The third semester passed by in no time at all, and the farewell season was approaching. Right… it was the sixth-graders’ graduation.
Current students weren’t participating except for fifth-graders and some representatives. My brother was graduating, but that didn’t mean that my whole family would be attending. My parents were attending the graduating ceremony, but I was only going to go greet him after the graduation ceremony.
The ceremony hadn’t ended yet, but I was heading to Touka Academy a little earlier.
I remembered a lot of things. There was a mountain of problems that weren’t resolved yet. Quite a lot of things had happened: meeting Ibuki and Enju, meeting Azami-chan and Satsuki-chan.
That had happened when I met Azami-chan in my debut to high society… and because of that opportunity, we became closer… I slowly got closer to the girls in Azami-chan’s group, and Satsuki-chan was included in that group too…
I had a hard time at the sports festival and the series of events that happened afterwards, but… it seemed like a sluggish year where so many things happened, but when looking back, it had happened in the blink of an eye.
I wasn’t the one who was graduating, but just the fact that it was graduation season made me think about that.
The people who were graduating this year and who I was close to were my brother Yoshizane-kun, Hirohata Mizuki, and most especially… Oogimachisanjou Kaya-san…
The other sixth-graders I didn’t know were all graduating, and there were some graduating students who came to the salon. But those close to me were those three. Within them, Kaya-san was the one who always saved me during those hard times. At first she viewed me as an enemy, but in no time at all we became quite close.
I would be lonely when Kaya-san graduated and left, but this was a celebratory departure, so I wanted to send her off with a smile.
I walked in the academy I had enrolled in a year ago and walked the same route to the auditorium that I did during the entrance ceremony. I knew that other people were graduating, but memories were revived as if I myself was graduating.
It was a good year… a lot of things had happened, but looking back on it, I could only come up with good memories. I didn’t care about people I didn’t know or hadn’t seen. I was blessed with people. Thanks to that, I had a good school year. It was one of my benefactors, Kaya-san’s, graduation… That was a good thing, so…
As I walked in the schoolyard and headed towards the auditorium, I could hear it getting noisier. It looked like the ceremony was ending and the graduating students were emerging. I stood to the side so I wouldn’t be in anyone’s way and looked for a certain person.
“――oh! *sniff sniff*! That is Sakuya-chan’s smell! Sakuya-chan! Sakuya-chaaaan!”
I heard Kaya-san’s voice from far away. Maybe she had seen me from afar? I didn’t know where she was.
Well, it was going to be impossible to find one person out of the many loud graduating students. The difficulty level between that and finding me, who was walking alone to the auditorium, was very different. I was horrible at finding that guy with a red-and-white striped shirt who was holding a stick. I wasn’t suited for those things.
“Sakuya-chaaaaan!!!”
“Guh!?”
Pushing through the crowd, no, mowing over them (?), Kaya-san ran up to me and gave me a tight hug. It was being crushed! My face was being crushed!
“Noooooo! I don’t want to graduateeeee! I don’t want to be away from you, Sakuya-chaaaaan!”
“*cough*, *cough*! *cough*!”
My face was being crushed. I wanted to tap out and declare that I gave up, but I couldn’t take my distance.
“That’s right! I’ll repeat years! I’ll repeat four years and graduate with Sakuya-chan!”
“Dy… dying…”
While my consciousness was fading, the calm part of me remarked that “You can’t repeat years in elementary”.
～～～～～～～
I managed not to die and faced Kaya-san. My brother and parents were approaching.
“Sakuya, you came too? Thanks.”
“No…”
Ever since the Takatsukasa family’s party, my brother and I had become somewhat awkward. But that was just the case for me; my brother talked to me like normal. But I felt that he was acting too transparent.
Or maybe my brother really didn’t mind. Maybe he thought that it wasn’t something to care about in the first place. But from my perspective, it was somethign quite important. Even so, my brother acted the same as before, and I thought it was suspicious that he was acting the exact same.
Maybe his behaviour was just a false pretense? Maybe it was just put-on? That was why he still acted the same despite what had happened. Because if that wasn’t how he really felt and was just put on, then… it couldn’t be helped that I thought that.
If I looked at it from another perspective, there was of course the possibility that my brother really felt like this and thought nothing of it. But…
I must’ve been a skeptical jerk. I was definitely a jerk who didn’t trust people easily. That was why I was still hung up with what happened with my brother and Momiji… My brother was honestly, purely, and clearly treating me as his younger sister, but…
He was also graduating from Touka Academy’s elementary division. From now on, he’d be in middle school. He was still in the same grounds, so he wasn’t going that far away, but our chances of meeting would still decrease. That was why today was a celebratory departure. For today… let’s forget my ill feeligns towards him and give him a smile.
“Congratulations on graduating, brother.”
“Oh, thanks.”
He smiled and patted my head. As expected… maybe my brother didn’t mind at all. Was I the only one who was being too stiff?
“No! I don’t want to graduateeeee! I want to be with you, Sakuya-chaaan!”
“Kaya-san… it hurts…”
She squeezed me in a hug again. I didn’t want to meet this fate again, but… when I thought about how long my neck would be strangled, I twitched.
“Kaya-san… congratulations on graduating as well.”
“Oh! Yes! Then let’s do this! Sakuya-chan, graduate with me and enter middle school! Okay? That should be good, right? Skip grades!”
I seperated a little from Kaya-san and she said that. There was no problem with my academics, but I didn’t think a system like that existed. No matter how hard I worked, I’d separate from Kaya-san.
“Kaya-san… if there is a meeting, there must be a farewell too. But this is not our last farewell, correct? We can meet again anytime. That is why… that is why…”
My eyes started getting watery. No. I couldn’t cry. I should smile at a celebratory departure, right? So…
“Hey, Sakuya-chan. You’re not going to congratulate me?”
