13Sachiko closed the door to the Rose Mansion gently behind her and leaned against it heavily. A strong sense of calm filled the space around her, and she released a soft sigh when it eased the tension from her shoulders. As if on instinct her body pushed off the door and travelled up the stairs to the second landing. Upon reaching a familiar biscuit colored door, she paused and her eyes fell shut of their own accord. Her head tilted slightly towards it, and she listened carefully, waiting to hear the light chatter of familiar voices on the other side.
Silence.
Sachiko chuckled quietly to herself as she stepped through the door and entered the empty room. She didn't know what compelled her to do that. She no longer knew of anyone who still attended Lilian. The Yamayurikai that she had been a part of had long since graduated from this place, giving way to the next generation of students, and many more after that. Everyone she knew had moved on with their lives, and were far removed from the bonds that tied them here. Everyone except for Sachiko herself.
A frown dragged down the corners of her lips at the thought.
With a sigh, she ignored the wistful feeling that gathered in her chest and reached into her coat to pull out an old print of one of Lilian's newspapers. After the paper was secured in her hands she lifted her gaze and allowed it to travel slowly across the empty room. She was surprised, pleasantly so, to find that not much had changed since her time as Rosa Chinensis. Her gaze settled onto two chairs at the far end of the table and a wave of nostalgia washed over her. She slowly approached the chair nearest to the door and trailed her hand lightly across the top. A fond smile appeared on her lips as she remembered the girl that often used to sit there. The wistful feeling returned along with a growing wetness in her eyes as she remembered the happy times spent within these walls.
I came here for a reason, she reminded herself as she clutched tighter to the paper in her hand. She needed to let go of everything that tied her to this place. Now was not the time for tears, now was the time to put the past behind her just as everyone else had. With that thought in mind she gathered herself and pulled away from the chair. Instead, she walked over to the center window and opened it, allowing a cool spring breeze to flow into the suddenly stuffy room.
The breeze caressed her face and carried away the tears that had pooled in the corners of her eyes as her gaze instantly dropped down below. Her eyes trailed along the pathway leading from the Rose Mansion, past the line of Gingko trees, and then further out until the pathway curved left and out of sight towards the statue of Maria-sama. She stood there for a long while, staring longingly, as if waiting to catch sight of a girl with ribbons in her hair. This was a habit she developed sometime during her second year of high school, and it was a habit that she found herself easily falling into again. What am I doing? She tore her eyes away from the pathway and instead stared blankly into the late afternoon sky. She was aggravated with herself. She needed to let the past go. Her frustration doubled when her vision blurred and she felt the fresh flow of tears threatening to spill over once again.
"Yumi," she whispered, leaning forward and grasping onto the window sill. Yumi had been gone for 10 years. Her grasp on the window tightened and her knuckles grew white. 10 miserable years. Her eyes glazed over as she briefly remembered the call she received one night from the Fukuzawa household.
Fear gripped her the moment she raised the phone to her ear.
At first, she couldn't tell who was on the other line. The loud sobbing and indiscernible words coming from the receiver made it nearly impossible. It wasn't till the voice cleared enough to call out her name that she realized who it was, and even then she barely recognized it as the younger of the Fukuzawa siblings. It was so thick with emotion that she couldn't make anything of what he was trying to say, and that quickly arose her into a panic.
"Yuuki please!," she begged him. "I can't understand what you're saying. P-please speak clearly so that I may understand what is going on."
Her heart pounded in her chest as she listened to the boy struggle to control his breathing. While she waited for him to gather himself, she sent out a quick prayer to Maria-sama. She prayed that whatever this was, whatever was happening right now, that it had nothing to do with the person Sachiko so desperately wished to be speaking to instead.
Keep her out of this.
Maria-sama please.
Please don't say her name.
Yuuki was taking too long. Fear and anxiety gripped at her so tightly now that she felt the bile rise from her stomach in distress. Sachiko's mouth watered, but she swallowed it back and clutched the receiver tighter with both hands the moment silence settled onto the other line. For a moment the only sound that filled her ears came from the painful beating in her chest. Her eyes searched the room frantically and instantly settled onto a framed picture of Yumi and herself on her night stand. It was a calming habit. Seeing Yumi's face was all she needed to brighten her days, and it never failed to fill her with a warmth that chased all her worries and insecurities away. Even now it helped to slow the beating in her chest. At least enough so that it wasn't so physically painful anymore.
