Final Distance (part 2 of 30)

Chapter Notes:

1. Students at Garderobe are Corals for two years (age 15 & 16) and Pearls for two years (age 17 & 18).

2. The GEMs belonging to the Five Columns are passed down to the next recipient who is to take the current owner’s place. However, they do go through some slight alterations to sync with the new user, which causes the change in robe and element.

3. The Shinso narrows down the best candidates for possible Columns for each graduating class, but ultimately the final decision is still left to the current Five Columns themselves.

Shizuru Viola had just arrived back at Garderobe Academy only a few minutes ago, her first destination being the Pearl’s dorm rooms to congratulate her younger friend on her graduation and to apologize for not being present at the ceremony, only to find that the dark-haired girl was no where to be found, the room itself looking gravely desolate on both sides. Immediately, she had rushed to the Gakuenchou’s office, bursting through the door without warning, much unlike her usual self, and nearly smearing the name of the Graceful Amethyst in the process.

Heated ruby eyes burned in the direction of the Column who had her back turned to her younger equal as she gazed out the giant windows that comprised the wall near her desk, hands clasped behind her.

“Where is she?” Shizuru pressed again, a sense of urgency in her words, tone daring to deepen dangerously.

“…The letter actually arrived the day before graduation,” Lucretia began, eerily calm, “but I chose to keep it from her until the ceremony was over…”

Pausing, the Headmistress allowed her head to sink, “It seems that things are getting worse over there…”

Shizuru could feel her body tense at the words. Her lip trembled.

“They called her back.”

She couldn’t wait; she just had to tell Natsuki the good news now.

Shizuru had managed to maintain her ever-calm presence, only sharing her excitement with the little voice in her head, even as Headmistress Oleander informed her of the decision the Five Columns had made about who should replace Norah Ackart as the owner of the Bewitching Smile Amethyst. After everything that one could possibly fathom about the position had been covered and confirmed, the group of five respectable women had congratulated her and sent her back to her room.

Well, that is to say, it would have been her room, but she had to make a quick detour first.

She gracefully sauntered down the hall, saying her ‘hellos’ and ‘good evenings’ to the girl’s who passed by, but once she arrived at her designated door, she hastily knocked on the wooden structure, hoping to awaken some kind of stirring within.

She could hear a low grumble followed by the sound of the legs of a chair scooting across the wood flooring, and Shizuru couldn’t help but childishly giggle despite her eighteen years.

“What is it?” a voice rudely mumbled, and as soon as the door was barely cracked open, Shizuru pounced.

“Natsuki!” the tawny-haired girl practically squealed as she threw her arms around the younger Coral who stumbled backward but somehow managed to catch her footing, keeping them both upright.

“Sh-Shizuru Onee-sama…?”

Loosening her grip, Shizuru leaned back enough so the two girls could look each other in the eyes, “I did it! I was chosen to become one of the next Columns!”

“That’s grea—huh!” Natsuki tried to say, but was promptly pulled back into another tight hug, her face forcefully pressing against the older girl’s ample bosom causing her to blush fiercely even though similar occurrences had happened quite often over the past few years.

Giving her one last tight squeeze, Shizuru finally released the wriggling girl in her arms who promptly harrumphed and straightened her disheveled uniform.

“So if you’re becoming a Column, then what about your father? Weren’t you going to serve as his Otome like your Onee-Sama is to hers?”

“Father will find a new Otome to serve him if he wishes,” Shizuru replied as she sat down on Natsuki’s bed, the younger girl doing the same soon after.

“What made you change your mind?”

Shizuru remained silent, her eyes narrowing in concentration before a mischievous grin graced her features, “Natsuki did.”

Instantly, the raven-haired girl’s eyes widened, “Wh-What?”

“You were the one who showed me how important freedom is. By becoming one of the Five Columns, I won’t be tied down by a human contact, I’ll only have one with the Shinso,” the older girl honestly answered, even if it wasn’t the whole truth.

But how could she fully say what was within her heart?

How could she openly say to the girl beside her, ‘It’s because I want to be with you’?

She should have gone anywhere else, but her feet still led her to this place whether she was consciously thinking about it or not.

Shizuru sat on the bed of that dark room without a word, lifelessly staring straight ahead at the adjacent wall. It was familiar, she herself had lived in a perfectly identical room to this one all four years she had attended Garderobe, but familiarity was supposed to be comforting, and this was anything but.

Idly, she grazed her fingertips over the soft pink material of the bedcover before fisting it in her palm.

“…Natsuki…”

Finally…Finally, Shizuru allowed herself release, letting the tears that had been collecting in her crimson eyes run freely down her cheeks as she buried her face in her hands.