't bother with control, and when the ball went a long way off course she caught up to it and righted its trajectory, but she never slowed down.

Cheers rang out from around the ground.

The conspicuously tall young lady flew around the track, not worrying about the people ahead of her, or how she looked.

Yumi turned to follow what most of the cheering was about, and saw the purple team's runner momentarily stop as she was overwhelmed by the force with which the red team overtook her.

One down, then a second, then a third, before the sash was handed over. In other words, Kanako-chan had single-handedly taken the red team from fourth all the way to the front.

"… Incredible."

As Yumi looked on in amazement from the green team's area, Mami-san quietly scooted over and whispered, "The red team's secret weapon, huh? What's really going on, Yumi-san?"

"With what?"

"Is she going to be your soeur, or not?"

" – I've told you already."

Yumi was about to add, "That she said no," but stopped. If the green team's final score was lower than the red teams, and Kanako-chan said, "Please make me your soeur," then what would she do? Even Yumi didn't know the answer to that.

Yumi pondered this as she sat on the floor grasping her knees, when Sachiko-sama's voice came from overhead.

"Yumi. That's enough chatting, it's almost time for you to go. The second-years are up next."

"Ah, right."

Yumi stood up and turned around, and there was her onee-sama wearing her cheer-leading outfit.

"Oooooh."

""Ooooh"?"

Sachiko-sama raised an eyebrow, unable to discern the meaning of Yumi's utterance.

"Onee-sama, you look so dashing … !"

"Really?"

Sachiko-sama nimbly raised a hand and spun around, modeling the outfit. Her expression showing that she wasn't too dissatisfied.

A traditional boys uniform, made from cloth the same color as the Lillian uniform, white gloves, a green headband that was significantly longer than the regular ones, topped off with a tight sash in the same color as the headband. There were a handful of third-years in the same outfit, but none of them wore it as well as Sachiko-sama. Of course, Yumi was well aware that that was a "petite soeur's folly" … but it had to be said.

"I was completely disinterested when it was first decided. But when I say you wearing one at the Hanadera school festival, I thought maybe it wouldn't be too bad."

"Yeah, it looks good on you, Rosa Chinensis. Us second-years will do our best to live up to the expectations of the third-year onee-samas cheering us on."

Mami-san said, after bowing. Then she grabbed Yumi by the scruff of the neck and practically dragged her over to the entry gate.

"I know you're so very reluctant to part, but you can run back to your beloved onee-sama as soon as the "Ball Escape" is over."

"But then it's the third-years' "Ball Toss.""

They would trade places as participants with the third-years, so even though they were in the same team they couldn't have a leisurely chat because they were in different grades. On top of that, Sachiko-sama was one of their cheerleaders, so when she was in the green team's seating area, she was at the front, on standby.

"… You two really are close, aren't you."

Mami-san said, sounding honestly amazed.

Incidentally, the athletics festival always started with the three ball events, "Ball Rolling Race," "Ball Escape," and "Ball Toss," to get the ball rolling, so to speak.

The second-years had already started assembling into their teams near the entry gate.

"You're late."

Yoshino-san was already waiting there and looked up angrily. Even though she said they were late, the first-years hadn't finished exiting the oval yet, so their tardiness probably didn't warrant that level of anger – as Yumi stood there looking confused, Tsutako-san drew close and whispered in her ear.

"The princess has been in a foul mood for a little while now."

"Do you know what caused it?"

"All sorts of things, from what I can tell."

"All sorts of things, huh."

Yumi glanced at the scoreboard.

From the "Ball Rolling Race," the green team was second from the bottom, in fifth place. But the red team, their rivals for the wooden spoon, had slowly dropped back after Kanako-chan and finished fourth, so it wasn't too bad, all things considered.

"Have you seen Rei-chan's outfit?"

Yoshino-san muttered abruptly, sounding subdued.

"Huh? No, not yet."

They'd walked behind the yellow team's supporter area, but she hadn't had time to look around because she was being pulled along by Mami-san.

"It's like, geeze."

Yumi thought, "So that's it?"

She wasn't entirely sure, but it looked like Yoshino-san was irritated with Rei-sama. And since she couldn't vent to her directly, her irritation built up inside, so she was getting upset over minor things – like, for example, her classmates being slow to arrive.

"And Sachiko-sama? You must have seen her, right?"

"Yep."

Yumi nodded. She was probably referring to her boys' uniform outfit.

"Your onee-sama looks stylish, but my Rei-chan is, my Rei-chan is, my Rei-chan is – "

A broken record, is usually how her actions would be described. If left alone, she'd just keep repeating that over and over.

"What does she look like?"

Yumi threw Yoshino-san a lifeline. And then.

"Like she's partying at a canary carnivale."

"C-canary?"

– Yumi asked, but she'd already concluded that Yoshino-san must have been speaking about those familiar little birds that were good singers. Rei-sama's team color was yellow, after all. But she'd never heard the combination of canary and carnivale before now.

She turned her head towards the yellow team's supporter area, wondering what that looked like, but Yoshino-san grabbed her head and firmly turned it back.

"Don't look."

"Huh?"

"Show some warrior's compassion, please, Yumi-dono. At the very least, don't look in front of me."

Well, if she was willing to go that far, there was no way Yumi could look. As a warrior, no, as a friend, she had compassion, but frankly speaking, Yoshino-san's retaliation after being wronged was terrifying.

"Here, Yumi-san, Yoshino-san."

A large basket was passed to them. Inside were soft, spongy balls, about the size of a tennis ball, which were wrapped in a cloth of their team color, and easy to hold in one hand.

Yumi took four and passed the basket along.

Yoshino-san took some too. Mami-san and Tsutako-san were already holding some. The basket was passed around, as most of the people were on the "throwers" side.

So then, since it was called, "Ball Escape," just who would be escaping?

That would be three people per class. Those chosen for this role were the tall, the fast, the quick-witted and agile. The duty of those chosen was to carry a basket upon their back and fly, with single-minded devotion, to escape the balls.

In contrast, those on Yumi's side had to pursue the enemy, with single minded devotion, in order to get their balls into the opposition's baskets. Ultimately, the team with the fewest balls in their baskets was the winner.

Having completed the "Ball Rolling" race, the first-years left the oval. This was followed by the second-years entering the oval, so they could perform the "Ball Escape." Their game used the full area inside the track. The teams arranged themselves as though they were protecting their basket carriers and waited for the start.

"We're attacking the red team. Got it?"

Yoshino-san instructed her nearby teammates.

"At any rate, we won't be bombarded by the teams looking to win. Since we're in last place, with hardly any points."

Just earlier she had been like a warrior, but now Yoshino-san had transformed into a military tactician.

"I suppose you're right."

"Okay."

The classmates nodded along with what she was saying, but all strategy would be out the window once it started. They all knew that.

It would be chaos, with all six teams mixed together. Spotting who had the baskets would be difficult, and not long after it started the grounds would be transformed into a battlefield with balls flying every which way. – They'd already experienced this in practice.

"It's starting."

The sound of a pistol roared. With that cue, multicolored balls started flying from every direction.

The balls were light, which meant they didn't travel as far as expected. So the most effective tactic was to get as close to the target as possible.

For defense, they wanted to surround their basket carriers with teammates, to block any balls thrown at them and drastically lower the chances that a ball would get into the basket.

But, if they were defending, they couldn't attack. And if they were attacking, they couldn't defend. That dilemma was part of the game.

"Ooh, that's not fair."

Yoshino-san spotted something and cried out, as she defended the green team's basket alongside Yumi.

"The purple team has Shimako-san carrying the basket."

Yumi looked where she was pointing and, sure enough, there was Shimako-san looking flustered as she ran carrying a basket. However.

