Chapter 112

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It started with something Yoshino-san had said.

"At this rate, I can"t find anything left to do but hold an audition...."

Yoshino-san said, while holding a fist up to her face for emphasis, with no warning.

Someone who had been listening to Yoshino-san could only think of it as sudden. For some time now, Yoshino-san had been vacillating back and forth in her heart about something with a "no, not this," or a "not this either."

"Aw—?"

"Audition."

Before Yumi could ask Yoshino-san what the audition was about, Yoshino-san added: "About our pet.i.te sœurs of course."

"Our pet.i.te sœurs ... our sisters?!"

Without thinking, Yumi stopped wiping the table.

An audition.

When she thought about it, the first thing that came to mind was a search, a production meant to find new talent. It was a place where actresses would go to get into movies and dramas, where they would find out their market price. Yumi, who had nothing to do with this world of talent, hadn"t given something like this a single thought.

No, wait. Someone who had graduated had used an audition like this before. Maybe it was during the Student Council Elections? Something about the Yamayurikai body auditions ... or something like that.

"Well, if you think so strongly about an audition, we won"t be able to get pet.i.te sœurs by the time we"re third-years."

Yoshino-san said while opening the window.

It was the first Monday of November; after school at the Rose Mansion.

The second-year boutons had gathered to finish the mansion"s cleaning. Even stately Noriko-chan had her courage drain as she heard Yoshino-san"s Audition Declaration, as she faltered while holding the electric teakettle. Or maybe she was just guiding our planning.

"When you say "we", are you including me in it?"

"Of course." Yoshino-san answered, as she returned from the window.

"We"re in similar positions, aren"t we? Haven"t both of our onee-samas commanded us to find pet.i.te sœurs?"

"Uh, well."

Yumi minced her words.

Actually, Yumi"s Onee-sama, Ogasawara Sachiko-sama, had just recently commanded her, "Please find a pet.i.te sœur." She had no reason to keep such an important request to herself, and quietly accepted it without shock, so she had told Yoshino-san.

"If you a.n.a.lyze the situation, Sachiko-sama had been put under a lot of pressure in last year"s sœur problems, and in that strain produced a pet.i.te sœur. So I thought Yumi-san would not want to go through that herself. So it"s like a kind of kindness."

But Yumi thought, while listening to Yoshino-san"s explanation, "then why haven"t you found a pet.i.te sœur for yourself by now?"

"But with Rei-chan, it was completely different. Because Rei-chan had made me her pet.i.te sœur from the start of the first term, she didn"t feel any pressure, so she didn"t pressure me. She probably forgot completely about the whole pressuring thing."

"I don"t think she really forgot."

Because just yesterday Rei-sama had said, "I want to hear some good news from you soon."

But really, it seemed as if Yoshino-san"s Onee-sama, Hasekura Rei-sama, had still not directly said anything to her little sister about finding a pet.i.te sœur. But because Yoshino-san was being pressured from a different direction, it felt to her as if her goose was cooked, and she needed to find a pet.i.te sœur quickly.

"Right now, the Rose Mansion has a shortage of first-years. You see? Last year around now, there was Shimako-san, you, and I. There were three of us. Now look how many there are."

Noriko-chan was the only one.

"It"s like a shortage of wives in a village. Soon this place will be deserted. Is that what you want, Noriko-chan?"

Yoshino-san remarked as soon as Noriko-chan had turned towards them.

"That"s a troubling situation."

Yoshino-san"s question was the unsaid trap. By next year, if everything went according to plan, the second-years would become Roses, and Noriko-chan would be the only bouton. It was understandably a grave situation, no matter how capable a person you put in that spot.

"Now that I think about it, I don"t think I"ve ever met someone I"d like."

Yoshino-san said after depositing herself in a chair. She had gotten into full conversation mode. After Yumi had finished washing the sink, she sat down in the chair next to Yoshino-san. The Rose Mansion"s cleaning was finished.

"Speaking of meeting, how about someone from Kendo club?" asked Yumi, at which Yoshino-san made a strained face.

"I"m very perky right? But even though I have all that energy, and even though the old man next door runs a kendo dojo, I"m still just a real beginner. I"d only be able to ask someone of a lower kendo rank than me to be my sœur."

"So basically, if she"s better than you at kendo, you wouldn"t let her be your sœur?"

"That"s about right."

Because Yoshino-san was a dominating person, she didn"t want to feel slighted in her sœur relationship.

"And also, the girls who stick to their club sport from the very beginning of the first term of their first year rise up quickly."

"That"s true. You joined during the monsoon season, right?"

When Yoshino-san had been considering whether or not to start club activities, her relationship with Rei-sama had become very stormy. But Yumi herself had been overflowing with her own issues, so she didn"t even have the slightest idea of what had happened between them.

"But I"ll bet there"s some first-year in the club who looks at Yoshino-sama from afar and thinks "She"s so cool"."

"There"s no first-year who would think of a girl who tires out during stretches to be cool."

