Twenty Seven
Morning came and it didn't look like that Youko was getting any better. Even with Sachiko holding her while she slept, it didn't put her mind at ease when she woke up in the morning. She had noticed that the younger girl had quietly slipped out of the room. She appreciated the concern of her younger soeur but she felt like she had been troubling her enough. With a sigh, Youko slipped out from the bed and went into the bathroom to clean up. She knew that she had a little bit of time to get down to the dining hall, but her mind was elsewhere and the thought of being late didn't even cross her mind. Fortunately for her, she made it to the hall for breakfast with a minute to spare. She did her best to hide her troubled emotions as she made her way to her seat, which was next to Sachiko's. The raven hair heiress didn't look at all approving that she was there, but she kept her silence as she greeted the older girl.
"How are you this morning, Onee-sama?" Sachiko asked in a soft, quiet voice.
To others that were sitting around them, Sachiko's voice was just normal with a tint of respect underneath it. To Youko and Yumi however, they could hear the concern in her voice. Upon hearing the concern tone that Sachiko had hide, Yumi turned to look at Youko with observing eyes. Her brown orbs studied the Rosa Chinensis' body gestures as the older woman sat herself down on the chair. Even though Youko appeared to be cheerful like any other day, the pigtailed girl could clearly tell that there was something wrong. After all, she didn't see Youko joining them for dinner last night. Yumi then looked over to her Onee-sama, silently asking for permission to know what was going on with her eyes. Once Sachiko sensed her petite soeur looking at her, she turned and shook her head lightly after understanding the hidden message between those brown orbs.
"Refreshing." Youko answered with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "How are you this morning, girls?"
"Good." Sachiko murmured a reply while Yumi offered Youko one of her bright smiles.
"Great!"
"That's good." Youko murmured before Shizuma stood up to start a prayer. The Rosa Chinensis let out an inaudible sigh as she clasped her hands and closed her eyes, the prayer that morning not quite reaching her ears.
That morning went by quite slow for Youko but she couldn't bring herself to mind about it. She was still trying to get over her broken heart, even though she knew that her heart was going to break the more she gotten closer to Sei anyway. She knew that she shouldn't let herself go down that path but she did anyway. The image of Chikaru claiming Sei's lips was still clear in her head no matter how many time she tried to replace it with happy images of her friends. She had fallen and there was no one to catch her. Then again, she only wanted a particular person to catch her, but since that person was out of her reach she had no choice but to pretend that she wasn't in pain…at all.
Lunch finally came and while the girls in her class was making their way out of the room, she took her time even though she would normally be making her way toward the cafeteria at this moment. She was stalling herself just so she wouldn't have to see Sei. Yes, she was willing to give up on her lunch time because of the certain blonde. It wasn't like she had any appetite to eat anything. Her current mood wasn't allowing her to do so. So once half of the class had disappeared, she let out a small sigh before standing up. When she turned, she almost bumped into another person. If it wasn't for the pair of gentle hands on her shoulders, she knew that she would have fell down on her seat in surprise.
"Are you alright, Youko?" A soft voice spoke in concern.
Once Youko looked up at the girl before her, her eyes bore into the deepest of hazel eyes. That was when she knew that the girl before her was no other than Shizuma Hanazono, the Etoile of the three schools. Somehow, she felt embarrassed for the mood that she was in. So she took a small step back and bowed before the taller girl out of apology.
"My apologies, Etoile-sa – " She began but was cut off when a slender finger was pressed against her lips.
"Shizuma is fine, Youko." The silver hair beauty said with a smile.
Youko gave out a small smile and nodded. "Once again, my apologies, Shizuma. I'm afraid that I haven't been feeling quite well today."
Shizuma nodded as she turned her body half way toward the door. Then she motioned her hand over to the door and smiled warmly down at the slightly shorter girl. "Would you care to accompany me to lunch at the Green House, Youko?"
Although surprised by a sudden request, Youko had thought that it might do her some good if she could avoid Sei until tonight. So she smiled and nodded, hiding the surprise expression without much effort. "I would be honored to, Shizuma."
