The following morning, Yumi's lungs were straining when she woke up. It felt like she'd just got out of the pool.

Even her eyelids felt a bit swollen.

She had a dull pain near her temples. The after-effects of yesterday's tears.

When she was much younger, she used her whole body when crying, and she'd always feel like this the next day. She wasn't really much of a crybaby, but once she started crying it would get intense. Back then, since she couldn't put things into words that well, all she could do was resort to crying.

Yumi thought that perhaps she hadn't changed that much even now. About the only thing that was different was that she didn't have a fever.

"Get it together, Yumi."

She gave herself a pep-talk as she patted her cheeks. She wasn't forcing herself to be cheerful. She just didn't want to go to school with that miserable look on her face.

From her closet, she took the uniform out of its wrapping and changed into it. The uniform that she'd worn yesterday had been dried and brought back to its usual condition by Katou-san, but some stains had appeared later on so it had been taken to a dry-cleaners yesterday evening.

She tied her tie neatly and, since it was there, turned and smiled at the mirror. A bit awkward, but still okay. If she didn't say anything, no-one would know about her swollen eyelids.

She left the house with her red folding umbrella in hand.

Today's weather report had predicted a 20% chance of rain.

"Yumi-san, you're looking sharp."

Yumi looked up, there were eagle-eyed people everywhere, weren't there? It was Mami-san, from the newspaper club.

Even so, checking out her classmates' attire on the way in to the classroom. If she were following protocol, she should have started with "Gokigenyou."

"Yeah. A bit. I got caught in the rain yesterday and - "

Yumi mumbled a harmless answer, then, over Mami-san's shoulder, caught sight of a girl with braids some distance away and hurriedly stood up.

"Sorry, I've got to go."

Leaving Mami-san where she was, and bumping into a number of chairs in the process, Yumi leapt over to Yoshino-san.

"- Yoshino-san."

Yoshino-san, who had just entered the classroom, regarded Yumi with suspicion.

"Sorry about yesterday. You were worried about me, and it sort of looked like I turned you away."

This was about yesterday's events. Yoshino-san had tried to get her to go to the Rose Mansion, to meet Sachiko-sama, and Yumi had flatly rejected the offer.

"Hmm."

Yoshino-san seemed to sigh, then placed her bag on her desk and pointed her chin towards the hallway, indicating to Yumi that they should go outside.

Indeed, the classroom wasn't the kind of environment where they could have a quiet one-on-one chat. Having just apologized, Yumi's mind was, for now, completely at ease, but it looked like the same wasn't true for Yoshino-san. Preparing herself to listen to Yoshino-san's gripes, Yumi followed along behind her.

As they walked through the hallway and down the stairs, Yumi's eyes were fixed on Yoshino-san's braids as they swayed across her back. Occasionally they'd bounce a bit, and depending on how Yumi's own heart was moving, they seemed to be either angry or dancing with delight.

Yoshino-san made her way to a courtyard in a different direction to the Rose Mansion, into the shade of a tall tree. She checked to make sure the area was deserted, then stopped and turned to face Yumi.

The pair were facing each other directly, and Yumi instantly tensed. Yoshino-san seemed to be silently scowling at her.

What was going to happen to her? Suddenly Yumi's heart started pounding. She didn't think she'd done anything bad enough that she'd get hit, but -

Just then.

"Yumi !"

Like she'd snapped under tension, Yoshino-san threw her arms around Yumi's neck and embraced her tightly.

"Wh, what's the matter?"

"I'm so glad. I thought I was no good. I thought we were done for."

"Huh?"

Yoshino-san had said 'we.' It must have seemed as though Yumi and Sachiko-sama's relationship wasn't the only one in trouble.

"But, we're okay right? When you said you were sorry, you meant you still wanted to be friends with me, right?"

"Right but why are you saying this?"

"Never mind. No matter what happens between you and Sachiko-sama, as long as we stay friends, it's fine. I won't keep badgering you to come to the Rose Mansion, so you don't have to ditch me along with the Yamayurikai."