"Well, there must be —"

Yumi"s follow up was interrupted by Yoshino-san"s declaration.

"Someone with such bizarre tastes? They"re aiming for Rei-chan."

"Rei-sama...."

"The person who becomes my sœur will be like a granddaughter to Rei-chan."

"I see. So they"ll receive Rei-sama"s affection."

Yumi nodded, understanding the concern.

One couldn"t say for certain that such deceitful girls didn"t exist, for they are they hardest to distinguish. I had also admired Rei-sama at first, but as time went by, I grew closer to Yoshino-san and began to see Rei-sama her way.

"Ah, back in the glory days before the Yellow Rose Revolution, I was thought to be the best first-year sœur there could be."

Yoshino-san said as she turned her head towards Noriko-chan. Noriko-chan, who had not known the Yoshino-san before the great change, made a face showing that she thought it were all a lie. But Yoshino-san"s words had no untruth to them: she really was voted "Best Sœur" with Rei-sama.

"Yumi-san has it easy here though. She"s popular among the first-years."

"Popular? No, I"m just a bit familiar with everyone."

Come to think of it, in the midst of the expensive cultivated roses inside the greenhouse, there was one dandelion growing alone. Like a walnut-shaped b.u.t.ton made of cotton amongst a group of jewels. That was the feeling I had felt.

"You say you aren"t, but around you, you have Touko-chan and Kanako-chan. Ah, you don"t really like one over the other, do you?"

"Like one or the other? Well, either way, I don"t own either."

"It was just a suggestion. I don"t want them to simply be trinkets of Yumi-san. That"s why I have no better option but to grope out some idea for myself."

"That"s...."

"Audition, it"s an audition! A sœur audition!"

Yoshino-san once again clenched her fist and raised it into the air, at the moment when the room"s door opened with a creak.

"Huh? You want to choose a sœur through some auditions?"

Just as I was thinking this was a good idea, in came Sachiko-sama. As always, she sat in her seat with beauty and grace, and sipped the black tea prepared by Noriko-chan. "So?" she asked, as Yumi turned her head towards Sachiko-sama.

"Please, make no mistake regarding my intentions, Onee-sama. Yoshino-san will be the one doing the auditions."

If Yumi did not clarify her own position on the audition, something bad would happen. So Yumi forcefully declared her inclinations.

"Hmm, and you will be doing...?"

"Eh?"

"You won"t be joining in? Like Yoshino-chan, you too have no sœur, Yumi."

"I, I know, but...."

But, when Yumi thought about it, was it right to finish what she was saying? Yumi had been thinking, "That"s a bit strange," but when she followed the unwavering line of sight from Sachiko-sama"s eyes, it read: "What if this were the more honorable path?"

"W-wait a second, Onee-sama."

But then, Sachiko-sama harshly corrected me. Why had things gone this way?

"Because you cannot meet the girls, you can hold an audition. Isn"t that nice? I wonder why I hadn"t thought of the idea before."

Hands crossed on her chest, Sachiko-sama sighed, as neighboring Yoshino-san added "I"m done waiting."

"Sachiko-sama, I"m worried. Even together with Yumi-san, would we have any applicants for the auditions?"

For some reason or other, they would come. In spite of this being a vote on one issue, there may be some dissidents. But Yumi cheered Yoshino-san on, "Fight, fight! Go! Go!" and such.

"Ah, that doesn"t sound like the Yoshino-chan we know. Isn"t it better if more people attend? But, the main question is, can you chance upon a suitable partner for yourself in that crowd? It"s possible that in spite of a hundred people attending, you don"t find a suitable partner. There was only one person for you, and no replacing that sœur."

"That"s true, but...."

People whose feelings dashed ahead of their words, when hit by reasonable arguments, will not stop. Yoshino-san was not able to put up a good defense, her words fading away.

There was nothing she could do. Nothing to do but fight by herself.

"Uh ... Onee-sama, my opinion is —"

"Opinion?"

Sachiko-sama looked at Yumi brusquely.

"It"s that "an audition isn"t necessary", right? Because "there must be other first-years out there willing to be our sœurs"?"

"Well, no."

"Well, if that"s what you want to say, then we"re talking about something completely different. Please follow Yoshino-chan. But if you plan not to go with her, then while Yoshino-chan does that, you should use the time instead to gather your own sœur candidates, Yumi. I"ve given up on waiting for you."

"Uh...."

Now what to do. She had probably said the most appropriate thing to say at that time. But that"s right. She remembered. In her fervor, Yumi stood up and spoke.

"Onee-sama. Your insistence on these sœur recruitments is some sort of idiocy."

Swish.

She had made her decisions ... hadn"t she? No, it seemed wholly bad for her. Yoshino-san turned her head away with a look on her face that said, "She"s done it now," and Sachiko-sama laughed.

"Sœur recruitments? You misunderstood me Yumi. I had simply played the bad person to push my cute little sister into some good."

"Played the bad person?"

Yumi"s question was rude, but she could not see it.

