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JUST MIYUKI (Shizuma/Kaori, Miyuki)
She appears as a vision. A ghost out of another era or another reality. And she sure has the paleness to match the image of the ghost.
But she isn't. She's flesh and blood, as Shizuma can feel, having fallen on her knees before the raven-haired girl and sobbing quietly in her chest. Tears of relief, of joy and... I swallow and wipe at my own eyes.
I smile at the two and leave them to their privacy. Better to do something to distract the schools some before the rumour of her return spreads; it would give them some time to be alone and get out of sight if they so feel like. Of course, no distraction would delay it indefinitely. In fact, I don't think the rumour would stop even if I blew up the schools - not that I would, mind you - and by the end of the day, everyone on Astraea Hill, Miator, Spica and Lulim alike, students and faculty, all will speak of one thing:
Sakuragi Kaori has recovered and returned!
No one, not even Shizuma, who was hoping the most, was sure it would work. The long, complex and risky operation, where more things could go wrong than any of us could even think of. Yet... yet it did. At tremendous costs, but it worked. Costs for Kaori and her family, to me and to many others as well.
When her situation worsened, someone, somewhere - to this day I don't know who exactly - dug out some information on an operation that theoretically could save Kaori's life and health. It was a slim chance, but it was a chance - something that would not exist without it. And it was costly. Most of us will never even SEE such amounts of money all at once that was required for it. The Sakuragis gave everything they had, many others gave what they could, as well, and Shizuma "extorted" - her wording, not mine - everything she possibly could.
Yet, that was not enough, so I appealed to my own failure of a family. The Rokujous, that huge commercial empire that my father wanted my fiancee - pardon, ex-fiancee - to lead. They refused to give a single yen, despite all my pleas and arguments.
And I snapped. I, Rokujou Miyuki, with a reputation far and wide for being always polite, calm, collected and well-mannered. I snapped, letting out everything I had held inside during all those years, laying it all on my wretched excuse of a father. If he could not give a damn about my friend living or dying, why on earth should I waste my life so he could pursue his selfish dream? I didn't know I knew that many curses and so many ways to denounce a person. Long story short, I renounced my engagement, my allegiance to my father and everything else that had ever got anything to do with him and my family. It would've come to blows, I think, if Shizuma and my ex-fiancee had not been there to separate us.
In retrospect, I think it was rash and foolish - yet, I can't rightly say that I regret it. It was... liberating. I don't think anyone in the school - save Shizuma, of course - knows the full story and I don't think the Headmistress would be very happy if she heard it all, but... Strangely, I don't give a damn.
That's not to say they haven't noticed. When I started insisting that people call me Miyuki, and preferably without the "-sama" part, many wondered why that was. I joked that it's because I'm starting to forget my given name if everyone always calls me "Rokujou-sama" and left the rest to their imagination. My actions would be frowned upon, but I don't think I care very much anymore.
I look over my shoulder and see Shizuma still holding Kaori and I smile. Yes, I don't care - even I will break rules and traditions if it comes to my friends and their happiness. I turn my eyes forward again and start walking back up towards the path towards the dorms, when I see a white uniform of Spica standing before me, watching pass me, at the duo I left behind.
Kiyashiki Momomi. Member of the student council of St. Spica's Institute. Firm supporter of my archrival, Toumori Shion. A snob firmly convinced in the superiority of herself and of Spica.
And an unexpected angel in a white miniskirt. I glance over my shoulder as Shizuma and Kaori disappear out of sight and stop when I reach Momomi.
"All is well?" she asks in a quiet, forcedly emotionless tone.
I nod. "It would seem so." On an impulse, I take her hand with both of mine. She looks surprised as she turns to look at me. "Arrigato," I say simply, before letting her go and walking onwards.
It's our secret. Only a few know of the Kiyashiki contribution to saving Kaori's life - with no small sum, nearly half of the needed money - and none but Momomi know the motives behind it. Whatever it was, I am grateful.
"You're welcome," she says very quietly, barely audibly, as I walk towards the Ichigo dorms, just being me.
Just Miyuki.