Maria-sama ga Miteru

Chapter 120

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Sunday morning: a bit before 10 o"clock. Yoshino, who had almost completed her preparations for going, heard the sound of a car pulling up in front of her home. (Is that a package delivery service?) But given that it wasn"t a truck she"d heard&h.e.l.lip; When she casually looked outside through the second story window, a black limousine was stopped there. (Ugh. What is this?)

In the blink of an eye, the driver had gotten out of the car and pushed the intercom b.u.t.ton. DING-DONG. Although it rang a ways off, she could still hear it; that intercom didn"t go to the Shimazu residence. The driver had business elsewhere. Simply put, this was a duplex house. In addition to the Shimazu family, at this time, the Hasekura household shared this building.

"Father, Mother. That was Rei-chan"s house just now..." Yoshino said while noisily descending the stairs. Her parents were relaxing in the living room. As she observed this, she tried to convey to them what she had just seen.

"Ah, that"s right. As expected, Yanaka-san is definitely being considerate," her mother said while sipping tea. She nodded understanding.

"What? Sending a limousine is being considerate?" At which point, her father looked up from the Sunday edition of the newspaper and said something totally irrelevant.

"Maybe Yoshino doesn"t know but, Yanaka-ojiisan is considered to be wealthy. He was probably able to call in a favor for the hired car." So it seems. Indeed, since she hadn"t met Yanaka-san before, she didn"t realize he was rich. In appearance he was a non-descript ordinary old man. Ignoring this for the time being&h.e.l.lip;

"Mother, did you say he was being considerate to her just now?" Letting the matter of Father"s judgment go unsettled, Yoshino decided to instead focus on Mother"s question.

"Yes, I did."

"Why is Yanaka-ojiisan is attending to Rei-chan and Uncle like that?"

"He"s going to ask Rei-chan for a big favor&h.e.l.lip; probably."

"A big favor... huh? Like what?" Why was she avoiding the real issue? Yoshino shook her mother"s shoulders.

"Hey! Settle down. You haven"t heard? Why did you wait until this late hour?" Her mother asked while being severely shaken.

"I haven"t heard, what?" Yoshino let go of her mother"s shoulders and asked. What"s going on?

"Rei-chan told you about her plans for today. That was probably on Wednesday or Thursday night." Her poor daughter"s shaking her in order to make her remember, had caused her mother to lose her memory. With all her might, she tried to explain.

"You sat next to Rei-chan in this sofa. I was walking back and forth, in and out of the room, so I missed some parts. But even still, I understood her perfectly."

"It"s a relief that you were able to remember." Yoshino showed the palms of her hands to her mother, making an "it"s all right" gesture. She had been sitting next to Rei-chan on this sofa. And then, Rei-chan had spoken... This Sunday, Yanaka-san was going to be treating her to lunch. That was as much as she"d heard.

From there, how had a black limo come to be involved? That had definitely not been covered. And this point about "asking Rei-chan for a big favor"&h.e.l.lip;? When asked if she wanted to join them in eating lunch together, had she said it would be impossible? When Yanaka-ojiisan-san got into a deep conversation, it would drag on indefinitely. And anyway, at the time it had seemed like that person would be eating lunch at Rei-chan"s house. Still, if he was a close relation, then dining out was harmless, right?

Would this favor keep Rei-chan absent home from school? She remembered that it meant Rei-chan had been forced to cancel a previous appointment. Though she hadn"t heard about any specific arrangements.

Given that he had been the one to make the invitation, likely Yanaka-san would be footing the bill. Why in the world hadn"t Rei-chan"s refused?

"&h.e.l.lip;Yoshino." Her mother and father exchanged glances. Then they looked at Yoshino dubiously.

"Is it true that you really don"t know, or..."

"I really don"t know." Rather, she had failed to hear it. It seemed that only the essential keywords had been completely missed. While staring at their only daughter with an expression of pity, the Shimazu parents spoke.

"Today Rei-chan is having an Omiai..." was stated.

"O-Omiai?!" With the cry of a single word, she chose that moment to dash out of the house. Too late, Rei-chan and Uncle had already boarded the limousine. The driver had already started the engine and the car was pulling away.