"Why's that not fair?"

Yumi asked, and Yoshino-san answered as she swatted away an incoming ball.

"Have you ever heard of Shimako-san being a fast runner? Or incredibly tall? Is she nimble, like a dancing mouse? If anything, she's like an old cat, sunning itself on the porch. And yet they made her take that role, how pathetic."

"…"

Yumi thought it was far more pathetic that someone would talk that way.

"Don't you get it? You couldn't say Shimako-san is qualified to do that even as flattery, so there's only one reason that they asked her to carry the basket. The majesty of Rosa Gigantea."

"Majesty?"

"When you go to throw the ball, you might momentarily hesitate, thinking you might hit Shimako-san. That's what the purple team is aiming for."

"But it's a tactic, isn't it?"

Yumi didn't really understand how it was different to Yoshino-san saying they were going to exclusively target the red team, but, at any rate, it looked like the basket attached to Shimako-san's back had raised Yoshino-san's ire.

"I'm heading out."

"Huh!?"

"I'm not going to hold back against Shimako-san."

Immediately after saying that, Yoshino-san dashed off towards the purple team's basket.

Hold on, Yoshino-san. What about our tactic of targeting the red team?

But even if Yumi were to call out to her, Yoshino-san was the reckless sort of person that wouldn't stop.

Seeing no other choice, Yumi joined in the attack on the red team. Since her height wasn't anything to boast about, perhaps she'd be better suited to finding a gap in the enemy's defenses instead of protecting her allies.

On the way, she picked up some balls from on the ground. Turning up the shirttail of her sports uniform made a pouch that held a surprising number of them. The balls were all color-coded, but that didn't matter for the game itself. The game was scored by the number of balls in the basket, so they didn't bother checking who was throwing which colored ball. So she picked them all up, even those that weren't green. Throwing with all her might. Sharing the balls she'd picked up with her classmates, they aimed for the red team's basket. Only that.

Not because of Yoshino-san's tactic – Yumi's enemy was the red team. Since Kanako-chan had taken it so seriously, Yumi had to respond with all her strength too. She felt as though that was a way of showing her sincerity, or something along those lines.

While she was absorbed in the game, the ending pistol rang. Looking around once it was all over, there was no vestige remaining of the camps that had protected the baskets. It looked like everyone that had been on defense suddenly surged towards the enemy camps when the time limit drew near.

Then they started counting out the number of balls that had been gathered in each team's baskets.

"One, two."

Everyone counted as the balls from the baskets were tossed into the air. Since the goal was to have the lowest number, the team that ran out of balls first was the winner.

"Seventy-eight, seventy-nine."

Compared to the relay and similar races, being fast didn't give as much of an advantage, so there wasn't going to be a difference of 30 or 40. Typically, the difference between first and last was less than 20.

"Eighty-five, eighty-six."

The first team to run out of balls was, surprisingly, Yumi's green team. Followed closely by the red team, the white team, the pink team, and then the purple team.

"What's this? The yellow team, that's generally considered the favorite to take overall victory, has come in last place? What an upset."

The student commentating called out from the broadcast booth. Even though they still had some balls still visible in their basket.

"It's tough to be the favorite."

Mami-san mumbled as she watched the balls being tossed into the clear sky, one after the other.

"They become every team's target. Since they can't match them in the other events."

"And you published the rankings in the "Lillian Kawaraban" knowing this?"

As Yumi asked in surprise, the balls kept flying out of the yellow team's basket. One hundred.

"Of course. Those out in front deserve a handicap, don't you think?"

Mami-san nodded.

So in that case, the green team may have won the "Ball Escape" because none of the other teams saw them as a threat.

"I'm not sure whether to feel happy about that or not."

"Since we went unchecked and got the best score, other teams are going to start targeting us. Things are about to get interesting."

"Hey … "

"Don't worry. If they take a moment to look at the situation, our true strength will be evident. They'll quickly realize it was a fluke."

"…"

Those words of consolation weren't particularly comforting.

The yellow basket was finally empty. The scoreboard was updated to include their results and the order to exit the oval was given.

As the students clumped up to exit through the gates, Yumi ran into Shimako-san. When asked her impressions as one of the basket carriers, she had only one thing to say.

"Yoshino-san was scary."

– Right.

Part 2

The third-years took the place of the second-years, for their "Ball Toss" game – which was played in the conventional style.

The teams' baskets were each fastened to a pole, and they had to throw balls into their own basket. In contrast to the "Ball Escape," the winning team was the one with the most balls in their basket. Naturally, the balls were beanbags.

"Hey, doesn't it seem like the third-years have it easy?"

Yoshino-san said, as she played with the cheerleading props nearby. They were encamped right at the front of the spectators area. She was comparing the third ball game to the previous two, where the first and second-years had run themselves ragged.

"Yeah, I suppose."

Indeed, since all they had to do in the "Ball Toss" was stand beneath their basket and toss the beanbags upwards, it didn't seem like it would burn all that much energy.

"It's fine. The third-years are retired, after all."

Tsutako-san said, suddenly appearing behind them.

"What?"

Yoshino-san looked a bit sullen at this defense of the third-years. Yumi had thought that Yoshino-san would have sweated out at least some of her stress, but it looked like her bad mood still persisted.

"Well, when you're a third-year, you've got a lot to deal with."

As she said this, Tsutako-san reached deep into the cardboard box of supporter gear and pulled out her personal camera.

"What do you mean, a lot to deal with?"

"Like choosing a course for priority entrance, or entrance exams, or getting ready to study abroad, or job hunting. It's a lot. With all this going on, they're usually exhausted most days, so it'd be kind of pathetic if we didn't show them some compassion."

After saying this, Tsutako-san quickly excused herself and left. By the looks of things, she had only come over to retrieve her camera.

Tsutako-san usually kept her camera close at hand, but not even she would walk around taking photos during their game. It seemed like she could have left her camera with someone on the green team in a different grade, but since the morning games were mandatory and ran one after the other, there was no-one that would stay in the supporters area for the whole duration.

For any valuables that hadn't been left in the staff room, the school wouldn't do anything even if they went missing. But it went without saying that if she left her camera in the staff room, she wouldn't be able to go back and get it easily.

The camera was valuable. But she wanted to take photographs.

As a last resort, it looked like she'd imitated a dog hiding its treasure, and buried her prized camera deep in the box of supporter gear. Having quickly dug up her camera, she was now flitting around everywhere, taking photos of the third-year's game. This was Tsutako-san at her most animated.

"Planning their future, huh."

Yumi muttered as she watched the ball-toss game. Basically, she was saying that the third-years were retirees and normally exhausted.

"What's Sachiko-sama doing after graduation?"

Yoshino-san asked, picking up on Yumi's comment.

"I haven't asked."

After responding, Yumi returned the question.

"How about Rei-sama?"

"You haven't heard that she's going to Lillian Women's University? She decided on it a long time ago."

"Really? Lucky you."

"If you've got the time to sit there and say, "Lucky you," then why don't you hurry up and ask? In a lot of cases, you'll lose your chance if you just fritter away the time without asking. Like with the role for our school festival play."

"Ooooh, don't say that."

She hurriedly covered her ears. For Yumi, their school festival play had recently become an unmentionable topic. Well, that was a matter for the future, so she set it aside for now.

"It'll be an even bigger shock if you only find out at the last minute that she's applying to other universities."

"I know … but."

She could postpone the shock by not asking.

"Good grief. Why are you so passive when it comes to Sachiko-sama? She's your onee-sama, you have to meet her head-on."

"… Yeah."

But, regardless of whether she asked or not, Sachiko-sama had probably already decided upon her path. So the matter of losing time that could never be recovered was only an issue for Yumi's heart.

