Chapter 119

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Yes, of course.

"This coming Sunday I should be free." Having reached the midway point through the week, she had heard this come out of Rei-chan"s mouth. She certainly had heard it. She wasn"t making this up; she"d heard it. Why was she blaming her? She had already bowed and said, "It was my fault." Yoshino guessed she just couldn"t let it go there. It was staring her in the face; it wasn"t good enough to just turn a blind eye to it.

At that time (in other words, the time Rei-chan had been talking about going out on Sunday) Yoshino, unluckily interpreted this as "the way I WANT to spend my Sunday". In this way, she suitably ignored her and missed an essential part of Rei-chan"s story.

She had been listening properly at first. Yanaka-san (previously Yoshino had only seen his face in pa.s.sing) hadn"t visited her Uncle"s (that is, Rei-chan"s father"s) dojo for a long time. Rei-chan and her father had received an invitation to lunch together with him. She thought that was the story anyhow.

Yanaka-san is a gentle person who is never disagreeable, but an old man is a old man. Even if she"d heard that Rei-chan was eating dinner with Yanaka-ojiisan, Yoshino didn"t particularly envy her at all. She may have also mentioned that the lunch was going to be a j.a.panese style meal at a hotel restaurant. But that was largely her imagination. In saying that all three people would be present, in the end it probably amounted to nothing more than an enforced kendo lecture.

And then, "Making friends is important. It would be good if you could come." It seemed like that was what she was saying. The rest of the story from this point on, Yoshino had ignored. It seemed like Rei-chan had continued on with a more detailed account, but she"d given up on listening and the information hadn"t stayed in her head at all.

Yoshino"s plans? What should she say if she"s asked? Having absentmindedly listened to only half the conversation was the cause of her nervousness.

This coming Sunday, Yoshino had made plans in secret from Rei-chan. Yeah&h.e.l.lip; a secret. If discovered, somehow this secret would give her a bad reputation. She supposed it was enough to just not tell Rei-chan about it. But even if she did that, what sort of verbal deflection could she use? Something that wouldn"t necessarily be untrue&h.e.l.lip;

The truth is&h.e.l.lip; Yoshino had promised to spend the day out and about with Arima Nana next Sunday.

Yoshino had been the first to wage war.

Given that Yumi-san wasn"t simply a cla.s.smate, but also her best friend, she was able to tell her, "If I become a third-year and haven"t been able to get a little sister at that point, I"ll make Nana my sister." With that proclamation, Arima Nana, who was in middle school, who hadn"t even been a blip on the radar, leapt up to be Yoshino"s tentative top little sister candidate. Emphasis on "tentative". None of the candidates from immediately following the tea party remained. The fact that at present there was no second place winner was a sad state of affairs. Apart from that&h.e.l.lip; since the Interhigh school kendo match, she had been more and more interested in Nana, but there was no helping it.

She"d checked in to her background and family situations, etc., thoroughly without Nana having noticed. Though she seemed to have rammed into her in the corridor under the civic gymnasium, with agility Nana had been able to immediately dodge. And when she"d made the request of her accomplice to uphold the lie that she hadn"t just then met her, the girl had been able to carry the burden. Even though the ribbon of her uniform under her sweater had come loose, she"d been oblivious. It had only been peeking out a smidgen. There"s no way she would have noticed.

But, this wasn"t enough to go on. Yoshino thought that she would need to know more about Nana. It was something someone of the past used to say: "Know your enemy and know yourself, only then can you be victorious in battle" . In this case, Nana probably wasn"t her enemy. Operation code name: Get a Little Sister, for Yoshino, had already completely broken out into war. Her favorite phrase was, "victory goes to the one who makes the first move." For Yoshino it was always, green light means GO! In work, waiting was her number one weakness. Although it is also said, "be immovable like a mountain," this was probably the slogan of someone who has great endurance.

And, now, halfway through the week, Yoshino decided to go observe Nana for the moment. However, a high school student grandly visiting a middle school cla.s.sroom would be overly conspicuous. Thus, the strategy was to wait in ambush at the entranceway amongst the many comings and goings in the morning.

She gave a suitable excuse to Rei-chan and went to school a little earlier than usual. She held the stakeout nearby the student entrance to the middle school, and waited for about fifteen minutes. Gradually, the game of playing detective was growing tiresome when finally Nana came into sight.

Of course, she wasn"t wearing the pink sweatshirt of the other day. She wore a school coat over her uniform. She had been crowded into a ma.s.s of middle school students, but beyond all expectations, she had been easy to find.

