Title: Yamato Nadeshiko
Fandom: Maria-sama ga Miteru
Pairing: Fukuzawa Yumi/Ogasawara Sachiko
Rating: K
Prompt: Folktale #1) Be Careful What You Wish For—What you think you want isn't always what's good for you.
Language: English
Word Count: 535
Content Notes: None.
Author Notes: One of the first yuri works I ever saw...
Summary: The first time Yumi ever sees Sachiko, she thinks Sachiko's a reincarnation of a maiden from the Edo period, and the revelation that Sachiko is anything but only makes Yumi admire the older student more.
Disclaimer: I do not own Maria-sama ga Miteru, nor am I or will I ever profit from this work.
Yamato Nadeshiko
By Lumiere de Venise
© June 2021.
THE FIRST FEW TIMES YUMI EVER SEES SACHIKO, she thinks the upperclassman is a modern version of a woman from the Edo period. Her dark purple locks flow magnificently and majestically with the faint fragrance of pink roses and highlight her beautiful amethyst tinted irises that look at underclassmen with an elegant, high-class look, her lips formed in faint and humble but warm smiles—many times does Yumi stare in awe at the second-year when she's walking by.
Thus, when the elder student fixes up her ribbon for her, Yumi is beyond elated, even if the comment from Sachiko is somewhat scolding and critical rather than smooth and caring. It's a passerby moment for Ogasawara but a deeply regarded memory for Fukuzawa. A beautiful, perfect girl with a beautiful, perfect demeanor chose to lock eyes and touch something belonging to Yumi, a mundane first-year transfer student…
When Yumi is made to be the petite sœur of Sachiko, it should be a blessing. It should be something that she keeps in mind for days to come—and it is, but not in the way Yumi expects.
The real Sachiko Ogasawara has a stubborn streak and wishes to live a life out of rebellion and spite. She may have skin like a doll and movements like a geisha, but she wishes not to be betrothed to a man. Sachiko becomes Yumi's en bouton out of desperation and misandry rather than out of desire and means of devotion.
The time they spend together is of the second year eating her food quickly during lunch while complaining about the sakura and ginkgo trees that grow around them, grimacing at the approaching summer season and rolling her eyes at the bestowing of chocolate from every first-year except for Fukuzawa.
Yet, despite these imperfections and surprising revelations, Yumi is red-cheeked whenever she locks hands with the elder student and gets closeups of the purple-haired girl's confusion at fast-food and hand-me-downs.
Yumi can't help but giggle at Sachiko giving yen banknotes worth thousands to pay for inexpensive ripped jeans and Tokyo crop-tops and fake nails from local corner stores near Yumi's neighborhood. The hesitation of taking elevators and hanging on balconies.
It's unbecoming of a young lady like Ogasawara to act this way. It's a sign of immaturity for the long-haired beauty to go to such detailed measures to separate herself from the ideal image of a Japanese upper-class heiress. It is far from the depiction that the other first-years have of her and the short comments of praise that the second and third years of Lillian Girls' Academy give in public.
This side of Sachiko, however, is her true self.
It is a rare sight that only those close to her can argue that they've seen, AND Yumi to see the flaws of the older student is a sign of their relationship going from one out of convenience to one out of love. Her temper when she doesn't get her way, inability to conform to other's wishes, little stumbles when it came to attempting to live the life of a middle-class girl...
Sachiko is imperfect and is not at all a Yamato Nadeshiko, but this, to Yumi, is what makes Sachiko so wonderful.
[FIN.]
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[ENDING AN:] A shame that Maria-sama ga Miteru isn't talked about much these days like Strawberry Panic somewhat still is, they paved the way for the modern yuri genre.