The green beanbags sprung up into the sky, like water from a water fountain.

White too, and yellow, purple, pink, and of course red.

This continuously boiling water of beanbags was Yumi's anguished heart.

Sachiko-sama had been at Lillian from kindergarten all the way through to high-school. Yumi's baseless expectation was that this would continue on to university.

But, no matter how much she might wish for this, life didn't have to conform to her desires.

Sachiko-sama's father often went overseas, so she may even have chosen a foreign university.

Onee-sama, what are you planning on doing after graduation?

It was merely a short question, but it would clear everything up in an instant.

The main point was that this wasn't the first time she'd lacked courage. Yumi was well aware of this, without Yoshino-san having to point it out.

Bang, bang.

As soon as the pistol rang out, the various colored water fountains disappeared.

Each team's basket was lowered and the count began.

"One. Two. Three."

Since the teams couldn't impede each other, the "Ball Toss" game was more a measure of their ability. In the end, Rei-sama and her yellow teammates had given it their all and achieved first place, making up for their previous crushing defeat in a single event. Unfortunately, the green team finished in fifth place. Was this a measure of their true strength? Although, using phrases like "true strength" in relation to the "Ball Toss" game felt a bit strange.

"That's so annoying. How did we come fifth after throwing so many of them?"

Sachiko-sama grumbled, after returning to the green team's area.

The response, "Well, that would be because the other teams got more beanbags in their baskets," was almost out of Yumi's mouth before she managed to hold it back. Since her onee-sama was not expecting any sort of response.

She was merely frustrated by losing, so she had to say something to someone or she wouldn't be able to calm down. So at times like these, it was important to listen and not say anything.

"On my way back here, I ran into Rei, looking triumphant. Ah, it makes me so mad. We have to turn it around, and triumph over them somehow."

"That's right, onee-sama. Please bring us back in the "Centipede Race.""

"We could. We should. We shall."

Sachiko-sama said, as though she were practicing verb conjugations, then clapped her hands together. Then, looking like she'd completely recovered, she put her boy's uniform costume on over her PE clothes and joined the other cheerleaders.

Hurray, Huray, Gree-ee-een.

Bang, bang, ba-ba-bang, bang, ba-ba-bang.

"Yumi-san, you've completely become Sachiko-sama's parent."

Yoshino-san teased, but in her heart, Yumi thought, "Maybe she's right." After all, she felt she'd become quite proficient at handling Sachiko-sama when she was sulking or hysterical.

And yet, she couldn't ask about the most crucial topic.

When she saw her onee-sama's happily smiling face, she just wanted to stay like that for a little while longer, and not think about any difficult matters.

On the oval, the first-year's massed calisthenics performance was starting.

The V-shaped Boat pose, the T-shaped Warrior III.

Supported handstand.

Folding fan pose.

Two-level pyramid.

It may have been called group gymnastics, but it was by no means acrobatic. Even so, each time they changed poses a round of applause bubbled up from the visitor's seats and from the supporters.

Fweee, fw-fwe.

The sound of the whistle was refreshing.

To call it an intermission would be rude, but there were no points attached to it, so the performers moved in a relaxed manner and the audience were at ease as they watched.

Kanako-chan, Touko-chan, and Noriko-chan were all there in the sea of first-years.

They may have been carrying all sorts of burdens in their hearts, but for this single moment, all the first-years were acting as one. Yumi was overjoyed by this thought.

Since it meant the athletics festival wasn't just a competition. There was another side to it, of banding together and working towards a common cause.

The group gymnastics came to an end, to a round of applause from everyone – a massive success.

Checking her schedule, the team cheerleading contest was up next.

"First up is the red team's cheerleaders."

The red team bubbled with excitement at this announcement, and three students clad in red dresses crossed over the rope fence from the supporters area and burst onto the track. They clasped bright red flowers between their lips and held castanets in their hands. The other students were also holding the same small instruments.

The red team's theme this year was "Carmen."

The cheerleaders danced nimbly to the sound of a guitar, as they led the rest of the students in clapping to the beat.

"Olé!"

They finished the performance by throwing the flowers they had held between their lips up into the air. On closer inspection, the flowers weren't roses but plastic camellias. That made sense, the red team was made up of the camellia classes.

"Up next is the green team."

For the cheerleading contest, the teams went in order from last to first. Sachiko-sama and the rest of the boys-uniform squad stood in a line on the track. Standing with their feet shoulder-width apart and their hands behind their backs. Their spines straight, brave and imposing.

As they'd arranged, Yumi moved to the front, in the cheerleaders' seats, and waited next to a taiko drum. Yoshino-san was also on stand-by, a short distance away.

"Hooray."

The center cheerleader raised her right arm.

"Hooray."

This time it was the left arm.

"Gree-ee-een, go."

With that as their signal, the entire green team shouted, "Hooray, hooray, green. Hooray, hooray, green," and clapped to the beat.

Yumi beat the taiko drum as hard as she could, in time with the hand movements of Sachiko-sama and the other cheerleaders – thump, thump, thump-thump-thump – while Yoshino-san waved the flag furiously.

The 3-3-7 beat continued. The five girls in boy's uniforms took out folding fans and led the others. The folding fans were, of course, green in color.

It was an orthodox cheering style, but the way they nailed all the important details was incredibly cool.

Yumi hoped she'd be in the green team next year, so she could lead the cheering in a boy's uniform like her onee-sama. It was a well established tradition that the green team's cheerleaders wore boy's uniforms, so there must have been a lot of second-years that felt the same as Yumi throughout the years.

After the green team was the pink team.

Their theme this year, "Momotarou," was written on large signs. Since they were from the peach (momo) classes – it was rather straightforward.

It may have seemed like they'd have Momotarou and his followers – a dog, a monkey, and a pheasant – but instead they had three Momotarous. Their followers were in the stands.

After putting on their cardboard masks, a whole bunch of dogs, monkeys, and pheasants started calling out in unison, "Momotarou-san, Momotarou-san." Hearing this, the Momotarous called out, "Now let's vanquish those demons," and menaced the yellow, white, and purple teams with their folding fans.

It went without saying that the three teams they were likening to demons were those ahead of them. But this didn't anger any of the targeted teams, instead they seemed to find it amusing. In second-to-last place, it really hit home to Yumi how much more annoying it was to be ignored at times like this.

After the pink team it was the white team's turn.

Their theme was "Angels." – At least, that's what they said, but since their wings were attached to their arms and not their backs, it made them look more like doves than anything else. Still, even though they were cheering, those wings were an unexpected display of skill. All they had to do was raise their arms slightly and the wings would flutter in a very eye-catching manner. It was hard to describe the spectacle of five winged doves leading a 3-3-7 cheer. …. No, they were really angels though.

Following them was the purple team with the kabuki dance, "Fuji Musume."

"Oh?"

The cheerleading squad was usually made up of third-years, but wasn't that the second-year Shimako-san right in the middle of them?

"… They even sweet-talked her into doing this?"

Yoshino-san groaned, with her arms folded. It went without saying that Shimako-san was Rosa Gigantea. A perfect fit for a leadership position.

"But their theme is Fuji Musume, so doesn't it make sense that she's there? Shimako-san's a master of traditional dance, after all."

"But they could have picked Fuji Musume because Shimako-san's there."

"Hmm."

Which came first, Shimako-san or Fuji Musume? The chicken or the egg?

"It feels like it was a more complicated decision than which came first."

Shimako-san danced brilliantly, with a branch of purple wisteria draped across her shoulder, and completely oblivious to her good friends' gossiping. They'd heard that the kimono was simply machine sewn from cheap cotton, but from a distance it looked like a fine long-sleeved kimono. The hand-made traditional conical hat was also quite the sight.

