Maria-sama ga Miteru

Chapter 217

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The "revenge group" of Sachiko-sama, Kashiwagi-san, Yuuki and Yumi walked into the same restaurant they went to back in autumn. Unfortunately, there were no free tables, but after waiting about five minutes a group of four left and they were able to slot right in.

The amus.e.m.e.nt park"s restaurant was quite interesting. There was a completely exhausted father, a group of middle school students who were hurriedly stuffing down their food so they could move on to the next ride, a child crying on the floor after what had started out as a brotherly quarrel and a couple who had finished eating but were still completely absorbed in their own private world. Even though they shared this fairy-tale s.p.a.ce, they were all lead characters in their own dramas.

So how would Yumi"s group"s drama unfold? Just like last time, they all went to the counter and ordered their own meals then split the bill. And, as expected, when they got back to the table they saw that everyone had ordered three-colored curry.

"Everyone must really like their curry."

Sachiko-sama muttered, to which the three others responded, "That"s not it."

"You"ve been going on and on about your revenge, Sacchan, so there was this pressure to order the same thing as last time."

The f.u.kuzawa siblings nodded in agreement to Kashiwagi-san"s explanation.

"But I didn"t say you had to do that."

Despite her statement, Sachiko-sama had also ordered the same curry, so she may have unwittingly cast the spell on herself too.

"Anyway, the curry here"s good so it doesn"t matter."

Almost immediately, Yuuki started to soak up the curry with his extra-large naan bread. He must have been hungry after all. Sachiko-sama and Yumi, sitting next to each other, had a whispered conversation and then broke one of their naan bread pieces in two. The other, untouched piece, they offered to the guys. The portions here were a bit too large for high-school girls, but not quite enough for guys in their late teens, so they always expected to share some of their food. This way was much better than letting the guys have the left-over naan bread after they had finished eating. This was one of the many ways in which they could make the revenge, or revision, better than the original.

"That reminds me, Yumi. We haven"t done the roller-coaster yet."

"Don"t tell me you"re going on that too, onee-sama?"

Maybe she"d been secretly practicing riding roller-coasters, like she"s been practicing driving for her license.

"I won"t go on the roller-coaster. I"ve told you that before, haven"t I?"

Indeed she had.

"Then I"ll pa.s.s on it too."

If it would keep her onee-sama waiting, then Yumi had no desire to ride the roller-coaster. And if things went like last time, then she"d be riding it alongside Kashiwagi-san. She didn"t really want that.

"Don"t hold back on account of me. Just because I won"t be riding it is no reason for you to abstain."

"I"m not holding back."

Then Kashiwagi-san, who had been listening to their conversation, chimed in:

"If you don"t want to go on the roller-coaster with me, we can search for Rei-san"s group and you can go with her."

Bulls-eye.

Was Yumi"s face betraying her thoughts yet again? If she were to hastily bring both her hands to her cheeks then it would just confirm his suspicions. Therefore, she calmly and quietly smiled back at him.

"That"s a rather over-inflated sense of self you have."

"Really? Well then, anytime you need an escort, I"ll be there for you."

While Yumi was thinking about how odious his smugness was, she realized she had a long way to go if she wanted to spar with Kashiwagi-san like this.

Aim for a higher stage, he said. On that autumn day. Was she still fumbling around in the same place as back then?

"Yumi."

Unexpectedly, Yuuki spoke.

"I"ll ride the roller-coaster with you, if we don"t find Yoshino-san"s group."

"You don"t have to force yourself."

"I"m not."

It looked like he was using the roller-coaster to cover over his earlier cowardly behavior at the haunted house.

Like a piece of naan bread soaking up chicken curry. Still, it seemed kind of sad.

"Ah, you went in there, huh?"

They b.u.mped into Yoshino-san"s group just as they were leaving the restaurant.

"What did you have for lunch, Yumi-san?"

Based on that, Yumi inferred that Yoshino-san"s group had eaten lunch at some other restaurant. Humans seemed to have a strange fascination with where and what other people eat. Hoping to satisfy that appet.i.te, Yumi answered.

"Curry."

"I had a rice bowl."

"An onigiri rice ball?"

"That"s what you"d think. But you"re wrong, it was a donburi rice bowl."

Yoshino-san laughed. "Bowl" not "ball."