"Rei-chan." She tried to make the signal for them to wait. Although she ran up to the car window, waving both hands, somehow misunderstanding, Rei-chan smiled and waved her hand in return. Without any hesitation, she mouthed "I"m off" and left.

"No way..." The driver put on the blinker and the car made a left turn at the street corner. A dumbfounded Yoshino saw them off. A person softly touched her shoulder from behind.

"Yoshino-chan, were you seeing them off? Thank you." When she turned back, Rei-chan"s mother was standing there.

"Aunt, is it true?"

"What?"

"Rei-chan, having an Omiai&h.e.l.lip;" Catching up with Rei-chan and Uncle and being able to ask them about it had failed. At this point she had no choice but to ask this person. To say that these were two people who lived together and who set out together as a family, even though they were intimately close, she was really only one of Yoshino"s relatives.

"Nah, calling it an "Omiai" would be an exaggeration."

Her aunt burst into laughter. "It"s only, Yanaka-san"s son likes Rei so they"re going to talk. Tanaka-san wants to introduce Rei"s father so they can become acquainted as well. That"s what it seems like he said. And then, it turned into a meal and a talk. That son, he will be busy for a while next week, so it was suddenly decided that they would do it today."

There was no question: this wasn"t being called an Omiai. Yoshino clenched her fist and strained. "I wonder what he liked specifically about Rei?" Even though, outwardly she looks like a boy. While she was speaking, Aunt had the expression of not being as dissatisfied as she would have Yoshino believe.

"But that means&h.e.l.lip; Where has he seen her before? And what was it he liked about her?" while gnashing her molars, Yoshino was able to ask. For the moment, meltdown was averted. For the time being, she must try and calmly collect information.

"It seems he came and saw the inter-high school tournament the other day. That was when he noticed."

"But you know, Yanaka"s son: wouldn"t he and Rei-chan be separated in age? It"s okay, isn"t it, Aunt? He and Rei-chan wouldn"t be marrying, right?"

"Calm down, Yoshino-chan. They"re just meeting; we"re not talking about marriage this soon, really. Though, due to circ.u.mstances, they had said they wanted to meet soon." Circ.u.mstances? I don"t know what those circ.u.mstances are but&h.e.l.lip; Still, for Rei-chan who is a high school student, they were having a talk like an Omiai. Yanaka-ojiisan is still a old guy. This son&h.e.l.lip; must be entreating his relatives to mediate for him because he"s a spoiled child. Surely he"s a selfish young man from a well-to-do family who knows nothing of the world.

"...How many?" Grind-Grind-Grind. Her molars resounded like a musical instrument.

"Huh?"

"The person she"s going to meet. How many years old is he?" Yoshino pressed on her aunt, but...

"I"m sorry. I haven"t heard." Why hasn"t she heard? Yoshino hung her head. She would probably have heard the age of the person her daughter was going to meet in an Omiai. That is, if she had been a normal mother. Even though she was exhausted, there was no helping it. She changed the direction her questioning.

"Then, have you seen a picture? Oh, never mind. I don"t want to hear about it." But that person she"s going to meet, if he had left a favorable impression on her, it felt somehow regrettable. Though she tried to block her ears momentarily, it came in just under the wire.

"It was just a snapshot, but I"ve seen one. He had refined features. His breeding is clear in his facial expression."

Just as she suspected. The foremost thing that comes to mind when you see his face is that he"s a young man from a well-to-do family who knows nothing of the world. Somehow she was getting a bad feeling about this. Naturally, the image that came to mind was Kashiwagi-san, Sachiko-sama"s cousin.

"Rather than Yanaka-san, he takes after Yanaka-san"s wife." Recalling the photograph, Aunt muttered heartily.

"Aunt, do you know what Yanaka-ojiisan"s wife"s face looks like?"

"Yes, because they appear together in the photograph. She was with her son."

"She appears with him in the photograph?" This furthered the image of a selfish young man from a well-to-do family who knows nothing of the world. Did he have a complex for his mother? His negative qualities were stacking up; she couldn"t permit this. Rei-chan was too good for this guy. I don"t want to be asked, "what kind of man would be good?" In that case, I would be hard-pressed to come up with an answer.

"Is he Single?"

