Seventeen
Monday quickly came and already rumors had started to spread about Rosa Gigantea and Suzumi Tamao. The rumor had started out as 'Love Interest' to 'The beautiful Rosa Gigantea is dating the infamous Suzumi Tamao' to 'They are deeply in love within a day'. It was ridiculous to the subjected girls but it wasn't ridiculous to those that heard it. The ones that knew Sato Sei for years didn't believe in the rumors. In fact, they had chosen to ignore it as if the rumors weren't good enough for their attention. However, the only Rose member that seemed troubled by it was Mizuno Youko. Her calm expression didn't quite give that away, but in her heart and mind were the rumors that kept repeating themselves. She had tried her best that lunch time to ignore the rumors that had started after her first morning class. The rumors didn't go away as they kept coming back to rudely tease her of her cowardness. So after dinner the Rosa Chinensis had retired herself to her room with an excuse of being exhausted from a long day. Instead of just sitting with her back against the wall on her bed, she had decided to take a bath and sunk her body into the hot water as if to sink all of her troubles away. Unfortunately for her, it didn't quite happen the way she wanted it to.
'What is wrong with me? All the other Roses don't even pay attention to the rumors, why should I?' She chided herself as her body continued to sink lower into the bath. 'Why the hell should I? It's not like they're true! Are they…true?' Her thoughts quickly became lost as the rumors started to bother her once more. She let out a low groan but the sound was muffled by the bath water. There was a sound from outside the bathroom door that she heard, though it was faint so she didn't pay much attention to it. It possibly was Sei coming into the room anyway. Who else could it had been if it wasn't Sei? Besides, Sei wouldn't be the one knocking on the bathroom door for permissions. 'She would just enter like she owns the place…' She thought as she slowly came up from the water and stared over at the door. She wondered who it could be that would enter the room without permission.
"Onee-sama?"
'Well, that answers my question.' She thought as she let out a sigh that she didn't know she was holding. "Give me a few minutes and I'll be out, Sachiko." Youko called out softly and received an affirmation from the other girl. She soaked herself in the water bath a little bit more before deciding that it was enough, and she didn't want to make her petite soeur waiting on her. She made quick movement to dry herself before wrapping a towel around her body. Then she proceeded to dry her hair with another towel. The older girl then walked out of the bathroom and over to her nightgown that she had laid on her bed. She nodded her head at her petite soeur to let the younger girl know that she had noticed her presence, before she dropped her towel and put on the nightgown.
Sachiko had looked away to give her grande soeur some privacy. However, she couldn't help but be concerned about her. It was the petite soeur's job to ensure that their grande soeur was happy after all. "Are you alright, Onee-sama?" The Ogasawara heiress asked softly as she turned to look at the older girl with concern evidently shown in her sapphire eyes.
Youko turned to offer the other girl a smile of assurance. "I'm fine, thank you for asking Sachiko." When she noticed the other girl's small frown she couldn't help but be concerned about it. After all, Sachiko rarely showed her emotions around others except when she was in private with Youko or Yumi. "However, are you doing alright Sachiko?"
The frown quickly disappeared as she knew she had been caught. She let out a sigh with her eyes closed and a light shake of her head. "I'm just worrying about you, Onee-sama." She murmured an answer before she opened her eyes to look up at her Onee-sama. "You seemed a bit off during lunch today, then you excused yourself to your room after dinner. I know that you said you were exhausted, but Onee-sama, you should know that I can see through you by now. So please, if there is anything that you would like to get out of your chest, your burdens, I am here for you."
Youko was slightly taken by surprise for her petite soeur's boldness. Then again, she didn't expect less from Sachiko. So she crossed the small space that separated the two of them and laid a hand on the younger girl's face. Her thumb lightly stroking the girl's skin gently while a smile of gratitude graced her lips. "Thank you, Sachiko. That means a lot to me."
At that moment Sei opened the door and let herself in, only to stop herself at the door when she saw the tender look on Youko's face while the short hair girl's hand was upon Sachiko's cheek. She felt like she had interrupted their moment and because of that she felt bad about it. So she quickly mumbled out an apology before closing the door. Youko looked up and sighed, shaking her head at the already departed blonde. "She must have misunderstood us."
Sachiko blushed and nodded. "She will come around, Onee-sama."
Shock by what she just heard, Youko quickly turned her attention back to the younger girl before her and raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean, Sachiko?"
The heiress let out a small giggle before she took her Onee-sama's hand in hers, and patted the back of the older girl's hand gently. "You know what I mean, Onee-sama." She replied before a little smirk appeared at the corner of her lips. "You know exactly what I mean." And with that, the heiress let go off of Youko's hand and stood up, bidding the older Chinensis' rose a good night before leaving the room to go to her own.
Youko was standing there a little dumbfounded that her petite soeur could read her so easily. When the words finally sunk in, she let out a long sigh before moving back to her own bed and collapsed on the soft mattress. She looked up at the ceiling before shaking her head. Sei wouldn't come around with the person that had left her took the blonde's heart with her. She couldn't even retrieve it if she tried. Sei had locked her heart up and wouldn't allow anyone to reach it. She, Youko, could try to reach it but she was afraid to do so. She was afraid of rejection. She was afraid that Sei would reject her. She was afraid of tasting that small taste of defeat. She was just…afraid.