The two girls made their way out of the St Miator's building and toward the Green House. There was no word to be exchanged and neither one of them seemed to have minded. While Youko was deep in thoughts as to why Shizuma had asked her to join the taller girl for lunch, Shizuma was thinking of a way to get Youko to open up to her. Being an Etoile wasn't an easy job, but since she had witnessed Youko running down the hallway last night she couldn't help but be concerned about the Lillian's red rose. It was a rare sight for the silver hair beauty to witness the Rosa Chinensis breaking a rule. It wasn't the only rule that the oldest red rose had broken, since Shizuma knew that the Lillian's girls were not to run under any circumstances.
They made it inside the Green House and walked inside. Shizuma had guided Youko to the medium-sized rounded table and insisted the girl to seat. Even if Youko had an objection, she couldn't voice it when Shizuma's voice was more of a demand than a request when she had insisted her to seat and relax while the silver hair girl prepared their lunch. Well, it was surprising that Shizuma had prepared the both of them with lunch as if she was planning to take Youko away from the cafeteria. The Rosa Chinensis had suspected that there was something else that the other girl wanted to get out of, but she couldn't figure out what it was. Shizuma wasn't that easy to read, not even Miyuki could read her at times.
Youko was still trying to figure out the intention behind Shizuma's action to notice that the silver hair beauty had returned with a tray full of food, and of course, two cups of tea. When Shizuma's soft voice reached her ears with the light sounds of the plates of food making contact with the table, Youko blinked out of her reverie and looked up at the taller girl with a smile of gratitude.
"Thank you, Shizuma."
"It is my pleasure, Youko." Shizuma replied with a smile as she took a seat. "Shall we?"
Youko nodded as the two began to eat the lunch that Shizuma had laid out for them. They ate in silence with Youko's attention purely on the food that she was eating and Shizuma studying Youko's actions. When they finished the light meal, they both sat back and relaxed as they sipped on their tea. Youko didn't quite know what to say to Shizuma. She couldn't just ask why Shizuma had asked for her company. She knew that Miyuki or Nagisa was supposed to be in her place at the moment, but she felt like it wasn't her place to question Shizuma's actions.
"You must be wondering why I asked you to join me." Shizuma stated as she set her teacup down. Her gaze instantly shifted over to the other girl as her lips curled into a small smile.
Youko could only nod since there was no further word for her to confirm her curiosity.
"For the Rosa Chinensis of St Lillian Girls' Academy, I didn't think that someone with that title would be able to break a rule such as running in the hallway." Shizuma said with a light chuckle.
Youko blushed as she finally realized that there would be other students that night to witness her running toward Sachiko's room. Instead of lowering her head as if she was being lectured, she joined in with Shizuma as she chuckled as well. "Oh my, so I've been caught."
Shizuma gently waved a hand before her to dismiss the situation once she stopped her chuckle. "You are not in trouble, by the way, if that is what you are thinking."
Once again, Youko chuckled. "Oh, that is not what I am thinking." She soon regained her composure and glanced over at her companion. "I am quite curious as to why you have asked me to join you for lunch."
"If I said that I am concerned about your well-being, would you take that as my answer?" Shizuma asked with a lifted eyebrow.
"I would if you could give me a clear answer as to why you are concerned about me." Youko said with a raised eyebrow of her own.
"You didn't turn up to dinner last night." Shizuma casually started. "After running down the hallway, you skipped dinner and I didn't quite see you until this morning. When you entered the dining hall this morning, I could tell that you were forcing yourself to look happy. Please don't get me wrong, but it is my job to know whether the students are having troubles whether those troubles relate to the school or not."
Youko turned her head away, her dark chocolate orbs busied themselves with the beautiful flowers that were blooming in the Green House. Of course, there was something that was troubling her but it wasn't Shizuma's place to know what the trouble was. Even if she told the taller girl what had been troubling her, she'd doubt that Shizuma would be able to solve it. Shizuma had to shoulder a lot of responsibilities and she wasn't going to just let Shizuma know about her own personal problems.
"There is nothing for you to worry about, Shizuma." Youko said as she turned to look at her companion. "I can assure you that I will be fine."
Unfortunately for Youko, the silver hair beauty didn't approve of her answer. "I am not convinced, Youko." Shizuma sighed. "But I guess that you won't give me a satisfaction of knowing what has been troubling you."
