“Whoa... That line is crazy,” I said.
“I guess it’s not surprising that Koganezaki’s class would draw this sort of crowd,” said Sakura.
“It’s so popular!” Aoi exclaimed.
We’d arrived at class 2-B’s room to find a line extending all the way out into the hall. The place had seemed pretty empty the day before, but now it was packed to capacity. This, I had to assume, was the power of the second day being open to the public—and, well, also the power of class B’s maid café having really cute, well-put-together uniforms, I guess.
“What do you think? It sounds like we’d have to wait a half hour or so to get in,” I explained.
“Ugh,” Aoi moaned. “It kinda feels like a waste, doesn’t it...?”
“No...let’s wait,” said Sakura. “We’ve come this far, and if we leave now, I’ll end up wondering what it would’ve been like later.”
“Yeah, you’re right! I’m in too!” Aoi agreed.
“Okay, then, let’s line up!” I said. My sisters were in control here—I was just along for the ride. Little sisters are higher up on the chain of command than big sisters, after all! That was a well-established fact that everyone knew!
“Huh?”
A moment after we got in line, I noticed a very familiar, brightly colored head of hair bounce briefly into view up ahead of us. Then, a second later, out from the line stepped...Emma! Emma was here!
“Ah! Yotsuba!”
“Emma!”
And then we gave each other a big ole hug! And everyone lived happily ever after...
“Hmm.”
Ah! Those stares! They’re so frigid, it hurts! N-No, Sakura, Aoi, it’s not what you think! Emma’s... Emma’s an exception, okay?! I can’t help it!
“And good morning indeed, Sakura and Aoi!” Emma continued as she looked over to my sisters—while still hugging me, by the way.
“Good morning. It’s nice to see you again, Emma,” said Sakura.
“Emma! Morning!” Aoi added.
I’d known that they knew each other, of course, but I hadn’t expected Emma to remember their names. That’s so impressive! Good girl, good girl!
“Wait...” I said a moment later. “Hold on! You were lined up too, Emma?!”
“Indeed! I had a great need to see my sister dearest’s figure with my own two eyes!” Emma explained.
“Okay, but are you sure you want to give up your spot? You were way up ahead of us,” I asked. Her spot, of course, had already been filled in as the line shuffled forward, so it was a little too late regardless.
“Indeed, it’s okay! I sensed all of you, and thought I wanted to talk,” said Emma. “But...am I bothering you, indeed?”
“No, no, not at all! Right?” I asked.
Sakura and Aoi both nodded immediately.
“If you don’t mind, it’d be nice to have an upperclassman here with us,” said Sakura.
“Yeah, yeah!” Aoi excitedly agreed.
Oh, wooow! My little sisters are so sociable! That’s so impressive! Good girls, good girls!
“An upperclassman? You don’t have to see me that way, indeed,” said Emma. She’d started fidgeting bashfully, and I had a feeling that she wasn’t used to the idea of being treated like someone’s senior at school.
“But you literally are one for me, so...” Sakura said with a shrug.
“Sakura’s going to be taking the entrance exam for our school this year! She’s doing her best to go here with us,” I explained.
“Indeed?!” Emma gasped.
“Yeah, and me too!” Aoi chimed in. “It’s a little sad that I won’t get to go to school with Yotsuba, even if I do make it in, but at least I’ll just barely have a year with you, I’m pretty sure!”
“Aoi too?! I can hardly wait, indeed!”
None of this was set in stone yet, of course, but my sisters were both way more capable than I was, and they also apparently talked with Yuna and Rinka on the phone pretty often to get help with their studies. I guess it’ll be a year and a half before Aoi gets the chance, though, won’t it? Maybe Emma will have brushed up on her Japanese and done away with her “indeed” tic by then. She picked up that habit from Koganezaki back when they were both going to a rich-girls’ school, right? It’d actually be a little sad if she got over it.
“Me indeed, an upperclassman...” Emma quietly murmured to herself. It seemed like she was savoring the feel of the word as it passed through her lips.
“Okay, but what about middle school?” I prompted. “You must have had underclassmen then, right?”
“Back then...I was all alone, indeed.”
“Wha?”
“My dearest sister left, and I still barely knew Japanese, indeed,” Emma said with a smile that didn’t strike me as totally sincere.
Wearing a smile like that was so unlike her, I realized instantly that I’d asked a question I probably shouldn’t have. Koganezaki...well, she hadn’t really told me much of anything about her time in middle school, but I’d more or less put the pieces together well enough to realize that she’d gone through something pretty traumatic. Emma had stayed at that same school long after Koganezaki left, looking up to her all the while...and it wasn’t hard at all to imagine how that could have been a pretty unpleasant environment for her.
“Sorry, Emma,” I said. “I shouldn’t have pried, huh? My bad.”
“It’s okay, indeed!” Emma insisted.
For just a moment I wanted to tell her that I’d been all alone in middle school too, but I decided against it. It seemed pretty likely that we’d been totally different types of loner. “Well, my little sisters are both really good girls,” I said instead. “You can go ahead and act like a big, tough upperclassman with them, any time you like!”
“I really don’t like the idea of agreeing with Yotsuba about that...but she is right, basically,” said Sakura. “Both of us really like you a lot, Emma.”
“Ah, I know! Let’s trade contact info! I never found the right moment before, but this is the perfect chance!” suggested Aoi.