Seven

It had been two days after Sei's little game been played out. There were a lot of surprised squeals that was happening around the campus. The Student Council Presidents couldn't do a thing about it, not when one of the Student Council Presidents was involved in the matter. So they had no choice but to sit back and watched the childishness playing out before their eyes. Secretly they wanted to join in the fun that the girls were having. They wanted to feel like a teenager. They wanted to feel free. However, because of their upbringing they couldn't just let loose like that. They had their priorities even though those priorities weren't even their own. They wanted to best for their own respectable schools, and they never seemed to ask more than that. As long as their students were happy, they knew they could graduate from Astrea Hill with ease.

So far neither Sei nor Chikaru had captured Nagisa's cute scream. The red head was hiding out at a place that was strictly for the Etoile and her assistants only; The Greenhouse. Shizuma didn't mind about it, not when she could use a little bit of help from the younger girl. Plus, she was thoroughly happy to be close to the other girl without having the younger girl feeling nervous around her. Being around Nagisa was relaxing and her assistants could see the slightest of change in her demeanor. It was a shame that Shizuma couldn't see it in herself, not when she couldn't let go off of her haunted past.

Nagisa was happily preparing the pot before she reached across from Shizuma to get the flower that she needed. It was then that she suddenly realized that she was being a little rude so she quickly withdrew her hand, though it didn't go unnoticed by the taller girl. Shizuma smiled before she grabbed the flower that Nagisa was reaching for and offered it to her.

"Here." She said softly.

Nagisa took it into her hand and bowed. "Thank you, Etoile-sama." She replied softly.

Shizuma only smiled softly back at the girl as the latter went back to gently placing the flower into the dirt. It was then that the silver-haired beauty noticed the tiny bit of dirt that was on the younger girl's face. She turned her body to face Nagisa as she lifted her white apron and reached across the girl's face, gently wiping the dirt away much to her assistants' surprise and Nagisa's shock. The act was gentle and caring to the point that from her assistants' point of view the two looked like lovers. The way that Shizuma so gently and adoringly gazed at the girl while the younger girl had the cutest blush adorning her face was enough to inform them that Shizuma was changing.

At another part of the campus, Yumi was trying her best to keep an eye out for Sei. She knew that Sei was in the lead of her Club's activity thanked to Shimako informing her, but she didn't want to be in that list of victims. She knew that Sei was looking for her while having her fun with the other fourth and fifth graders, and even at the most, sixth graders as well. Eriko was hard to crack and Sei didn't even bother going after her. That didn't stop Chikaru, however, since she had been trying her hardest to get Eriko even giving out a little squeak. Unfortunately for Youko, she was under Sei's list much Sachiko's surprise. She didn't know that her Onee-sama had it in her to be that surprised. Sei must have planned out something that was much unexpected that got Youko to squeal like that. It was Youko's capture that got Yumi to worry about her own when she couldn't rely on Sachiko to protect her forever. So she took it to herself to try her best not to get caught.

Sachiko had entered a club that she had grown to be interested in; the Literature Club. Tamao didn't mind having the girl in her club, not when she just gotten a great excuse to observe the raven-haired beauty a little more. While observing Shizuma would have been a little bit more interested, but the Etoile was always around Nagisa and there was something about the older girl that she didn't trust. However, it was different for Sachiko because the taller girl didn't give off anything but her formality and irritation towards anyone that was remotely interested in her Yumi. Tamao thought that it was cute that Sachiko would feel possessive of Yumi, and because of that Sachiko had charmed the younger girl without much of an effort. Sure, she still had a 'Nagisa-Obssession' but with her newly profound obsession with Sachiko, she couldn't pass up this chance.

"Ogasawara-san, welcome to our club," The Literature Club President said warmly. "I hope that you'd come to enjoy it as much as we do."

Sachiko offered a soft smile and nodded her head. "Thank you for the welcome, and I'm sure that I would enjoy my stay here."

Tamao observed Sachiko's posture and the polite sound of her tone enough to make her want to obsess over Sachiko a bit more than intended. She knew nothing about her and she had a feeling that it would be harder than she'd thought to even get a little bit of information from the girl in subject. She inwardly sigh, knowing that she had little to no chance of getting the raven-haired beauty to open up to her even just a little bit.

Sachiko, on the other hand, was worrying about Yumi as usual. She knew that the end date of this preposterous game was on Friday, and she also knew that Sei hadn't got Yumi yet because of her always around her. Now that she had joined this club because Yumi had encouraged her to, she couldn't stop herself but to worry about a certain pigtailed girl. She could trust Yumi with Sei if this game didn't even exist in the first place. She knew that Sei wouldn't do anything to Yumi because of the fact that she could remotely kill her, and Yumi would be too embarrassed to be around Sei in which the blonde couldn't even handle. So while she sat at the table while half listening to what was going on around her, her mind was on Yumi at that time.

