Maria-sama ga Miteru

"Huh?"

Yumi murmured. She had a feeling she"d forgotten something.

"The keyword was "photography club." &h.e.l.lip; No, probably just "photograph." What was it, something that I had to remember to do."

Even with this hint, there"s no way that Tsutako-san would be able to give her the answer. But when the ball that she had half-heartedly thrown out returned, it landed fair in the middle of her glove.

"Say, Yumi-san, wasn"t there something you wanted to see me about."

"Something I wanted to see you about? No, I only asked you to the Rose Mansion because you were doing your club work all alone."

"Not that. After you"d emptied the rubbish bin, when you came back into the cla.s.sroom. You saw me and said something like, "There she is. Lucky.""

"Aren"t you thinking of Katsura-san?"

But as she said this, Yumi slowly remembered.

"Right, I definitely said that."

Ah, there she is. Lucky.

She"d said those words when she saw Tsutako-san sitting there and was relieved that she wouldn"t have to walk all the way over to the clubhouse. But then she"d completely forgotten about it as she looked over the photographs spread out across Tsutako-san"s desk and they"d talked about her eviction from the clubroom.

"If you knew about this, why didn"t you tell me?"

"Ah. I"d forgotten about it too, until just recently."

"Just recently?"

"Katsura-san"s arrival. It blended with your arrival back in the cla.s.sroom and triggered the memory."

But then Tsutako-san too had forgotten about it while she talked to Katsura-san. Geeze, this wasn"t the kind of thing you"d expect from two young people.

"So, before I forget again."

Yumi reached her hand into her skirt pocket, pulled something out and offered it to Tsutako-san. Looking slightly triumphant as she did so. Ahh - thank-you Yumi-san. I"d been looking for that, wondering where it went. That kind of expression of grat.i.tude was what Yumi had been expecting to hear. However.

"What"s this?"

Tsutako-san tilted her head and took a long, hard look at what Yumi was holding. Obviously, Tsutako-san didn"t mean that literally. She would know better than anyone else on campus what "that" was.

"You must have dropped it, Tsutako-san. Some kind first-years picked it up. They asked me to give it to you because we"re in the same cla.s.s."

"That" was a roll of film used for taking photographs, from the top selling brand. Small enough to fit in your hand. Alongside the brand name, which resembled that familiar cylindrical shape, the katakana for "Takeshima Tsutako" were written in magic marker. Things found around school were usually taken straight to the lost property office, but there was no reason to do that with this item.

"It"s got your name written on it," Yumi said as she pressed the roll of film into Tsutako-san"s hand. Some time ago Yumi had gone through the experience of having her umbrella stolen, go missing and then be returned to her by virtue of having her name written on it.

"But this isn"t mine."

Tsutako-san looked at the roll of film sitting atop her hand with a confounded expression.

"Huh?"

"For starters, this isn"t my handwriting, and I"m not missing any rolls of film either."

Yumi thought, "Well that"s just foolish." She"d agreed to return it, br.i.m.m.i.n.g with confidence, because she"d been under the impression that it was Tsutako-san"s.

"So, this Takeshima Tsutako is - "

Probably someone else with the same name. Of course, "Takeshima Tsutako" was written in katakana, not kanji, so it didn"t conclusively point to this Takeshima Tsutako.[1]

"I wonder if there"s anyone else in school with that name."

Perhaps using different kanji characters, or maybe even the same ones that Tsutako-san herself uses.[2] At any rate, Takeshima Tsutako didn"t seem like it would be that common a name.

They both crossed their arms and looked at the roll of film, wondering what to do about it.

"Oh, why the look of concentration?"

A new visitor had appeared. Although it"s probably more accurate to call her a tenant rather than a visitor. It was Rosa Foetida en bouton, Shimazu Yoshino-san. She"d been in the chrysanthemum group cla.s.sroom, discussing with Tanuma Chisato-san the particulars of their upcoming date, and had just stopped in at the Rose Mansion on her way home. When Yoshino-san found her two cla.s.smates deep in thought, instead of the empty room she had expected, it had apparently been interesting enough that she just had to stick her nose in.