The ground sighed in admiration at the beguiling dance of the young ladies.

Now then, the last to go was the yellow team.

Yumi had made an effort not to look at Rei-sama because of Yoshino-san's plea, but it would be impossible not to see her in the cheer contest.

Tweee-twe-tweee-twee, tweee-twe-twee-tweee-twee, tweee-twe-tweee-twee, tweee-twe-twee-tweee-twee.

Suddenly, a cheerful whistle rang out, and Rei-sama and the other cheerleaders entered onto the track in their showy yellow costumes. Their bodies shook energetically, in time with the upbeat samba rhythm.

"Canary … "

The sleeves, made up of many layers of frills, really did resemble the feathers of a canary.

Canary, certainly. Which made "Canary Carnivale" the perfect phrase.

" – right."

Yoshino-san couldn't bear to look at it any longer. She was staring straight at the ground and waiting it out, no doubt hoping it would end soon.

"I don't think it's that bad."

Rei-sama was enjoying it. Their whole team was getting excited by the latin beats. Because they were men's costumes, they were certainly evocative of carnivale, but they didn't show any skin at all.

"You can only say that because it's not your onee-sama, Yumi-san."

"M-maybe you're right."

"I am. Just try to imagine it."

Yoshino-san said. In other words, try to picture Sachiko-sama in a fluttering yellow blouse, shaking her body as she danced around.

So Yumi made an honest attempt to picture this scene. But no matter how she tried, she just couldn't see it. Instead, the scene that popped into her mind was her onee-sama throwing away the costume, saying, "There's no way I could wear something like this."

Yes, indeed.

Yumi glanced at her onee-sama in her boy's uniform outfit and thought that that outcome seemed far more likely.

Tweee-twe-tweee-twee, tweee-twe-twee-tweee-twee, tweee-twe-tweee-twee, tweee-twe-twee-tweee-twee.

The Canary Carnivale was still going on.

Part 3

Now, with everyone fired up from the cheerleading battle, it was time for the second-years' "Tug of War."

Yumi put on her gloves and gathered at the entrance gate with the others. The rules were pretty simple – the teams competing against each other would be chosen by lottery, and the winners would get 20 points. In other words, there was no ranking of the teams, it was just whether they won or lost. Of course, luck played a large part in this – if they drew a weaker team in the lottery, then their odds of winning shot up.

The result:

They fought against Shimako-san's purple team, and suffered a crushing defeat.

There was no way they could have beaten a team that had been independently practicing during their lunch breaks for the last week – that was Mami-san's story.

Was that it? That it was necessary to secretly make that sort of concerted effort in order to win.

"That was terrible. What were you doing?"

Greeting her with these harsh words was, of course, Sachiko-sama. It looked like her own recent defeat in the "Ball Toss" game had been put away on a high shelf somewhere and forgotten about.

It was just like Sachiko-sama. But Yumi was already used to it.

Following on from this was the first-years' "Fetch of War." Thirty poles, about 1.5m long, were placed in the middle of the oval, which the teams had to go and bring back to their positions. The teams got points based on how many poles they retrieved.

This was the last event that all the first-years would participate in, so all the teams were fired up. They could see the first-years checking out the locations of the poles and pointing at them, saying things like, "I'll get that one, you get that one."

In this match, victory or defeat was largely dependent on tactics – how many people did they think would be going for each of the poles? They couldn't just split the team evenly if they wanted to reliably get them, so they had to decide ahead of time which poles they'd target and which ones they'd ignore.

"Ready … "

Bang.

At the signal to start, the first-years all broke into a run. The poles that were closest to each team's starting positions were easier to get, so those students who were confident in their speed left them for their teammates, and ran towards the ones that were a bit further away.

There were some poles that only one girl reached and carried away easily.

There were some poles that were targeted by two teams, and neither one would let go.

There were some poles that were going nowhere because four teams were pulling against each other.

There were some poles that were only a step away from one team's position when a huge number of reinforcements from another team came to carry them away.

Each of the poles had their own drama.

"What are those girls doing?"

Yoshino-san pointed and laughed, sitting beside Yumi.

"Don't tell me they're playing it up as a joke?"

Looking at where Yoshino-san was pointing, Yumi saw Touko-chan and Kanako-chan gripping opposite ends of a pole but not moving. No, it wasn't that they weren't moving, it looked like they were pulling in opposite directions and canceling each other out.

"It's quite the spectacle."

Now then, who will be declared the victor?

"– But, they're both on the red team, aren't they?"

"Yeah. That's why it's got to be a joke, right?"

People in the crowd that noticed it pointed and laughed. And then others that followed where they were pointing would laugh too.

In truth, this was not the time for humor, but the situation with Touko-chan and Kanako-chan was like a circus clown performance so it felt like it was okay to laugh at them. The god of comedy was indeed smiling on them.

"Oh my, what's going on here?"

It looked like the students in the broadcasting club had caught on to the situation too.

"Are they in such a frenzy that they can't see their opponent's face? Two red team members are fighting against each other for a pole."

They excitedly reported, although their reasoning was a bit lacking.

Yumi understood, however. Kanako-chan and Touko-chan were both well aware of who was on the other end of the pole.

In this case, it didn't matter one bit whether they were enemies or allies. At this moment, all that mattered to them was that the other one wouldn't get the pole that they had their hands on. "Like hell I'll let her have it," – that kind of feeling. It felt like their normal everyday hostility had come gushing out all at once. They really were natural enemies.

"They're showing such fierce determination. No-one from another team, or even the red team, is willing to get involved. How is this going to end? If they don't get moving, time's going to run out before it gets back to their camp. That would be such a shame."

No-one knew what to do, so they were just hanging back and watching. It was an unprecedented event, so it looked like neither the red team or the other teams could figure out how to change the situation.

"Oh! One brave student from the red team has run over to them. Now, how will she resolve this?"

"It's Noriko-chan."

Whether it was brave or not, Noriko-chan grabbed the pole right in the middle, and pushed them towards the red team's position. Kanako-chan and Touko-chan were balancing each other out by pushing and pulling directly against each other, so they were unable to counter this unexpected perpendicular force as it slowly started moving them along.

That was just like Noriko-chan. When something had to be done, she did it.

As the other teams stood around dumbfounded and watched them go, a shot rang out, signaling the end of the game. It was just as the three girls made it to the red team's position. It looked like they'd made it by a hair's breadth.

The red team ended up with six poles, including that last one. It was a wonderful result, since each team had five in their vicinity. The green team had four – and as a result, they swapped places and fell to last.

" … How is this happening?"

Looking at the scoreboard, Sachiko-sama shook with rage. Seeing this, the green team members trembled in fear. The elegant Rosa Chinensis was shaking with anger. How could that anger be calmed?

Yoshino-san was acting like this was an everyday occurrence, and nonchalantly attached a colored paper flower to her middle finger, but those who only knew Sachiko-sama's public image were looking anxious, as though something were about to happen.

"Y-Yumi-sama. Please do something."

With that, the first-years forced this on her. She'd already used, "We'll make it up in the centipede race," so that probably wouldn't be effective any more. On top of that, the second-years dance was next, so it was almost time for Yumi to make her way towards the oval entrance.

Yumi quickly glanced over at her onee-sama, and judged that it would be a while until her anger subsided.

Well, of course. Despite her boasts about aiming for overall victory, they were currently in a mortifying last place.

In that case.

"Here, onee-sama."

Yumi-sama held out a taiko drum and drumstick.

"What's this?"

"Please bang this as much as you want. It's an instrument that was designed to be hit. Well them, I'm off to the "Flower Dance," so I'll leave you here."

Yumi bowed quickly, then grabbed her flower prop and left.