"Yoshino-san - "

It seemed like Yoshino-san had been having troubles of her own yesterday while Yumi was going through her ordeal.

But what should she do about her current situation? Since Yoshino-san was short, it was completely different to when Sei-sama embraced her, it felt somehow fresh and new, and a little bit exciting.

"I'll still love you even if you're not a bouton."

Yoshino-san let go of Yumi's body, and took her hand.

Way back when, they'd said, "Let's be good friends forever," and shook hands. At the time, they'd wanted to foster a good relationship, like the Roses had, with the expectation that one day they would become Roses themselves.

But things were a bit different now.

Yumi too had started to think that even if she wasn't in the Yamayurikai, she still wanted to keep her friendship with Yoshino-san the way it was.

"Yeah, I like you too Yoshino-san."

Their relationship was changing. Evolving even.

Yumi felt nostalgic thinking about how they were when they'd made the "Let's be good friends forever," comment. As though the bonds between humans could be brought into existence just through words. What it really took was realizing just how much you needed someone, and how much they needed you.

"I'm sorry."

There were still so many ties between the two of them. Binding them and making them irreplaceable to each other.

"I'm so sorry, Yoshino-san."

Yumi's mind had been full of Sachiko-sama so she'd never noticed, but Yoshino-san must have been suffering. Yumi had never meant to damage her relationship with Yoshino-san.

"I was so worried. But it's okay. It was just me worrying about nothing."

Yoshino-san took a couple of steps along the path before turning around again.

"Anyway, you made the right decision not to come to the Rose Mansion yesterday. Sachiko-sama had left early."

"Yeah."

Yumi ran her fingers through the branches of a Scotch Broom shrub.

"What? How did you know? Did you meet her?"

"Yeah."

"And it went well?"

Yoshino asked, quite shyly. She'd obviously been concerned about it, since she said, "No matter what happens between you and Sachiko-sama."

"Nope."

Yumi smiled.

"Because I ran away."

Even though it was only the day after those painful events, she was able to speak smoothly. As though she was giving an outline of yesterday's TV drama.

"Why did you run away?"

Yoshino-san frowned as she asked the question.

"Because Touko-chan was there too."

When she heard Yumi's answer, Yoshino-san's hands clenched into fists and trembled.

"Touko!? That little - what was she doing there?"

"Don't mind that. I don't think Touko-chan's in the wrong. She just brought things to a head."

"But still."

Yoshino-san didn't seem satisfied by this. So Yumi explained further.

"If I trusted Sachiko-sama, then I'd be unconcerned even if she was with Touko-chan."

"Uh-huh. So it's a problem between you and Sachiko-sama. I think I kind of understand."

Yoshino-san folded her arms across her chest and grunted, "Hmmm." Even though she said she kind-of understood, she seemed to get it at a deep level.

Fundamentally, human relationships were one-on-one, so assuming that Sachiko-sama had cast aside Yumi and was gravitating towards Touko-chan, then that was Sachiko-sama's decision and unrelated to Touko-chan.

People's feelings can change. It wasn't like Sachiko-sama was Yumi's property, she was her own person with her own personality.

Therefore, it was unthinkable that their relationship was being torn apart by Touko-chan.

"So, what happens next, Yumi-san?"

"I'm not sure what I'll do."

In her mind, Yumi knew that she should go to the Rose Mansion, meet Sachiko-sama and settle things. But it was hard to face up to Sachiko-sama after her shameful behavior yesterday.

"It's lonely in the Rose Mansion at lunchtime without you. What do you do for lunch?"

"I eat in the classroom."

But that was a complicated matter too.

Since the boutons were supposed to be busy, it would be odd for her to eat in the classroom day after day. There were people that would notice that kind of thing too. Yamaguchi Mami-san and Takeshima Tsutako-san had been glancing in her direction. Quite recently.