"Say, why don"t we go on one of the rides? Come on, Yumi-san. You know, earlier I was thinking that I should have a light lunch. About that time I saw some people coming out of one of the shops talking about how the rice b.a.l.l.s were great, so, without thinking about it too deeply I decided to have that and went inside. By the time I"d realized it was rice bowls not rice b.a.l.l.s it was my turn to order, and I figured it"d be okay. After all, the lines will be pretty long so there"s plenty of time for it to settle. The rice bowl itself was fairly ordinary."

Yoshino-san was chatting away. This was proof that she still hadn"t made up with Rei-sama. All her pent-up conversation from lunch time was gushing out over Yumi.

Furthermore, if Yoshino-san wanted to reconcile then she probably would have asked Rei-sama where she wanted to have lunch and they would have talked it over. Instead, Yoshino-san had overheard some random stranger"s conversation as she was walking along and used that to decide where to eat. Still, it was good to see that she had loosened up in some respects. Usually, Yoshino-san wouldn"t give in so easily if the store didn"t have the food she expected. If there was something she wanted to eat, she"d complain loudly as she moved to a different store. Basically, there were many aspects of Yoshino-san"s lunch with Rei-sama that defied Yumi"s expectations.

Yumi snuck a glance at Rei-sama. She looked sh.e.l.l-shocked, like someone you would offer condolences to.

"Can"t you call a truce, at least while we"re at the amus.e.m.e.nt park?"

Yumi quietly suggested to Yoshino-san, who responded coldly with, "What for?" She seemed stubbornly unwilling to admit they were fighting.

"I don"t know what you"re trying to imply, Yumi-san. If she apologizes to me, then I"ll consider it. Since she"s in the wrong."

So, to Yoshino-san, this wasn"t a fight but "something Rei-chan did wrong." Unilaterally. However, that seemed kind of suspicious. Rei-sama wasn"t the sort of person who would unilaterally do something wrong; she was a pacifist who would apologize over the slightest matter. Things had soured to the point that a reconciliation would be difficult without an apology from Yoshino-san. Nonetheless, the fact that they were still walking around together was a testament to their perseverance.

"Yoshino-chan, what did you want to ride on?"

Kashiwagi-san inquired.

"&h.e.l.lip; I hadn"t decided."

Yoshino-san glanced at Rei-sama. But she still didn"t seem to want to talk to her.

"Since we ran into each other again, I thought we might stick together for a while. Is that okay with you, Rei-san?"

"Ah, yeah, of course."

Kashiwagi-san had apparently noticed the turbulent atmosphere between the Yellow Rose sisters and was attempting to intervene. His plan was probably to use the excitement of their friends to get the Yellow Rose sisters to gradually reconcile.

"Then let"s start with that."

Kashiwagi-san said cheerfully, pointing. The teacups ride had just come into view, and that was probably what caused him to interject.

Still, not everyone hurried towards the ride.

"I"m not going on that."

Sachiko-sama said.

"Huh?"

"I said, I"m not going on that. The teacups spin round and round, right? Riding on that would make me feel sick."

So the list of rides Sachiko-sama wouldn"t go on wasn"t limited to just the roller-coaster. From memory, they hadn"t gone on the teacups ride last time either. And there"s no way they were going to force someone onto the ride who had just announced that it would make them feel sick.

"Will you be alright just watching us, Sacchan?"

"I should be able to do that."

"Ah - "

Before Yumi had a chance to say, "Then I"ll watch too," Kashiwagi-san whispered to her:

"Sacchan"s going to stand outside and wave to you while you"re on the ride, Yumi-chan. How sweet. Kind of like a family, right?"

"See," he said, pointing towards a woman who was holding a baby, watching the teacups ride and waving. She was looking straight at a man and a primary-school aged girl who were happily waving back. So that"s the kind of sentiment she was looking for.

"I see."

Yumi nodded, and thumped her chest. Yuuki laughed at her simple-mindedness, but she wasn"t going on the ride just because of Kashiwagi-san"s invitation. If Yumi was there, then Yoshino-san would chatter. And Rei-sama"s expression would be slightly more gentle. If it were just the two guys, it seemed unlikely that they would be able to make a good connection.

Now, in order to pull off this plan to reconcile the Yellow Rose sisters, it was imperative that they both be in the same teacup. They may have eaten lunch together in silence, but there was no way they"d be able to maintain that for the duration of the spinning teacup ride. The ride was designed to get people giddy and excited.