At the very least, this should prevent Sachiko-sama from ripping apart a pretty handkerchief, or tearing the sleeve of her uniform, or breaking the frame of a folding fan, or damaging a sash, or something similar. Although, Yumi would probably still have to follow up on this when she got back.

"Hurry up, Yumi-san."

Waiting near the entrance gate, her classmates waved her over.

"Oka-y."

As she answered, Yumi suddenly felt someone looking at her and stopped and turned around.

(Huh …? Just now.)

She felt like she'd just seen a familiar face somewhere. But.

(Who was it?)

It wasn't her mother or father. She'd already confirmed her parents' whereabouts.

(Where?)

She knew the general direction, but in the vast banked area surrounding the track there were students and parents mixed together, so it was face after face after face. Even though it felt like she'd just seen someone, she wasn't certain, and there was no way to confirm it.

She felt like it was someone she hadn't seen for a while.

"What are you doing? It's about to start."

By the time Mami-san had come back and dragged her to the entrance gate, the music had already started, and the white team were starting to make their way onto the field.

(Focus, focus)

She could think about it later.

Yumi attached the flowers to her fingers and moved towards the center of the track.

They'd been practicing for this day during gym class since the beginning of the second school term.

There were three colors of flowers – pink, light blue, and yellow. Yumi's pine class and Shimako-san's wisteria class both had light blue flowers.

They started as flower buds.

The tightly bound petals slowly opened in time to the music.

Buds, blossom.

Buds, blossom.

Eventually, the oval was filled with three large blooming flowers.

The music changed, and the flowers delighted in the sun's rays.

They braved the rain.

Then the wind came and the petals separated into ones and twos, like a storm of falling cherry blossoms. With no distinction between pink, light blue, and yellow.

After the storm had passed, they reformed into six small multi-colored flowers – their last pose.

She'd tried her best, but unfortunately as a participant, she couldn't really tell how well it came out. That would have to wait until the film in her father's camera was developed, to see what it looked like from the audience's perspective.

With the dance over, the first thing she did after returning was head over to Sachiko-sama, who was getting ready for the centipede race.

"Yumi."

Seeing her onee-sama's smile, Yumi thought she must have brightened her mood by releasing her stress.

"Did you bang the drum?"

Yumi asked a little happily. Sachiko-sama responded with, "You're so silly," and slightly adjusted Yumi's headband.

"It was a dance number, so I couldn't beat the drum even if I wanted to."

"Ah."

"When I realized that, I couldn't help but laugh. And it made me think that my irritation was absurd."

"Ha."

Basically, the drum was indirectly effective as a medicine to soothe Sachiko-sama's anger.

"You really are a mysterious girl."

Hearing these softly spoken words from her onee-sama, the petite soeur had mixed feelings.

"Umm. I'll take that as a compliment … "

"Of course, it is."

Sachiko-sama nodded in the affirmative, then hurried over to her classmates near the track entrance. On the way there she stopped, turned back, and said, "Oh, right," then gave Yumi a genuine compliment.

"The dance was wonderful. You danced beautifully, Yumi."

"Th-thank-you very much."

Feeling happy about the compliment, but uncertain whether that was appropriate or not, Yumi beat on the taiko drum to cheer Sachiko-sama on in the centipede race.

Perhaps as a result of this, the green team came in third and the red team came in sixth, so they succeeded in overtaking them in the overall standings.

The remaining event in the morning program was the club relay, so they would narrowly avoid the shame of being in last place when the scores were announced at the halfway point.

Part 4

"It's only a five point difference."

Yoshino-san grumbled, looking at the scoreboard.

"It may only be five points, but a win is still a win."

Sachiko-sama declared, after hearing Yoshino-san.

While it was good that they were winning now, did she understand that those words would be thrown back at her if they ended up losing by a slim margin?

No, this was Sachiko-sama, so it felt like she'd know this but still coolly disregard it.

Something like, "So you think a five point difference is a victory, what a laugh."

"Can the participants in the club relay please move to the track entrance gates."

Now it was time for the jewel of the morning, the club relay.

The race was between six clubs, with six members each participating in a relay that went two laps of the oval. The six clubs had won through via qualifying races, which had been held prior to today.

First up were the cultural clubs. Apologies to them, but compared to the sports clubs, these tended to add an element of levity to the proceedings. Instead of a baton, they ran with a small prop that symbolized their club.

For instance, the rakugo club ran with a folding fan.

The art club with a paintbrush.

The flower arrangement club with a flower.

The brass band with a clarinet.

The handicraft club with a wooden ruler that was used in traditional dressmaking – or so they said.

"Oh, why aren't you down there, Mami-san?"

The teams made their way on to the field as they were announced. In lane six was the "Lillian Kawaraban," the school's newspaper club. They were using a rolled up newspaper as their baton.

"I passed. I just don't have the stamina. It's better for everyone if I stay here and take notes on the relay."

Since they'd made it through the preliminary heat without Mami-san, the other team members must at least be decent. And even though she should be retired at this point, the third-year Tsukiyama Minako-sama was on the team – perhaps having to make up the numbers.

"Then why were you on the athletics festival organizing committee?"

"By being on the committee, I could make sure I wasn't chosen for any events."

"Hoho."

That was a good point.

"I'm on the committee, but I'm still participating."

Yoshino-san cut in, sounding bored. Against her better judgment, Yoshino-san ended up being chosen to participate in the athletics festival's final event, the team relay.

"That's your fault for not saying you couldn't do it."

Oh my, that Mami-san was quite the critic.

"Pfft."

And Yoshino-san was easy to understand. Having this pointed out to her, she'd get violent … at any rate, Yoshino-san was losing her temper rather easily today. Why could that be?

"L-look, Yoshino-san. They're about to start."

Yumi-san tried to distract her, pointing at the track.

"I know that already, geeze."

Yoshino-san ran her fingers through her bangs.

"Of course I know that. You don't think I've thought about that?"

"… Huh?"

"Right. After all, it's my own fault for not saying I couldn't do it."

What Yumi saw hidden on the other side of a deep sigh was regret, mixed with some self-loathing.

"But it's too late to back down now."

It seemed like Yoshino-san was talking about something else altogether.

Ready, set.

With the bang of the starter's pistol ringing out, Yoshino-san started to speak about that matter, little by little. She said that she'd made a reckless promise.

When Yumi heard, "reckless promise," she was momentarily startled. Because the promise she'd made with Kanako-chan briefly crossed her mind.

"So who's it with? This promise. Is it Rei-sama?"

Yumi asked, lowering her voice a little.

"No."

Yoshino-san shook her head.

"Torii Eriko-sama."

"Eriko-sama … ah!"

Yumi covered her mouth with her hand, to stifle her shout. However, Yumi's voice was swallowed up in a sudden cheering of voices, so she didn't stand out at all. Sachiko-sama had already moved away, and the sharp-eared Mami-san was cheering on the newspaper club's relay team with all her might, so hadn't noticed the two boutons having a secretive conversation. A fiercely fought back-and-forth contest was unfolding on the track.

"Did you meet her too, Yumi-san?"

Yoshino-san continued their interrupted conversation.

"No. I didn't meet her, so much as see her in the distance … you know?"

Her "someone" from earlier was Eriko-sama.

Yumi had only seen her from a distance, and she hadn't been wearing a school uniform, so she hadn't immediately recognized her.

Hearing Yoshino-san say, "Eriko-sama," just now had convinced her. That it had undoubtedly been Eriko-sama.

"Right. So she only appeared in front of me, like I thought."

The way Yoshino-san said this made it sound like she was being visited by a ghost.

"I thought everything had been settled when she graduated. I guess we're going to be lifelong rivals after all."

"Rivals? You and Eriko-sama?"

