CH 49

“La la la la~♪ la la la!”

I put on clothes while looking at the mirror in my room. I didn’t particularly like them, so I threw them off and tried the next one. I didn’t really have to do that now since the day we planned on was still far in the future, but I was excited. 

“Lady Sakuya, you are in a rather good mood.”

“Aaah!”

Surprised at hearing someone calling my name, I jumped and looked to the side. 

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“Momiji… how long were you standing there…”

Momiji was there picking up and cleaning the clothes I’d thrown away.

“I was here from the very beginning…”

“Xb…”

R bye vyzjle ycswv y zsv sq vbkdtp okvb Fyvpwjk-nbyd. Mbswtb pbl vbswtbv sq xl yp y “qaklde”, R bye vbswtbv vblal olal oyzzp yde ekpvydnl clvolld wp. Mbydjp vs swa nsdhlapyvksd vseyu, vbspl xkpwdelapvydekdtp yde xkpkdvlaralvyvksdp bye hydkpble. Yspv kxrsavydvzu, R bye xyel rzydp vs rzyu okvb bla.

R bye tsdl bsxl, qkdkpble lyvkdt ekddla, yde oyp dso alzymkdt kd xu sod assx. R oyp fwpv rknjkdt obknb nzsvblp vs olya vs ts swv vs rzyu okvb Iyuy-pyd yde qsa obld R oyp tskdt vs rzyu okvb Fyvpwjk-nbyd. R bye vbswtbv R oyp yzsdl kd xu assx, cwv kv zssjle zkjl Ysxkfk oyp vblal okvb xl qasx vbl hlau cltkddkdt. Fbl bye plld xl eskdt vbspl pvwrke vbkdtp…

Xdnl R vbswtbv nyalqwzzu, oypd’v obyv R eke lyazkla jkdey tkazu? Rv oyp ralvvu pnyau qsa xl, y twu, vs cl rknjkdt swv nzsvblp kd qasdv sq y qwzz-zldtvb xkaasa…

Gyyb! R oydvle vs ralvlde kv byed’v byrrldle! Rv’e cl y nsxrzlvlzu ekqqlaldv vbkdt kq ds sdl pyo xl, cwv kv oyp ralvvu lxcyaayppkdt vbyv psxlsdl eke!

“Typ psxlvbkdt tsse byrrldle?”

“Xb~… Zlp, psxlvbkdt byp… R byhl clnsxl tldwkdl qakldep okvb Fyvpwjk-nbyd. R byhl yzps xyel rzydp vs rzyu okvb bla dso, usw pll?”

Mblal oyp ds rskdv kd bkekdt kv yduoyu, ps R pvayktbv wr vsze bla. R oyp vbkdjkdt sq bso R’e prsjld wdalplahlezu okvb Fyvpwjk-nbyd yde ol’e clnsxl qakldep.

“Satsuki-chan is… the daughter of the Saionji family, yes?”

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“Yes. She is Saionji Satsuki.”

Momiji was also a lady from a good family, so she probably knew a lot about high society and the upper class. She should’ve been pretty well-versed with the Saionji family of the Seven Shining families. 

“You are friends with Saionji Satsuki… What was it about making plans to play with each other?”

“Planning to play with each other is planning to play with each other, however… We have not decided what we shall do, but we shall meet before summer break. We have decided the date and time, but what should I do…”

It was good that I was going to play with Satsuki-chan, but I didn’t know what we should do. Maybe invite her to my house? But even if I did that, I couldn’t just have her come over. It was one thing to hold a tea ceremony like when Azami-chan and the others came, but just inviting her to my house probably wouldn’t be interesting, so there was no point. 

But then I didn’t know what we should do. What would upper-class first grade young ladies who attended Touka Academy like to play?

I was also worried when it came to playing with Azami-chan and the others. Maybe we shouldn’t play something that normal kids would…

I thought that the tea ceremony I held with Azami-chan and the others was quite successful. But I couldn’t hold a tea ceremony with Satsuki-chan. I didn’t know if Satsuki-chan wanted to have a tea ceremony, but she knew a lot about those things. 

