CHAPTER 10
A Ditz and a Pro
“Sigh…”
An unbefitting, sorrowful sigh echoed in the cute room decorated with countless stuffed animals of all sizes. The one sighing was Maria, who was lying in bed while clutching a cat plushie in one arm and gazing at a picture in a golden locket she held in her other hand, uncharacteristically listless.
“Sah…”
The name of the man she loved fell from her lips. Her voice, which was usually brimming with mirth when she uttered his name, was now filled with pain and sadness.
“Will we never meet again…?” she muttered pessimistically before almost immediately shaking her head, burying her face in her pillow, and curling into a ball.
“…Just a little longer. Just until summer break is over…,” Maria repeated to herself, holding the locket close to her heart, perhaps in hopes that they would be reunited one day—or perhaps fearing their reunion.
Knock-knock.
After a few minutes went by, Maria heard a knock, so she lifted her face off the pillow just enough to see the door with one eye, and replied, “Yes?”
“…Masha? Can we talk?”
“…! Alya?!”
Maria jumped up in her bed with so much energy and excitement that the gloomy mood from earlier seemed like a distant dream. She got over things quickly, to say the least.
“Wh-what’s wrong?!”
It was rare for Maria’s distant sister to stop by her room—so rare that it would only occur once every two weeks at most, which was why she immediately ran to the door. Although Alisa was somewhat taken aback by how quickly her sister answered, Maria’s face instantly lit up with a bubbly smile as if to say, “Alisa’s here! Nothing else matters!”
“…Were you sleeping?”
Alisa seemed a bit worried that she was bothering her sister, after seeing her disheveled hair, but Maria proudly puffed out her chest and smiled even wider, dispelling any worries Alisa once had.
“Nope! I was just rolling around in my bed! Anyway, what did you need?”
“Oh…”
Alisa rolled her eyes, since her sister seemed to be overly proud about being a lazy bum.
“Uh…”
She then paused for a few moments and looked away. She fidgeted with her hair before hesitantly continuing:
“You know how we’re going to the beach next week…and we need a bathing suit? Well, I was wondering if you already got yours.”
The last time the Kujou sisters went to the beach was more than four years ago, and because they hadn’t gone swimming for fun since then, they had far outgrown their old bathing suits. Of course, they had their school swimsuits, but even Alisa understood that wearing those outside school was social suicide. Therefore, she wanted to talk to someone who was in the same predicament as her. In other words…
“Not yet. I was considering going bathing-suit shopping today or tomorrow, though,” replied Maria with a brilliant smile, since she had a good idea what Alisa was going to say next. Lo and behold, Alisa glanced in her sister’s direction but immediately averted her gaze once more and suggested, “Then…how about we go together? I’m free right now, so we might as well…”
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