by Sean Gaffney
Author's Notes: This takes place the day after my prompt #34 fic.
Tsutako glided through the campus, fairly oblivious to the others around her. She had her camera, of course, but was not even looking for opportune photos. For those who knew her well, it was a stunning image.
One who knew her reasonably well now moved to stand in front of her. "Tsutako-san."
Tsutako startled, but managed to keep her composure. "Rosa Chinensis. Please excuse me, I was thinking about something else."
A smile briefly crossed Sachiko's face. "So I hear. My congratulations to you and your imouto"
Tsutako blushed faintly. "Thank you." She then squared her shoulders and tried to get back into character. "Is there something you need me for?" She unconsciously reached for her camera.
But Sachiko was shaking her head. "No photography this time. Please follow me."
Tsutako intrigued, followed the Rosa to an out of the way corner of campus, and into the Drama building, which wasn't in use today as the students were resting after a major production. Sachiko motioned that Tsutako should look inside.
Curiouser and curiouser, Tsutako thought as she silently peered into the building.
And suddenly things made sense, as sitting on the edge of the stage was Yumi, looking like her cat died. She was staring at her hands in misery, and the whole effect made Tsutako want to run up and hug her. Tsutako resisted, having become accustomed to this sort of feeling in regards to Yumi. Yumi inspired sympathy from everyone around her.
Except, it would seem, Matsudaira Touko.
She drew back and looked at Sachiko. "Why are you bringing this to me? You're Yumi's oneesama."
Sachiko's eyes flickered over to Yumi, and there was a brief pained flash. Tsutako regretted speaking almost instantly.
"It's an oneesama's duty to know her own faults and weaknesses. Something you'll eventually learn, Tsutako-san. And right now I'm not the best person to talk to Yumi. She... she needs to talk to you."
Tsutako felt like she was intruding. She bowed. "Of course I'll help Yumi."
Sachiko smiled. "Thank you." And then she turned and walked slowly back towards the center of campus.
Tsutako watched her go, then breathed out harshly. Even after all this time, Sachiko still made her feel like a small little mouse being stalked by a hawk. Which was especially annoying to someone who was accustomed to being the hawk.
She then turned and quietly opened the door to the theatre. Yumi, somewhat surprisingly, looked up immediately, and started to get to her feet.
She must be ready to run, Tsutako thought. "It's me," she called out, trying to appear non-threatening and keeping her hands behind her head, away from her camera (the position most students felt signified non-threatening in one as voracious for photos as Tsutako).
Yumi took a few steps, and for a moment Tsutako thought she would run anyway, but then she sighed and sank down onto the floor, leaning against the bottom of the stage. Her uniform was absolutely filthy, covered in dust and grime from the stage. If Sachiko were here, Tsutako mused, she'd never be able to stop herself remonstrating Yumi for that.
Tsutako, less worried about such things since she did not have an oneesama of her own, flopped down next to Yumi. "All right, tell me exactly how it went."
Yumi didn't speak.
Tsutako sighed. She preferred Yumi from last year, where it was so much easier to get her to confess everything. Sachiko had clearly been a bad influence, making Yumi more reticent.
"Is this a case where you don't know what you did wrong, or where you do and are cursing yourself for it?"
"I'm such an IDIOT!"
Tsutako nodded. "The latter. Why are you an idiot?"
More silence. Tsutako repressed her urge to try to draw it out of Yumi. Sometimes silence was best.
"You remember when we first went into the Yamayurikai building? And Sachiko asked me to be her soeur?"
Tsutako nodded. "Of course."
"And you remember I turned her down?"
"Indeed. Quite impetuous of you, I remember thinking at the time."
Yumi was finally on a roll. "I remember thinking that I didn't want her to pick me like that. Because I was convenient. That I had more pride than that."
Tsutako sighed. "Yumi, you are retelling one of the most popular tales in all Lillian. Why?"
"Given all that, you wouldn't think that I would be so colossally foolish as to do the exact same thing when I chose a petit soeur, do you?"
"I don't understand," Tsutako said. 'You're certainly not choosing Touko-chan because she's convenient."
Yumi sighed. "Touko discovered that I knew she was being shunned. She thought I was choosing her just because of that."
Tsutako knew that Yumi would not be holed up in a dark corner of campus for just that. "Are you?"
"No! ...not just that. But she asked if it was even a little part of it, and it is! If she was my soeur, they wouldn't dare treat her the way they do now!"
Tsutako sighed. Yumi had grown immensely since Sachiko had chosen her, but some days she still seemed to know nothing. "That's true, they wouldn't treat her the way they did."
Yumi nodded fiercely.
"But they'd still feel the same way. It's just now they'd be too scared to act on it."
Yumi started to nod again, then stopped. "What?"