Yoshino moved toward Nana, walking slowly head on. First she would say, "Good day." Then she would give a beaming smile. "Thanks for the other day." She had already decided on this course of action.

Nana"s face became honest and straightforward. Yes, now. "Go..." But Nana&h.e.l.lip; about 1.5 meters short of Yoshino, pivoted and changed direction. Just like that she was sucked in to the school entrance. "W-wait." In confusion, Yoshino chased after her. Yet, this was the peak time for girls to enter the school—chatting and greeting each other, they flitted about. All the voices ran into each and comingled like mixed juice. In this state, it wouldn"t be easy to identify anyone by the sound of their voice. (In that case...)

Yoshino put her fingers in her ears and shouted forcefully, "Tanaka-san!" A moment later a middle school student moving on the periphery stopped. (Was it magic?) It didn"t seem to be. She removed her fingers from her ears. The area was engulfed in silence. Simultaneously, many students turned their attention toward her. Somehow Yoshino had managed to emit a cry on par with an emergency alert.

"I-I"m sorry. I made a disturbance." Is this what Yumi-san had meant when she said, "To burn with embarra.s.sment"? At any rate it had resulted in a terrible effect. She should come back here and start over later in the day. Since she had only momentarily called out, "Tanaka-san", blessedly, Nana might not have noticed. Yet, when she tried to turn away&h.e.l.lip;

"...Actually, it"s Arima." The person in question had quite definitely noticed. It was no longer a matter of gracefully bowing out. Where is the reset b.u.t.ton for this situation?

As they"d be a bother standing around talking while students were trying to change their shoes, the two of them stepped outside for a moment. "Umm&h.e.l.lip; Hasekura Rei-sama"s&h.e.l.lip;" Nana paused. They continued moving away until they were out of the flow of students. "&h.e.l.lip;honored little sister, Shimazu Yoshino. It seems you"ve already forgotten my name."

Yoshino was able to keep her composure for the time being. Yet after having been seen in that blunder, she was not able to manufacture anything beyond that of a considerably ill-fitting uppercla.s.sman. "But I remembered yours. The incident of nearly colliding in the gymnasium, and the beautiful rosary that you dropped."

"..." What is with that way of remembering it, Yoshino thought. Nana remembered her, because she"d continued in the habit of s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g things up with this latest episode. And then even though she couldn"t see it, she recalled the rosary before she recalled the owner.

"I was worried about it for a while. Afterwards, were you been able to tell Torii Eriko-sama anything?"

"You know Torii Eriko-sama"s name."

"Of course."

She tried her best to put on a smile. Nana hadn"t known her name, but she had known Eriko-sama"s. As for being called "Hasekura Rei-sama"s honored little sister", she was not amused. Despite the fact that this person might become her little sister someday, in truth, she wasn"t showing a great deal of interest in Yoshino.

She must try and suppress this feeling. She&h.e.l.lip; must&h.e.l.lip; suppress it. Acting violently would leave a bad impression. That episode earlier really didn"t leave a good impression. (Because she was Yoshino, Nana was only seeing her at her most ungraceful.) If she displayed any odd behavior this time, even if for only a moment, the negative image portrayed would be as upright and straight as the rolls in a hilly road.

"More importantly, was I of any help?" Nana asked. Even if she had been worried, she hadn"t thought to come and ask Yoshino about it.

"I haven"t thanked you enough for last week. I"m thinking I should tell you the story behind that."

"You don"t need to thank me; it"s fine." Nana had only to make sure their stories agreed after all.

"But it"s been bugging me. So, if you can make it, this coming Sunday, won"t you meet me somewhere? I"ll treat to you a cake set or something." For a girl, a cake set is like the Mito Koumon"s seal. With this she could settle the debt, Yoshino thought. But as to coming out to meet Nana at 8:45, she could only make a half-hearted laugh. Just as with prostrating oneself on the bare earth before an irate magistrate, it was hardly an easy thing to do.

She bowed her head for a moment as a gesture of thinking it over. "Yeah." (No way. Did she object to the cake set?) If she insisted on a high-cla.s.s dinner in a restaurant&h.e.l.lip; it would be totally impossible for her purse. But if she didn"t make this effort, how could she realistically meet up with a middle school girl? Who in the world is this? If this was the Edo Period, she would have been a much sought-after courtesan. She shook off such a strange idea.

Yoshino asked, "Or, is Sunday inconvenient?" If there was a genuine reason for her hesitation, it probably wasn"t that she had a problem with the size of the gift.