"If you find it cruel, then leave the room and search for one, please. Maybe your unexpected sœur is waiting for you outside the door."

"So you want me too to look for some gold in the straw?"

"What does that mean?"

With Sachiko-sama"s obvious eyebrow-raising, Yumi understood that she herself had forgotten being called "Warashibe Chouja".

"Understood. I"ll search. It"ll be best if I search."

Yumi rose again in pa.s.sion, but she had no reason to meet her spoken goal. It was just that the room"s mood had caught her on fire, and she needed to quench herself out.

Just about a year ago, Sachiko-sama herself had been thrust into some painful circ.u.mstances by the former Roses, and had stormed out of the room in anger. That was when Yumi had coincidentally decided to visit the Rose Mansion. So, as she was walking together with Shimako-san, who was acting as her guide, Yumi had collided with Sachiko-sama as she left the room. It seemed that humans, when pushed into action by something, go down paths that they cannot fully understand.

(If G.o.d has prearranged a sœur for me, then I probably wouldn"t be able to see her standing outside the door.)

As Yumi was opening the door, the k.n.o.b began escaping from her grip. As soon as she began to understand that someone from the other side was opening the door, Shimako-san"s face became visible. As soon as Shimako-san saw an overly excited Yumi storm out of the door, Shimako-san quickly dodged out of the way.

Come to think of it, was the person beside Shimako-san this sœur of fate? Ah, so there really was a person there, Yumi thought, as she finally collided with her.

There was no going back.

She had readied herself, and closed her eyes.

As she collided with a warm object and both of them fell onto the floor, for some reason Yumi could not feel the impact. Yumi opened her eyes.

"Yumi-chan, sorry...."

It was Rei-sama"s worried face.

"Because you collided into me, I could take the impact. But if I had been a regular girl, it would have been a disaster."

Sachiko"s didactic reply could be heard from in the room.

"She is a girl who does not understand whether she has luck or not."

"So, when are you holding it?"

Sachiko-sama asked, as she curled her fingers around her neck.

"I"m thinking about next Sat.u.r.day."

Answered Yoshino.

Rei-chan, who was acting like a human shield, spun Yumi-san back into the room. Her face holding a sunken countenance, she meekly seated herself next to Sachiko-sama. Whether she had a mountain of things she wished to say, or whether she could not find anything to say, Yumi-san could not take any action when her Onee-sama was in opposition to her inclinations.

"Well...."

Sachiko-sama had whispered the words, "Sat.u.r.day after next," nuanced in a way to prompt Yoshino to answer whether it was too early or too late.

Sat.u.r.day was the only day where Yoshino had more than ten minutes to spare after school. But the weekend after next was the kendo match, so she couldn"t do it then. On the other hand, if the audition were to be held before then, it would be too sudden.

One would think that any day after the kendo match would be fine, but a look at Yoshino"s schedule would show that such planning was simply naïve. She needed to hold an appropriate time for the auditions. Just as one must be on time to meet at a kendo match, Yoshino planned to have the sœur auditions to be "on time" with finding a little sister.

"What is this about?"

As soon as everyone was seated, Rei-chan asked the question, knowing nothing about the exchanges that had preceded this. Shimako-san, who had arrived at the same time as Rei-chan, also inclined her head, as if to ask what was going on.

"I wanted to find a sœur."

Yoshino said, in the same nonchalant tone as she had said "next Sat.u.r.day."

"A sœur?!"

Rei-chan was the one who showed her surprise. The others were more dumbfounded than they looked, and in their shock, couldn"t interfere with the discussion between the two. And so, the Yellow Rose conversation continued.

"W-who is this person you want as sœur?!"

"I don"t know."

"If you don"t know, then I obviously know less!"

"That"s why I"m holding an audition!"

"I never heard about this!"

"You haven"t. But I was just talking about it!"

"Yoshino&h.e.l.lip;!"

Rei-chan pushed herself up and struck the table, her face flushed in anger. She sat back down in a frenzy that felt as if it would break the chair, after which she began hitting her forehead on the table. Yoshino, who was being opposed in all of this, sat in her seat calmly with a genteel demeanor, and watched her Onee-sama"s scene.

As Yumi-san watched, she found dry surprise when she confirmed the fact that Yoshino had probably not told Rei-chan about the audition.

"Yoshino ... why so suddenly...?"

"It"s not suddenly. I had been thinking of it for a long time. What"s wrong, do you not like the idea?"

"It"s not that, I just wasn"t mentally prepared...."

"Why do you talk about being mentally prepared now? Isn"t it the quick news that you had wanted to hear? Just as you had hoped, I"ll be able to show the person whom I bond with to you."

"That"s ... well if you put it that way, it"s ... but...."

Rei-chan was fl.u.s.tered and fidgety.

Like a father whose daughter would marry; when looking at Rei-chan from afar, that is exactly how she seemed.

"Plus, you can"t really find a perfect sœur at an audition."

"Oh really? Rei-chan understands these things, does she?"

