Nope, still don't own.

Chapter III. Prelude to disaster

Part 1.

"Calm down, Sachiko."

"I am calm."

"No you're not. Your left eye is twitching a bit. It's scaring the heck out of me."

Sachiko raised her hand to touch her left eyelid, coughed softly and dropped her arm again. She didn't look at Rei but instead picked up her bag. "Shall we get going now?"

Rei nodded, grinning just a little bit, closed her bag and together with Sachiko made her way out of the Rose Mansion. It was late in the afternoon. The two of them had stayed late after the final meeting about the upcoming Maria Festival. Earlier that day Sachiko had experienced an unpleasant encounter with the 'special student', as Rei liked to call the new student who had entered Lillian in her 2nd year of high school.

"I won't believe it isn't still bothering you," Rei said as though she was continuing some unfinished conversation. They were standing before Maria-sama.

"What are you talking about?" Sachiko asked, not looking up from her praying.

"About what happened earlier," Rei answered as they continued their way outside the school grounds. "With the new student, Fukuzawa Yumi-chan. It only shows that she really doesn't fit the profile of a student from Lillian at all."

"Of course not. She's a new student, after all. She'll learn in due time."

"Yes, but still…" Rei hesitated.

Sachiko abruptly stopped in her tracks so Rei was forced to look over her shoulder to see where her companion was. "Rei, you obviously have something you wish to share with me. Would you please do so in a manner that leaves no mistake about the subject you're discussing?"

Rei looked as if she was contemplating things, but eventually shook her head and motioned Sachiko to continue their walk. "It's nothing. You're right, Yumi-chan will probably learn in due time."

Sachiko couldn't help but notice the slightly amused undertone Rei's voice carried, but decided not to go into it. It was true that Yumi wasn't suited for Lillian at all: she was incredibly bold, her demeanour did not match a lady's at all and she had acted disrespectful to her. Nevertheless, Sachiko was convinced Yumi would adjust to what was deemed the proper behaviour at this school as soon as she got used to her new environment.

The following day Sachiko arrived a bit late at school as an accident had caused her bus to be stuck in a total traffic jam. However, as fit for a lady, she didn't resort to running across the school grounds in order to perhaps make it in time for her first class. If she would explain the situation properly to the teacher, she would understand.

That, however, was clearly not everyone's philosophy. When she was walking towards Maria-sama, the statue being only a dozen metres away, Sachiko could hear running footsteps behind her. She turned around and was actually not surprised to see Yumi running in her direction. Sachiko turned around to tell her to stop running, but as she opened her mouth Yumi ran passed her, not giving her one glance, although the girl had most likely clearly seen that she had wanted to say something. By the time she had turned around again, Yumi was already several metres further, still running like the devil was chasing her. Sachiko was a bit dumbstruck by the rudeness of Yumi's action, but decided that she wouldn't lower herself to shouting at Yumi to stop. She'd just have to reprove the girl some other time.

By the time Sachiko got to her classroom the lessons had already started. She apologized to the teacher and quickly went to her seat. Paying attention, however, proved to be more difficult than she had anticipated. It was just that, in all her years she was attending Lillian now, she had never met anyone as Yumi. Thinking about the girl's behaviour annoyed her, and Sachiko hardly noticed that she was scribbling nonsense in her notebook. She sincerely hoped that Yumi would adjust her ways. It was certainly not her task to make sure that happened, but she would admonish the girl if she was given a reason to, like yesterday. For now, Sachiko decided, she would just observe how Yumi would evolve in her interactions.

Two weeks passed; Sachiko was sitting in the meeting room of the Bara no Yakata, filling in a form for the 3rd years' upcoming day trip. Rei was sitting across the table filling in the same form, and the younger Yamayurikai members were doing homework. It was then and there that the topic of Fukuzawa Yumi came up again.

"Yoshino… Did you draw this?" Rei pointed at a doodle at the back of Yoshino's history book.

"Ah, no… Yumi-san must've done that when she borrowed my book. I haven't even noticed it myself."

"She can draw pretty well," said Rei as she examined the little doodle more closely.