I had gotten by in the last tea ceremony by saying it was aimed towards beginners, but I couldn’t do the same with Satsuki-chan. She knew a lot about tea and stuff; the deception wouldn’t work on her. I wouldn’t be able to do anything better than the previous ceremony, even when asked. But if I was having the party with Satsuki-chan, maybe I should be more put together…

I thought about what Kaya-san had said about seeing something, but I hadn’t gone to the theatre or anything once. I didn’t know anything about those kinds of things, so I didn’t know what was good or what we should go see. If we did see it together and Satsuki-chan discussed the show after we’d finished watching it, I wouldn’t be able to understand because it was all gibberish to me. She’d probably be taken aback. 

What about the other suggestions Kaya-san had: shopping and eating? I could do that. Sixth graders may enjoy shopping, but what about first graders

I thought that no lower elementary kid in my past life had enjoyed shopping. There were kids who went shopping in high school, but would first-graders really find that fun? I doubted it.

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Eating was, well… we usually ate together in the cafeteria, so it was too late to think about manners and etiquette. Maybe we should go out and eat together after all?

“Momiji, what did you play when you were in first grade?”

“Me…?”

Momiji’s expression had turned dark for a second. But that really was for a second; there wasn’t a form nor shadow of her previous expression the next. Was I mistaken?

“I do not remember…”

“I see. I am sorry for asking you a strange question. You can retire for today.”

I said that to Momiji, who was clearly acting strangely. I wouldn’t be able to touch on the topic anymore. Momiji would clearly reject any of my attempts. That was why I’d ended it and asked her to stand down. 

“Then, excuse me.”

“Yes. Good night, Momiji.”

Momiji exited, acting the same and saying the same words. That made me feel a little too lonely.

～～～～～～～

“Greetings, Satsuki-chan.”

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“Greetings.”

Satsuki-chan arrived at school earlier than me this morning too. She always did, so I wasn’t surprised. I would be surprised if Satsuki-chan arrived later, but her arriving early was an everyday occurrence.

“Today I shall invite Azami-chan and the others for lunch; would you like to eat with us?”

I wanted us to have a conversation yesterday, so we ate lunch together and went to the salon right after we’d finished eating. Today, though, I was wondering how it’d turn out if I ate lunch with her and everyone else, so I thought about inviting them.

In terms of groups, Satsuki-chan’s group and Azami-chan’s group weren’t on good terms. But Satsuki-chan and Azami-chan themselves were. There were times when Satsuki-chan had eaten lunch with me and Azami-chan’s group. It shouldn’t have been completely forbidden, so…

“…my apologies. I must ask not to be present today.”

“Oh…I am sorry…”

I was rejected. Did she have something to do? Well, there were days like that. I guessed people used to socialising had techniques like making plans and saying “Then, let’s go together tomorrow” with someone, but for me lacking interpersonal skills, I couldn’t say that immediately. I thought of inviting her tomorrow and obediently returned to my seat.

“Morning!”

“Azami-sama, good morning.”

“Azami-chan, morning.”

“Greetings.”

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An energetic Azami-chan entered the classroom and greeted everyone. She received replies from here and there. It was like I was observing Azami-chan’s popularity.

“Good morning, Sakuya-sama.”

“Azami-chan, greetings.”

She went in front of me and deeply bowed her head. I was used to it already, but… now that I thought of it, wouldn’t this really make you think I was bullying Azami-chan? Well, it was too late now, but…

With this and that happening, lessons progressed as usual today.

～～～～～～～

After school, Azami-chan, Satsuki-chan and I headed towards the Five Norths Association salon. Satsuki-chan wasn’t in the cafeteria at lunch today. I didn’t know where she was or what she was doing. I ate lunch with Azami-chan’s group, as had become standard recently. 

Since Satsuki-chan rejected me in the morning, I looked around for her, wondering if she was doing something, but couldn’t find her. Maybe she was eating somewhere else or had gone somewhere. Touka Academy was a school that didn’t mind if students took lunch outside. You couldn’t go outside without permission, but you could eat outside if a car picked you up.