Rei-chan herself understood that there was no concrete basis for all of this, so she couldn"t really say anything else, and fell reticent in Yoshino"s wake. As the dry silence dragged out into a sort of armistice, Shimako-san asked a question in a soft voice.

"But Yoshino-san, what if you cannot find a sœur with an appropriate fit at the audition?"

"That won"t happen. Even if I"m a bit uneasy, I"ll still choose."

Yoshino"s brusque answer circulated whispers throughout the room. It won"t happen? She"ll choose in spite of being uneasy? This was all a very surprising turn of events.

"What happened, Yoshino?"

"Nothing."

"You"re lying. Something is pushing you to hurry."

Good job, Rei-chan. She had even phrased it as if she were praising Yoshino. One look at her showed that Yoshino was the one fl.u.s.tered and fidgety.

"I just want to hurry...."

Yoshino closed her eyes. This action alone confirmed that she had been telling a lie.

She promptly closed her mouth, and Rei-chan let out a large sigh.

"Fine, I understand. I"ll agree with your audition. But do it next month, I have to practice for my kendo meet. So when that is over, we can make a perfect plan on how to hold the audition. I"ll help you with the work too, of course."

"But then I won"t make it on time."

From here on, Yoshino"s war changed.

Any more persistance on Yoshino"s part would have been senseless. That "there was a time limit;" that if too much time pa.s.sed by the "audition would become pointless," could be seen in Yoshino"s eyes. Approaching Rei-chan with these conditions and making her an ally would be an effective plan for Yoshino.

"What"s going on here?"

Rei-chan put her answer to Yoshino"s last remark on hold and asked her about the incident. The name of the person responsible then came out of Yoshino"s mouth.

"Yesterday, no, actually a long time back, I met with Eriko-sama."

"When was this?"

"Around the Athletic Festival."

"Eriko-sama was there?"

"Yeah."

Rei-chan turned towards Sachiko-sama with a face that asked "Did you know?" Sachiko-sama shook her head in a way that said she was learning about this for the first time. Shimako-san, likewise, informed everyone that she had known nothing about this. Noriko-chan had of course never met Eriko-sama, so she could not be asked. For some reason, the question stalled after that, so Yumi-san was not asked. Yoshino thought that Yumi-san might be nudged into answering.

The way it had been said, it seemed as if Eriko-sama had only met Yoshino and then left.

Yoshino went on.

"When we met, Eriko-sama seemed kind of down. To cheer her up, I told her she"d be the first person I introduced my pet.i.te sœur to."

"And then?"

Rei-chan prodded.

"Eriko-sama had said that she would come to see the kendo match, so ... I...."

That had been a summary, but with the small nuances that Yoshino gave, the truth was more than what she let on. It felt like some grand tale. Yumi-san understood the truth of the tale without any imagined dramatizations, and made different faces because of it, but Yoshino didn"t care.

Yoshino closed her eyes in a way that seemed to read "This experience had been deep in my heart, but it seems I finally let it out."

"Now that I think about it, when Eriko-sama had come to give me some pastries, her face had seemed a bit tired. She had also told me "Thank Yoshino well for me". It was because she was thinking of the task she had given to Yoshino. But I, of course, hadn"t paid it any thought."

Wrong. That was completely wrong. It was a piercing thought inside Yoshino that Rei-chan was wrong. Eriko-sama had simply come to put pressure upon Yoshino. But pure, simple Rei-chan had believed that it was an ordinary conversation.

"If that"s the case, then I see why you have to hurry. Alright, next Sat.u.r.day. The Yamayurikai will host the event, and we"ll get permission from the school."

Rei-chan neatly and quickly resolved.

Sachiko-sama had observed the whole incident transpire from beginning to end, and as she watched the Yellow Rose battle come to an end, she laughed.

"Yoshino-chan, Yumi. There are several sheets of the poster paper we used during the School Festival, so you can use those."

In the end, Yumi-san wasn"t asked her opinion, and was officially considered a partic.i.p.ant.

"I"ve heard that there is some audition thing going on?"

It was pa.s.sing period between periods two and three. Yamaguchi Mami-san, who had gone to the bathroom or some place, returned to the cla.s.sroom, approached Yumi"s desk sneakily, and whispered.

"Where in the world did you...?"

Yoshino-san had declared just yesterday, after school, that she would hold an audition. Not even a day had pa.s.sed before the news had gotten out.

Wondering whether she was the one who spread the rumor, Yumi turned to look at her seat. Yoshino-san, however, was immersed in her English-j.a.panese dictionary, furiously looking for the word "leader", and did not turn her attention towards Yumi.

"It wasn"t Yoshino-san. I heard it from Rosa Chinensis. She told me to make a huge advertis.e.m.e.nt in the Lilian Kawaraban, and in exchange for that we were given permission to cover the audition."

Sachiko-sama was an incredibly fast worker. Before her pet.i.te sœur could find a good excuse to evade the audition with, she had already begun to dig a moat around Yumi.

"But what a relief! This year there was no questionnaire made for the Mister Lillian contest, so after the school festival, this was the one period of the year lacking an event. With this, we can keep the pace up."

