Five
The next day was just like any ordinary day in Astrea, except for the new exchange students. They had already been informed about the curfew and the breakfast and dinner hours, including their class schedules. However, they didn't expect to take a little bit longer than necessary to put on their uniform. The sixth and fifth graders were quick to learn the trick, but the fourth graders were still struggling. Yumi and Yoshino struggled the most, and even though Eriko took it as her chance to tease her, the older girl still helped out. Shimako tried to help Yumi but Sachiko had already turned up before she could her offer her hand. She bid the two girls farewell when Sei showed up. However, Sei was amused by the blush that greeted her when Shimako looked at her. Sei had never looked innocent, yet the Lulim's checkered uniform seemed to bring that innocent side of Sei out, although the girl had little to none.
Sachiko sighed as she ran a brush through Yumi's hair, taking a great delight in grooming her petite soeur. "If I knew that there would be roommates, I would have requested you to be my roommate, Yumi."
The younger girl blushed upon hearing the words that been uttered out from her Onee-sama's soft lips. "Onee-sama…"
They fell into a comfortable silence as Sachiko continued to work on Yumi's hair. Once she finished, she ushered the girl to stand up and turn to face her. She checked Yumi's uniform one last time and she couldn't help but pretended to fix Yumi's tie even though it wasn't crooked. Once she was finished, she took a step back and smiled down gently at her.
"You look good, Yumi."
The younger girl blushed as she smiled up at her in thanks. "Thank you, Onee-sama."
There was a knock at the door, and when they went to get the door Youko was there, along with three students from Miator, one of which was Miyuki. Sachiko and Yumi greeted them with a bow, in which one of the girls immediately copied. That girl was no other than Nagisa.
"I guess there's no need to be such formal, right, Miyuki-san?" Youko said with a small giggle.
Miyuki turned to look at her classmate and nodded. "Yes, you're right, Youko-san. Should we start heading towards the dining room now?"
Youko nodded and started to head over to the dining hall with Miyuki. It was a little bit awkward and the girls could feel it. Sachiko, on the other hand, didn't seem to mind about the uncomfortable silence even though Miyuki and Youko would be the one talking to one another. It seemed like Youko had taken an interest in Miyuki's duties as Student Council of Miator. The two talked about nothing but St Miator's Student Council's work comparing to St Lilian's Student Council work. It was as if Youko was in a tourist destination while Sachiko and Yumi just followed along.
Nagisa decided to break the tension so she turned to the two new girls with a bright smile. "Hey! My name is Aoi Nagisa, it's a pleasure to have you with us!" She said with as much enthusiasm added as possible.
Sachiko turned and flashed Nagisa her charming smile and watched as the girl's cheek flushed a nice scarlet pink. "It is a pleasure to meet you too, Nagisa." She said softly.
Nagisa was in awe at how soft Sachiko's voice was, and she immediately thought of Shizuma and started comparing their voices. In the end, Shizuma's voice turned to be a tad bit softer since she couldn't even get the silver-haired beauty out of her mind.
"Um…Nagisa-san? Are you still in there?" Yumi asked as she waved her hand in front of Nagisa's daydream face.
The red head blinked and started blushing furiously. "Yeah, yeah, I'm still here."
Miyuki glanced over at the group and chuckled before turning her attention back to Youko. "I do hope that you all enjoy your stay. And also, you are welcome to join any club activities in Miator."
Youko smiled and nodded. "I will keep that in mind."
Yumi giggled at Nagisa's reaction as she felt a good feeling that Nagisa would be the next person to be in her friend list. "My name is Fukuzawa Yumi. It's nice to meet you too, Nagisa-san."
Since she didn't like anyone to talk for her, Sachiko smiled gently at both Nagisa and Tamao. "I am Ogasawara Sachiko, it is a pleasure to meet the two of you."
"My name is Suzumi Tamao, it is a pleasure to meet you too, Sachiko-sama and Yumi-san." Tamao said as she gazed at the raven haired beauty. It looked like that Tamao was growing a little interest in Sachiko. The raven-haired beauty was more formal and soft spoken than she had thought Sachiko would be. Plus, she had never seen anyone that could wear the St Miator's uniform in such grace and elegant that would even put the uniform to shame.
Sachiko, feeling that someone was looking at her, turned towards Tamao's direction and was greeted with twinkling sapphire eyes. That answered everything and she sighed silently to herself, knowing that soon enough she would gain another fan girl. And Tamao, having Sachiko caught her staring at her, quickly turned away with a light blush. Yumi and Nagisa were totally oblivious to the small interaction between them, especially when they were engaged in a much better subject that they seemed to love; sweets.
"Whoa! You can make strawberry tarts, Yumi-san?" Nagisa said with excitement sparkling in her brown orbs.
Yumi giggled and nodded. "Yes! Would you like to have some, Nagisa-san?"
"Ooh yes! Let's make them together!"
Both girls let out a joyous giggle as it didn't take them too long to become friends. While they were indulging themselves with food talk, they didn't notice that everyone around them was watching them in amusement. Miyuki was relieved to see that at least one of the Lilian's students would feel very welcome thanks to Nagisa. And with that note, she reminded herself to thank Nagisa later.