With that in mind, Kashiwagi-san, Yumi and Yuuki lined up ahead of Yoshino-san and Rei-sama. Their plan was as follows: When it was time to get on the ride, Yumi, Yuuki and Kashiwagi-san would all dash towards one of the teacups, leaving Yoshino-san and Rei-sama with no option but to ride together. No matter how awkward they found it being around each other, it was incredibly unlikely that they"d sit alone in separate teacups.

After they"d been standing in line for a short while, Tsutako-san and Shouko-chan joined the end of the line, about two groups back. They didn"t call Tsutako-san"s group over, out of consideration for the people lined up between them, but they did wave to let them know they were there. It looked like this attraction was everyone"s first stop after lunch.

Soon the line started to move and eventually the attendant asked them, "How many people are in your party?" They answered with, "Three people," and the attendant moved on to Yoshino-san"s group.

"I"m sorry, but this is the limit for how many we can have on at a time."

In other words, Yumi"s group would be on the teacup ride the next time around, and Yoshino-san"s group the time after that. Along with Tsutako-san and Shouko-chan.

Yoshino-san clicked her tongue softly. The amus.e.m.e.nt park was supposed to be a fun place, but due to her fight with Rei-sama it was quite the opposite. Usually she"d have more patience but currently she wanted to rush through everything. That much was plain to see.

"Yoshino."

Still, Rei-sama wasn"t going to allow that.

"There"s nothing we can do about it. We have to wait our turn."

Having just been cautioned, Yoshino-san"s dissatisfied expression turned to outright displeasure.

"Um, we can get on the next ride, if you"d like to go instead of us."

Yuuki offered, either because he was unable to watch any longer or because he was unwilling to stand idly by.

"You"re better off not indulging her, Yuuki-kun."

"Hmph, I never said anything about wanting to go ahead of you."

"There"s no need to lash out at Yuuki-kun."

"He started talking to me and I merely answered."

Yuuki thought he was acting like a gentleman but got shot down. He would have been better off acting unconcerned, but, having grown up attending an all-boys school, Yuuki couldn"t understand a woman"s delicate emotions.

In general, it"s better to let sleeping dogs lie. Then the ride came to a stop, the pa.s.sengers got off and the attendant did a quick check of the insides of the teacups before giving them the go-ahead signal. Kashiwagi-san called out, "That red cup!" and Yumi dashed after him.

Yoshino-san and Rei-sama were left behind and what happened between them was up to G.o.d. It would be nice if they could cheer up as they spun around together, but things probably wouldn"t work out that easily. Still, a little bit of improvement would go a long way.

Due to his quick decision about which teacup to aim for, Kashiwagi-san was able to claim the red teacup while everyone else was still deciding. Yumi caught up with him and plopped down on the chair inside the cup.

"Huh?"

Yuuki still wasn"t there, even though he should have been a faster runner than Yumi. Maybe he hadn"t heard the call of red teacup and was wandering around lost. Yumi looked around restlessly, but there was no sign of him amongst the multicolored teacups. Then the attendant started making her rounds, checking that the doors on the teacups were securely closed.

"Yukichi"s blown it."

Kashiwagi-san muttered. Yumi turned around, wondering what he was talking about, and saw Yuuki standing at the front of the line, looking towards them with a miserable expression. His arm was being held tightly so that he couldn"t escape. By Yoshino-san.

"I didn"t know Yoshino-san liked Yuuki."

"Neither did I."

In other words, it must have been something else.

"She was probably planning on grabbing you, Yumi-chan. But you got such a good start that she had to quickly switch to the slow-starting Yukichi."

"&h.e.l.lip; I"ve been had."

The bell that signaled the start of the ride rang and then a cheerful melody washed over them. The red teacup that Yumi and Kashiwagi-san were sitting in slowly started to move.

"Now that Yoshino-san"s caught Yuuki, what do you think she"ll do with him?"

"Who knows. They"ll either go together as a group of three, or she"ll use him to squeeze Rei-san out."

Kashiwagi-san spun the wheel in the center of the teacup. Then he called out, "Look, it"s Sacchan."

Remembering, Yumi hurriedly looked for Sachiko-sama. However, not only was the teacup spinning but so was the tray that it rested upon, which made it quite difficult for Yumi to get her bearings.

"Yumi - "

Spin, spin. Yumi caught a glimpse of Sachiko-sama out of the corner of her eye and frantically turned and waved at her.