"Books are not meant to be drawn in," said Sachiko without looking up from her sheet of paper. "They are meant to read or study from. You should tell her that, Yoshino-chan."

"I don't think that she'd listen to me." Yoshino fidgeted a bit in her chair. "Her own books are full with little drawings of the same sort."

"Well, I assume you've become friends? Seeing as you lent her your book and she dared to draw in it… If a friend tells her, she might listen."

When Sachiko got no reply, she looked up and saw Yoshino looking a bit embarrassed.

"What's the matter, Yoshino-chan?" Sachiko asked. By now Shimako and Noriko too had taken their eyes off of their homework to look at Yoshino, who seemed to struggle with herself a bit.

"I don't want to tell her she shouldn't draw in her books anymore, Sachiko-sama." Yoshino now looked like she was expecting to be yelled at.

"And why not?" Sachiko put down her pencil and folded her hands neatly in front of her on the table, although it stung a bit to think that she was the only one who wanted to make the effort of teaching Yumi some basic manners.

"Sachiko…" Although Rei's expression was of understanding when she looked at Sachiko, her voice did carry a hint of warning in it.

Sachiko turned her attention to her friend. "I'm merely inquiring why Yoshino-chan is unwilling to inform Yumi-chan about it."

"Just drop it," said Rei, again before Yoshino could react. "I know you have the best intentions in wanting to let Yumi-chan know how her actions are seen, but you're not her onee-sama. Besides, we have no right reprimand her seeing as Yumi-chan's books are still Yumi-chan's belongings, and if Yoshino doesn't mind the drawings on her own book, neither should you."

Sachiko opened her mouth again, but she actually didn't know what to say. Rei was right; she essentially had no right to make Yumi aware of her bad habits seeing as they weren't soeurs.

Sachiko watched how the quiet atmosphere in the Rose Mansion returned, and turned her attention back to her sheet of paper. A few minutes later, however, she was still reading the same sentence over and over again. True, Rei was right about everything, but that didn't mean she would just sit back and do nothing while Yumi was out there, on her own tainting the image of the Lillian student by doing whatever pleased her to do! Although she had not encountered Yumi the past weeks, she had seen her running around the campus several times—and the shocking thing had been that the girl had literally been running.

Sachiko felt annoyed now that she was rethinking all those times she had seen Yumi on campus but had always been too far to speak to the girl. She would care far less if she just didn't see Yumi, but it seemed like wherever she went on the school grounds, there was Yumi, only far away. Though, it probably only seemed that the girl was ever-present, because of that crooked collar and all that running. How troublesome.

By the time Sachiko had to leave the Rose Mansion, she still hadn't completely filled in her form.

"If you will excuse me now, I have an errand to make, so I must leave early. See you tomorrow." Sachiko closed her bag with a click and headed outside. On her way to the bus stop near the school gates, she wordlessly summed up the things she needed to buy. It wasn't until she arrived there that she noticed the long line of people already waiting for the bus to arrive. When it arrived, Sachiko had no choice but to stand near the entrance of the bus, as she was the last person to get on the vehicle and as it had already been rather crowded to begin with.

At the next stop, no-one got off the bus, and one person got on it. That person was Yumi. She was still wearing her uniform, although the sailor collar had been loosened. Her hair was also loose now, Sachiko noticed, and not in two pigtails, like the girl normally wore her hair in.

"Gokigenyou, Yumi-chan." They had no way to avoid each other anyway, as Yumi was forced to stand next to Sachiko in the crowded bus.

"Oh. Hey." Yumi didn't look all too enthusiastic in her greeting.

"It is quite a coincidence that we meet each other here," said Sachiko calmly. She had decided not to mention Yumi's appearance just yet, although seeing the loose collar did irk her.

"Yeah, it is," Yumi replied, still not too enthusiastically. "I have some errands I gotta do for my mom, so..."

"I see. I have some errands I need to take care of as well."

The two of them lapsed in silence. Sachiko was having a hard time trying not to inform Yumi about her uniform and her speech—not that the latter was poor or anything, but simply really not up to Lillian's standards, just like the rest of the girl's manners.

"Sorry to say this, Sachiko-san, but you look like you're about to blow apart." Awoken out of her thoughts, Sachiko turned her head to see Yumi looking at her in slight amusement, a grin visible on her lips.