"That's right. Who else would it be? She stands on the other side, with Rei-chan between us."

"–"

Well, for Eriko-sama, it was probably more of a curiosity.

Naturally, Rei-sama had a lot of fans at school, but by and large they weren't Yoshino-san's enemies. Yoshino-san and Rei-sama were blood relatives, had known each other for seventeen years, and their homes were so close that they practically lived together, which meant that none of those fans could ever compete.

But there was one person. Eriko-sama was the sole exception.

Just by being Rei-sama's onee-sama, Eriko-sama could unconditionally order Rei-sama around. Someone that could freely move "Yoshino's Rei-chan." There was no way that Yoshino-san would allow there to be someone like that other than herself.

"So when did you meet Eriko-sama?"

Yumi asked. In the relay race, the batons were being handed off to the second runners.

"It was pretty early. Before the "Ball Escape," I think. She called out to me as I was heading to the entry gate."

"I see."

That would explain why Yoshino-san had been in a foul mood all this time.

Yoshino-san was aware that the promise she'd made to Eriko-sama was reckless. Then she'd probably fallen into an equivalently large pit of self-loathing. So it was no surprise that her irritation peaked when Rei-sama's carefree "Canary Carnivale" jumped into her field of view.

The causes of Yoshino-san's irritation were numerous. But it seemed like there were also many emotions mixed in with it that she couldn't put into words.

"So, what did you promise?"

"A petite soeur introduction."

Yoshino-san looked off into the distance as she played with the front of her headband. She said it with so little emotion that Yumi thought she'd misheard and asked, "Whose?"

"Mine. To Eriko-sama."

Yoshino-san would introduce the petite soeur. And the other person was Eriko-sama. – Yumi tried to arrange it into a complete sentence. When she did, ohhh how wonderful. A piece of information that she'd never heard about suddenly sprang to light.

"… Congratulations. Who's your partner?"

"There isn't one. Come on Yumi-san, you know that."

Well, that's true. But she thought she might as well ask.

"How are you going to introduce a non-existent petite soeur?"

"That's why I said it was reckless. Weren't you listening?"

"I was listening."

That was indeed a reckless promise. Or, rather, the promise was worthless as soon as it was made … huh?

"I just blurted it out without thinking. She kept nagging, nagging, nagging at me, saying that a bouton only came into their own when they took a petite soeur. Then she was saying that Rei-chan was to blame because she was spoiling me. Then to top it off, she was saying that you had some petite soeur candidates, Yumi-san – although I don't know where she heard that from."

"M-me?"

Flustered, Yumi shook her head – that was a misunderstanding. Although, that said, it wasn't as though Eriko-sama was there with them.

"It doesn't matter if it's true or not. She was just using it to provoke me. I wonder if things aren't going well with her boyfriend. In the past, she used to needle me like that to stave off boredom."

So if you understood all that, Yoshino-san, why did you still take the bait?

"And then it just slipped out of your mouth that you'd introduce Eriko-sama to your petite soeur?"

"Pretty much. I said it wouldn't happen right away, but there were first-years I was interested in, and I'd probably give one of them my rosary."

"I'm sure she was insistent, but as a general goal … "

"I didn't say that it was a general goal. Obviously."

Hold on. What would typically be considered obvious was that you'd at least have a candidate in mind before you made a promise to introduce your petite soeur.

"But, now that you've made that promise, isn't Eriko-sama going to visit at some point soon for that introduction?"

"No doubt."

"No doubt? Yoshino-san, don't tell me you organized the date and time … "

"We did. Because, she kept going on and on, asking when it would happen."

Eriko-sama the hound. Yumi suddenly remembered that nickname. Although she couldn't remember who had said it or where.

"So when did you decide on?"

"There's a lot of disruption coming up with the school trip and the school festival and what not, so we agreed that it should be after those. So then I said, "In that case, how about at the inter-school kendo tournament the month after next?""

"Huh? Huuuh!?"

The kendo tournament was less than two months away. So in less than two months, she had to find a petite soeur somehow. Despite having no leads.

But Yoshino-san said that this two month time limit wasn't altogether bad.

"I'm sure Eriko-sama wanted to tell me to introduce my petite soeur right away, but she would have known full well that that was impossible … Right, she would have known. But on top of that, by giving me this time, she gets to amuse herself speculating about whether or not I will clear the task. Such a wonderful personality she has."

Yoshino-san's bitterness seemed to double as she remembered their conversation. However.

"What are you planning on doing?"

"What else can I do? I'll get a petite soeur. It's too late to back down now."

"You'll get a petite soeur?"

"I'm not going to allow Eriko-sama to mock me with something like, "You're introducing me to air." At any rate, I think the time is right anyway. I'm ready to make a serious effort."

The time is right. A serious effort.

Those were words that Yumi had to come to grips with herself.

"Thinking about it, since I couldn't instinctively find a partner in April or May, I might never find a petite soeur without this sort of pressure. I mean, after all, when Sachiko-sama took you as her petite soeur, it was the question of whether or not she'd be able to resign from Cinderella that spurred her into action. And think about Shimako-san, both with Sei-sama and Noriko-chan, it was only the meddling of those around them that led to them being soeurs."

Ah, such a positive Yoshino-san. The horse that had been forcibly led to water was gallantly drinking.

"Hey, you two."

She turned to see who had poked her in the upper arm, and waiting for her was Mami-san's forced smile.

"You might be having your private conversation out in the open because you thought I couldn't hear you, but I totally can. Is that okay?"

"Uh."

It didn't matter if it was okay or not, they couldn't do anything about being overheard now. It looked like the cultural club relay had finished at some point while they'd been engrossed in conversation. Even though it had unfolded right in front of her eyes, Yumi had absolutely no idea which team had crossed the line first.

"But you wouldn't turn something as trivial as this into an article."

Yumi said, as a response to Mami-san's earlier question of, "Is that okay?"

"What on earth gives you that much self-confidence, Yumi-san?"

"Because, knowing you, you're going to want the full story, so I think you'll wait until Yoshino-san's petite soeur is decided before running it. You're the type to hold firm until the time is ripe. Of course, before it appears in the "Lillian Kawaraban," you'll diligently gather data, but you'll also get Yoshino-san's permission."

So there was no need to worry about something like this. That said, she could be quite persuasive, so when the time came to negotiate there was always the possibility that she'd skillfully wheel them around to her position.

"Uhh, Yumi-san, you've hit me where it hurts. If that's what you expect of the Lillian Kawaraban's editor-in-chief, then I've got no choice but to do as you say."

Mami-san made a show of snuggling up against her and pretending to grieve. But even if Yumi hadn't said anything, she probably wouldn't have run the story.

"Well, the Yamayurikai makes for good articles, but I don't want to ruin it by rushing or biting at everything. At the moment we've got plenty of material, so I can let this conversation go for a little while."

Just like she said, Mami-san had only just finished jotting down the results of the relay in her notebook.

The athletics festival, the school trip, then the school festival. There were a lot of events around this time, so they had plenty of things to write about. But when all that came to an end in November, Yoshino-san would have to show her results. Just as the Lillian Kawaraban was running into a content drought.

"Look, the sports clubs are about to start."

The last event of the morning, the club relay between sports clubs. The rules were the same as for the cultural clubs, but they were using regular batons. Using a racket or a ball would just get in the way as they ran.

"Where's the kendo club?"

"They lost in the preliminaries. Just like every year."

Yoshino-san said, sounding bored.

"They're stupidly honest, so they run in full kendo armor, except for the face guard. Which means they have no hope of making it to the finals."

"… I see."

Even so, it appeared that the kendo club resolutely took up the challenge each year. They were to be applauded for their efforts. Although, given how it turned out, perhaps it was just their stubbornness showing.

