1. Well I don't care.
2. I'm not doing it anymore.
3. Do you think she...
4. left me another letter?
5. "I don't know if I'd be angrier if there was or wasn't one..."
6. We already know this is over.
جاري التحميل...جاري التحميل...
1. I'm not getting anything done like this.
2. "I know what you mean! Soon as finals are over, you're a slacker!"
3. "Sigh..."
4. For too long I lingered in those feelings.
1. "Whoa! People like you really exist!"
2. "I was looking to get into that posh look back in middle school"
3. "Hey don't knock the uniform — I enrolled cause of it."
4. "These uniforms don't keep you very warm either"
5. "And they get all wrinkly. Like have at least one upside."
6. "It's so cold too, it might as well be hibernation season."
7. "Though I'm grown out of them by now."
8. "How about the checkered ribbons? They're cute."
9. "The white ribbon still makes me nervous. I don't want to get it dirty..."
10. "Ahhhh~ They've got the heater on in here~"
11. "What's that supposed to mean?"
12. "Maybe Kasumi could still pull it off?"
1. "...I'll go!"
2. "Still piano!"
3. "I've got club"
4. "'Kay!"
5. "Who's up for freezy-day ice cream after school!"
6. "Truer words, never told!"
7. "Yeah, guess you're right."
8. "Not going to the library?"
9. "Didn't think that'd get Sakuragawa!"
10. "...Hey, everyone needs time to get their mind off things."
11. "Here's your towel back..."
1. "Want to talk about it?"
2. "Sorry you had to see me like that yesterday..."
3. "Mm."
4. "Thanks, Momo..."
5. "Well if you ever do, I'm here."
6. "Okay?"
7. "S-s-"
8. "S-S-Sooo..."
9. Yeah.
10. She's right.
1. Mark eating ice cream outdoors in winter off the list...
2. "Yeah, yeah, yeah! That's more like it! You ever felt more alive!?"
3. "Coo ooo ld!"
4. "I like to try all I can? Don't want to say I left any regrets."
5. "So you always do this sort of thing after school, Kuwa-san...?"
6. "I even got in here on a returnee program!"
7. "See, I grew up in the US till 5th grade."
8. "...Remember I wrote FBI on my post-grad form? That wasn't totally a lie."
1. "You never said anything..."
2. "So I was actually thinking of going back and doing Uni there too."
3. "Why didn't you write that on your form then?"
4. "I mean, imagine if I did: suddenly it'd be all life-and-death!"
5. "I'm sure he'd go the extra mile."
6. "I see what you mean..."
7. "We have alums who studied abroad; I'll get in touch with them for you!"
8. "A foreign university!? Have you written them a practice application yet!?"
9. "Think how Sensei'd react."
10. "and I said, "Screw it, I'm staying!" I'd be tossing his kindness in the mud..."
11. "But then,"
12. "if he went that far for me,"
1. "Makes it hard to talk with them..."
2. "All the teachers here are too nice."
3. "It's like, the more you're with someone it gets harder to say the serious stuff."
4. "Especially not her."
5. "Macchi here!"
6. "Not even Macchi?"
7. "Heh..."
8. "Y'know, you're the first I ever told that to!"
1. "...So you're going away?"
2. "You should all come visit sometime."
3. The air was freezing cold,
4. and in spite of it, the ice cream melted.
1. Nothing will ever be permanent.
1. And one day they're gone.
2. They change when you aren't looking.
4. People are always in flux.
5. "Don't want to say I left any regrets."
1. To my beloved little sister.
2. I'm very sorry I went back on my word that day. I lacked the confidence and ran from you.
3. I was so afraid you would hate me if you saw who I really was.
4. But when I left, all the letters we shared ran through my mind and I felt even worse about what I'd done.
5. Can you ever forgive me for being such a coward? I just want things to go back to how they were.
6. I know I don't have the right to ask, but would you be willing to think of me as your older sister again?
1. How do you think I felt!?
2. Scared I'd hate you?
3. "You don't get to apologize with just a letter..."
4. ...I was,
5. after that,
6. do you know how much I...
7. I felt like...
1. Then ask me to meet you again. If you even feel like it anymore.
2. Let's meet on the Xth at the same location.
3. Two days later, her letter was waiting.
4. I promise to be there this time.
1. My hair's okay.
2. Clothes look okay.
3. I have the gift I bought her.
4. And her brooch too.
5. Will she keep her word? Or not.
6. If she's lying, I don't know if I can take it.
7. Onee-sama, will you come for me?
1. "...Not yet."
2. "She's not... here."
3. That I was just her plaything while she was bored.
4. I started wondering if even her apology was just another lie to hurt me.
5. Once I'd calmed down after writing that letter,
1. I pictured Onee-sama waiting day-after-day for my reply.
2. But,
3. even as I held those doubts about her...
4. Only this time with someone specific she could never reach.
7. If I hadn't replied, she'd return to those empty days waiting for someone's response.
8. How long ago did she put that letter in the book?
9. Stop doubting everything.
10. Stop it...
11. Will you shut up.
1. "You know she would never..."
2. How have her letters not proven she's better than that?
3. Onee-sama has to know this emptiness better than anyone.
4. She'd never abandon me here.
5. Not without a good reason.
1. I'll just admit it...
2. And fine.
3. I know already, okay!
4. So shut up.
5. ...I know.
6. That's all.
7. I was sulking.
1. "H-"
2. "Hello ...!"
1. "Oh..."
2. "... ...Uh?"
3. "I couldn't wear one even if I wanted to!"
4. "Those checkered ribbons are only for the middle school division!"
5. "What's that supposed to mean?"
6. "Maybe Kasumi could still pull it off?"
1. "Y..."
2. "You're a middle school-er!?"
3. "...But, the letters said..."
4. "That's why I didn't want you to know!"
5. Wait?
1. She never said "enrolled in high school."
2. Longed for a special bond, from the day I enrolled, the day this book found me.
3. "I only started here in high school, so..."
4. "...I really thought you were an upper-classman..."
5. "I thought for sure... you were in middle school like me..."
7. but the library is a shared space.
8. Our school has separate buildings for the middle and high school students,
1. "Which... year are you in, by the way?"
3. She's waited so long. = She must be an upperclassman.
4. You could get mixed up at a combined school...
5. "Oh... Well okay."
6. "Like this?"
7. "I'm the big sister of the whole middle school!"
8. "Of course she's younger!"
9. That makes the mistake even easier...
10. "...I'm a third year."
11. "Hey,"
12. Oh right, I need to make sure of this first!
13. This is so awkward...
1. "are you really... Onee-sama?"
2. "Sumire-chan."
3. "Mm-hm..."
4. "...!"
5. She really is Onee-sama.
7. She really called me that.
8. Oh.
1. "...What's your name?"
2. Onee-sama is right in front of me.
3. "Ooe-san..."
4. "Haru-yo... ...onee-sama."
5. "Haru-yo..."
6. "It's Ooe Haruyo..."
1. "Can you sit?"
2. "I think there's a lot we need to clear up..."
3. "So let's have a real talk?"
4. Middle and high school run 3 + 3 years in Japan. It's common to differentiate grades by accessories such as ribbons.
5. "I mean, post-grad? We're 1st years. It's Fall."
6. "Okay, Sen-pai"
7. "It's nothing, go on home!"
8. "Is she cry-ing..."
9. "What is it?"
10. "Mhm..."
11. "Oh? You tied your hair, Haruyo?"