"Onee-sama - "

But by then it was already too late, and Yumi was looking straight at some unknown smiling family.

"Hahahaha."

Kashiwagi-san laughed as he spun the wheel.

"Hahahaha."

His laughter was infectious, and Yumi joined in.

Outside, Sachiko-sama laughed too. Yumi couldn"t see clearly, but she definitely seemed to be clutching her stomach and laughing.

Yumi"s twin tails whipped against her face. Something green occasionally danced in front of her eyes, as though one of her ribbons had come untied.

Soon it became hard for Yumi to tell whether she was spinning or the outside world was spinning.

The music was coming from somewhere, but she couldn"t tell where. Was it coming from somewhere outside? Or somewhere within her?

Spinning around, Yumi knew what the tigers in "Little Black Sambo" felt when they turned into b.u.t.ter from chasing each other around. The teacups slowly came to a stop while she was contemplating this.

Stepping out of the teacup, Yumi"s legs turned to jelly.

"Are you okay?"

Kashiwagi-san offered his arm to her, like a prince. Normally, Yumi would have spurned him by saying, "I"m fine." But she hadn"t returned to normal after the temporary high of the ride.

"Hahahaha."

Yumi clung to his arm, grateful for the support. More like an old lady than a princess. Yumi started to laugh, seeing the lighter side of clinging to Kashiwagi-san. She was the spitting image of a happy drunk, although, since she was underage, she"d never been drunk.

Since she was intoxicated from the ride and not from alcohol, Yumi sobered up after about five steps. She thanked Kashiwagi-san and then let go of his arm.

"It was my pleasure."

Kashiwagi-san grinned, then turned to look at the teacup they had just left.

"Oh, right, Yuuki."

Yumi had been having so much fun that she"d completely forgotten about him. How would the problematic Yellow Rose sisters and their prisoner Yuuki arrange themselves in the teacups.

Still standing at the entrance, Yoshino-san didn"t look as though she had let go of Yuuki"s arm since she first grabbed it. They looked nothing like a pair of lovers, despite having the same outline, due to the militant look in Yoshino-san"s eyes and the cowering look in Yuuki"s.

"I think they should take Yuuki with them and go as a group of three."

"Agreed."

"If it"s just a trivial fight, they"ll probably do a complete 360 and blow it off. Like how I ended up having fun even though it was just us, Kashiwagi-san."

"Right?" Yumi added, seeking his agreement, but Kashiwagi-san had a slack-jawed expression on his face.

"What"s the matter?"

"Yumi-chan, sometimes you say things that cut right to the bone."

He must have been offended by the "even though it was just us" part. Talk about delicate.

"Then excuse me."

Leaving him with that, Yumi rushed over to where Sachiko-sama had been waiting for her.

"Did you see me waving to you?"

"Yeah."

"Could you tell I was your onee-sama?"

"Of course."

While they were happily absorbed in their own private world, a still moping Kashiwagi-san joined them, pointed towards the ride and said, "Watch." They saw that the rope had just been removed, allowing Yoshino-san"s group to enter the ride.

They all waited to see how Yoshino-san would use her trump card, Yuuki.

"Ah."

What was that all about? Right from the start, Yoshino-san grabbed Yuuki"s hand and took off running. Grabbed only Yuuki"s hand.

Rei-sama didn"t seem to know what to do after being left behind, but took off after Yoshino-san. She arrived at their teacup just as Yoshino-san was shutting the door. Naturally, Yoshino-san had remembered to push Yuuki into the teacup first before embarking.

Rei-sama seemed dumbfounded by Yoshino-san"s appalling behavior. Rather than standing her ground, she walked off to try and find another free teacup.

However, there probably wasn"t going to be a spare teacup, as they had most likely told the line attendant that the three of them were one group, and she would have let on as many groups as there were teacups.

Cruel. Too cruel, Yoshino-san. Even the line attendant was apologizing profusely, thinking that she had made a miscalculation. Her voice didn"t carry to where they were standing, but she looked as though she was asking Rei-sama if she wouldn"t mind waiting for the next ride.

Unable to just watch, Yuuki was standing up and trying to open the door, but then a lifeboat came from another direction.

"Rei-sama, you could join us for this ride, if you"d like."

It was Tsutako-san. In a teacup with just herself and Shouko-chan, Tsutako-san called out and waved Rei-sama over.

Tsutako-san was always reliable, but Yumi couldn"t remember ever asking something like this of her.

