Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume3 Chapter2 7

The White Rose. Part 7.

"Yumi."

After she'd gotten off the last stop for her bus and had climbed the stairs to M Station, she heard a familiar, resounding voice from behind.

(Sachiko-sama…?)

Taking a step back, she looked around. But no matter how hard she tried to look, forget Sachiko-sama, she couldn't even see a single other girl wearing a Lillian uniform.

(Was I hearing things?)

Maybe she heard Sachiko-sama's voice in her head because she wanted to see her so much. What a simpleton I am, Yumi thought, as she returned her attention to the stairs.

"What are you doing, Yumi, I'm over here."

This time she heard it clearly. So she turned completely around and walked back a bit. Then, on the road beside the bus terminals, she noticed a black automobile was parked, and Sachiko-sama was waving her hand from a rear-seat window.

"What-what are you doing here, onee-sama?"

When Yumi fearfully crept toward the shining, obsidian car, the window Sachiko-sama was waving out of slid shut, and this time the door popped open.

"Uwah, uwah, uwah."

Yumi was excited because the door opened in fashion. –Not really, it was because Sachiko-sama was wearing a very unexpected type of clothing.

"I was waiting. Please, get in."

Sachiko-sama naturally ordered Yumi as she slid to the other end of the car. Her hair was meticulously braided, she wore a kimono, and she even had cosmetics done. She looked like an authentic princess.

"Please, hurry, it does feel cold."

She didn't have time to fret. Onee-sama's orders were absolute. Though she worried about dirtying the carpet with her shoes, Yumi boarded the car.

"Go."

When Sachiko-sama spoke that word to the man in the driver's seat, the car began gliding.

"Uh-umm…?"

"I'll take you home. When we get close, give us directions."

The driver presumably had been told the rough directions already, as he quickly began taking the shortest routes from the station. Using the underground passageways under the tracks, they left M Station. She had no idea. Different cars gave the passengers different levels of comfort.

"Why are you wearing a long-sleeved kimono? Ahh, onee-sama, you look so wonderful in a uniform, but you look astounding in a kimono, too!"

She became excited and bounced around a bit, but Sachiko-sama didn't scold her. With her back still straightened, she giggled.

"Actually, this isn't a long-sleeved kimono, but rather a visiting dress. A Japanese-style painter who's an acquaintance of my father had an exhibition today, and I was required to attend, so I had to leave Yumi behind."

But she was worried about Rosa Gigantea, so she returned after simply greeting the painter. If she was lucky, she'd be able to snag Yumi at M Station as she went home, so she was waiting. Good read.

That said, Sachiko-sama definitely was a lady in an upper-class household, she realized, yet again.

Her refined, indigo kimono with white and pink plum flower patterns was fastened with a silver obi with blue bird patterns. Even though she was 17, she exuded an aura of "I'm used to wearing kimono," so she was definitely different from normal people, who only really wore a kimono during shichi-go-san[[1] or New Years. Sachiko-sama probably wore a kimono often, and practiced serving tea and arranging flowers.

But a personal exhibition for Japanese paintings that required wearing a kimono? What kind of place would require that? Plus, it was a jet-black car you tended to see more on TV for the Imperial household, rather than something you often saw in town. A driver wearing a hat and white gloves. And at their feet, carpeting that she still couldn't figure out if it was dark-red or not.

"What did Rosa Gigantea want with you two?"

Sachiko-sama asked, bluntly. So Yumi didn't skirt the edges either, reporting to Sachiko-sama everything that had happened. After all, there was nothing to hide, and Rosa Gigantea had told them they were free to tell everything to their onee-sama. Of course, if she hadn't, Yoshino-san might have had trouble restraining herself, what with how intimate she was with Rei-sama.

"I see… so Rosa Gigantea told you two."

Sachiko-sama sighed heavily, like she was the one who let out the secret, and said, "She's strong."

"I was just a first-year then, and Rosa Gigantea was an en bouton who never really came to the Rose Mansion, so I wasn't very close to her. But I knew Rosa Gigantea was very close with Shiori-san, and I could infer what happened last year, around this time."

Yes. Rosa Gigantea's Kahori was named "Shiori."

"But I was so surprised at how much Rosa Gigantea changed her looks after Shiori-san transferred before the third semester."