The clubs that had made it to the final were the athletics club, the tennis club, the basketball club, the softball club, the gymnastics club, and the judo club.

"The athletics club are pretty much guaranteed to win."

Mami-san said, snapping her notebook shut.

A relay was the athletics club's bread and butter. Their six relay team members would all be sprinters, aiming for victory. Naturally, Yumi's classmate Itsue-san was one of these, and she was scheduled to run the third leg.

"Ready."

All of the clubs were burning bright with fighting spirit. Not a hint of levity to be seen. In this regard it was a massive departure from the earlier cultural club relay.

Their disposition seemed to say, "How could a sports club not do their best at the athletics festival?"

Bang!

There was no false start, they all took off cleanly.

The distances between each of them were small, as all competitors flew around the track.

Fast, so fast.

In the blink of an eye, they were heading into the second baton change.

The athletics club was on top. But the tennis club hadn't given up just yet. They were about two body lengths back, with a firm grip on second place.

"Finally, it's Itsue-san's turn. Now we get to see just how fast she can run."

Yoshino-san muttered. Checking on Itsue-san's condition, to estimate how well she'd go in the afternoon's team relay.

There weren't that many well known runners in the green team. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that their sole track team member, Itsue-san, was their key to victory.

Still in first place, the athletics team's baton was passed to Itsue-san.

"Waah."

Itsue-san was fast too, as expected of the athletics club.

"Oh? It looks like Itsue-san's stalled."

"Huh?"

Even with this pointed out, Yumi didn't understand at all. The gap to the tennis club wasn't shrinking, in fact it looked like it had grown slightly. But Yoshino-san said that this was just because the tennis club's third runner was slow. Indeed, the softball club did seem to be gaining on the tennis club.

"I'm a fan of all sports, although I can't do them, I just watch."

Shimazu Yoshino. Hobby: Watching sports.

"Maybe Itsue-san's not feeling well."

Yumi said. Although, even an unwell Itsue-san was significantly faster than Yumi in peak condition. Soon enough, Itsue-san handed the baton to the next runner, still in first place.

In that case, what would an athletics club member look like when in peak condition? As she was pondering this, their last runner, the anchor came into view.

As soon as the baton was handed over, the whole crowd gasped.

(What is this?)

The speed wasn't that of a girl, or a high-school student, or a Japanese person. She'd never seen a student run with this sort of speed in PE class.

(Ch-cheetah?)

But that cheetah didn't have any prey in front of her. The only thing ahead of her was the white tape at the finish line.

"The athletics club's president. Rei-chan's classmate."

Yoshino-san quietly informed her. With someone like that on their team, no wonder the yellow team was favored for overall victory. Yoshino-san also said that even with that speed, they hadn't made it past the regional level – which just goes to show that there's always someone better out there in the world.

In the end, the athletics club won with a commanding lead, their anchor finishing far ahead of the others. A happy ending, with them having lived up to their reputation.

So with all the excitement of the club relay, the morning part of the athletics festival came to a close without incident.

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</noinclude>

Casting Aside Embarrassment of One's Parents

Part 1

For the athletics festival, they were allowed to have their lunch wherever they wanted.

They could eat in their team area, or return to their classroom, or venture out to the courtyard, or go to Milk Hall.

Ideally, they'd also be able to spread out and have lunch with their families, but that didn't look possible this year. The parents' supporter section was jam packed, so there didn't look to be any room to fit students in there too. Although there were some students that had found a patch of free space near the oval and were having lunch with their parents.

"Yumi."

After the club relay finished, and the announcement informing them of their hour long break, Sachiko-sama slowly made her way across the nylon sheets towards Yumi, from the front seats that the cheer squad had been occupying.

"Yes."

"Let's go … no, would you please lead me."

"Okay?"

Yumi asked back. If it had just been, "Let's go," then she would have understood. But since there was also, "Please lead me," she wasn't sure what was going on.

"You have to go to the classroom to get your lunch box… don't you?"

While they were talking, other members of the green team were leaving, saying, "We're heading out."

The newspaper club's Mami-san and the photography club's Tsutako-san also left – either because they didn't want to interrupt a conversation between soeurs, or they wanted to find a spot to eat as soon as possible, or because they thought this break time would be an opportunity to stumble upon some good material.

"… Lunch box? Ah, that's true. We can walk together, even though we're in different classes."

"Hah."

"At any rate, we should attend to that other matter first, before lunch …"

With that, it looked as though Yumi's deduction had missed the mark.

But even so, Yumi thought it would be nice if they went to get their lunch boxes and then had lunch together, despite being in different grades.

Yoshino-san had been led off somewhere by Rei-sama, who had crossed over enemy lines to get her.

Despite being irritated with Rei-sama, Yoshino-san still looked a bit happy when she appeared. Yumi thought that might be enough to put her in a good mood, but Yoshino-san's expression quickly changed to one of displeasure. That said, Yumi didn't fail to notice that Yoshino-san's raw emotions had shown on her face, just for a moment. Yoshino-san loved Rei-sama.

"So then, where should I lead you, onee-sama?"

Something they had to do at lunch time before eating lunch – whatever could it be? They didn't have any Yamayurikai work today, but even so there was somewhere Yumi was supposed to take her onee-sama. No matter how much she thought about it, Yumi couldn't find the answer.

"Isn't it obvious?"

"Obvious?"

It was obvious, huh. Where, when, and by who was that decided? Yumi's thoughts were spinning round and round and round and round inside her head.

"I give up, onee-sama. Please tell me the answer."

"You know what I'm talking about, you're just mocking me."

Sachiko-sama's face reddened slightly.

"N-not at all."

That was preposterous. Mocking Sachiko-sama was such a reckless act that Yumi would never be able to do it – in many ways.

"You really don't know?"

"… I'm sorry."

Yumi didn't think she'd done anything wrong just yet, but she apologized anyway. She couldn't rule out the possibility that she had committed some transgression against her onee-sama for failing to find the right answer.

"So then, you weren't planning on introducing me?"

"Introducing you … who would I be introducing you to, onee-sama?"

"To your parents."

Sachiko-sama turned around, sulking, and Yumi finally understood.

"Ah."

"Not "Ah." Really, how can you be so dense? All morning, no, since last night, I was so worried about it that I couldn't get to sleep. And yet …"

"You couldn't get to sleep, onee-sama?"

Yumi smiled, feeling a little happy. Sachiko-sama was always full of self-confidence, but the thought of meeting her petite soeur's parents had her losing sleep.

"Of course. I was thinking about if I'd be able to properly greet your mother and father when I met them, and whether or not I'd be able to make a good impression."

That sort of comment would make sense coming from her parents, but it felt a bit strange hearing it come from Sachiko-sama's mouth.

"But onee-sama, I'm sure you could handle introductions with anyone."

Even if they were foreign nobility, Sachiko-sama would hold her head high and greet them magnificently.

"Your parents are an exception."

"Huh?"

"I want them to like me."

"…"

Ahh, so that was it – Yumi suddenly understood. This wasn't the first time that Sachiko-sama had lacked confidence.

On the evening of their Valentine's Day date, when she'd admitted she was nervous about calling Yumi's house.

At her summer holiday house, when she'd mumbled that she couldn't protect Yumi.

At Lady Saionji's birthday party, when Yumi had to put on a musical performance in lieu of a gift.

Sachiko-sama's mountain of self-confidence could easily come crashing down, whenever it was something related to Yumi.

Perhaps Yumi was Sachiko-sama's Achilles' heel.

So Sachiko-sama had built this up internally to be a much bigger deal than Yumi had thought.

"Then I'll lead you to them."

Yumi started to walk, leading the way.

It was a little, no, quite embarrassing, but she set that aside. It was nothing compared to how hard her onee-sama's heart must be pounding.