"Of course he"s single. There"s no mistake. It seems that he loves playing sports and reading books at home, but Rei-chan is the first girl he has shown any interest in, Yanaka-ojiisan was saying."

"Ah, is that so?" Nevertheless some middle-aged person for who this was his first love, and who might have an Oedipus complex, can he be a good partner for Rei-chan? He might be handsome, might be clever, might be gentle, might even be s.e.xy. She was adamantly opposed to this story.

"Aunt, where"s the hotel they"re going to?" In Yoshino"s chest, a bluish-white fire began to spark and burn.

"From way back when Rei and Yoshino-chan called it the "The Hotel in the Forest". But wait, Yoshino-chan? Why? Are you planning on going?"

"No way." There is no way that could happen. She laughed.

"I only thought about it for a moment. Today I have a promise to keep with a friend." Though her aunt only panicked momentarily, listening to Yoshino"s words, she took a breath and relaxed, feeling relieved.

"Is that right. You could say this is dressing up for you. That color, is it called a peac.o.c.k green, I wonder? It"s a lovely ensemble. It really suits Yoshino-chan."

"It"s not really dressing up." When she said it like that, shouldn"t it be Rei-chan"s who was dressing up, she thought to herself. Though she wasn"t wearing, as one might suspect, a kimono. She had been wearing a light brown suit with a little bit of rouge. Certainly underneath she wasn"t wearing pants but a tight long skirt with a slit in the back. These were considerably womanly clothes for Rei-chan.

"I can"t delay any longer." All the things that had needed to be heard, had been heard. Yoshino finished up her conversation.

"What time were you planning to meet? Since they"re fewer buses on Sunday, to be on the safe side, you better check and see."

"K Station at 10:30... Ah!" c.r.a.p, it"d already turned ten o"clock.

"I"m off." For a moment, Yoshino returned to the entryway for her bag. She changed her shoes and once more rushed outside. After putting on her sandals, she realized being empty-handed was out of the question. And speaking of being out of the question, if she, the person who made such a coercive promise, ended up being late, such a thing would be shameful.

Running to the bus stop, she caught the bus she was scheduled to get on by merely a hair"s breadth. Inside, the bus was rattling. Yoshino sat alone in a two-person seat. Almost immediately afterward, she began stamping her feet, discreetly, in impatience.

"Ugh." Taking a breath, she remembered about Rei-chan, and became disgustingly angry again.

"What is with that?" She had told her aunt she was meeting with a friend. Although she had no intention of breaking her promise with Nana, if granted permission, she wanted to run after Rei-chan at once.

When Rei-chan had told her about today, why hadn"t she been listening properly? Although it was too late to change anything, she regretted it nevertheless.

At this time on a Sunday, there was a gap between buses on the route so they moved briskly. Yoshino arrived at K Station seven minutes before the appointed time. Though this shuttle bus is constantly in use, today"s run was a new record for time. At the aforementioned ticket gate, the figure of Nana could already been seen waiting. She wore jeans with a cream-colored sweater and a light-brown duffle coat. Somehow, this was a very Yumi-esque appearance.

"I"m sorry for making you wait."

"Good day." During the less than twenty-minute jolting bus ride, her breath, which had fallen into disarray while running, had settled down. She showed little sign of her earlier surge of anger and concern about the story of Rei-chan"s Omiai. Although, there is a tendency for concerns to grow as time pa.s.ses.

However, that sort of thing has nothing to do with Nana. Losing her temper over Rei-chan would be seen plainly. As she had to yet to decide if Yoshino was a wonderful upper cla.s.sman, Yoshino squashed it as much as possible, acting brightly and cheerfully.

Nevertheless, Nana said, "Is something wrong?"

"Huh?"

"Oh, nothing. It must have been my imagination."

"So it was written all over my face, huh?" Yoshino smiled wryly. Does Nana have a sharp intuition? Was she acting like a daikon radish?

"That"s why, I..."

"It"s not your imagination. I"m sorry. I"m useless today. Probably, even though I"m here with you my head"s in the clouds. I think it"s probably just something trivial."

Since their initial exchanging of greeting, they hadn"t moved as much as one step from the appointed place. Only their conversation itself had proceeded.

"Is something bothering you?"

"Well&h.e.l.lip; yeah."