Once they all had their breakfast and set off to their classes, Yumi was glad that she was placed in with Tamao and Nagisa's class. During lunch hour, Sachiko had ushered Yumi to go and interact with her new friends. Rei and Sei did the same, and since Shimako and Yoshino kept to themselves, they followed Yumi towards where Tamao and Nagisa were sitting. Both of the two girls looked up when they saw Yumi and her Yumayurikai came over, and Nagisa offered a brilliant smile.
"Hey Yumi-san! And…um…" She tried her best to remember the other girls' name from the introduction at the dining hall last night. Unfortunately, since her memory was a bit like a peanut, she forgot the names and chuckled nervously to herself. "Hi! My name is Aoi Nagisa! It's nice to meet the two of you!"
Both Yoshino and Shimako giggled at Nagisa's enthusiasm and smiled back. "My name is Toudou Shimako and this is Shizamu Yoshino. It is nice to meet you as well, Nagisa-san."
"Likewise, Nagisa-san, and…" Yoshino turned to look at Tamao, smiling gently at her.
Tamao smiled back. "I'm Suzumi Tamao, it is a pleasure to meet you the two of you."
Both Tamao and Nagisa made room for the three girls, and soon enough Nagisa had befriend both Yoshino and Shimako without much of an effort. Tamao just watched on in amusement as her roommate interacted so freely with Yumi and the others. However, her attention soon was drifted towards Shimako, watching her silently as if she was trying to figure out the puzzle that Shimako had put up. As if sensing that someone was watching her, Shimako turned and met Tamao's gaze. She smiled and turned her attention to Tamao for a little while.
"Are you alright, Tamao-san?" She asked worriedly.
Tamao blinked and shook her head, before offering a smile of reassurance. "Yes, I am fine. Thank you for your concern, Shimako-san."
"It's nothing really." Shimako replied softly. Tamao felt like she needed to leave Shimako alone because of the serene aura that Shimako was giving off. However, she shook away that feeling and decided to get to know the girl better. So she started to ask about Shimako's interest and skills, while the other three were engaged in some kind of a tea party conversation.
The other Roses' members observed their younger members interacted with the students of Miator and smiled to themselves.
"That Nagisa-chan is quite something. Don't you agree, Sachiko?" Youko asked.
Sachiko offered a small smile and nodded, when her eyes were solely on her Yumi. "Yes, she is quite friendly and out-going, just like Yumi."
Sei chuckled. "Beware, Sachiko. Nagisa-chan might take Yumi-chan away!"
Sachiko immediately averted her eyes from the younger girls as she raised her cup of tea to her lips. "Don't say such things, Rosa Gigantea."
"What's the other girl's name? The one talking with Shimako." Eriko asked curiously.
"That's Suzumi Tamao." Youko answered. "She seems a little infatuated with Sachiko this morning."
Sachiko blushed lightly, not knowing that Youko had caught the little exchange between Tamao and her. "Onee-sama…" She complained quietly which caused the other Yumayurikai members to laugh.
"So what do you know about the school so far?" Youko asked all business-like.
Rei was the first to answer. "St Spica seemed to worship a girl by the name of Ohtori Amane. She is in my class, and she seems to be exactly like Sachiko, just with shorter hair and more masculine."
"Well," Eriko chimed in. "St Spica specializes in sports so I'm not surprise if half of the students of Spica have the masculine features."
Youko chuckled. "True. Besides, we do have Rei as a masculine figure for our group."
Rei blushed and looked down, pretended that she was busy with her cup of tea. Sei chuckled at the reaction and turned to look over at Yumi's new group of friend. She studied Tamao for a short while before deciding that it wouldn't be fun to tease her. Although, it would be fun to tease Nagisa but she wasn't going to go out of her way to do just that.
"Sei, what about St Lulim?" Youko asked.
Sei shrugged and leaned back against her seat. "Lulim is really a carefree school. There was no hassle and I'm glad that I'm in Chikaru's class."
Eriko sighed and shook her head. "When will you learning flirting won't get you anywhere?"
Sei blinked before bursting out into laughter. "That's a good one, Eriko!"
At that laugh, Yumi, Yoshino and Shimako halted their conversations with the other two Miator's students to turn and look at Sei in curiosity. Yoshino pondered for a while of what might made Sei burst into laughter, but she came up with nothing. Yumi pouted a little as she tried to think, but she, too, came up with nothing. So they both turned to Shimako with curiosity in their eyes.
"What is Rosa Gigantea laughing about, do you know, Shimako?"
Shimako sighed and shook her head gently. "Onee-sama is probably laughing at the fact that she finds a new victim for her teasing."
"New victim?" Nagisa asked in puzzlement.
Yoshino grinned before grabbing Yumi. "You see here, Nagisa-san? This is Rosa Gigantea's first victim!" She answered with so much joy that got Yumi to blush furiously.
"Yoshino-san! I'm not her victim!" Yumi tried to deny it but it only given Yoshino and Shimako a giggle.
"So, who's this new victim?" Tamao asked curiously.
Shimako thought for a moment before sighing. "Chikaru-sama."