From the Bottom to the Top

Volume 4: Chapter 4

“I need to do more than just a simple apology. I have to earn her complete forgiveness.”

Both Kujou sisters had the same task of handling the farm and crops, granting an immediate opportunity for Alisa to speak with Maria.

All that’s left for her to do was initiate the conversation itself, which was nerve-wracking, to say the least.

This was the first time that they have worked together in two weeks, mostly because they have kept their distance from each other the whole time.

But even before this, they haven’t had a proper conversation at all. Her sister made multiple attempts to try and reach out to her, to try and talk to her, but all she did was remain quiet and refuse to even say anything remotely related to the events that transpired.

While Alisa was taking note of the number of crops that were fully-grown by now, Maria was working on watering all of them.

The younger Kujou took the chance as she approached her sister, bearing a sorrowful expression on her face. Earlier, she was somehow confident that they would be able to have a genuine talk about everything that happened, but now she felt nervous.

Hearing several footsteps from behind her, Maria turned around to see her younger sister just there.

“Masha, can we—”

Before she could say anything else, her sister went back to watering the crops, having no intention of listening further.

Alisa wasn’t surprised at her response, though she was caught off guard at how quick it came. She couldn’t even finish her question, and Maria was already firm with her decision.

“Masha, I’m aware of my own actions. I would like to you about them and… discuss some things,” she spoke up again, this time making her point clear and straightforward.

However, Maria continued with her work as if she didn’t hear what her sister said.

The silver-haired girl felt a pang of guilt and hurt inside her chest at being ignored by her own family, but there’s also a part of her who had a hunch that she had this coming.

Alisa couldn’t help but think of the sick irony in this situation as well.

Before, it was Maria who struggled to get a response out of her. Now, she’s the one getting ignored by her sister and the worst part about it is that the brunette is perfectly justified in doing so.

“O-Onee-chan, can we please talk…?” she asked again, this time referring to her sister in a more affectionate manner, which is exactly what Maria would ask of her from time to time.

—and yet, the older Kujou still didn’t turn around to even look at her. Maria continued to hide her face from her younger sister, who had no idea what to do next.

There’s no way her sister wasn’t doing this on purpose, and Alya couldn’t even be angry with her.

Masachika had warned her about this outcome, but she didn’t think that it would actually happen. Now that it did, all she could feel was sadness and regret that she wasn’t able to fix this mistake a lot sooner.

“I understand,” Alya nodded sadly. “If you don’t want to talk, that’s fine. But I want you to know that I’m here and I won’t ignore you anymore, Masha. I’m ready to talk whenever you are.”

Alya lowered her head to hide her face, before walking away with a heavy heart as the girl wondered how she would inform Masachika of the outcome of this encounter…

As soon as her sister was out of sight, Masha would finally raise her head and look at the direction where Alya headed off to, bearing a similar downcast expression on her face.