"Maybe I should do what Shimako-san did, and eat outside in an out-of-the-way place."

"During the rainy season?"

Yoshino made the classic catching-raindrops-on-the-palm-of-her-hand pose. It hadn't rained so far today, but it wouldn't be unusual for it to start any time.

"I could take my umbrella when it rains."

"Yumi-san, do you have a bread roll today?"

"Nope."

"That's quite a feat, to hold an umbrella with one hand and use your chopsticks with the other."

"I guess so."

Yumi ran a few simulations in her head, and it did look quite complicated.

"Either way, you don't look too concerned by it."

And just how should she have looked? Yoshino-san had sounded dejected when she muttered this last comment.

Lunchtime soon arrived.

"Yumi-san. In the Rose Mansion - "

When their fourth period class finished, Yoshino-san approached Yumi, lunchbox in hand.

"I guess you're not coming, after all."

She'd derived the answer upon seeing Yumi's expression.

"Sorry."

"No, I was just checking. Still."

Yoshino-san didn't withdraw immediately, instead she whispered:

"Sachiko-sama's absent today, so she won't be at the Rose Mansion okay?"

"Absent Huh?"

Yumi hadn't known that.

The likelihood of accidentally running into someone from a different class in the vast campus wasn't that big. And for people in different grades, the probability was even lower still.

"Rei-chan told me. During a break, she went to Sachiko-sama's classroom on an errand. That's how."

How she came to know about Sachiko-sama's absence.

"I wonder why."

"Rei-chan said she didn't know."

Recently, Sachiko-sama had frequently been absent or had left to go home early. Perhaps there was something wrong with her health. No, when they'd met yesterday, she hadn't seemed to be in fantastic health, but she didn't look like she was ill either.

"What will you do?"

Yoshino-san asked, once more. Will you go to the Rose Mansion, or not?

"I decided not to go."

"That's true."

Yoshino-san nodded, keeping her promise not to badger Yumi to come to the Rose Mansion.

Going to the Rose Mansion because Sachiko-sama wouldn't be there wasn't something that Yumi could bring herself to do. It would be like she was an adulterous wife's lover, going to visit while the husband was away. That sort of sneaking around was deplorable.

If she was going to go to the Rose Mansion, it was better to do so when Sachiko-sama was there.

If she couldn't walk in there with her head held high and her chest out, it was better not to go at all.

After Yoshino-san had exited the classroom, three classmates took her place, surrounding Yumi.

"Yumi-san, if you'd like, why don't you accompany us to Milk Hall?"

"Huh?"

Hearing this sudden proposal, a jolt of tension ran through her.

"Please, if you're not going to the Rose Mansion."

"We were just thinking we'd like to get to know you better, Yumi-san."

The common trait among the three of them may well have been that their second-year of high-school was the first time they'd been in the same class as Yumi. They'd been in the same class for about two months now, but Yumi hadn't really talked to them all that much.

"What do you say? Let's go together. Misa-san went ahead to reserve five seats for us."

Misa-san was the name of another classmate that Yumi had had very little contact with.

"Well, since you've gone to all that trouble."

It would be a shame to waste those seats, so Yumi left the classroom with the girls who had invited her. Milk Hall was a cafeteria and dining hall, so it could also be used by students who brought their lunch.

As they walked through the halls, they talked about their impressions of their fourth period class, magazine reports on natural cosmetics targeted at teens, and who they liked from the latest pop bands.

The Yamayurikai wasn't mentioned at all. Perhaps sensing the true cause, the question "Why aren't you going to the Rose Mansion?" never came up.

"Did you see that new sunscreen lotion ad? I heard the model in the swimsuit's the same age as us."

The topic of conversation soon changed. It was bewildering, like flipping pages in a magazine.

Perhaps this was how she would have spent her days if she hadn't become Sachiko-sama's petit soeur. That thought floated into Yumi's mind as she listened to the conversation. With that assumption, the way she drifted along was pleasant enough.