"If something like last year ever happened again, it was decided that it was better for the event to simply not take place. The members from last year aren"t here though, so things are a bit more boring."

In other words, it"s not that the faith in the vote was lost, but that it was obvious most people would pick a member of the Rose family. However, even without collecting the questionnaires, it was even more obvious that there would be no deliberation on picking Rei-sama again as this year"s Mister Lillian.

"But I"ve thought about this audition. It really is like a ferry across bad waters. The Newspaper Club will cooperate with the Yamayurikai to the greatest extent possible. Today after school, the Newspaper Club was supposed to meet at the Rose Mansion — huh?"

Mami-san abruptly stopped talking. She had probably noticed Yumi"s demeanor.

"You don"t want to do this?"

"Yoshino-san is the one who wants to do this."

"Mmmf."

Mami-san took one look at Yoshino-san and replied to Yumi.

"So, can I hear the reason why Yumi-san does not want to partic.i.p.ate?"

"Why?"

Yumi bowed her head onto the desk and let out a sigh.

Mami-san squatted next to the desk, and brought her face close to Yumi"s.

"Wouldn"t you try to explain it for me? I"m not Sachiko-sama after all."

"I see. Of course."

After the two shared a laugh together, Mami-san began talking again.

"Well now. Do you oppose the concept of an audition? Or do you not want to choose your sœur in an audition?"

"I don"t really know."

It wasn"t as much the fact that she had been forced by her Onee-sama as much as she simply was opposed to the audition in general.

"Let"s try to a.n.a.lyze the situation. If you don"t, then you can"t form an effective counter strategy."

"What counter strategy? A way to escape from the audition?"

"To accept the audition, but to simply work against it. Even though the Newspaper Club is ecstatic that two boutons are holding an audition at the same time, as a friend, I don"t want to see you forced into doing anything you don"t want to."

The bell for third period rang, and Mami-san uttered, "There"ll be a one-page special in the paper," as she found her way back to her seat.

"a.n.a.lyze, huh."

If she thought about why she hated it so much, it seemed as if her best option was to write a one page paper on it. As she was thinking, the teacher, who needed to know the word for "leader", came in. Yumi glanced at Yoshino-san, and saw that she had quickly found her word; Yoshino-san had closed the dictionary and put herself into a somewhat aggressive position.

Answer: "I Don"t Know"

During third and fourth period, Yumi listened to only half of the lecture and tried to used the remaining half of her brain, but could not.

As she walked towards the Rose Mansion with her lunch, she could do nothing but sigh. Today, everyone was talking about the sœur auditions. Yumi had seriously thought about just spending lunch in her cla.s.sroom. It was not as if she was invited to the Rose Mansion, or that there was much work for the Yamayurikai to finish. However, she did not make any course change as she walked up to the Rose Mansion.

Yumi let out a yell of confidence, and opened the entrance to the Rosa Mansion. In front of her she could see the figure of a person hurriedly climbing up the stairs.

"Shimako-san."

"Uaa! You surprised me, Yumi-san."

She"d probably been climbing the stairs silently, with the sudden rattling of the staircase caused by her surprise. Shimako-san turned around, with one hand still on the railing and the other clutching her chest.

"What do you think, Shimako-san?"

Of course Shimako-san wasn"t telepathic, nor was she even in the same cla.s.s as Yumi, so perhaps she wouldn"t be thinking about the same things as the people in her cla.s.s. That"s why Shimako-san"s response, "About what?" was quite appropriate.

"About the audition. Yesterday, you didn"t say whether you were opposed to it or whether you liked the idea."

"Aaah...."

Shimako-san whispered and once again began walking up the stairs.

"I"m not really in a position where I can oppose or approve of the situation."

Picking the sœur was the job of the older sister: that was Shimako-san"s idea of it. Yumi once again followed Shimako-san up.

"That"s true. But my sœur will have to become a very good friend of Shimako-san"s. Are you opposed to finding that sort of a friend at an audition?"

"That"s true."

Shimako-san laughed as she crossed the last step on the stairs.

"Of course, if I say that I have no reservations about the idea, then I would be completely lying. But if the auditions do work out, then maybe there"s a value in trying them out."

"Trying them out?"

Yumi asked, to which Shimako-san replied: "Of course, I"m speaking a.s.suming that I"m in your position."

"If I didn"t have a sœur, right? Then ... then I would work together with Yoshino-san to look over some applicants."

Of course, Shimako-san had recently found her cute, boisterous sœur, Noriko-chan, so she was using words like "If I" or "then I", which meant the conversation was meaningless for Shimako-san. In spite of this, Yumi still wanted to listen to Shimako-san"s thoughts. She wanted to sample and gather the thoughts of several people about the audition idea.

"But why wouldn"t you completely oppose it?"

Shimako-san replied as she was turning the k.n.o.b on the biscuit-like door.

"Because maybe, in that list of candidates, Noriko would be there."

