Twelve
The friendly gathering went well. Most of the girls had returned to the Strawberry Dorm late in the afternoon with their purchases. Chikaru was the only one that had a lot of shopping bags draping down on both side of her arms. To everyone it looked like that the St Lulim's Student Council President was a shopaholic since she had stopped at nothing to buy the accessories, clothing and necessities that she wanted from each store. Shimako had offered her help to carry some of the bags for Chikaru, and that had urged the girl on to shop until everyone had dropped before her. When she noticed the slight slump on Nagisa's posture, she knew that she had gone just a tad bit too far with her shopping. Also thanks to the sun for slowly having setting, she had a mean to stop dragging the Roses around and suggested to head home. While Chikaru had the most items from the little gathering, Sachiko had simply admired the skinny jeans that Yumi had on and had asked the girl to help her pick out one. Of course, this surprised the rest of the head Roses because they had known her for her formal wear, even if they were just casuals. And upon hearing the soft request from Sachiko to Yumi, they couldn't help but to jump the raven-haired girl and suggested all the style of jeans she could have wore. Even the attention that the Ogasawara heiress was getting out of control, but she appreciated their help even if she had to try at least a hundred pairs of jeans on.
The girls had parted ways once they got back to the Strawberry Dorm. Chikaru had asked Sei if she could use Shimako to help her carry the shopping bags up to her room. The older blonde had agreed to it if only Shimako was fine with it. The younger blonde smiled appreciatively up at her Onee-sama and had replied that she would be happy to help Chikaru with her load. The Lulim's Student Council President knew that she could always ask Eriko to help her, but she didn't want to intrude to whatever that the other girl was having with the other Yellow Rose members. So once the younger of the White Rose had started to follow her at a good distance from the other girls, Chikaru heaved out a frustrated sigh knowing that the other girl would be able to hear it.
"Chikaru-sama?" Shimako asked with concern dripping in her tone. "Are you tired? I could take some of the shopping bags from you since you are carrying so much!"
Chikaru hid her giggle at her plan of getting the Angel of Lilian to pay attention to her. Instead of doing that, she turned and offered the younger girl a smile of gratitude. "Thank you, Shimako-chan, but I am not tired. Not just yet." Then she turned back to face the path before her with a content smile. "The day is still young, after all."
The Angel of Lilian had always thought of herself of being able to read the other person easily, like a book. Unfortunately, she couldn't get a good read of Chikaru, a character that she yet to open the cover pages and read the interior of it. She didn't know that Chikaru also had a problem reading into her book as well. Either of the books was complicated, but they were harder to open up. While Chikaru was the outgoing and friendly of the two, Shimako knew that there had to be something hidden under there. The moment that both her Onee-sama and Chikaru had showed up last night to invite them to their little 'date' that had turned into a Yumayurikai get together, she had been surprised when Sei had gave credit to Chikaru for suggesting the idea. She knew that if this was anyone else beside Chikaru having a chance to spend one whole day with her Onee-sama, that said person would never even drop that chance. However, there Chikaru was with her infectious smile and laughter, she didn't mind that she didn't get to spend one whole day with the Rosa Gigantea. She wanted to know the real reason behind the get together today.
"So, the sigh wasn't because you're tired then?" Shimako asked curiously which earned her a nod from the other girl. "May I ask what is troubling you, Chikaru-sama?"
"Nothing and everything." Chikaru responded.
Shimako blinked at the answer. She didn't quite understand the meaning of Chikaru's words. How could there be nothing bothering her, while everything was bothering her? It made absolutely no sense to the blonde and somehow she could sense that the older girl wanted her to piece the puzzle of the answer together. 'Nothing and everything…' Shimako thought to herself as she studied the movement of the older girl before her. The way that Chikaru was moving in front of her seemed to give off some hints. However, she couldn't quite piece whatever puzzle that the older girl had thrown at her. Chikaru's movement was too hard to understand, especially when she was carrying all those shopping bags. 'Shopping bags…' She mentally said the words to herself as her eyes drifted to the shopping bags that Chikaru were carrying. There was no balance between both of the older girl's arms. The left arm carried less than the right, and it looked like the right arm might not be able to make it to the destination that both girls were heading. Shimako knew that Chikaru wasn't one to be carrying her shopping bags like this; no girls would even carry their shopping bags like that. Since Chikaru was a people person, the way that she was carrying the shopping bags may indicate that she was referring to two people in her answer. 'But who?' Shimako inwardly asked herself as she pondered around the people that she had met, and knew.
"Sei and Youko."
Chikaru's unexpected answer got her to widen her eyes in surprise. 'How did she…?' She started to ask herself but let the question slide. Chikaru was a people person after all. The older girl might have taken her silence as a way of deciphering the answer that she had given the younger girl not a moment before. So the shopping represented Sei and Youko, but which side would they be? There were things that she didn't quite ask her Onee-sama, things that she knew that if her Onee-sama wanted to talk about, she would surely do so. She trusted her Onee-sama to the point that if there was something wrong, she was to leave it as that until the older girl was willing to talk to her about it. Even though she wanted to share the older girl's burden, she didn't want to push her Onee-sama so much.
"You care about them?" Shimako asked unsurely. Chikaru was Sei's classmate after all, so she knew that the older girl had more time to observe her Onee-sama. However, Youko was attending St Miator so there was no way that Chikaru could observe the current Rosa Chinensis. If there was a chance for her to do so, that would only be after dinner and, of course, today.
"Intrigued." Chikaru corrected her. And before Shimako could open her mouth to question her, Chikaru let out a quiet sigh. "Intrigued by their stubbornness."
