To Wish Upon a Star. Part 9
Yuuhi paused, clutching her keys.
"Why this sudden...?" She looked pale and the keys trembled a little in her hand, jingling against each other.
Sumire moved closer as two girls moved past them, laughing and pinching each other. She planted her hand on the wall above Yuuhi’s head.
"I asked you to lunch, not to an execution. Don’t look that way. Let’s just go eat a pleasant meal, ne?"
Yuuhi pushed past her, aiming her key for the doorknob, but Sumire blocked it with an arm, took her by the shoulder and pulled her away.
"S-sumire! Stop! I don’t want to..."
Sumire put her lips close to Yuuhi’s ear. She could feel the floral warmth of the girl’s hair. "It’s not lunch I want. We must talk. Now."
Yuuhi ripped away and glared, but put her keys back into her pocket, and straightened. The paleness had gone away from her cheeks as anger brought in blood.
"Someone needs to stay here for Sena." Yuuhi said calmly.
"I was just with her," Sumire said. "Just let her sleep. She looks awful..."
Yuuhi tensed her shoulders. "You manipulate her, and monopolize her time and won’t let anyone get near her! That’s what this is about."
Haruno grabbed at the neck of her leather jacket and walked her grimly outdoors. The sun was out in full glory, and the snow in the streets was dirty and running down the sidewalks in rivulets of water. The air was so sharp, it stung the nose to breathe. Haruno forced herself to take big, deep, breaths of it before she spoke. The iciness scalded her lungs.
"How could you say something like that, Yuuhi?! You are her roommate! You always get to be with her.... Except, of course, when she fell. Where were you then?"
Yuuhi fell to her knees as if she’d been shot.
"W-what are you saying? How could you ask me that!?" Yuuhi’s voice rose into a hysteric falsetto. She dug her nails into her thighs. "That’s all I’ve thought about this whole time. I’ve never felt to sick in my heart! I would quit Takarazuka if I were allowed to go back, to grab her from the balcony before she..." She shuddered, and an anguished moan tore from her throat. "You’re so cruel, Harunosan...!"