Nineteen

The date with Youko went quite well if Sei had to say so herself. However, the whole date revolved around shopping for ballroom dresses and heels. She wasn't sure how long she had allowed Youko to pull her from store to store just to look for the right dress or the right pair of heels. She didn't mind it one bit, not when Youko wasn't so adamant about getting her to be in a dress. If she was going to attend to that event, she wasn't going to turn up in a dress and let the boys drooling all over her. Then again, she wasn't sure how the boys would react if she'd turn up in a tuxedo. She did try on several tuxedos and see what she'd look like. And every time she did, she noticed Youko couldn't stop looking at her until she had to go to the changing room. When she had teased Youko about it, she was delighted to see the blush on the other girl's face and the cute denial that sputtered out of Youko's lips. The date also helped her sort out her feelings for the other girl. When she was with Youko, alone, she didn't feel like she had to put on that happy mask while she was around her. Youko's presence alone made her feel more like herself, more like the Sei that she had wanted to be after…her.

Sei quickly shook the thought of her former lover out of her mind. That girl still had a small part of her heart. However, that small part had died while the rest was being gently fixed up by Youko. Sei didn't know why the Rosa Chinensis would even bother with her broken self, but she was thankful for the short dark hair girl to look out for her and be there for her whenever she'd need her. Returning the girl's feelings wasn't enough for Sei. Youko had done so much for her already and just simply returning the feelings wasn't at all enough. The Rosa Gigantea wanted to do something more for her, but knowing the fact that she couldn't forget about her past lover she couldn't wholeheartedly give her heart to the woman that she was starting to love. She needed to make sure that the love that she had for her was no longer there. But, how was she to be sure when she hadn't met her after that uneventful night?

"Sei?" A gentle hand was placed on her shoulder but the touch was too faint for the blonde to notice. "Sei?" A gentle shake of her shoulder finally brought her out of her thoughts. She looked up to see a concern look from her classmate, Chikaru, and tried as she must but her smile didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Yes, Chikaru?"

Chikaru studied the blonde's face before her, trying as best as she could to pierce through the other girl's happy mask so she could see the real Sei, but to no avail. She withdrew her hand then and shook her head more to herself than at her companion. "You were spacing out all through the lecture. I'm just checking if you are alright."

Sei smiled in appreciation. "Thank you." And with her thanks, she earned a warm smile from the other girl. The two weren't oblivious to the fact that their classmates were looking at them in admiration and awe. Also, they weren't deaf enough to hear the positive comments about their relationship with each other, while knowing that they would never be so they had to quietly giggle and, of course, would make jokes to one another sooner or later.

Lunch slowly came on a Monday, and that was enough to make one of the Lilian's students rather irritated. Although her face didn't show it, but she seemed a tiny bit twitchy whenever she heard her name being called out by unfamiliar voices. Shimako, Rosa Gigantea en bouton, was the victim of all the three schools' students' affection. She knew that if she was to attend St Spica, she could have a little bit of peace, or even St Miator. Unfortunately, she attended St Lulim and since the school was known for their carefree attitude, it was too carefree to the point that she had been bombarded with love letters when she returned to her room before lunch even started that day. And, of course, when she entered her classroom that morning she was almost cornered by her classmates asking her to be their date to the event. And now, even before she could enter the cafeteria to meet her friends, she had been approached from students from the other two schools confessing to her and asking her to be their date. Of course, during her time in Lilian, she did get a small amount of love letters and confessions but it was never this much. If she was Yoshino, she would have gone insane by now.

After politely decline the students and explained why she did, Shimako finally made her way towards the table that her friends were waiting for her and sat down with a soft, and clearly, tired sigh. The Roses had witnessed the whole scene when the younger dark blonde hair girl was outside the cafeteria. They all had knowing smiles upon their faces but the smiles quickly faded when they noticed the girl was sighing tiredly. Yoshino was about to make a move to make her friend feel a little better, but Yumi seemed to beat the girl into it.