When the door opened, a first year could be seen from across the room. In spite of it being autumn, this first year smiled in a way reminiscent of a spring breeze.

"Gokigenyou"

It was Noriko-chan.

"Oh, I see." Yumi finally understood Shimako-san a bit. Shimako-san was sure that, even if she would not have met Noriko-chan during the spring, that she would find her some other time. It didn"t matter how the next meeting would happen.

"It"s better to start somewhere than nowhere at all? Is that it?"

"I wholeheartedly think so."

Shimako-san genuinely wanted Noriko-chan by her side, so the method to acquire her was of no consequence.

Noriko-chan sat down and said, "I"ve prepared green tea." The steaming teacup was placed right in front of Yumi.

"How about you, Noriko-chan?"

"Huh?"

"How would you react to becoming Shimako-san"s sœur in an audition?"

Noriko-chan mulled over her response and tried to figure out a way to answer the point that Yumi was driving at, but instead cleverly threw a question back at Yumi.

"Yumi-sama, you wouldn"t dislike having a pet.i.te sœur, would you?"

"Maybe."

Since Yumi became Sachiko-sama"s pet.i.te sœur, she herself knew vaguely that she would have to have her own. The reason she still did not have a sœur by the second term was not because she was harshly rejected, but that she had simply missed out on chances to look for sœurs.

"So then, are you simply against the concept of the audition itself?"

"That may be the case. But if you look at it from the outside, it"s just another way of finding a sœur."

"Then what about Yoshino-sama choosing her pet.i.te sœur through an audition?"

"Yoshino-san is Yoshino-san, so I wouldn"t object."

She"d probably even help out if she was asked to.

"But it"s different when it comes to yourself, right?"

"That"s right. I wonder why that is."

Noriko-chan and Yumi began to think deeply about the issue. Shimako-san, who had been silently listening, offered another angle.

"Perhaps, Yumi-san is opposed to the part about judging people."

"That"s it."

Yumi snapped her fingers, but it didn"t make a sound.

"I don"t know how many worthy first-years there are who want to be my sœur, but it"s a bit tough to pick one of them. I mean, what"s the criteria to choose against? What is it that separates the chosen one from the others? I"m supposed to be choosing a pet.i.te sœur, so isn"t it strange to run it like a knock-out compet.i.tion? What"s my place in all this? A judge? It feels like I"d be acting superior, looking down on them."

Right as she said that —

"Well sorry for being superior."

The door opened with a thud, and in the doorway stood Yoshino-san.

"Let me tell you something," Yoshino said pointedly, striding angrily into the room. "Acting superior — we"re their future "onee-sama." Looking down on them? That"s fine. Nothing wrong with that."

That"s true. If a person didn"t have that sort of resolve inside them, they could not find a pet.i.te sœur. In an audition, the final decision would be down to one of two applicants. One should know their tastes if they plan to pick a pet.i.te sœur. If there is some concern that a person may not be able to make her choice, then she shouldn"t be calling for people to audition for her. If anyone gave it enough thought, when a girl decides to accept the invitation to audition, it means the same thing as the pet.i.te sœurs having chosen their grande sœur. As the grande sœur chooses the pet.i.te sœur, so does the pet.i.te sœur choose the grande sœur.

"What"s wrong with you! We"re in the same cla.s.s, but you still won"t wait for me?"

Yoshino slammed her lunch on the table and glared at Yumi-san. After fourth period ended, Yoshino went to the bathroom and came back to no sign of her. She had to ask around, and a cla.s.smate finally told her that Yumi-san had taken her lunch and headed to the Rose Mansion.

"Huh? Didn"t you tell me that you had a Kendo Club meeting today at lunch?"

"The meeting is for the regular fighters only. I told you because Rei-chan wouldn"t be able to come to the Rose Mansion today because of it."

"Oh, is that why. . . ."

"Hey, pay more attention to things outside of yourself, will you!"

Unfortunately, not every Kendo Club member partic.i.p.ated in the interschool kendo tournaments. Only five people were allowed to go to the tournaments, and they would probably be the only ones going to the meeting to decide how to manage the team. Yoshino, in spite of being a second year, was just a beginner. The latest addition to the club would have no chance of being nominated to represent the school. If you combine her genes and her upbringing, then she should have become a regular shortly after joining the club — but reality often doesn"t go as expected.

"So, what"s wrong? You really hate the auditions, don"t you, Yumi-san?"

"Well, "hating" may be too strong —"

"What"s with that look on your face? If you don"t like something, just say that you don"t like it! I want to have your input in the way the auditions are going to be run!"

Yoshino began halfheartedly putting some pressure on Yumi-san to speak her mind. Yumi-san put up a face that said "I wonder what I should tell her," when suddenly her savior came from behind.

"I understand why Yumi-san keeps worrying about the auditions. I also don"t like having to judge people like that in contests."

Shimako-san was the one who came to Yumi-san"s defense.

"So? What does that mean?"

Yoshino folded her arms onto her chest and raised an eyebrow.