"Whenever you"re in trouble, you can count on the great detective Yoshino - "

Tsutako-san and Yumi looked at each other and surrept.i.tiously sighed. Yumi had the feeling that they were now more likely to thrash around than come to a conclusion. Sadly, Yoshino-san was the most obstinate person in the Rose Mansion. Putting it bluntly, it was obvious that things were about to get worse.

"I"ve got it."

Yoshino-san nodded, holding her right hand out, palm upright, with her arm bent at the elbow. Perhaps she"d intended it to look as though she was holding a brandy gla.s.s, but, if so, she wasn"t swirling it around. A fair bit of time had pa.s.sed before Yumi realized it was somehow meant to look as though she was holding a pipe. Yoshino-san was apparently going for the Sherlock Holmes look.

"The criminal wrote Takeshima Tsutako on it so that it would be delivered to Tsutako-san, no?"

"Delivered to her?"

Again, something absurd. Plus, "criminal"?

"Right. Delivered to Tsutako-san."

What Yoshino-san had just said was apparently a trick used in detective novels. To have a letter delivered to a certain person in a few days (for example, if you knew you were going to die soon) then you could send a letter with that person"s name and address as the sender, and a non-existent address as the recipient. Letters that can"t be delivered are generally returned to the sender, so while it would take longer than usual it would still be delivered fairly reliably.

"Isn"t that against the rules?"

As soon as the question was out of Yumi"s mouth, Yoshino-san shrugged her shoulder slightly and sighed in exasperation.

"Like - I - said, it"s a trick used in detective novels. It"s fictional. Everyone knows you can"t do that kind of thing in real life."

Detective novels weren"t the sort of thing to read if you were going to start talking about the legality or morality of things, it seemed. That"s probably true. Having refuted her friend, Yoshino-san looked pleased and triumphant.

"So, then, that would make the intended recipient Takeshima Tsutako."

With her name written on it, it would undoubtedly be delivered to Tsutako-san after some time had pa.s.sed. Made sense. But still.

"From who? And why?"

"Well, I don"t know that."

The great detective didn"t know.

"You know. If someone wanted to deliver this to me, wouldn"t it be easier just to put it in my shoe box on the day they wanted me to get it?"

Tsutako-san pointed out.

"That"s true."

Yumi thought that seemed more realistic. Not only would it remove the time it took for the lost property office to contact Tsutako-san, but it would also make the intention obvious.

"So? What"s inside?"

"Don"t know."

They wouldn"t be able to tell that until the film was developed. Tsutako-san may be called Camera-chan, but there"s no way she"d be able to tell what photos were inside just by looking at the casing.

"Let me have a look at it."

Yoshino-san held out her hand. Tsutako-san took a step backwards, protecting the film. Why? Because she had no idea what Yoshino-san was planning to do if she got her hands on it.

"Hey &h.e.l.lip; !"

Yoshino-san desperately lunged forward but didn"t come away with the prize, instead losing her balance and grabbing on to the table with both hands to stabilize herself.

"Stop it. What do you think I"m going to - "

Yoshino-san moaned as she straightened herself up, but then caught sight of something and suddenly fell silent.

"This is &h.e.l.lip; "

She picked up one of the photos spread across the table and looked at it, eyes narrowed.

"This is Eriko-sama."

Yoshino-san looked to Tsutako-san for confirmation.

"You can tell, even though she"s wearing street clothes?"

It wasn"t a straight "yes," but the answer was undoubtedly in the affirmative.

"Of course. We"re eternal rivals."

It was probably taken during the New Year"s period because there were numerous people wearing kimonos. In amongst that crowd, Yoshino-san"s onee-sama"s onee-sama, Torii Eriko-sama, was smiling at the camera.

"Even now, we"re still tightly bound through Rei-chan."

Yoshino-san said, her eyes quiet and serene as she looked at the photograph of her "eternal rival."