But it seized the moment she heard the boy's next words.
"Sachiko-sama, there was an a-accident."
Her grasp on the phone tightened.
Maria-sama Please.
Sachiko quickly shook herself from the thoughts before they could spiral her deeper into despair. They told her coming here was supposed to be therapeutic, that it would help her move on. Closure was what they called it, and if that was the case, then she must be going about this all wrong, because at this moment she felt as if her heart were being torn away from her all over again.
Everything reminded her of Yumi here, she realized in distress as her heart rate quickened and her breathing grew shallow. This room, the chair, the pathway, even the air in the Rose Mansion reminded her of her Petite Soeur. It was saturated with the scent of freshly brewed tea. The exact kind that Yumi loved to prepare.
Breathing was becoming difficult for Sachiko, and her vision blurred once again. Her other hand reached out to grab onto the windowsill to help steady herself, crushing the paper she held against it. She knew what was coming. She was familiar with the signs of a coming anxiety attack. Normally she was able to take the proper steps to prevent it from worsening, but being here was too much. It was all too much. Suddenly, muffled noises began to bounce around in her head. She harshly covered her ears with both hands, but her stomach sank when despite that, they persisted.
The faint sound of a familiar greeting. The humming of a soft voice. Even the sound of tea being carefully prepared filled the space behind her.
Her hands trembled at the noise.
Her mind was in a frenzy. She couldn't breathe. There was nothing she could do, but to press harder against her ears as the noise continued to pound against her head.
She was on the verge of a breakdown. Coming here was a mistake.
The gentle clink of a teacup snapped her from the chaos in her head, and her body froze at the noise. All at once her vision cleared, and silence fell around her as the whirlwind in her head came to a sudden stop. For a long moment the only sound that filled the room came from her short gasping breaths as she struggled to get her breathing back under control.
That was different, Sachiko thought feverishly, as she lifted her hands away from her ears.
That sound was real, she was certain of it. Her hands fell numbly back down to her sides as she turned, hesitantly, toward the sound.
Her eyes widened slightly as she took in the sight of a lone teacup sitting on the table. The curious thing about it, she immediately noticed, was that it was carefully placed in front of the chair that she often used to sit upon during her time as Rosa Chinensis. That wasn't there before. Sachiko glanced around the room, but quickly found it empty. She was alone. Confused, her eyes once again settled onto the teacup, noting the steam that still rose from it. She regarded it curiously for a moment while she waited for the beating in her chest to return to normal. Her hand rose up and rested on her chest as she took deep steadying breaths. Was she so caught up in her thoughts that she failed to notice another person had come in after her? Sachiko frowned at the thought of someone seeing her in the state that she had been in. Knowing that someone had seen her in a moment of weakness embarrassed her, but if she were to be completely honest with herself, she knew that she should be grateful. The interruption was what she needed to save her from a state of mind that she had hoped to never return to again.
Without a second thought, Sachiko stepped over to the steaming cup and pulled the chair out from under the table. She slowly sat down, placed the now crumpled newspaper on the table, and stared blankly down at the cup of tea before her. This was a familiar sight in Sachiko's mind. A sight she'd seen hundreds of times before. She instinctively reached out and drew the cup into her hands, cradling it close. After a moment's hesitation she tipped the cup back and drank from it slowly, allowing the subtle flavors to fill her senses.
It was perfect.
The familiar taste brought her right back to her high school days.
She took another sip and she was Rosa Chinensis again. Another, and she was surrounded by her closest friends and enjoying the tea prepared by her precious petite soeur. Sachiko smiled. She couldn't help but note that this was, even down to the amount of sweetness, exactly the way that Yumi used to make it. Sachiko felt her body relax at the thought. A content smile graced her lips as she traced the lip of the cup with the tip of her finger, and she stared down absentmindedly into the shimmering surface of her tea.
"I had a feeling you needed that, Onee-sama."
Sachiko's body went rigid and her eyes widened at the voice. Off the clear amber surface of her tea she caught a glimpse of a familiar figure reflected there. Her head immediately snapped up, and her mouth fell open as she took in a sight that she hadn't seen in over ten years.
Smiling brightly before her, dressed in the dark uniform of Lillian Girls Academy, was the teenage form of her Yumi.
Author's Notes:
I missed this fandom so much. Please let me know what you think. I'm open to suggestions on where you think I should take this. Thanks for reading!