"You are loved by so many people, Shimako-san. I feel a little jealous." Yumi said with a small giggle, hoping that what she said would cheer the other girl up.

Shimako just smiled at her pigtailed friend and shook her head gently. "You shouldn't be, Yumi-san. I believe that if Sachiko-sama isn't protecting you like a bee protecting its honey, everyone would be lining up to ask you to be their date."

At that comment, both Yumi and Sachiko blushed and the result got the table to giggle. What Shimako said was true. If it wasn't for Sachiko already claiming her date without making it official, Yumi would be chased down by all the girls around the campus.

"You seem to be rejecting and breaking a lot of hearts today, Shimako-chan." Sei said with a hand placed on her petite soeur's shoulder. "Are you following my footsteps?"

Shimako had to giggle at that, especially when Youko had reached over and playfully slapped Sei's shoulder while chiding the older girl. "I am afraid I'm not following your footsteps, Onee-sama. It's just…" She paused, sighing with a light shake of her head. "None of them knows me, and I know nothing about them. In fact, I have not heard any of their names until today. It would be unfair for them if I have accepted to be their date, is it not?"

Sachiko smiled at the answer. She knew the feeling quite well. It was like when she had been asked to accept the Valentine's gift from the girls at Lilian, and she had rejected the gift because she didn't know any of them, nor did she have any reason to accept their gifts. "The dance is still far away, I'm sure that you will find a date until then."

Shimako turned and smiled kindly at the raven hair girl. "Thank you, Sachiko-sama." She said softly and even though she knew that she might find someone of interest to go with, but she'd doubt that it would be that soon. She hadn't paid any attention to anyone ever since she had entered the campus. She had always been hanging around the Roses, and if she wasn't she'd be hanging around the many clubs that Chikaru had created. She had to admit that she enjoyed all of the jobs that Chikaru had created. They were fun and exciting. One of her favorites would be the Cosplay Club. Sei, thanks to Chikaru's scary look, had been put into the most beautiful cowboy costume that Chikaru had made. To Sei, it would look like that she was exposing too much skin and that she looked like a pick-up girl with a fake gun. To Shimako, her Onee-sama looked absolutely stunning!

"Well, that goes back to Eriko!" Sei suddenly said as she whipped her head over to her friend. "Are you sure that you're not interested in dancing with me?"

The girl in question let out a puff of a fake annoyance before eyeing her friend. "And let your hands wander around my body like the true dirty old man that you are? I don't think so!"

While Youko only watched on with amusement dancing within her eyes, Yumi and Yoshino couldn't help but let out giggles between the two elder Roses. Rei and Sachiko only sat there in silence with a small sigh escaping their lips every now and then when Sei made a ridiculous remark and Eriko countered each of them with her own. Shimako only watched on with a serene smile while she was secretly giggling uncontrollably with Yumi and Yoshino from the inside. If only she could let herself be a little free like her two younger friends, then maybe she would be able to enjoy her high school years to the fullest.

"Hikari, are you sure?"

A voice quickly caught the attention of the Lilian Angel's ears. When she tore her eyes away from the comedy that was her two elder Roses, she saw a girl with the same color hair as hers, and another long ebony hair girl trailing behind the other. Her eyes were fixed on the dark hair girl, silently watching them as the two girls walked past her table.

"I…I…I don't think I can do it." The blonde, judging from her voice that it didn't belong to the one Shimako heard not a second ago, was called Hikari.

The dark hair girl quickly grabbed the shorter girl, turning the girl to face her straight in the eyes before asking in a pained voice. "Why? Everyone makes mistakes and I can assure you that I made the same mistake as you did when I was on that stage the first time. So please, reconsider your decision!"

'Stage?' Shimako thought before she tuned out what the other two girls were talking about. They must have noticed that they were catching quite a bit of attention from the crowd, so they had quickly made an exit just discuss whatever they were discussing in private. Shimako had turned to her two friends that were attending St Spica, since she had noticed that those two girls were attending the same school as theirs. Yoshino and Rei were listening in the conversation as well. In fact, the Roses had stopped what they were doing and were listening to the conversation, or they were trying to be respectful so the other two Spica girls could have their conversation without loud noises.