"But my parents really aren't that impressive."

Their daughter may go to a school for ladies, but the Fukuzawas came from a long line of commoners.

Her father got carried away easily, and her mother was a bit of a scatterbrain. But they were both kind and honest people. They may not have been all that impressive, but Yumi was still proud of her parents.

So Yumi would introduce her parents that she was proud of to the onee-sama that she was proud of.

"Will I be okay?"

Now that it was about to happen, Sachiko-sama was suddenly hesitating. Yumi grasped her shivering hand and gave a huge nod.

"Of course. Because my mom and dad already love you, onee-sama."

"Really?"

Sachiko-sama asked, as though she didn't believe it. But it was the truth, not just an attempt at consolation.

"Even though you haven't met, they could tell just by watching me. That Ogasawara Sachiko-sama is an important person to me."

"Ahh … I see. In that case, I understand."

Sachiko-sama mumbled.

"Because my parents always talk about you like that too, Yumi."

Part 2

Her parents were just as oblivious to what was about to occur as Yumi had been, so as Yumi led Sachiko-sama over to the parents' seating area, they were relaxing fully and eating their fill of onigiri rice balls and fried chicken.

"This is my onee-sama, Ogasawara Sachiko-sama."

So when Yumi performed this introduction, they didn't understand what was happening at first, and looked up with expressions that said, "Oh, okay," followed by a moment of silent surprise, before they both immediately started choking on their food.

"A pleasure to meet you. Yumi-san is always looking out for me."

Her onee-sama said, sounding a little stressed.

"B-but you're the one that's always looking out for me."

The atmosphere was a little awkward. It was like a scene from a TV drama, where the heroine was introducing her boyfriend to her parents for the first time.

In such a situation, the seated father would undoubtedly look displeased and fold his arms. The nervous mother would attempt to mediate, while the daughter would sigh, "Good grief."

Instead.

Cough, cough.

Her actual parents were too busy dislodging bits of food from their trachea that they didn't have any time to evaluate the person their daughter had just introduced.

"Mom, dad."

Even when she called out to them, their only response was coughing. As a result, Yumi leapt straight from awkwardness to embarrassment.

"A-are you okay?"

Sachiko-sama had been so nervous and stiff on her way over here, but even so this accident immediately loosened her up. Well, it would be hard to stay nervous when your opponent was coughing and spluttering.

"… Pardon me. I'm Yumi's father."

"… I'm her mother."

Her parents spoke softly after recovering from their coughing fit.

Ahh, if only they could dig a hole beneath their vinyl sheet and bury themselves down there – Such were the thoughts of all three Fukuzawa family members.

(Sorry for leaving you behind, Yuuki. You'll just have to survive on your own.)

While there had been some movement because it was lunch time, the parents' seating area was still fairly full, so there was no way they could dig a hole surrounded by all these people eating happily.

But while her parents couldn't dig a hole to escape, they still looked like they'd taken a devastating blow, and remained motionless, looking down. It was as though a mourner from a funeral had somehow found their way into the middle of a picnic.

Because both her parents knew full well just how much Yumi loved Sachiko-sama. So they were quite depressed that their first meeting with Yumi's ever adored onee-sama would turn out like this.

"Ah, is that fried chicken?"

Sachiko-sama suddenly asked.

"It looks great."

She said, peering into the multi-level lunch box.

"May I try one?"

Even though she was feeling quite down, Yumi's mother took a plastic skewer and skewered one of the pieces of chicken before offering it to Sachiko-sama saying, "Please, have this." – Well, that's just the sort of person she was.

"Is that alright? Thank-you."

Sachiko-sama accepted it without hesitation and popped it into her mouth. The other three held their breath and watched, as Sachiko-sama simply said, "It's delicious."

"These lunches that your mother makes are really good, Yumi. When was it … right, when we went to our holiday home, you offered me some of the lunch that she had made. I thought the same back then too."

Sachiko-sama faced Yumi when she said this, so Yumi kept the conversation going.

"Ah, that's right. That lunch even provoked you to overcome your hatred of dried pickled plums and asparagus."

"Saying I hated them would be overstating it. But the caretakers at the villa did copy that menu exactly for our lunchbox on the way home. The onigiri was made with the Koshihikari rice that you sent us, so they turned out quite well, but it seemed like they hadn't figured out that you had both crispy and moist seaweed types … "

Sachiko-sama gestured as she kept talking on and on. Perhaps as a result of this, Yumi's mom and dad started to show signs that they were very slowly climbing out of the abyss.

"Have some onigiri too, if you'd like."

"Oh no, I didn't mean to sound like I was pressuring you. But since you're offering, I'll gladly take one."

After cleaning her hands with the offered wet towel, Sachiko-sama sat down on the groundsheet and started eating an onigiri rice ball in earnest.

This time, Yumi's mom had used the moist nori wrapping for the onigiri. In the middle was, of course, their family's standard pickled dried plum.

"Thank-you for the meal."

In the short time it took for Sachiko-sama to eat a single onigiri, the mood softened and she fit in so well that it was like Sachiko-sama really was an older cousin that had come to visit their house.

"Give it your all this afternoon, you two."

"We'll cheer twice as loud for the green team too, since your parents couldn't be here, Sachiko-san."

Yumi's parents had been swept up in their illusions about Sachiko-sama, knowing only that she was a daughter of the Ogasawara group and the onee-sama of their cute daughter. But having actually met her, they seemed relieved to find out that she was more normal a person than they had imagined.

Her parents bade them farewell, saying they wished they had more time to talk, preferably in their home living room rather than on that rectangular groundsheet, and Yumi and Sachiko-sama made their way towards the school building.

"They're wonderful people."

Sachiko-sama smiled as they walked.

"R-really?"

"They just seem so right as your parents."

"That doesn't feel like it's a compliment."

Saying it felt right, after seeing those scatterbrained parents, didn't seem to mesh with her earlier statement that they were wonderful people.

"But it is. A cheerful family, so normal and good."

"…"

Still, she couldn't see it as a compliment, no matter how favorably she looked at it. Even if Sachiko-sama's family was an anomaly and she yearned for a normal family, then it was troubling that she thought that what she'd just seen was a typical, normal family. Seriously troubling.

They ran into Mami-san as they were passing by the library. She was busy writing in her notebook as she walked, but Yumi didn't know what she was working on.

"Is that for the Lillian Kawaraban?"

"No, it's for the athletics festival."

Although earlier she'd said that she didn't have much to do after the pre-entrance-ceremony check this morning. Perhaps her duties had changed.

"Do you want me to help out after I've eaten lunch?"

"Oh, really? That'd be great … although, as much as I'd like to, I can't accept your help, Yumi-san."

"Why not?"

"It's like, no matter how busy a teacher might be, she still wouldn't let a student help write the exam."

Mami-san closed her notebook, said, "See you," and left at a brisk pace. On the way, she seemed to stop and look at random places, as though checking on something, although Yumi had no idea what she was doing.

"Do you know what she's doing, onee-sama?"

Yumi asked, as they watched her classmate shrink into the distance.

The answer, "Yes," came immediately.

"It's related to the event you're entered in this afternoon, don't you think?"

"The event I'm entered in."

That would be.

"The scavenger hunt … ?"

Even though she'd watched it last year, Yumi had completely forgotten what the Lillian Girls' Academy High School scavenger hunt was like. So until Sachiko-sama had pointed it out, she hadn't even considered that Mami-san and the other members of the athletics festival organizing committee would spend their lunchtime researching for it.

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Back to Friend's Affection and Onee-sama

Forward to Joker, Anchor

</noinclude>

Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume15 Chapter5

Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume15 Chapter6

Translator's Notes

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