"Stubbornness?" Shimako asked in confusion. Yes, her Onee-sama might be stubborn in some ways, but she had never known the other Rose would be stubborn as well. And this conversation wasn't making any sense to her.
They arrived at their destination once Shimako had asked the question that the older girl knew she would have to clarify. So the older girl dragged her answer out a little long as she reached into her pocket and pulled out the key to her room. After unlocking and turning the doorknob, she pushed the door opened and let herself inside before ushering Shimako to come in. Both girls put down the shopping bags next to Chikaru's bed before the older girl turned to look at Shimako with a warm smile on her face.
"You'd notice soon enough." She said before she moved to sit down on her bed, shaking her head slightly before looking up with sadness in her eyes. "There's a storm coming, and I fear that our faces will be soaked, not our clothes."
-x-
The Yellow Rose family was perhaps one of the loudest in the Roses families. Well, if Yoshino wasn't in it then the Yellow Rose would be much like the other Roses. However, since Rei had never wanted any petite soeur other than Yoshino, she was always happy to have such a small yet loud bundle of life in her heart. She knew as the Onee-sama, she should be the one that guiding her petite soeur so that they wouldn't need to make a scene. It was quite the opposite, unfortunately. Yoshino was hard headed and she knew this before and after the heart operation that she had not long ago. If anything, her successful operation had put the younger girl to be more stubborn than before. In additional to that, Eriko had never stopped giving the girl a hard time proving herself as the rightful petite soeur for her. Everything was so troublesome when the two of them were in the same room. Then again, the moment that she had been introduced to her dearest cousin, everything had started to be troublesome.
"Rei-chan! Are you listening?" Exclaimed the younger girl with the twin braids. Rei blinked out of her thought as she turned to her cousin. They had parted with the older of the Yellow Rose family, and were on their way back to their room with Yoshino ranting on and on about the current Rosa Foetida. The short-haired blonde woman had effortlessly tuned out the younger girl's rant as she started to reminisce about her past with her cousin.
"Listening to…" Rei let her question hung as she watched the other girl's irritated expression turned into a full rage. If possible, she would want to know if the younger girl's enraged face could be the perfect place to grill meat.
"Rei-chan, you idiot!" Yoshino exclaimed once more in annoyance as she quickened her pace towards the room that they were sharing. The older girl let out a sigh as she watched her petite soeur stormed down the hallway, unlocking the door to their room before storming straight inside as she slammed the door shut with a loud BANG!
'What am I going to do with you, Yoshino?' Rei mentally asked herself as she shook her head. There were quite a few of students around the hallway when they had heard the small commotion. She had apologized to them for her petite soeur to cause any disturbance as she walked past the girls. In return, the girls simply shook their head and murmured a 'It's nothing' or 'Don't worry about it' after they had received the apology. In truth, they had gotten used to hearing the younger girl's voice after four days of them arriving at the Strawberry Dorm. And in more honesty, they felt as if they could be the perfect roommate for the Rosa Foetida en bouton because they simply adored the taller girl. Rei was just like Ohtori Amane, the Spica Prince that all Spica Students had loved, admired and adored dearly. They could clearly see that if Rei was to challenge Amane for the title, the two would come into a tie.
Rei moved in a steady pace over to her room before reaching it. She could hear the chant of 'Baka' coming from inside the room and for a moment of standing outside, she felt afraid of coming into the room. She didn't know what Yoshino was getting so upset about, and she knew that if she wanted an answer she would have to be called an idiot for quite a lot of time. Then again, she wouldn't want to have it any other way. So heaving out a sigh, she turned the doorknob before pushing the door open. There inside their room was the pacing Yoshino as the younger girl paced back and forth with a very annoyed expression. After letting herself in, the taller girl shut the door quietly behind her and moved over to her bed before sitting down on the edges of it. She then looked up as her eyes shifted over to her beloved cousin, watching the younger girl's movement. Her life would have been dull without Yoshino in her life. At the thought of that, the corner of her lips curled up in a smile that she wasn't even aware of. So when the younger girl had noticed the smile, she had pushed her lips out into a pout along with an annoyed look on her face.
"What are you smiling about? Are you enjoying the fact that I'm annoyed and pacing around the room because you wouldn't even listen to me?" Yoshino asked as her voice rising with each word that had left her mouth. Soon enough it had became a shriek as the older girl tried very hard to not burst out laughing, though her eyes already laughed for her. "Rei-chan!"
The taller girl held her hands up in a surrender gesture while her eyes continued to dance in laughter. "I'm sorry! You're just too cute for your own good, Yoshino." She said with so much love and adoration in her tone that the younger girl had to blush. She did wonder if the younger girl had noticed her tone of voice too. If the blush was any indication that she did…'Oh my…' The taller girl thought as her cheeks began to heat up lightly as a blush starting to form.
The statement seemed to calm down the younger girl and because of that, Yoshino had turned her back at the older one with her arms folded across her chest. "Rei-chan, you're an idiot…" She murmured at the older girl. Since she wasn't facing her cousin, she let loose a smile that was threatening to break out of her face. She didn't really care about the compliment or the praise that her cousin would be giving her. No, she could have cared so little about that. It was the tone from her cousin that she cared about. And when the love and adoration sounded so suitable in her ears, that it had traveled to her heart and made it comfortable and cozy in the space that she had kept for only Rei to be in, she couldn't be more than happy. Only her Rei would be able to bring a smile upon her face, no matter what kind of argument that she purposely would drag the older girl into.