"No, not really."

"Then, how about we say at the ticket gate on the first floor of K station at half-past ten?" Nana still hadn"t come out and said either, "I"ll go," or "I won"t go," but Yoshino forcibly hastened the conversation. If she seemed indecisive, it was all the more possible to push and push and keep pushing to the end. Nana raised her head.

"Umm... Shimada-sama,"

"...Actually, it"s Shimazu." It looked as if she"d broken down in the middle of a bout, but desperately recovered.

"I"m sorry, Shimazu-sama."

"If it"s all right, please call me by first name, Yoshino."

"Yoshino-sama? Is it spelled the same as the Yoshino cherry tree?" It"s okay if this girl says she really truly doesn"t know her. Yet, Yoshino was emotionally a bit moved. You could call it intense self-consciousness. Inside the high school, there was no mistake that Yoshino fell under the heading "wonderful famous person". Yet, this girl didn"t know her. Her head felt numb.

""Yoshi" is the same as the second kanji in freedom, "no" is the same as the "no" in Wakanohana."

When they had met in the gym, she had been called "Hasekura Rei-sama"s honored little sister", so it seemed like she had only vaguely known who she was. But then, could it be that she doesn"t yet know that the two of them are cousins by blood? What a pleasant surprise then. But then, she didn"t know all that much about Nana, or her relations.

"If you have any contact information you could exchange, please go ahead. Maybe something like your cla.s.s&h.e.l.lip; or home number&h.e.l.lip;" On her memoranda pad in her student notebook, Yoshino wrote down her name, cla.s.s and home telephone number. She carefully tore it off and handed it to Nana.

"Ahh. The "no" is like the "no" in General Nogi&h.e.l.lip;" The Wakanohara reference didn"t ring any bells for Nana. It appears she"s not very knowledgeable about Sumo Wrestling. Though, how did she come up with General Nogi? For a middle school student, she had an aura of refinement.

"Well then," their business was finished. Just looking at each other silently for a time felt somewhat strange. Yoshino decided to turn back toward the high school entrance.

The public"s gaze was also tense. While it may be true that she had been talking with Yoshino, no way was a middle school student being considered for Rosa Foetida en bouton. In reality, there probably wasn"t anyone with that good of an intuition. Even though she was able to take one step forward with effort, it wouldn"t do to have such a strange rumor come to nothing. Besides, in only having overstayed her visit a little, she had given Nana the opportunity to change her mind. If Sunday"s appointment (which she took great pains to create) is refused, it will all have been for nothing.

"I look forward to it." While saying this, Nana did not have the face of one so expectant. Yet, just before Yoshino turned on her heel, a small right hand waved to her. It was unexpectedly cute. (Ahh. With this, the secrets kept from Rei-chan are multiplying).

While walking back, Yoshino reflected. She hadn"t spoken to Rei-chan about Nana at all. For that matter, she didn"t even know the character "na" in Nana"s name.

Although I understand this is bad, I don"t know how best to confess. On this matter she"d been silent for a long time. No, she couldn"t have spoken up. She wasn"t sure if Rei-chan had learned of it. If so, had it come from Eriko-sama or Yumi-san? (That"s...)

Before it was allowed to come to such a state, she definitely decided that report would come from her own mouth. When you consider the shock that Rei-chan will surely receive&h.e.l.lip; The sooner she"s able to confess about Nana, the better. But, how on Earth was she going to describe her? This third-year in middle school was able to make their stories agree and deceived Eriko-sama. However in order to explain that, she must first explain all the particulars about what had transpired with Eriko-sama.

She was the little sister of Tanaka (the eldest daughter) and Tanaka (the second daughter) whom Rei-chan had competed against in the inter-high school match last year and again this year. Though, for some unspecified reason her last name was Arima. Since for some reason it"s a nerve-wrecking situation, next year Yoshino might make this girl her little sister. Nevertheless, this girl seemed wholly indifferent about Yoshino. Even if it was something that was easy to explain, what could she really say? Her information in regards to Nana was sloppy at best. Even for herself, Yoshino couldn"t put these things in order. If for no other reason than this, she wanted another meeting between the two of them. And then, when she herself had a reasonably enough grasp on it, she"d be able to convey her feelings to Rei-chan.

No matter if she could continue to make progress as is, or was forced to start over anew, it would still be better than the current foggy situation.

It had been the night before that Rei-chan had asked if she wanted to join them for lunch with Yanaka-san on Sunday. Yet, because of all that, Yoshino had completely ignored the finer points of Rei-chan"s story.

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