"Excuse me?" Any sane person would not say such a thing to someone one barely knew. Sachiko felt annoyance building up in her again.

"Oh wow, I shouldn't have said it. Now it's even more visible."

Sachiko closed her eyes, took a deep breath and slowly opened them again. This wasn't the best time to be throwing a fit at someone, even though she felt it was justified if she did.

"Do you have not the slightest clue how to behave yourself?" Sachiko finally asked in a restrained voice.

"Sorry, I guess that was a bit out of line, my apologies." Although Yumi looked earnest in her apology, Sachiko couldn't stop the flood of irritations coming out now.

"Could you also please refrain from loosening your sailor collar when wearing the uniform? That collar is a part of the seifuku and wearing it in that manner is no less than a disgrace for the school."

Now it was Yumi's turn to look irritated. "Look, I said I was sorry, right? I really do, so there's no point in trying to criticise the way I dress myself, and especially not outside of school!"

"You're still wearing the school uniform, though, and everyone knows it is Lillian's. So wearing that uniform in such a manner, even outside of school, will cause people to think the school tolerates such behaviour—while it does not, although you don't really seem to care, not even during the school hours!"

"Now what's that supposed to mean?" Yumi looked angry, and Sachiko noticed that the people around them began to look and whisper.

"It means," said Sachiko in a whispery voice, "exactly what it means. That you don't particularly seem to mind the rules and traditions that define Lillian, such as not running on the campus grounds and general ladylike behaviour..!"

The bus slowed down as it reached another stop. Blank was the way Yumi was looking at Sachiko. The bus stopped completely.

"And you think that I will change if you keep scolding me?" Yumi asked in slight mock as she slowly walked backwards to the bus entrance. "Guess again." And after those words, Yumi jumped off the bus, leaving Sachiko alone.

Part 2.

Yumi cursed herself for setting her alarm clock at the wrong hour. She took a glance at her watch; it indicated that there were only 5 minutes left before the first period would start. When the bus finally stopped, she jumped off and ran as fast as she could to the school gates. Once she passed them, she didn't slow down but continued her flight, hoping she could still make it in time if she hurried up.

Running along the main road of the school grounds, the one that lead to Maria-sama, Yumi could see someone in the far distance, quickly coming nearer as she kept up her fast pace. It was not before long that Yumi could recognize the raven-haired girl as Sachiko. Memories of Yoshino telling her that walking slowly was preferred here were flooding back into her mind, and Yumi was certain that, if given the chance, Sachiko would make a comment about her running here. So she'd just have to make sure the girl didn't get a chance to do so. When she was close, she saw Sachiko turn around slowly; she could see the older girl open her mouth, but she didn't wait to listen to what the other might have to say, and continued running as fast as she could, passing Sachiko long before the girl had had a chance to say something. Yumi couldn't suppress the grin on her lips.

Lunch time of that same day was spent again in company of Yoshino, in the Rose Mansion. Shimako and Noriko were present too. Yumi had taken the shot to go to the Rose Mansion, even after the ordeal from the previous day and her vow to avoid Sachiko as much as possible, but only after Yoshino had guaranteed that Sachiko would certainly not be present, because all of the third years would be eating in their respective class rooms today.

The following days Yumi always shared her lunch time in the company of Yoshino, Shimako and Noriko in the Rose Mansion. She was starting to like them, and she had come to like the mansion for some reason, although it was the place the student council held their meetings.

During one such a lunch break, Shimako asked her a question almost inevitably asked to all new students.

"How do you like it here so far, Yumi-san?" Shimako was sitting across the table. Yumi thought that that girl was by far the most angelic-like person she had encountered here so far, with her gentle aura, wavy hair and friendly voice and face.

Yumi slowly chewed on her rice ball. Flat out saying that she felt she didn't belong here was perhaps too rude, especially when she was answering a person who was so downright nice, so she thought of a nice way to formulate her thoughts—it was the Lillian way to do things, she realized in slight amusement.