The latter was trying her hardest to find a place that Sei would never think of she'd be. They didn't have a tour around the place, but at least they did explore around a bit. She didn't quite know that there would be a greenhouse located not far from the Strawberry Dorm. So if she didn't even know about this place, there was no chance that Sei would know as well. So without much further thought she entered the place, and didn't expect that the greenhouse was totally and completely different from the one back at Lilian. This greenhouse was well-cared for, and it held so many types of flowers that she couldn't begin to name all of them. However, in a mist of admiring the flowers in the greenhouse, she didn't notice that it was occupied by two females that were taking their time preparing the flowers and observing her. When she finally felt that someone was watching her, Yumi turned her gaze away from the flowers and turned to look up at the working bench where the two women were. She blushed a nice shade of pink before bowing her head in apologies.

"Umm…E-excuse me for intruding! I-I didn't know that this greenhouse i-is occupied…" She quickly said her apology and when she about to turn and leave, Shizuma softly called out.

"Yumi, wait!"

The said girl halted and turned to look at the sixth grader with confusion in her eyes. She could tell that Shizuma and Nagisa were having their moment so she didn't want to interrupt them. But for Shizuma to call out for her, for Shizuma to want her to stay, was a little unbelievable.

"Etoile-sama?" She asked, her eyes glancing back and forth between Shizuma and Nagisa, feeling guilty that she had to intrude in their privacy like this.

Shizuma turned to look at Nagisa as if asking for her permission to have Yumi joining them. Nagisa smiled in acknowledgement and nodded her head, feeling warmth that Shizuma's smile was giving her as the taller girl turned to face the pigtailed girl.

"Why don't you join us, Yumi? We could use another hand." Shizuma said softly and watched as the said girl looking up at her with that brown orbs filled with confusion. Nevertheless, Yumi gave them a polite smile and nodded her head.

"Yes, I'd be glad to help you, Etoile-sama." She said as she steadily made her way towards the working bench. After Shizuma had given her the white apron, she had put it on and went straight to work.

Shizuma didn't mind the chattering noises coming from Nagisa and Yumi. She found it quite relaxing just to be able to watch and listen to them converse. In a way, Yumi was exactly like Nagisa and yet so much different. She could tell why Sachiko was so attached to this young pigtailed girl. Yumi was full of life and everything she did, she did it with love. If Nagisa didn't capture her attention in the first time that they had met, she knew that Yumi would have captured her attention right there and right then. Fortunately, not even Yumi could replace the place that Nagisa had put herself in her heart.

After fifteen minutes, Shizuma leaned back and let out a soft sigh before turning to the two younger girls that were looking at her in concern. "That's it for today, thank you for helping me out." She said softly, accompanying by a smile.

Both of the girls blushed and shook their heads, muttering 'It's nothing, really' and 'It's my pleasure, Etoile-sama' under their breaths. Shizuma couldn't help but chuckle at the cuteness of the two girls before she removed the apron around her. "If you two don't mind, would you like to accompany me to the front of the Strawberry Dorm?"

Nagisa was quick to give her a positive answer, but Yumi apologetically shook her head. "I'm sorry, Etoile-sama, but I have to go and meet with Onee-sama."

"Ah, Sachiko, I almost forgot that the two of you are soeurs." Shizuma said teasingly in which Nagisa gasped softly.

"You almost forgot, Shizuma-sama?"

The older girl chuckled and waved her hand in a dismissive manner. "It just felt like I'm hanging around two Nagisa at the same time, so I almost forgot that Yumi is Yumi, not Nagisa."

At the comment Nagisa blushed which made the other two girls giggled. However, it didn't take long for Yumi to comprehend what Shizuma had said because she, too, blushed alongside her friend.

"Well, I better be going. Onee-sama is probably waiting for me." Yumi quickly bowed and turned to leave. Well, not before Shizuma stopped her once more.

"Would you send my regard to Sachiko, Yumi?" Shizuma asked, knowing that Yumi would have told Sachiko of their time together whether or not she would ask her to do so. Besides, she knew that the raven-haired beauty would narrow her eyes and focused on the part of her being around Yumi, not Nagisa was with them as well.

Yumi smiled and quickly nodded her head. "Yes, I'll send your regard to her, Etoile-sama." And with that said she was out of the greenhouse, leaving Shizuma to chuckle in amusement while Nagisa looked at her in puzzlement.

"Um…Etoile-sama?" The shorted girl asked in confusion to what was so funny that got the older girl to be so amused.

Shizuma shook her head as the chuckle subsided. "Shall we go, Nagisa?"

The confusion was long gone when the silver-haired beauty had turned to give her another smile that had captured her heart. The shorter girl smiled cheerfully and nodded. "Yes, Shizuma-sama."

Shizuma went to gather up the two bouquets of flowers before ushering Nagisa to follow her. Now that she had another helping hand, minus Yumi since she knew that the poor girl was trying to find a place to hide from Satou Sei, she wouldn't want to let go off of Nagisa's help just yet.