"Even though we"re both students, how would you feel if someone else judged me over you?"

"Well, Shimako-san, earlier when we were deciding whether we should hold an audition or not, you had said that you weren"t opposed to the idea, did you not?"

As Shimako-san nodded her a.s.sent, Yumi-san confirmed that something had happened between Shimako-san and Yoshino, although she didn"t know what it was about.

"Let me ask you something else then, Shimako-san! When people are elected to run for the student council, isn"t that an issue of students picking students?!"

"The elections are different. It"s when every student in the school votes for a voice that will represent them in student affairs."

When Shimako-san became forward about her opinion, it would occasionally bother Yoshino. It wasn"t enough that she disagreed; Shimako-san would do the things that Yoshino herself couldn"t do easily, which would leave her admiring and jealous. But admiring was the opposite of what she wanted to be now.

"Okay . . . then, if everyone in the school were to vote for who a person"s sœur should be, would you agree then, Shimako-san?"

"Everyone? Picking sœurs?" Shimako-san tilted her head.

Yoshino knew that what she had said was simply a hypothetical retort, but she hoped that her retort would have some effect.

"But, Yoshino-sama."

This time it was Noriko-chan who spoke from behind. "Could a person accept a sœur who had been picked by majority rule?"

"Of course not."

It"d be troublesome to be handed someone and told, "Here, this is your pet.i.te sœur." It wasn"t like getting a ma.s.s-produced doll as a gift.

"Then it"s useless to continue any further with this line of thinking."

"Geh," Yoshino groaned, as she opened her lunch box. Noriko-chan seemed as if she had been seduced by Shimako-san, but she knew she had to stop this here.

Eventually, the three others also began opening their lunch boxes. It seemed that they had been so entranced by the debate that they had forgotten about their lunches.

"Sachiko-sama isn"t here," Shimako-san whispered.

"That"s right, huh."

Yumi-san took her chopsticks out from her chopsticks box, and inclined her head. Yoshino hadn"t heard anything from Rei-chan about this.

The interschool kendo tournament obviously shouldn"t have any effect on Sachiko-sama"s plans, so maybe she hadn"t arrived for different reasons. Obviously if you had no specific invitation to come, you didn"t have to. But in the days before the School Festival, she had come to the busy lunch meetings and paid attention to every detail, and ever since then, her regular attendance had become customary.

"Can I ask you something?" Yoshino asked, as she put down her chopsticks.

"All three of you oppose the audition happening at school, right?"

She had thought about the issue again from bottom to top. Yumi-san gave her response.

"Well, isn"t it like picking the lead actress of the school play?"

Yumi-san looked quickly around and saw Shimako-san and Noriko-chan nod deeply. Yoshino steeled herself and asked again.

"Well, you"re doing something personal in a public place, so. . . ?"

"Umm." Yumi made several, complicated faces. For some reason it resembled the look she got on her face when she faced the blackboard in math cla.s.s and had to answer a question. But honest Yumi-san finally came out with an answer. "If you"re talking about a person"s feelings, well . . . each person has their own internal sense of what"s too little and what"s too much. For example, if you do this much, then it"s okay. If you do more, then it"s not okay. Something like that. But people don"t think about this individually, and instead give vague reactions like "I don"t really like it" or "I don"t know why, but I"m okay with it," and other people live with these vague responses."

"Yeah."

"That"s why I"m not sure about making it "official.""

Indeed. Yumi-san was talking about putting human instincts into words.

"So, then, what if I decided to hold a tea party at my house? And I said that people who wanted to be my pet.i.te sœur were welcome to attend? Would you be in that? Or not?"

"I guess I"d be in? But if you put up posters around school, or advertised in the school newspaper, that would be no good, I think."

Taking this into consideration, Yumi-san"s objections may be along the lines of, "Don"t do private things in public."

"So if it spread by word-of-mouth, that would be okay. I kind of get what you"re saying."

"Yoshino-san, you can"t mean —"

"No, I won"t have an audition at my house," Yoshino laughed dryly. She had only asked the question in order to understand what the others in the room where thinking.

She was being more self-conscious than usual. Maybe because she was used to being the center of attention with relatives and friends, Yoshino hadn"t noticed this slip of hers. Of course, there were different degrees of her selfishness. She didn"t treat Yumi-san and other close friends like everyone else. But for people like her who loved themselves, it isn"t a bad thing to put yourself before others. This was embarra.s.sing though, so she didn"t want it known.

But from the beginning, Yoshino had something else to say that she hadn"t.

"But you know, I never really thought of the audition as a compet.i.tion. If everyone thinks of it like that, then obviously they"d have reservations about the audition. There"s no reason to treat the audition as if it were some tournament that you have to win in."

Yumi-san, Shimako-san, and Noriko-chan immediately turned towards Yoshino as if bewitched.

"What?!"

"It"s just that, the moment you came into the room, it seemed as if some lever had been pulled, and that you were irritated from the start," Yumi-san dryly explained to Yoshino.

