Ever since we met that spring day, Shiori and I slowly, but certainly, grew closer.

We were in different grades, but we found as much time as possible to be together, so that we'd see each other at least once a day. Sometimes I'd find Shiori at the sanctuary in the morning, and sometimes we ate lunch together at noon. Both of us weren't in any clubs, so sometimes we'd stroll through the campus together after school.

I wanted our time together to be precious. So I'd never to take her to the Rose Mansion, and I didn't even think about introducing her to onee-sama, much less the rest of the Yamayurikai.

I became even more distant from the Rose Mansion, becoming absorbed by Shiori.

"Shouldn't you distance yourself a bit more?"

On the first day of summer.

Youko came to my class after school and warned me.

"What are you talking about?"

I was supposed to meet Shiori after class today, so it irritated me.

"You know what I'm talking about. Kubo Shiori. What is she to you?"

"What?"

She came to see me just to ask that stupid question? There's a limit to how intrusive you can be. Stuffing my thin English-Japanese dictionary in my bag, I laughed, bitterly.

"It's not a laughing matter."

"Oh, sorry. But you don't have time to be bothered by other people, either, do you? You've got your hands full with your own sister, anyways. The rumors about you making Sachiko quit all of her lessons, are they true?"

"This is not the time to be talking about my sur. The problem is you and Kubo Shiori."

"Problem?"

I understood what Youko wanted to say.

I knew Shiori and I had a special relationship. It wasn't like Youko and Sachiko, and it was different from onee-sama and I.

It was hard to explain it, but it was like, we'd been born with two hands, but we're busy grasping each other's hands. As a result, we eliminate everything else.

It was decisively different from most people, who, while holding hands with one person, always leave one hand open to take ahold of other things. Youko's "distance yourself" probably meant that. I should let go of one of Shiori's hands.

It might be dangerous to only accept one, single person, and ignore everything else. But I couldn't help it. I didn't want to cut any bond with Shiori, and if we changed anything, it wouldn't be us anymore.

"If you want to make her your sister, that's fine. I don't want to force you two apart, or anything. But the way things are, isn't it bad? You should present her your rosary and formally introduce her."

"I'll think about it."

Grabbing my bag, I shoved my seat under the desk. I didn't want to continue this conversation any longer.

"I'll think about. May I?"

" Sure. Hopefully."

Surprisingly, Youko let me off easily. She was smart, so she must have known if she pressed further it would backfire.

I ran down the hallways, now devoid of students, to get to Shiori.

I said I'd think about it, but I had no intention of making Shiori my sister. Because we were always even. I didn't want to present her my rosary just so other people would acknowledge us, that would be ridiculous. I laughed at the people who needed the sisterly symbol to ease their hearts.

"What happened?"

Shiori knew, the moment we saw each other.

"Nothing."

I grabbed Shiori's shoulders and began walking, to a place where there was no one else. I didn't care how dirty a place it was. As long as no one else could see us, there was no place more pure.

I didn't want to dirty Shiori. I didn't want dirty eyes looking at our relationship.

No one would be bothered by our becoming intimate. At the very least, because of her influence, I'd begun paying attention in class, and I stopped being late or missing class. That was worthy of praise, not criticism.

We just wanted to be together. That was all.

I hugged Shiori behind the school buildings.

"Were you told something?"

Shiori rested her chin on my shoulder and whispered.

"Maybe there's no one who will support us."

"You shouldn't say that."

She must have been taking more flak than I, but Shiori never said ill of anyone. Even if I'd stopped being with them, I was still Rosa Gigantea en bouton, and the shadow of the Yamayurikai loomed over me. If people didn't like Shiori and I's relationship, and wanted to take it up with someone, they'd go to the new, young Shiori. She wouldn't ever say it, but she must have been going through harder times than I.

"You shouldn't just cast everything aside like that."

We further isolated ourselves from school, and we began treasuring each other more, in turn.

It became summer vacation.