"Then Miitan started sulking, and it turned into such a drama."

"Ah, Miitan is Satoe-san's cat."

"She's a Persian-Japanese mix. Satoe-san showed us a picture a while ago, and she's sooo cute."

This was probably a regular topic of conversation, so the explanation wasn't necessary between the friends. Her kind classmates had provided this commentary for her sake. This consideration made Yumi happy. But on the other hand, it was also something she felt she had to apologize for.

Because she'd caused the conversation to pause momentarily.

As a guest, she'd feel more at ease if the conversation progressed at its usual break-neck pace. But she couldn't say that. There was the question of whether it would be interpreted correctly.

Therefore she obediently chimed-in to the conversation.

"Next time you bring one, could you show me a picture of Mii-chan too?"

"Yumi-san. It's not Mii-chan, it's Miitan."

"Ah, oh no. My apologies."

Yumi smiled as she walked down the corridor. It seemed unbelievable even to herself, but she was indeed smiling.

She didn't know what was so amusing.

But the silly chatter made Yumi smile. She wasn't smiling in her heart, it was only on the surface of her face.

Because that was more comfortable.

Perhaps it would stick, and bring comfort to her heart.

After they'd left the school building, when Milk Hall came into view, she caught sight of someone she knew walking along the path in the opposite direction.

The girl was headed her way, chatting to what looked like a couple of her classmates. Trademark vertical curls on both sides of her head. Probably heading back to her classroom after buying something from Milk Hall. A strawberry milk carton held in her hand.

As they reached point-blank range, Yumi's heart was engulfed in a storm of emotions, but she kept a calm facade, smiling and responding to her classmates' conversation appropriately.

This was to convey that Yumi was unconcerned. That when she looked at Touko-chan's face, she could do so serenely.

It was, ultimately, a display.

This matter didn't concern Touko-chan, it was between herself and Sachiko-sama. Even though Yumi accepted this, that wasn't all there was to it. Because when the person who started it all was right in front of her, she couldn't help but think bad thoughts about her.

"Despicable."

As they crossed paths, Touko-chan said this loud enough that Yumi's group could hear.

Even though she should have ignored it, Yumi turned around. To question why she felt that she had to say this. The rebuttal she wanted to say was, "You're the one stealing my onee-sama."

When she turned around, Touko-chan was standing right there, waiting for her.

"I misjudged you, Yumi-sama."

Yumi had no idea why Touko-chan was acting so boldly. The strength of her gaze made Yumi want to turn away, but she managed to hold on, just. If she looked away, she'd have lost. She wasn't exactly sure what contest they were having, but, at the very least, she recognized the scornful words that had been directed at her.

"You have no right to say something like that."

Yumi wasn't used to arguing. Consequently, those were the only words that she could squeeze out.

"Even if I don't have the right, I'll say what I want to say."

One of Touko-chan's companions said, "Hold on now," grabbed her arm and started to pull Touko-chan away. A first-year student was picking a fight with one of her seniors, so the correct course of action for her friends was to put a stop to it.

"Let's go, Yumi-san."

After there was some distance between them, thanks to Touko-chan's friend dragging her away, Yumi's classmates decided it was best to take her to Milk Hall. It was like they were two dogs, growling at each other, and being separated by their owners.

"If you've got some objection, it's better to speak out. If there's something you want to say, go ahead and say it."

Touko-chan was still barking.

"How can you look away from something so serious and laugh like a ditz?"

"D ditz?"

Hearing these unexpected words sapped Yumi of her strength. Even if Touko-chan was looking to stir up trouble, saying 'ditz' was being too cruel.

"Just as I thought, Yumi-sama's not suitable for Sachiko-sama."

In the end, Touko-chan's mouth was muzzled by her classmates, and they marched her back to the high-school building.

"The nerve of that kid."

It looked like even Yumi's classmates had been affected by Touko-chan's bile.

"Yumi-san, are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine."

Despite what she said, the truth was that she wasn't fine.