"Yoshino-san, do you know what they are talking about?" Yumi was the first to ask.

Yoshino let out a sigh with a nod. "Yes, I do."

"Would you mind telling us?" Shimako asked softly and although she was curious about the story, she was more curious about who the dark hair girl was. The look on the girl's face was nothing but pure sadness and heartbreak when Shimako had laid her eyes on her. Somehow she had figured out that those emotions weren't because of what they were discussing, it was because of something else that she was sure she would be able to find out if she could get closer to the girl. 'Why do I want to get closer to her?' She quickly thought and when she saw Yoshino's lips begin to move, she dismissed the thought and went back to pay more attention to the group.

"Well, you all notice that Ohtori Amane wasn't at school for all of last week?" Yoshino asked and when the group nodded, she continued. "She just came back on Saturday. Well, her whole Horseback Riding team was back on Saturday. Because me and Rei-chan are the newest members and still need further training, we didn't go to help with the competition. Amane won the tournament for St Spica, and the Saintly Chorus gave her a song as gift." She paused and sighed. "Poor Hikari-san though, due to her nervousness she started to sing before the whole Saintly Chorus group could. So she ended up embarrassing herself in front of the whole audience! People started to whisper to one another because of the incident, and Amane had to stand up to silence everyone with a stern look."

Youko sighed and nodded her head. "Yes, now I can understand what they were talking about. I also can understand why Hikari-chan wants to quit."

"The sad thing is…" Yoshino began. "She admires Amane."

"Like all the other St Spica girls?" Yumi asked.

Rei shook her head. "I notice that she is unlike the other girls from St Spica. While they are cheering at Amane-san from behind the fences when Amane-san practices, I always see her standing behind a tree and watch Amane-san from afar. I can only guess that her admiration has turned into adoration…"

"And love." Yoshino finished her cousin's sentence. "Amane is rather difficult to approach because of all the girls that are surrounding her." She then frowned as she turned her eyes towards her cousin as they began to narrow slightly. "Then again, it is very difficult for me to approach my own cousin and Onee-sama when she is being surrounded by her admirers!"

Rei had to lower her head to hide the blush from her younger cousin. It certainly wasn't her fault that she had rather a huge fan base like Amane's. Besides, she was nice to everyone that approached her and, since she was friendly, it was so easy for anyone to approach her.

"Oh but Yoshino-chan, you're somewhat scary so I'm sure when they notice you they'd scatter out of the way, right?" Eriko teased with an amused smirk on her face. The younger girl's left eye started to twitch in annoyance. But because she didn't want to lose to her grande soeur, she had to make a witty comeback.

"And yet, I'm not too scary for you, Rosa Foetida."

The older Yellow Rose chuckled before reaching over and patted Yoshino's hand in a mock sympathy. "It will take a lot more than one Yoshino to scare me away."

And while another comedy had started out, catching the Roses' attention as one or two of them would join in the fun, Shimako couldn't help but think about the long ebony hair girl that she had seen. And, since she had spoken to Amane and had made a friend on that night, she was sure to go to the older girl to speak to her about this. She wanted to help out that Hikari girl. Then again, the reason behind it being her wanting to see somewhat of a smile from that ebony hair girl. If Hikari would reconsider her decision of quitting the Saintly Chorus, she was sure that Hikari's friend and, the subject of her interest, would be happy as well.

'Well, at least it's not that hard for me to grab Amane-sempai out for a small talk.' Shimako thought with a smile. And she was right about that. She had gained enough respect from all the girls from the campus not only because of her title, but also because of her angelic beauty and serene aura that she was giving off. Also, her friendly personality and the contagious smile that the girls always wanted to see when she was around. So grabbing the star and Prince of St Spica was of no trouble for the Angel of Lilian at all.

A/N

Yaya x Shimako. What do you guys think? :o Unless you want Hikari x Shimako then that would be awkward..