Youko could only smile at her as she nodded. "I'm afraid so, Shizuma."
"Then I will give you a little advice, Youko." Shizuma said with a smile. "Sometimes in order for you to reach your destination, whether it is a place, a position in life or a person, you have to be brave and face the obstacles in your path. If you do not face it, you will regret about the choices in your life which you will never get back."
Youko smiled at the advice that she had received. Although she fully understood the meaning, but she didn't understand why Shizuma would give such an advice. So she decided to ask a question that she was sure didn't expect a three words answer to. "In other words?"
"Talk to her." Shizuma said with a knowing smile.
'She couldn't be talking about…No, she couldn't, could she?' Youko thought as her eyes were slightly widened at Shizuma's response. She could just let it pass that the silver hair girl knew about her situation with Sei. However, that smile that was on the taller girl's lips was hard for her to ignore. She had to take this advice seriously. In other words, she needed to give herself the courage to actually face Sei. Then again, what was she going to say when she would see the blonde tonight? Sighing, she nodded her head towards the taller girl before she took a stand.
"Thank you for the advice, and thank you for the lunch, Shizuma."
"It is all my pleasure, Youko." Shizuma responded with a warm smile. "Take care."
"Take care." Youko murmured before she walked down the platform and exited the Green House.
Lunch wasn't entirely over and just by checking her wrist watch, she could see that she had twenty minutes left before lunch ended. Since there was nothing else for her to do in those twenty minutes, she decided to go into the cafeteria just so she wouldn't worry her friends furthermore. After entering the cafeteria though, she felt all eyes on her and the majority of the attention she was getting was from the Yumayurikai. So with a low sigh, she moved herself over to the group and took her seat next to Sachiko. Their eyes were still on her that made her eyebrow twitched a little. So sighing again, a little bit louder this time, the group immediately resumed their conversation as she sat there with a small smile on her face. When she turned to look on her left, she caught sight of Sei looking at her in concern. However, it was not the look of worries in the taller blonde's eyes that had got her attention. It was the tired look and slightly exhausted form that Sei was displaying that got her attention. She regarded her for a moment until she decided to look away when Sei didn't make any kind of move, other than staring at her.
"Rosa Chinensis, have you eaten yet?" Yumi asked softly as she turned her attention over to her grande soeur.
Youko smiled and nodded her head. "Yes, I just had lunch with the Etoile."
All eyes then turned to her and she tried her best to hide the twitch of her eyes. "Etoile-sama asked you to join her?"
"Yes." Youko responded softly.
"Did you get into trouble now?" Eriko asked teasingly as she smiled over at her friend in a playful manner.
"No, she just wanted to give me an advice." Youko said as the advice started to replay itself in her head. Well, the three words advice that had now gotten her to look over at Sei again but only for a short seconds.
"That's nice." Eriko commented, ending her question there as she sensed that whatever the advice was, it was personal and she didn't want to poke her head into it. "I'm sort of jealous that Hanazono-san invited you to lunch."
Yoshino grinned at that, finding a good way to piss her grande soeur off more likely. "Oh? Why are you jealous of Rosa Chinensis, Rosa Foetida? I thought you certainly do not care about spending a one-on-one time with a girl."
Eriko chuckled as she turned to face Yoshino. She had to hide that frown, just so she could win whatever argument that Yoshino had seemed to start. "I do not mind sitting down with a girl for lunch." She retorted.
"Really?" Yoshino said before she looked around the cafeteria in search of someone she could turn them to be her experiment. Upon finding one, a huge grin plastered on her face as she suddenly stood up. "I will get one for you right now!"
Eriko stood up as well once the Rosa Foetida en bouton petite soeur had made her way out of the table. "Hold on a second!" She softly called out to Yoshino whom was already on her way across the cafeteria and towards a table full of girls that were gazing over at the Roses' table.
Rei only sighed as she stood up. "I will bring them back." And with that she followed the two Rosa Foetida's members in hope that she would successfully bring them back into the table.
The scene earned a small giggle from Shimako and Sei was also laughing as well. The Red Rose family only sighed and shook their heads, while Yumi was in between laughing and mimicking her Onee-sama and grand soeur's actions. The Yumayurikai wouldn't be as fun if the Yellow Rose's family didn't exist after all.