Ditz though she may be, Touko-chan's words had pierced her heart and remained lodged in there even after she'd finished eating her lunch.

"So is the Red Rose Revolution happening, or not?"

"What's that?"

After school, as Yumi was making her way out, Yamaguchi Mami-san pulled her back into the classroom, saying, "Five minutes, please." There were still a lot of their classmates around as Yumi was taken to the back of the classroom, and made to sit down in a seat near the window.

"The word is, you and Miss Matsudaira Touko came to blows today at lunchtime."

"That's a bit of an exaggeration."

Yumi laughed. Had she been testing to see who would believe this rumor? Mami-san was the petit soeur of the newspaper club's president, and the current chief editor of the Lillian Kawaraban, the school's newspaper.

Spinning a mechanical pencil around her fingertips, Mami-san smiled.

"Yeah. I heard the other side of the story from a couple of our classmates, so I know it wasn't anything more than words. However - "

"However?"

"The rumor's spreading fast. It took about two hours to reach me, and by that time it had been embellished to the point where Rosa Chinensis en bouton received an open-handed slap from a younger student."

So it took two hours for Mami-san to catch hold of the rumor. Which meant her classmates hadn't gone directly to the newspaper club to spill the gossip.

The path to Milk Hall was at peak capacity during lunch break, so it may have been one of the students coming and going.

Those watching at a distance may have passed the word around, each adding their own speculation, and after two hours it had reached a 'truth' unknown to the people actually involved.

"There was a note going around in class that said the same thing, so it looks like the embellishment has stuck."

"Is that so?"

Which would account for the speed with which the rumor spread, given that it had really only been a short time since lunch. On top of that, it was a juicy bit of gossip.

But even so, a slap. What an incredible rumor.

"Another piece of gossip I heard from a different source said that Matsudaira Touko had stolen Yumi-san's rosary."

"Uhh "

Yumi thought there may have been a bit of truth to that rumor. Last year's "Lillian Kawaraban" had printed articles solely like those from a weekly gossip mag, so there was a bit of an immunity. But how much of these rumors would everyone believe?

"On top of that right, right. I've heard others like Sachiko-sama's two-timing, that kind of thing."

"Huh."

Hearing the phrase 'two-timing,' Yumi momentarily stiffened. Warning, warning, these were simply examples. She was talking to the extremely perceptive Mami-san. The newspaper club's star reporter. She had to make sure she wasn't tricked by the casual tone of their conversation into letting something slip out of her mouth.

Whether Mami-san noticed that tremor or not, she peered intently at Yumi's face.

"You'd better be careful. The general public is scary."

"S scary?"

Yumi thought that she was probably just saying this for dramatic effect. Although it may not have been a good example, Mami-san was probably the type of person who was good at telling ghost stories.

"Would you like me to lend a hand?"

This was the real question, and while she didn't say it, Mami-san's eyes blazed brightly.

"A hand?"

"An exclusive interview with Fukuzawa Yumi, printed in the Lillian Kawaraban."

"So that's what this is about?"

"That's what this is about."

If the person involved told the full story, all the useless embellishments would probably disappear, once and for all.

Gossip spread because of people's desire to know what happened, so if the truth was exposed in broad daylight, then the desire would be satisfied and it would recede from people's minds, like an ebbing tide.

"Thank-you, but I'll pass."

Yumi definitively rejected the offer to "lend a hand." Mami-san responded with a cocked eyebrow and a question:

"You don't have faith in what I'd write?"

"That's not it. This time around, I want to handle it myself, one way or the other."

"Will you be able to, one way or the other?"

"Even if I can't, it's okay. People will lose interest in the rumor sooner or later. You know what they say, "Gossip only lasts one season.""

"And summer vacation is coming soon, right?"

"Exactly."

Yumi smiled too. She didn't know if she'd be able to handle this herself, but she felt it was something she had to do.

Her remaining classmates left the classrooms in ones and twos, saying, "Gokigenyou," as they went.