"Yumi, the reason they're angry with Touko is both because they think she caused you pain when you and Sachiko fell out, and also because after that you didn't get mad at her. In fact, you were all over her. Fixing her drama club stuff, going to her festival booth, and she's still helping at the Yamayurikai. They all think she was never punished for what she did."
"But they're wrong! It wasn't Touko's fault, it was mine!"
And Sachiko's, Tsutako added but didn't say out loud. The last thing she wanted to do was go back to those dark days. "The point is, making Touko your soeur would stop them from ostracizing her, but it wouldn't make them any more likely to be her friend. If anything, it'd make it worse."
Yumi put her head in her hands. She was on the verge of tears. Tsutako thought fast.
"Yumi, when you turned down Sachiko, what did she do?"
Yumi looked up. "Um... she..."
"Did she get upset, realizing she'd screwed up, and went off to a dark corner to be miserable?"
A little bit of the famous Yumi pout appeared. "You don't have to put it so bluntly."
"What she did was she said that by the end of the week, she'd make you take her rosary. And then she kept at it, not giving up."
Yumi shook her head. "But I was a pushover! Touko-chan's nothing like me."
Tsutako laughed. "If I was to choose a perfect soeur for the Red Roses, without knowing any of your past with Sachiko or with Touko, I'd still choose her to be your soeur. Yumi, the three of you are easily the most stubborn Rose group of the entire Yamayurikai. And considering Yoshino-san is in the Yellow Rosas, that says a lot. You say Touko's not a pushover because she rejected you, forgetting that for the past three months you've done nothing but wrap her around your little finger, getting her to do whatever you wanted, without even realizing it."
She slowly ground to a halt, noting by Yumi's open-mouthed expression that she was starting to get the picture.
"I personally think you're much better at doing things when you don't plan them beforehand. Handling Touko comes naturally to you. But this, this big public thing... it was a mistake."
Yumi sighed, then put on a big pout. Tsutako turned away, not wanting to get sucked into it. "If that's the case, then why didn't you tell me this last night when we were buying rosaries?"
Tsutako started guiltily. "I..." She rubbed her nose. 'I had my mind on other things. I'm sorry."
Yumi smiled for the first time since Tsutako had arrived, and moved a hand inside her skirt pocket. "That went better than mine, I take it?"
Tsutako smiled, almost involuntarily. "It was wonderful," she whispered, thinking back to Shouko's ecstatic face.
Her reverie was interrupted by the one sound she knew better than any other. A shutter click. She looked up to see Yumi pointing a pocket camera at her, smiling.
"I bought this last night in anticipation of you looking like that. I'm going to give it to the third-years at the photo club for their exhibition. The feared Takeshima Tsutako-san, lost in happy reverie as she thinks of her new petit soeur..."
"Give me that," Tsutako said, making a grab for the camera, but Yumi was too fast.
Yumi grinned for a few moments more, then her face turned serious. "It's all very well to say 'Just keep trying to make Touko your petit soeur until she gives in', but things aren't as simple as that."
Tsutako shrugged. "Your job is pretty easy. Just show her that it doesn't matter what your initial stated reason is for giving her your rosary, your real reason is that you want her to have it. That's more important than any popularity problems."
Yumi beamed. "Can't I just have you talk to her like that?"
Tsutako batted Yumi lightly on the head. "Don't try to weasel out of your duties as an oneesama. Besides, I only do this sort of thing for you. If you want someone to go and counsel Touko, get Noriko-chan to do it."
Yumi sighed and nodded. "This is going to be hard."
"If you want it to be easy, you could just select any one of the hundred or so girls who'd fall all over themselves to take your rosary. You don't want easy. You want Touko. Right?"
"Right," Yumi said, looking more determined. She then smiled at Tsutako. "Thanks."
Tsutako thought of telling her to thank Sachiko, but then stopped herself. If Sachiko wanted to be the unknown guiding hand, well, that was her own business.
Come on," she said, helping Yumi up and starting to brush the worst of the dirt off her uniform. "You can't go back out there looking like that. And I'll bet you haven't eaten at all today, either."
Yumi looked down. "Aaaaah! I wasn't even thinking!"
Tsutako thought Satou Sei should have been here to enjoy the expression on Yumi's face, as amusing as it was. "We'll stop by the toilet."
Yumi nodded. "And don't think you'll get away from not telling me how it went with Shouko. I want every detail. Every last one!"
Tsutako laughed. "I promise I will reveal all. At least I don't have to worry about Mami the way you do, since I'm not in the Yamayurikai."
Yumi stopped walking. "Aaaah! Oh god, the news must be all over campus! What do I do?"
Tsutako laughed again, and grabbed Yumi's hand as she took her away from the darkness of the theatre and back into the sunlight.