"Is it something that ended badly? Or is it a progressive problem?"

"Progressive. That"s why I"m being distracted." No matter what she looked like, she"d decided to think about Rei-chan after all. In such a state, even if she talked about it, she couldn"t be in the here and now. Even her cake wouldn"t taste good. It would be impolite to enjoy Nana"s company like this.

"So, what does Yoshino-sama want to do?" After she thought a bit, Nana asked.

"What?"

"Even though you had something bothering you, you still came here because you had a previous appointment with me?"

"Well&h.e.l.lip; yeah." That was it, exactly. Though, when it"s pointed out by the company she"d made the arrangement with, wasn"t that more or less like an admission of guilt? It was complicated.

"Therefore, if you broke off the engagement, and Yoshino-sama hadn"t come here, where on earth would you be right now?" Yoshino inwardly repeated Nana"s question. (If I broke the engagement, where on earth would I be right now&h.e.l.lip;")

"I think I probably would have gone to that place, but&h.e.l.lip;" When she was true to her feelings, sure enough, she wanted to chase after Rei-chan. In Yoshino"s having gone, probably nothing would have changed. Yet, if she had been hesitant, she would have wanted to go to that other place quickly and learn what had happened.

"That place... what"s there? The place where your worries fester, it"s not at home, is it?"

"It"s a certain hotel in the metro area." To this, Nana nodded.

"I understand. Let"s go."

"Wha-?" In this hasty decision, Yoshino was bewildered.

"But that"s where Yoshino-sama wants to go, right?"

"That"s true, I want to go, but, Nana... you"ll come?" Please come. Or rather, let"s go. Even still, when she put it like that&h.e.l.lip; I can"t ask that.

"Of course, I"m offering. Or, would it be an intrusion?"

"No&h.e.l.lip; It"s not that." But, is necessary that she accompany her? She needed to confirm this.

"Umm&h.e.l.lip; even if I cancel the engagement with you and you come along to the hotel, it does seem like I need to accept your hospitality in coming." That Yoshino would feel a great deal of concern about Rei-chan"s Omiai, there was no helping it. Though, putting off worrying about until she got to the hotel is sound logic. In this case, wouldn"t Nana be a complete outsider? Or wouldn"t she also be opposed to Rei-chan"s Omiai? No, Yoshino hadn"t given a detailed enough account yet.

"Perhaps Yoshino-sama is teasing to me?" Nana"s eyes became cloudy.

"Why do you think that?"

"Or&h.e.l.lip; is this a kind of hazing?"

"That"s&h.e.l.lip; h.e.l.lo, Earth to Arima Nana-san. I have no idea what you"re going on about."

She hadn"t explained in a way Yoshino could understand. Is it popular for students in middle school to talk like they"re speaking in riddles?

"To be stirred up like this, I feel left out of the loop. But you"re speaking like you"re rejecting me, it"s awful."

"What? Stirred up?"

"Can"t you see?"

"See what?" Though she might say, "Can you see?" Or "Can"t you see it?" if she could only answer by selection an option, "I can"t see." would get her vote.

"Anyway, I"m not going home. I"ve decided to spend the day with Yoshino-sama. No matter where we go, we"re sticking together."

No matter where we go, we"re sticking together. If with this she could be resolved in choosing a cute little sister to be in her life, how happy she would be. But, in reality&h.e.l.lip; Nana was still an undercla.s.sman she was just getting acquainted with.

"Even though you don"t know what"s going on, you"ll still go?"

"I"ll ask you about it on the way. Anyway, let"s buy our tickets." Nana took Yoshino"s arm and turned to face the ticket vending machines. It seemed like she was gradually powering-up.

"Umm&h.e.l.lip; tickets&h.e.l.lip;" Although she opened the mouth of her purse for the moment, how much would she need to deposit, and which b.u.t.ton did she need to press? She didn"t immediately have a way to discern that. But, there"s no helping that, is there? Until just now she had thought her feelings about wanting to go impertinent. Previously she hadn"t even been able consider it. However, she was rapidly putting those thoughts aside—here was a person who had made her wish of going there concrete.

"Come on, hold it together. To go to that hotel, which tickets do we need to buy to get to which station?" This was quite an unexpected development.

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