"It"s because I have unwavering confidence in myself. So I"ll fight whenever I"m challenged. But if I have no strong personal opinion on the subject, I"ll also listen to what others have to say about it."

And then.

"Fine then! I"ll decide, right here, right now!"

Yumi-san stood up in a sudden revelation. Not only did she stand, but she balled her hand into a fist, and thumped it into her chest.

"If there"s no other way for me to find a sœur, let"s have this audition right now! Let"s do it! And I"ll probably understand how the audition works after I start doing it!"

Why, that Yumi-san! Her sudden declaration was so uplifting, that Yoshino could do nothing but applaud.

Shimako-san grinned.

"After school today, let"s hold some real talks about this, okay? We won"t just discuss the big picture, but also the little things that we forgot to talk about, the things we need to do first, and other stuff like that!"

"Will you help us too?"

Yumi-san asked Shimako-san happily.

"Of course. Won"t we, Noriko?"

Noriko-chan"s onee-sama had agreed, so she went quiet for a second, and then said, "Yeah." But Noriko-chan hesitated. "Yumi-sama, um, are you sure I should help out?"

"Huh? Of course! If Noriko-chan helped out, we would be that much stronger!"

After seeing the smile that lit up Yumi-san"s face, Noriko-chan could only say, "I"ll help then. To all the best." Perhaps Noriko-chan had wanted to say something else.

– Or so Yoshino thought absentmindedly. Or maybe it had been her imagination. But if it wasn"t her imagination, then Noriko-chan had chosen not to say something, and it made Yoshino wonder what she had left unsaid.

Sachiko-sama did not come at all that day to the Rose Mansion.

Why did she say something like that?

Noriko was revisiting the moment when she had asked Yumi-sama if she should help out.

Yumi-sama didn"t understand what she was asking, so Noriko let it drop.

"Aaah...."

Afternoon cla.s.ses were filled with such sighs.

(I see.)

She didn"t want to overstep her bounds. If she said what she wanted to say, then she would have to take responsibility for her statements until the very end.

Because she had only done her duty halfway — because she dropped the torch before it was all done — she felt bad, so she kept brooding about it.

She had to help out now, so there was no point in mulling over it, Noriko thought as she loosened her grip on the broom handle. She didn"t feel like listening to Yumi-sama"s request, however Shimako-san and Yoshino-sama made Noriko think twice.

"What"s wrong, Noriko-san?"

"Ah!"

Touko brought her face close enough to Noriko to kiss her as she daydreamed. Suddenly seeing Touko"s face made Noriko jump back.

"Well, I"m sorry. You had been sweeping the same place with the broom for a while now, so I took that as a sign that something was going wrong."

"... I"m sorry. I was just thinking about something."

"I see."

Touko said nothing more as she took out her dustpan and put in the dirt that Noriko had collected earlier and put it into the trash.

"Touko."

"Hm?"

Her two banana curls of hair bobbed up and down as she looked up.

"What do you think of Yumi-sama?"

"Hmmmm."

"Her face is never still, her mood is always plain. But her heart is with the people, so her head"s just a scatterbrain."

Each of her lines began with an "H" sound, and ended with a rhyme. Only the third rhyme was off. [1]

"She is, but she"s still pretty popular with the first years."

"It seems so."

Noriko smiled.

Unlike Yumi-sama, Touko would purposefully misunderstand her questions, and would throw your questions back at you. She understood what Noriko wanted to say, but she probably was dodging because she did not want to answer.

But ever since she had learned that lesson, Noriko understood that she could not give up asking the questions she wanted answered.

"Did you think that I had wanted to be Yumi-sama"s pet.i.te sœur?"

Touko said, as she revealed an anger in her face that Noriko had not seen before.

"That"s why I was asking. Did I do anything wrong?"

Noriko winced from Touko"s anger, but Touko herself did not seem to notice it. It was just that, a hidden part of Touko"s soul had just been opened up, which was why she reacted so violently to Noriko"s innocent question.

As the two eyed each other, their cla.s.smates began to bunch up around them. Students who had stayed after school, students who had clubs to attend, and even conspicuously tall girls. They would stop, say a polite "Gokigenyou," look down at their watch, flutter their hair around, and then run off into the hallways.

"I want to help you out, Touko."

Noriko said honestly. When Noriko had asked Yumi-sama "Are you sure I should help out?" neither Kanako-san nor anyone else had come to mind and caused her hesitation — Touko was the one.

Maybe Noriko should have asked "Are you sure I should help out?" to Touko instead of Yumi-sama. She would have told Touko about the opportunity to audition sœurs and asked "Do you want to join in?"

"I need no strength from you, Noriko-san."

As Noriko watched Touko turn coldly and leave the room, she found herself somehow understanding Touko"s reaction.

"... Touko."

Noriko did not say anything else aloud, but the thought echoed in her mind.

"So?"

Sachiko-sama asked, wondering if Yumi had anything to say.

"The name "audition" can make people think of weird things, so I wanted to clear it up."

Yumi said clearly.

It was after sch

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