Episode 7: Cherry Blossom. It’s spring and that means sakura season which reminds Shimako intensely of the now departed Sei-sama.
A first year, Noriko, chances upon Shimako and *surprise surprise* it looks like they are made for each other after all.
Sei is at Lilian Female College / Ladies Universities just next door and Yumi, who continues to see Sei as a mentor, runs off to see her about Shimako’s behaviour and Sachiko’s own moodiness. Sei’s hair is shorter, quite a contrast to her long locks when she was with Shiori. I have to say that the new hair style really suits her - she’s almost *handsome* - wonder how if she’s dating any girls in the university? (^_^) Interestingly, Yumi was economical about the truth - she actively avoided telling Sachiko that she went to see Sei. And unhappily for Yumi, a new challenger has arrived. Touko is quite an annoying and over-familiar distant relative of Sachiko who has arrived as a first year. This sets off Yumi’s inferiority complex (”I’m not worthy of my great Sachiko-sama”) which IMHO is not a healthy thing in any relationship, not least because it tends to become self-fulfilling.
Noriko turns out to have an interest in Buddhism despite being in a Catholic school and Shimako’s Big Secret is that she is the daughter of a Buddhist priest (Her Dad’s a monk? You mean monks can have kids? Hmmm… monkhood doesn’t sound that bad after all, if you can throw in booze as well. :P) So Noriko’s common interest in Buddhism has allowed Shimako to share her Big Secret (which the senior members of Yamayurikai already know but pretend not to know) with Noriko.
See? Shimako and Noriko are soooo made for each other.
Episode 8: The Cherry Tree Amongst the Gingkos. The other Yamayurikai members find out about Noriko and proceed to weave a busybody intervention. The objectives are two-fold. Firstly, to get Shimako to reveal her Big Secret (which apparently is No Big Deal). Secondly, to publicly display her “sisterly love” with Noriko. After acting kind of evil (which Sachiko was frighteningly good at… hmmm… leather….) and after a few rounds of “No, it’s not my lover’s fault, it’s my fault!”, Shimako and Noriko’s relationship is given a big round of applause (without the walls shattering and everyone saying “Omedetou” though).
