Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume28 Chapter1 5

* * * * *

"What are you two doing?"

After hearing the music of the traffic lights play for the third time, a voice called out to us from above and we both looked up.

"Lillian's students, being an obstacle to pedestrians. It's indecent, troublesome."

For some strange reason, Futaba-san was standing there.

Kazue-san and I had been embracing, oblivious to the people around us, but we hurriedly let go of each other and stood up. We'd been stuck together tightly as though we were opposite magnetic poles, but now we acted as though we were both the same pole.

"What happened to your tryout for the basketball club?"

Futaba-san replied coldly to this question which tried to sweep things under the rug.

"There were a lot of people wanting to join, so all we did was put our names down on the sign-up sheet."

It goes without saying, but Futaba-san wasn't in a good mood. Her onee-sama and her best friend had been embracing each other. It wasn't the sort of thing you could just ignore.

At any rate, we were just getting in the way where we were, so we went back into the station and sat down beside each other on one of the benches. Kazue-san, Futaba-san, then me.

What should I do? What should I say? I hung my head in shame, but could think of nothing. It was Futaba-san who was the first to speak, turning to Kazue-san.

"Onee-chan, don't accost my friend."

"O, onee-chan?"

Add to that her assertive manner of speaking. Is that really how she should be addressing her onee-sama? I had a bad feeling about this, and turned to look at them.

"Why are you so surprised? I thought you knew that she was my onee-chan."

"Huh?"

I knew? I fervently searched my memory. After my first reunion with Kazue-san, when I didn't know that she was Kazue-san, I remembered asking Futaba-san:

(That person just now, is she your onee-sama?)

(You got it. As usual, Ichigo-san.)

"Ahh – !"

That's what she meant.

"You mean, she's really your older sister!?"

"That's right."

Sitting next to each other, the overall impression they gave was completely different. But the individual parts of their faces looked exactly the same. More than that, Futaba-san could have been the twin of the Kazue-san from one year ago, which provided more proof of their relationship than mere words could have.

"Ah … "

Now that I thought about it, Kazue-san's surname was also 'Suzuki.' We'd become good friends a year ago because we were seated one row apart. Exactly the same as Futaba-san and I, this year.

"I thought you sounded jealous when you asked about Ichigo-san at home, onee-chan. So that's how it is."

"That's how what is?"

"Well, you want to be her soeur, don't you?"

"Soeur?"

Instinctively, Kazue-san and I looked at each other.

"It's preposterous that we'd become soeurs. Because I – "

I waved both my arms, denying this. Having just become reacquainted with Kazue-san after a whole year, I hadn't even entertained this outrageous notion.

However.

"Why don't we become soeurs?"

The voice came softly from the other side of Futaba-san.

"Huh?"

"After all, I'm a second-year and you're a first-year, so we fulfill all the requirements, right? And I want to have that kind of relationship with you once more."

Kazue-san took her purse out of her pocket, opened it up and held it out to us as though she were showing her license.

Inside was the two-shot photograph that I had seen earlier. But now I understood. The girl that looked like Futaba-san was Kazue-san, one year earlier, and standing beside her, smiling happily, was me.

"Wah, it's how you used to look, onee-chan, and Ichigo-san. What's the meaning of this?"

Not knowing the circumstances, Futaba-san was completely taken aback. But after we explained it to her, she understood.

"Hmm. So if you hadn't been in an accident, Ichigo-san, then I would have been your petit soeur."

She declared definitively. Where did this self-confidence of hers come from?

"But, well, I guess I'm okay with it being onee-chan."

Futaba-san took a deep breath, smiled and said:

"Ichigo-san is Ichigo-san. Even if she has an onee-sama, our friendship won't change."

Was this deja-vu?

– I'd definitely heard that line somewhere before.