(Go! Go! Tsutako-san. Our hero (not heroine) Tsutako-san. I love, you love Tsutako-san. T S U T A K O. Our hero! Tsutako! Yay!)

She was so wonderful that Yumi mentally burst into an improvised cheer. Tsutako-san.

Naturally, Rei-sama gratefully accepted the request. After saying her thanks, she climbed into their teacup.

And what was the villain, Yoshino-san, doing? She seemed relieved when Rei-sama escaped from her position as the center of attention. Apparently Yoshino-san had shut Rei-sama out without thinking about the consequences. Really, that was just too much.

The teacups started to spin.

Yoshino-san completely ignored Yuuki, instead she kept her eyes fixed on Rei-sama"s teacup. For her part, Rei-sama didn"t so much as glance towards Yoshino-san. Rei-sama laughed as she spun and chatted with Tsutako-san and Shouko-chan.

This may just have been Yumi"s imagination as she watched on from outside, but it looked as though Yoshino-san became angrier and angrier. About their fight, about her inability to say "I"m sorry," about her malicious behavior, about Rei-sama"s enjoyment, about everything.

And then she turned that emotion into action.

Yoshino-san gently took hold of the wheel but then began to spin it with tremendous force. The teacup, which had been spinning fairly quickly to begin with, responded and gained incredible speed.

"It makes me feel sick just watching it."

Sachiko-sama turned her back on the scene. That was the proper course of action. But Yumi couldn"t tear her eyes away. She was convinced that deep down Yoshino-san was crying, as she single-mindedly continued spinning that wheel.

"I wonder if Yukichi"s going to be okay."

Kashiwagi-san too was worried. It was even drawing the attention of some of the pa.s.sengers in the other teacups.

Then the music ended and the teacups slowly came to a halt. The pa.s.sengers shuffled out of their teacups. But Yoshino-san didn"t move at all.

Yuuki pondered what he should do.

"Umm, Yoshino-san?"

She had been spinning the wheel like a woman possessed while the teacups were in motion. They had been spinning so fast that he had to grab on to the sides of the teacup, although it"s not like they would have been flung out.

And then this. The moment the teacups stopped spinning, Yoshino-san went limp, like a toy that had run down its batteries. Still gripping the wheel, she lowered her head onto her hands and remained there. Like she"d stopped dead.

His only guidepost was that she"d muttered, "I feel woozy," just before she shut down. Yuuki had heard that Yoshino-san used to have a weak heart and it would be no laughing matter if the rapidly spinning teacup had brought on a heart-attack.

Anyway.

"What should I do?"

Frankly, he had no experience with this kind of situation. If he was with a guy, he"d just say, "Pull yourself together," and then drag the other guy out of there. But this time he was with a girl. If he touched her in the wrong place then he would probably be branded a molester.

Just as Yuuki remembered that the ride attendant was also a woman, he was tapped on the shoulder from behind.

"Sorry, I"ll take it from here."

It was Rei-san.

"Rei-san..."

Even though she had been treated so poorly, Rei-san was still the first one to rush to Yoshino-san"s aid when she was in a bind. She was truly a big-hearted person.

Yuuki had heard that Rei-san was talented enough at kendo to embarra.s.s most men, but he hadn"t seen anything manly (in a good way) about Rei-san until now. She looked so dashing that he started mentally singing an improvised supporter"s song.

(Go! Go! Rei-san. Etc.)

"Yoshino. Can you walk?"

Rei-san called out, having entered the teacup. Yoshino-san responded with something that sounded like gibberish, but Rei-san seemed to understand her.

"Alright, let"s get you up."

Clinging to Rei-san, Yoshino-san got out of the teacup. Yuuki felt a bit superfluous, since he could only watch on.

"Rei-san, is there anything I can do?"

He called out, in case there was any way he could help.

"Well, you can take Yoshino"s bag."

At the same time she said this, Rei-san threw the bag to him with a basketball pa.s.s, which he gladly received.

"I"ll look after it."

He"d do whatever the dependable older-brother (sorry) Rei-san asked of him.

"Anything else?"

That was when the limp Yoshino-san lifted her head, turned towards him and said, "A message."

"Huh?"

Yuuki asked.

"A message for Yumi-san. Tell her that I won"t be going on the roller-coaster today, so she should go ahead without me."

Leaving him with those words, Yoshino-san was led off somewhere by Rei-san.

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