"Let me put it this way," said Yumi slowly after she had swallowed her food. "The atmosphere of this school in very quiet and peaceful, and nice in a way, I guess. I'm sure it suits about all of the students of this school, or else they wouldn't be attending Lillian, but as for me... I knew from the very beginning that this sort of environment would not be my habitat, so to speak; and after two weeks here, I'm still sharing that thought now."

"In other words, this school wasn't really your choice, and you are of opinion that you don't belong here," said the sharp Noriko. Yumi shifted her attention to her, and nodded.

"Well, I think I know how you feel, Yumi-sama." Noriko took a glance at Shimako, gave her a quick smile and turned her attention back to Yumi. "I entered this school in my first year of middle school, and I felt different than all of the other girls. It lasted so for a while, until I met Shimako-sama." At this point, a smile indicating pure contentment appeared on Noriko's face. "She helped me accustom to this school and love its atmosphere, without her even doing anything but be herself. I guess what I'm trying to say is that if there's a person here that you're more than gladly willing to stay for, the stay becomes much more enjoyable."

Yumi blinked her eyes a good few times. No wonder Noriko had been made Shimako's petite soeur the very moment she entered high school! Yet to hear the girl speak so tenderly about her onee-sama, made Yumi wonder if their relationship wasn't more than it seemed. Even if it was at a school as this one, speaking so lovingly about one's closest friend was not very normal. Besides, with Lillian being 'girls only', there were bound to be romantic same-sex involvements of some kind; and she had the feeling that the school's soeur-system made its contribution plenty in developing relationships of those sort.

"Hmmm, well, I don't know about that," Yumi replied. "I don't think I'll find a person like that in this school. No offence to you guys," she quickly added, looking from Yoshino to Shimako to Noriko, giving them a quick smile, "I like you and you're nice to me and all that, but well, what Shimako-san means to Noriko-chan is clearly on a much higher level. What I'm trying to say is, it'd have to be a miracle if what happened to you, Noriko-chan, should happen to me as well."

Later that day, Yumi was walking towards a bus station a good distance away from Lillian. There was actually a bus stop near the school gates, but she hadn't wanted to wait there because of all the Lillian students still lingering around, perhaps waiting to take the same bus as her. She also wanted to have some distance from the school itself. It meant that she'd have to take the next bus and wait a little while longer, but she didn't particularly mind, although she was already running late; today was a beautiful day, and she was going to town.

Yumi loosened her collar and then her hair, feeling a bit less cramped after doing so. Wearing her hair in two pigtails wasn't actually her style, but ever since her grandmother, who she had loved very much, passed away more than a year ago, she had started wearing her hair like that; it had pleased her grandmother so much when Yumi had worn those pigtails when she had just been a little girl.

When the bus arrived, Yumi saw it was crowded in there. She shrugged; it just meant she'd have to keep standing. However, when she got on the vehicle, she saw none other than Sachiko standing there. She had no choice than to stand next to her.

"Gokigenyou, Yumi-chan."

"Oh. Hey." This sucked. She had succeeded rather well in avoiding Sachiko for the past two weeks, although she had seen the girl looking at her from the far distance a few times, probably frustrated that she couldn't say anything about her running around the campus. That thought cheered Yumi up a bit, and it was enough for her to blurt out her thoughts out loud. She couldn't help herself; seeing Sachiko almost blow apart seemed so funny to her.

The rest of the conversation, however, wiped away that faint cheerful feeling instantly and more than that, she was getting angry.

"Now what's that supposed to mean?" How the heck could someone be so annoying? She had had plenty of experience with annoying people—but Sachiko was being annoying in a whole different way!

"It means exactly what it means. That you don't particularly seem to mind the rules and traditions that define Lillian, such as not running on the campus grounds and general ladylike behaviour..!"

That was the last straw. Yumi had to get off the bus before she harmed the girl standing next to her in a way. She did her best to appear calm, feeling how the bus slowed down, approaching a bus stop where she planned to get out. Never mind that it wasn't the right one; she would just walk the last kilometres to her destination.

"And you think that I will change if you keep scolding me?" She said mockingly, making her way off the bus. Sachiko's words sure as hell had a different effect on her. "Guess again." She hoped the girl would realize it and keep her mouth shut in the future.

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