“Hirohata-sama…”
Then, Mizuki suddenly appeared. I controlled my urge to cry.
“Congratulations on graduating too, Hirohata-sama.”
“Thanks.”
I said that and he rested his hand on top of my head. That was quite a familiar action. You couldn’t place your hand on an unmarried woman’s head like that. As expected, that was only something that a playboy could do. If Mizuki wasn’t good-looking, this would be called stalking or s*xual harassment, but because he was handsome it was all forgiven.
Well, thanks to Mizuki, my eyes didn’t get more watery. I was thankful just for that. Maybe he came in aiming for that specific time, but… he was really a shrewd man.
“Mizuki! I’ve come!”
“Geh…”
Once hearing a voice I hated, I turned around and…
“Greetings, Konoe-sama… Takatsukasa-sama…”
“Hey! Sakuya!”
“Good morning, Kujou-san.”
For some reason… well, I couldn’t say that. Ibuki, Mizuki, and Enju seemed to be in a romantic relationship, so there was nothing strange about them attending Mizuki’s graduation ceremony.
The surroundings started to get louder. Of course they would. The Konoe, Takatsukasa and Kujou families, who were all part of the Five Norths families, had gathered. There were even rumours of the Konoe and Kujou engagement. Those people were gathering. We were victims to those gossipers who loved rumours.
“Graduating students have to go back to their classrooms again, so see you later.”
“Yes.”
“Sakuya-chaaaan!”
“Kaya-san, I’ll see you later too.”
It looked like the ceremony hadn’t ended yet. I didn’t know the progression or schedule of the graduation ceremony, but they probably had a lot of things to do once they’d returned to the classroom. This was the last time…
“Definitely! Definitely wait for me, okay? I’ll get home early and go to your house!”
“I understand… I will wait…”
When Kaya-san said that, it was scary that it didn’t sound like a joke.
“Sakuya, you are being a disturbance to other people in this area. Let us move.”
“Yes, mother.”
I said farewell to my brother, Mizuki, and Kaya-san and we moved. No matter how big the schoolyard and grounds were, there were quite a few parents of graduating students seeing them off. Since we were leisurely standing there, we were a disturbance, so we should move for now.
“Sakuya! I’ll be waiting for you to get in my car no matter what!”
“No, today is my relative’s graduation, so I would like to spend it with my relatives only. I apologise.”
I politely rejected Ibuki’s invitation. Why did I have to be with him? What kind of punishment game was that?
No one of the Konoe family was graduating, but there were a lot of members of the Konoe monryuu graduating, so Mrs. Konoe was greeting everyone as a guardian. If it went badly, no, even if it didn’t, she was still someone more influential than the board chairman… While Ibuki was still in school, she’d probably come to greet people at various events.
I thought it was tough that she had to attend graduations even if her own kid wasn’t graduating, but since that was a personnel matter, I left that alone. That must’ve been part of her job scope. It wasn’t my place to complain.
My parents and I—just the family—got into the parked car and waited for my brother to come out. My mother had her usual strict expression, but her eye makeup was unmistakably smudged. It was just a little, so she was able to wipe her tears off well, but she had definitely cried.
In my past life, I hadn’t cried at entrance or graduating ceremonies. Was the past me that cold of a person? Or was that the difference between being a boy or girl? But there were guys who cried too, so you couldn’t really say that there was a gender difference. Well, maybe guys who had feminine sensibilities were the ones who cried…
Anyway, I hadn’t cried at graduation ceremonies in my past life—not just mine, but also other people’s. Even so, when I talked to Kaya-san, I was going to cry without thinking. If Mizuki hadn’t come at that time, I would’ve cried.
I also… had a slightly human heart… in my past life, I was a shut-in otaku who didn’t know about how people felt, but… I had definitely goen outside and talked to people. But my true personality was that of a shut-in who didn’t interact with people. And how about now?
I had come to a graduation ceremony that I didn’t need to attend and interacted with a lot of people… Maybe I had changed because I had become Lady Sakuya… Or maybe my change was thanks to Azami-chan, Satsuki-chan, Akane-chan, Tsubaki-chan, Yuzuriha-chan, Renge-chan, and… Kaya-san.
Because everyone interacted with me warmly… I had also become humanlike. In my past life, I had lived pointlessly and not developed at all, and I… had also become a human. That was why… I wanted to celebrate Kaya-san’s departure.
“Sakuya-chan!”
“Gah!”
*hit*!
With that sound, a young lady stuck her face to the window of our car… Was that okay? Kaya-san…. You looked pretty weird, you know?
“I have come for you, Sakuya-chan! Now! Talk with your big sister! Even for just a second longer!”
“Now… Kaya-san, fufu… your beautiful face is becoming destroyed.”
She was making quite the interesting face, so I laughed. Mom was quivering too. She was definitely containing her laughter. My father made eye contact but I didn’t mind. He didn’t have the right to speak.
I unlocked the lock and Kaya-san opened the door and dragged me out. How great that she’d not broke into the car… maybe?
“Sakuya-chaaaan! I’ll stay back a couple years! I want to graduate with yoooooou”
“Kaya-san… when you graduate, our opportunities to meet will certainly decrease. However, nothing about our relationship with change. Just because I am in elementary and you are in middle school does not mean that we will not be friends.”
As we embraced, I put my feelings into words.
“Congratulations on graduating, Kaya-san.”
“I am more troubled that it will not change! Big sister wants to have a deeper relationship with Sakuya-chan! If we do not change from being lifelong friends despite that, that is a problem.”
Woah… I thought I had said something good, but… Kaya-san was Kaya-san to the very last.