I went to school every day though, like usual, and spent time with Shiori.

Because the school dorms closed for most of August, Shiori lived in the cloister inside Lillian. Even though it was a long vacation, Shiori stayed in Tokyo instead of returning to her uncle's place at Nagasaki. I didn't know the specifics, and I didn't ask, but the Lillian Girls' Academy principal knew her guardian, her uncle, so the principal acted as a parent to Shiori while she stayed in Tokyo.

The day the library opened, I burrowed myself in the reading room and concentrated on finishing my homework. The exact time shifted depending on the day, but eventually, after helping the sisters out, Shiori would come and work on her homework, too.

We were serious. We didn't think anything would change by us doing our homework, but we assumed if our grades fell, people would oppose our relationship even more. So we sat together, and when we finished our homework, we read books together.

We were in an old greenhouse one day.

In the morning, Shiori had to attend supplementary swimming lessons, so I went to school when they were supposed to finish. I walked past a mass of girls with wet hair, and I realized the lesson must have ended earlier than expected.

Wanting to see Shiori, my pace quickened. Not just quickened, I began running.

Right as I took a right on the Maria-sama statue fork, I felt moist warmth touch my face and shoulders. -It was raining.

Passing by the library and running past the auditorium, I finally saw Shiori.

"Shiori!"

It began raining harder, so it wasn't a particularly romantic setting for a walk. It was bright and sunny when I left, so I didn't have any foldable umbrellas or anything. We looked for a place to wait out the rain. It was still noon, but it was like an evening shower.

We fled into the old greenhouse.

Parts of the glass exterior was broken, and there were holes in the floor, but it did a handsome job at protecting us from the rain. The warm, humid air was apparently comfortable to Shiori, who'd just finished swimming. Unfolding her arms, she smiled, "It's warm."

"It might rain soon, the teacher said, and we stopped. But it rained faster than the teacher expected."

Moving aside pots on the ledge, we sat down.

"There's no helping getting wet in the pool, but it would be tragic if the uniforms got wet, she said. I hope everyone got on the bus before it rained."

Shiori took a sports towel out from a vinyl bag and wiped rain from my hair. The scent of the pool that was soaked into the towel drifted in the air for a moment, but that vanished quickly.

"I'm fine, wipe your hair first."

The reason why I said that was because I didn't want her to know how I felt. When Shiori wiped my hair, my heart started beating so fast I didn't know what to do.

As told, Shiori gathered her hair, flipped it over her shoulder and patted it down with her towel. Watching her absorb the moisture out of her hair with her towel, I just sat there, not knowing what I should do, nor what I wanted to do.

Not knowing how I was feeling, Shiori yawned slightly, and then began drifting into sleep.

She must be tired.

Without waking her, I moved myself closer to her.

A violent rainstorm passes quickly.

Inside the greenhouse, locked in by rain, I felt Shiori, with no one stopping me. Just this instant, Shiori was all mine.

Why were we born in different bodies?

Why couldn't we fuse together to be one living being?

Feeling Shiori's long breaths, I absentmindedly grabbed a line of our hair and braided it together. But the hair, being of different color and texture, quickly separated the moment I let go. Bored, I even tried twisting the hair into ropes, but that didn't help.

For some reason, I became obstinate, and made a braided cord with our hair. Two lines of Shiori's hair, one line of mine. And finally, our hair became one.

"What are you doing?"

Shiori asked, with sleepy eyes.

"No, nothing. You can sleep some more, I'll wake you up when it stops raining."

"Okay."

Not satisfied with just hair, I slid my fingers in between Shiori's fingers. That tickles, giggled Shiori as she squirmed, but she didn't shake me off.

Please, rain, don't stop.

I close my eyes, too.

Please, rain, don't stop.

The darkness shielded us from everyone's sight. Shiori's palpitations, her warmth, and her breath were all that was certain.

I wanted to be like this forever.

I half-believed that time would honestly stop like this.