-x-
'What was that just then?' Sei asked herself as she decided to take a small walk before returning to her room. She had just only walked in on Sachiko and Youko, and it looked like the two girls were busy with…whatever it was that she had walked in. She sighed and shook her head. What was that emotion that she felt when she had walked in? Disappointment? Sadness? Jealousy? She shook her head once more to clear out the confusion thoughts while knowing that they would just come back once more. A moment later she decided to head back to her room. When she rounded the corner, she noticed a certain raven hair leaving her room. Breathing out a sigh of relief for not going to witness that scene again, the current Rosa Gigantea walked up to the room of her door and opened it. Upon entering the room, she noticed that Youko was lying on her bed with a blank expression. Not wanting to bother her roommate, and the woman that had gotten her all confused, Sei took her night wear to the bathroom and decided to take a shower before bed. Then again, it was too early to go to sleep. She might have to stay up and look over her notes.
After the shower, she went to dry herself off before slipping the overlarge shirt over her. She opened the bathroom door and entered the bedroom only to see that Youko had sat up on her bed. The Rosa Chinensis looked troubled from something and she wanted to find out why, but without having to offend the girl. She decided just to ask. After all, Youko was her friend.
"Youko?" She asked gently as she lowered her body so her face was on the same level as the other girl's. When she didn't get a reply, she sighed before trying again with a different approach. "Rosa Chinensis."
The said girl blinked out of her reverie and her eyes quickly fell upon the blonde's face. When she noticed how close her face was to hers, the short hair girl tried her best not to blush as she looked straight into the blonde's gaze. "I'm sorry, I must have zoned out. Is there something you want to say, Sei?"
Sei leant back as she folded her arms across her chest. "You seem to be troubled by something. Do you mind to share it? I am your friend and roommate after all."
Youko smiled in gratitude and shook her head at her friend's concern. "Thank you for your concern, but I am fine."
The blonde didn't take that as her answer though. And even though she wanted to push the answer out of the other girl, but she felt like it wasn't her place to do so. So she just shrugged with a mumble, "OK" before she went back to her own bed. She pulled out a notebook from her bag before rolling over on her stomach, and started reading the notes that she had taken in class today. After several minutes, she heard movement from the other side of the room so she made a small peak over to it. She saw Youko stood up and made her way towards her. Sei had reverted her eyes when she saw the movement, and had pretended that she was focusing on her notes than the other girl. When she felt a soft hand on her shoulder, she paused and turned to look up at the owner of the hand. There, standing before her, Youko was looking at her with a pained expression that she didn't know if it was her fault that Youko had looked that way, or if there was a meaning behind it. She closed her book and pulled herself up before patting the spot next to her to Youko. The latter smiled in thank as she took the offered seat. The two girls sat there in silence before the Rose Chinensis decided to break it.
"Are they true?" She asked, hoping that those rumors weren't true and she knew that she wasn't making her question specific enough for the other to understand, but she wouldn't be able to handle the rumors being spoken aloud when they were already clouding her mind.
Thankfully, Sei understood what the other girl was asking. She had to chuckle that her friend would actually care about such things, which only led her to another question as to why Youko even let the rumors bothered her so. "No, they are not true. If you want, I can tell you the reason behind my request to ask Tamao-chan to walk with me that day."
After hearing that it wasn't true, her mind eased up a bit. Although curious as to why Sei had asked the girl to take a walk with her, Youko decided not to meddle into Sei's affair for the first time as she shook her head. "No, it's fine. All I want to know is whether the rumors are true or not."
Sei smiled and placed her hand atop the other girl's, watching as a blush slowly graced Youko's cheek as the latter turned away to hide it. She found it amusing but kept her mouth shut to further embarrass her companion. "If that is all that you want to know, then can I ask a favor from you?" When she got a nod from Youko, the blonde smiled and continued. "Would you care to accompany me to town on Sunday?"
Surprised by such a request, Youko turned to look at Sei just to see if the other girl was playing a game on her. The hopeful look on Sei's face was enough to tell her that the blonde wasn't playing a game on her. So Youko smiled and nodded. "Of course, do you want me to ask the others if they would- "
"No!" Sei quickly interrupted then blushed when she realized she had raised her voice. So she cleared her throat as if there was something stuck in her throat after the outburst. "I mean, it's just going to be the two of us."
Youko studied the blonde's expression for a bit, trying to find out the girl's motive behind such a request before she mentally gave up. "Alright, what do you want to do on that day then?"
Sei blinked. She didn't even think as far as asking Youko out on a date. Well, the latter didn't say anything about a date, and since she didn't even say anything about it being a date she could try and relax. However, she didn't even think that Youko would accept her invitation for an outing. So now, she was stuck in trying to think of something the both of them could do in town. While Sei was having a little trouble answering the question, Youko giggled at the expression that Sei was making before she patted Sei's arm to gain the blonde's attention.
"You don't have to answer right away. I bet you didn't even plan out to ask me out on a date, did you?"
Sei's eyes began to widen only for a couple of seconds before she sighed and shook her head. "So, I've been caught."
Youko laughed softly before she stood up and moved over to her side of the room. "Actually, I didn't think that you would even ask me. I thought you would be more interested in Yumi-chan."
It was Sei's turn to laugh. "Yumi-chan? Oh boy, I do not want to be the victim of Sachiko's wrath."
Both of the girls laughed as they began to imagine what the Ogasawara heiress would do if Sei had actually ask Yumi on a date, or even proclaim that Yumi was the property of Sei. All hell would break lose that was for sure.
The laughter died down and soon enough both of them bid each other a good night. Sei had turned off the light while Youko got under the cover of her bed. Even though she didn't want Sei to know that the request had made her night, but her heart was now racing as it anticipated the Sunday to come. Now she had something to look forward to, and that something didn't involve school relation work.