A nun from Elza's new school shows her the indoor pool. Elza thinks to herself that neither her new sailor uniform nor the school for young ladies suits her.
When she goes in, the girls all wonder who she is. Elza doesn't see what all the fuss is: this is a mission school, so foreigners can't be all that rare, can they?
Elza notes that one of the girls in the pool (who turns out to be Michiru, of course) is a fast swimmer.
Elza smiles at her, but Michiru just ignores her.
As Elza and the nun walk off, the girls speculate about her--is she a transfer student? How old is she? Is she from Africa? Does she speak Japanese? She's so exotic!
Elza wonders to herself if she'll be able to make it at her new school.
Title page for the first part of the story:
Elza wants to find someone who's a fast runner, to run in relays and stuff with her, but the girls say that all the fast people are already on other sports teams. Then one of the girls remembers someone who was a fast runner.
It's a girl who was in her class back in elementary school. When the other girls ask who it is, she just says "her," and they get it, instantly. Elza, of course, does not, so they explain that it's Miss Oh-so-perfect--she's rich, beautiful, smart, and entirely too good at everything. She's in the art club.
Elza says she checked out the school's runners at last year's athletics festival and doesn't remember seeing anyone that fast. The girls tell her that Michiru was away performing a solo at a music festival--she's a violinist, and famous to boot. Elza then puts two and two together--she has heard of the girl before.
She asks the other girl to introduce her, but everyone thinks it's a bad idea--Elza will never convince her to join the track team, the girl doesn't know her well anyway, and this famous girl is really unapproachable.
The famous girl doesn't have any close friends, though she does have a fan club.
And her name is... Kaioh Michiru-"sama" ("sama" is a very respectful suffix, and the quotation marks suggest that either they're using it sarcastically or they're telling Elza how much Michiru is respected).
The girls joke that she'd be called Michiru Kaioh, written in katakana, where Elza comes from.
Later, Elza is running. She thinks to herself that she's surprised someone so talented is at a school like this one. As she's running, she sees a girl drawing.
She thinks the girl is cute, and recognizes her as the one from the pool.
After Elza has finished running, she goes up to the girl and discovers that the girl has been drawing her. The girl apologizes, but Elza tells her that no apologies are necessary. Elza starts to ask the girl if she's in the art club, then suddenly realizes that this might have been that famous girl the others were talking about.
She asks her if she's Michiru Kaioh, with a rather belated "-sama" tacked on the end.
When Elza tells the other girls about it, they laugh at her and ask if Michiru gave her the cold shoulder. Elza says that no, Michiru didn't give her the cold shoulder, she just rushed off.
Elza brags about being sketched by a famous artist, saying it means she must be kind of good at modeling. She asks the others where Michiru (she calls her "Kaioh-san") eats lunch, and the other girls try to dissuade her from pursuing Michiru (which Elza denies she's doing), saying she'll earn the wrath of Michiru's fans. Plus, Michiru is antisocial; it's best to just leave her be.
Elza thinks to herself that Michiru is apparently a beautiful, well-bred, rich, talented, haughty princess.
And yet, she thinks that's not the sort of person Michiru really is.
Elza wonders what just happened, but cheerfully says hi and asks if she can sit next to Michiru (then sits down before Michiru has a chance to say no!). Elza goes on to tell Michiru that she saw Michiru in the pool the day she transferred to the school, and that she couldn't help being charmed by Michiru's beautiful, mature appearance. She says she was surprised to find out that Michiru was only in junior high.
Elza breeches the hostile atmosphere with a question about what book Michiru is reading, which turns out to be The Tale of Genji. Elza remarks on what a Don Juan Genji is, and asks Michiru if she enjoys reading stories in which one woman after another becomes miserable. She then hastily apologizes, saying she didn't mean to bash Japanese culture.
After a few moments of thought, Michiru answers that she's reading it because it's the original text of the book. Elza gets now why people call Michiru an oddball. Michiru says that it's the first time someone's called her an oddball to her face. Elza bursts out laughing, and comments that Michiru isn't as antisocial as everyone says.
Michiru replies that if everyone says she's antisocial, then it must be true.
Elza then bursts out with, "Well, you can think of me as an animal, then!!"
Michiru laughs.
We get the first part of what Michiru says next ("You..."), then it cuts to a new scene, with Elza reflecting that she thinks of Michiru like a princess in an old story.
"You're an intimist, hm?" (Presumably Michiru's words from the previous scene, and using the French "intimiste," the old title of the story, rather than the English "intimist.")
A princess that's been shut away all alone in a tall tower.
Elza tries to recruit Michiru for the track team, but Michiru declines, as Elza expected her to.
Elza asks Michiru what she wants to do with her life--does she want to be a violinist? An artist? Both? Well, actually, she's both already...
Michiru replies that she probably won't be able to become the thing she most wants to be.
Elza realizes that she shouldn't ask what that is. She thinks to herself that Michiru is like a flower in bloom, hidden away within the strong walls of the school. Watching Michiru walk off, she remembers the saying, "A lily as she walks" ("Standing, she's a peony; Sitting, a tree peony; Walking, a lily.").
The other girls come up to Elza and see Michiru walking off. They ask Elza if Michiru's going to be joining the track team, and Elza says no, which was what they expected as well.
Elza continues her train of thought from before: Someday, Michiru will leave the school, just as the rest of them will.
Elza waves to Michiru.
Michiru waves back, shocking the other girls.
Someday, Michiru's fate will come for her, and she'll be taken away to a far-off land,
like a proud, single-minded princess from a fairy-tale, with her prince/knight/whatever.
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