Yoshino-san had left for club activities a long time ago.

Inadvertently, she thought of the Rose Mansion. At that moment, it was probably just Shimako-san and Noriko-chan sitting around the large table on the second floor, silently doing paperwork.

The thought, "I want to go and help," floated through her mind, and Yumi shook her head violently, to throw it off. She'd already made her decision not to go. She couldn't cling on to this lingering affection.

"If people only know a part of the story, they'll just fill in the part they don't know themselves."

Mami-san remained seated, and stretched upwards with both hands. Five minutes had already elapsed, but Yumi was in no hurry to go home, so she stayed chatting.

"For instance, take a look at Yumi-san from my point of view."

Returning her gaze, Mami-san started scribbling something in her report pad.

"A fight with Matsudaira Touko. Recently, for some reason, she's been avoiding the Rose Mansion. And yesterday, in front of the school gate, she was absolutely drenched."

As expected, she'd caught wind of yesterday's events. And since she'd stated it so confidently, it meant she wasn't treating it as a rumor, so she must have got her hands on some firm evidence.

"That's only three data points. But on the other hand, those three are plenty stimulating. Enough to get the imagination firing."

'Quarrel,' 'Rose Mansion,' 'Drenched.' Mami-san drew curves between the three scrawled phrases, making a rounded triangle.

"The point is, the subject of all three is the same. I'm free to imagine how they're all linked together. In truth, it could be a wavy line, or it could be a dotted line. Or perhaps they're completely unrelated."

"Unrelated?"

"There's no connection between them, they're just interesting things happening at roughly the same time. Well, normally you'd call that a coincidence."

"Yeah, right."

Yumi snorted.

The argument with Touko-chan, the circumstances around her not going to the Rose Mansion, and getting drenched in front of the school gate despite having an umbrella - as if they would all be just a coincidence. Was that really something Mami-san would think?

"But, see, I don't know the truth about this. The only one that does know is you, Yumi-san."

Ahh, was that it? There may have been but one truth, but only the person involved could discern it. People had to rely on their imagination to provide the missing part.

"Then on top of that, add in Rosa Chiensis' absence."

Indeed. While Yumi thought that it was completely unrelated to her, the fact of Rosa Chinensis' absence had been added in like it was all one scene of a movie.

"Why is she absent?"

Mami-san asked.

"I don't know."

Yumi answered, not looking away.

"You're her petit soeur, right?"

"There's things even petit soeurs don't know. You said it yourself, just before, right? For me, the reason for my onee-sama's absence is one of those 'parts I don't know.'"

"Hmm, you've got me there. Alright then, a personal question. What happened to your rosary, Yumi-san?"

"My rosary?"

"When we were getting changed, it wasn't hanging around your neck."

Sharp eye. Which meant Yumi shouldn't let her guard down, even in the changing rooms.

"No comment."

Yumi stood up from her seat, running away from the question. Mami-san remained seated, looked up at Yumi and smiled.

"Smart move. Better to stay silent than to open your mouth and say something poorly."

"You're going to make that into an article?"

"I can't just yet. But when I do, I'll let you see the final draft before it's printed."

"Okay."

That was the type of person that Mami-san was. Which was why Yumi could chat with her like this. She wouldn't just print their conversation in the Lillian Kawaraban. But having said that, Mami-san could be quite persuasive, so it was better not to blurt out something carelessly.

After returning to her own desk and picking up her school bag, Yumi heard Mami-san mumbling behind her, as if talking to herself.

"It's just something I want to know. What's going on with Yumi-san this time around?"

"You can tell that something's going on?"

Yumi turned around and asked.

"I can. But I don't know what."

Mami-san scribbled letters and diagrams on her report pad. All this was focused on the unknown parts, Yumi herself remained largely unchanged.

However.

During her conversation with Mami-san, there had definitely been moments when it felt like some kind of hint was coming into view, and then going back into hiding.