Eighth
After their usual afternoon lectures, both Miyuki and Tamao have had that habit of having tea in the lounge area of the Strawberry Dorms. The younger girl has quickly grown accustomed to showing her work to Miyuki; appreciating the older girl's insights more than ever as the days go by. Tamao has not shown her senpai her new poetry. The older girl's comments are discerning, constructive and unerring. One day, over their usual afternoon tea, Tamao exclaims.
"Honestly, you should try writing for yourself, Rokujou-sama. You're wasting your talents by writing mere commentary!"
Miyuki laughs at Tamao's sudden outburst.
"Well, being good in critique doesn't necessarily make one a good writer, Tamao-san. But thank you for thinking so highly of my talents."
The younger girl shakes her head and refuses to submit.
"You'll never know until you try it yourself, Rokujou-sama."
Miyuki laughs again, more openly this time. The people at the lounge area turn their heads in their direction. Only a few people had ever seen the aloof president laugh. As the laughing spree from both blue-haired women continued, the other students kept staring at Miyuki with awestruck faces. It dawned on them that Miyuki is a very beautiful woman. They started to wonder why they haven't noticed it before.
Miyuki looks with open affection at the younger woman before her. She has noticed the change of tone in Tamao's writing, and though she has never passed comment on it, she felt genuinely relieved to see that the other woman seems to be healing. Since that afternoon by the tree, their relationship has evolved from being a simple mentor-protégé relationship to a much deeper friendship. For Miyuki, who has only found solace from an elected position to escape the hurt of an unrequited love, Tamao's presence, accompanied by her undemanding affection had slowly nurtured her, like a withered plant being watered again.
It doesn't escape Tamao's notice that her fellow students have been secretly taking glances at her senpai lately. A wonderful thought, she thinks, "If Rokujou-sama finds out how much she's loved and appreciated before she graduates." The thought of Miyuki graduating suddenly stings her heart, but she lets the tremors pass without comment. Both her and Miyuki had gone so much pain and have only recently begun to recover. She'd like to keep this newfound peace intact by avoiding these kinds of feelings. However, as she looks at her mentor, Tamao wonders on how long she could keep these things at bay.
"I've never seen you smile like that for a long time, Miyuki." To Miyuki's surprise, she sees Shizuma glancing at her. Under normal circumstances, both she and Shizuma would respond in irony and sarcasm. Today, however, she felt that there's not much need in being sarcastic towards her only friend. Not because they are soon to leave Astraea Hill when they graduate, but because right now, she feels…complete.
"Is that so?" Miyuki responds. "I've never noticed that…I ever stopped smiling, I mean."
"I did. That's why I am glad to see you smiling again." Miyuki gazes into Shizuma's eyes one last time and leaves. As the figure of the student council president fades out from her view. Shizuma began to contemplate. For six years, she had caused her only friend nothing but trouble, even pain. She had never made Miyuki smile, and now seeing that someone else has done it, Shizuma felt a stirring sensation in her heart…out of embarrassment towards herself.