"Changed her looks?"

"Yes. She'd cut most of her hair, she'd lost a great deal of weight, she was worn out, and she looked like a hollow puppet, so it was difficult to watch. Rosa Chinensis and the Rosa Gigantea then lent their hands, so she managed to stand back up on her own. And… yes. Shimako-san's had a big influence on her, too."

"But Rosa Gigantea doesn't say anything to Shimako-san, she said. They don't interfere with each other, or something-"

"Indeed."

That's why she couldn't beat Rosa Gigantea, Sachiko-sama laughed. Come to think of it, Sachiko-sama and Rosa Gigantea had fought over Shimako-san in the past.

"It doesn't matter to them what the other is doing or thinking. They're connected on a more essential level, so they don't bother with what's on the surface, in a way. So from that perspective, they're very unique sisters. Out of place from the normal expectation of an older sister training the little sister, it's like they exist on a different dimension altogether."

"An essential level…"

Because they were so deeply intertwined with their souls, they would never waver about how much the other means to them?

"Give nothing, seek nothing. If anything, I think it means as long as they exist, they're at peace. Of course, I've only recently begun to understand them."

After being rejected by Shimako-san, Sachiko-sama probably calmly observed the sisters. Not because she had any lingering affections, but because she genuinely wanted to understand them.

As Yumi listened to Sachiko-sama, she couldn't help but think of faith. "As long as they exist", it was like peoples' love for God.

The car that had been going straight ahead smoothly turned right at the intersection.

"I'm not envious, by any means. I'll acknowledge such a relationship exists, but I can't imagine being in one, myself."

Answering Yumi's worries, Sachiko-sama turned to Yumi, said "so it's alright to be imperfect," and touched Yumi's ribbons. Yumi, too, preferred the skinship that came with having herself straightened out.

And Sachiko-sama's blunt "I'm not envious" matched precisely with Yumi's own thoughts.

Maybe that sort of overlapping emotions was vital. Because they felt the same, they could be sisters, she and Sachiko-sama.

Affinity wasn't so much about whether they were alike, but rather whether they could create an atmosphere where both could feel comfortable, she thought.

They passed the bus she usually took, which was waiting at the bus stop, and took a left at the T junction. The expensive car drove past convenience stores and little fields spotting the residential area without paying any heed.

They'd come close to her home, so she gave directions such as take a right at that light, or take a left at that intersection, and they finally ended up at her home. She liked her home, which had been designed by her father's firm, as it was homely and looked nice, but she did lose a bit confidence, showing it to a super-rich lady.

"What a wonderful home."

Sachiko-sama's home was probably not visible from outside, being surrounded by an enormous garden. It probably had a big fence, and it was a Japanese-style garden with gardeners-. Ah, no good. She was making herself feel down, again.

"Well, I'll see you again at the closing ceremony."

Sachiko-sama didn't hesitate at all to say her farewells and depart. Well, they weren't in a heterosexual romance, so leaving with a kiss would have been strange, but a handshake didn't fit, either. Plus, that sort of Sachiko-sama wasn't right.

When Yumi told her she would call her mother to give thanks for being sent home, Sachiko-sama stopped Yumi, saying, "That's alright."

"Dressed this way, your family would be surprised. And there's a car waiting behind. Next time I'll properly greet them."

"Okay."

It was almost evening. Cars would use this road to avoid the traffic at the main street at this time.

"Thank you very much for taking me home."

"You're welcome. Gokigenyou."

"… Gokigenyou."

Yumi absent-mindedly thought, as watched the car drive away.

(Is Sachiko-sama busy every day?)

She felt a bit lonely. I'll see you again at the closing ceremony, meant she had no intention of meeting during the break.

Almost a week, and Yumi had nothing to do, so if she were given a phone-call, she would jump at any opportunity to meet. And if that wasn't possible, simply being able to talk would be splendid.

But she couldn't imagine Sachiko-sama calling her. But her calling Sachiko-sama was also a dreadful thing to imagine.

And that's how a week will pass, she sighed, depressed.

Yoshino-san would probably laugh and ask, "Why don't you just call her?" if she found out.

That's the sort of siblings we are, right now.

That made her feel better.

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