This was a school that upper-class kids attended, so maybe those kids were having lunch outside with their parents. There must’ve been various reasons why. Maybe it was someone’s birthday, or maybe their parents were too busy to see them outside of lunch; I could think of multiple different things. That was why they could go out to eat as long as they were picked up and dropped off and they informed the school why. 

Satsuki-chan, Azami-chan and the others, and I had all been eating lunch in the cafeteria, but times like that would probably come up. Maybe we’d be invited to have lunch outside with our parents and grandparents, or bring a packed lunch and go eat somewhere. We could eat a packed lunch in the cafeteria, but we could also go to the courtyard and have a picnic there.

Maybe I should try eating somewhere that’s not the cafeteria sometimes? The cafeteria menu was so extravagant that I couldn’t imagine elementary schoolers eating it and the cafeteria at school was so unimaginably beautiful, but I did get used to it from eating in the cafeteria every day. I had just started school and not much time had passed, so maybe it was too early to get used to it. I’d actually gotten tired of the daily feasts. 

While I was thinking that, we arrived at the salon and went our separate ways as usual. We arrived together, but split up the moment we entered. I then sat in the back with Kaya-san like usual. Azami-chan came up to us; I wondered if she was freed from her faction.

“*sigh*~… being social is tiring.”

“Haha…”

I could only let out a dry laugh in response to Azami-chan’s words. That absolutely wasn’t something a first grader would say… I was reminded that this upper class society wasn’t something I was used to at all.

“Right… Azami-chan, what do you do when you play with your friends?”

“Huh! Me? When playing with friends, or rather, with you, Sakuya-sama, it would be enough to be taken to your room, see it, and converse with you. Rather, I would like to do that! I want to enter your room, big sister Sakuya! No one can enter before me! I want to be the first one invited inside your room, big sister Sakuya!”

“Hang on! You’re close! You are quite close!”

At my words, Azami-chan got down from her seat, clutched the armrest of my chair and my arm so I couldn’t let go, and looked up at me. She was really near me, gripping me really tightly, looking up at me with teary eyes, and running her mouth with things that’d be pretty scary if other people heard, you know? Maybe I was imagining it… no, I wasn’t.

“I will permit you being the first to enter Sakuya-chan’s room. Then, I shall be the second to be invited in, yes?”

“No, uh… Kaya-san?

“Second, yes?”

“*whimper*…”

Scary… Kaya-san was smiling, but her eyes didn’t look happy at all. Why did she want to enter my room or something? I didn’t get it. 

But I could understand something. Azami-chan had said that just talking was okay. I could understand something from that. Relying on my memories of my past life, I had the idea that girls really liked talking. I also had the idea that they’d talk for a while without doing anything else to kill time. 

Of course, I hadn’t entered their circles, so that was something based on various information and impressions. But from what Azami-chan said and Kaya-san’s response, I knew that I definitely wasn’t mistaken. Well, I was a guy, so I did have stupid conversations with my other guy friends without doing anything else just to kill time. It wasn’t something completely impossible. 

Maybe I was overthinking a little. The play-watching, shopping, and eating that Kaya-san had mentioned were ultimately for being with the other person and talking about something with them. We could watch something together and talk about it, talk about products while shopping, and talk about the taste of the food or something while eating…

In the end, it all created common experiences which could then be a topic of conversation. That was what they meant when they said I didn’t have to overthink and could just be with them and do something together.

I had been thinking about whether first graders enjoyed shopping, but that in itself was meaningless. We could just go to shops together and talk about trifling things like if these clothes were cute, if those accessories were cute, and if this looked good or didn’t. If we just did that, maybe going out somewhere and shopping wasn’t that hard.

“Thanks to you both, I have come to understand slightly.”

“…”

Hearing my words, Kaya-san and Azami-chan looked at each other. Then, they opened their mouths.

“Then… I wonder which girl you are trying to charm now, Sakuya-chan?”

“I will be the first to enter Sakuya-chan’s room! Let us play together again! I want to play in your room, big sister Sakuya!”

“No, um…”

I thought I was ending on a good note, but those somewhat terrifying people pressed me, so I couldn’t really end it…