Maria-sama ga Miteru

Chapter 252

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"Well would you look at that."

She spoke in a tone of wonder, after arriving out the front of the Lillian Girls Academy gates and seeing no-one else around.

"I"m the first one here."

Quite an unusual occurrence.

Thinking that they may be waiting inside the gate instead of outside, she peeked inside but there was only an empty reception area, none of the people she was looking for.

She checked the messages on her mobile phone and, while she was at it, the time. 9:25am. And there were no messages from either Youko or Eriko.

"The graduation ceremony"s today, right?"

Taking a step backwards, she saw the plain white signboard with "High school graduation ceremony" written in black letters hanging from the gate post on the right.

"I guess my invitation that we "might as well meet in front of the school gates tomorrow" wasn"t explanation enough."

- If it was something ordinary, they wouldn"t be able to make it. And knowing this, it was very much in Sei"s nature to add the "might as well" to the invite.

"I wonder what time it starts."

Sei thought it was probably 9:30 or 10:00, something like that. Oh, maybe it was 9:00? She had experienced it first-hand last year, but because it was so long ago she"d completely forgotten.

Looking around at her quiet surroundings and the empty reception area, Sei changed her mind, thinking that a 10:00am start was unlikely.

So if we accept either theory of a 9:00 or 9:30am start, why weren"t those two already here.

Or maybe they"d gone ahead of her.

No, no, in that case Youko"s personality was such that she would have sent her a message. Although it wouldn"t be such a bad thing if her personality had changed since starting university.

Well then, what should she do?

Sei started by sending a message to Youko, asking "Where are you now?" and then loitered around, watching the gates. At any rate, she could think about what to do when she got the response.

"And Eriko - "

It was a bit of a puzzle as to what she should do there. She hadn"t originally been invited, so if she didn"t show up no-one would say anything.

(But.)

From the way Yoshino-chan acted yesterday, it seemed as though she would like it if Eriko were invited.

(That"s right.)

Because her reason for saying, "Invite Youko-sama too," had been, "Wouldn"t she want to see Sachiko-sama in her finest hour?" So you could interpret that as Yoshino-chan inviting Eriko, so that she could see Rei in her finest hour too. As for Sei, her pet.i.t soeur was still only a second year, so that clause didn"t apply to her.

But when Sei thought about it, she realized that if only Eriko was here then she probably would have gone ahead of them. Since Eriko didn"t know that she and Youko would also be here today.

After folding closed her mobile phone and putting it in her pocket, Sei felt something b.u.mping against her legs.

"Oh!"

When Sei looked down, she saw a dark-brown striped cat circling around the cuff of her pants, rubbing its body against her legs.

"Goronta. It"s you."

Sei picked Goronta up and gently patted her. Goronta responded by purring happily.

"I never see you around the university campus, but you"re always around here, huh?"

What a cute cat. Sei hadn"t seen her in about a year, but Goronta didn"t seem to have forgotten her.

"You"ve grown. You look like the boss cat now."

Based on her weight, it looked like she was eating properly. Who knows, she might even be pregnant with mewling kittens. At the very least, it looked like she was able to fend for herself now. Sei was glad that the final result wouldn"t anger Shimako-san.

"You"re probably hunting birds and mice, I guess. Although you"ll probably get given sausages or fried eggs from time to time."

Well, you could probably call that a form of hunting too, so it was okay.

"You like it when I pat you here, don"t you? Yeah, just like that."

Sei had squatted down and was playing with Goronta when she heard an icy voice call out, "What are you doing?" from above her. Just as expected, when she turned around Youko was standing there.

"Oh."

Sei had been absorbed in playing with Goronta and hadn"t noticed that a bus had pulled up on the other side of the road and someone had walked across the pedestrian bridge.

"What do you mean, "Oh?" And what were you thinking, I sent you message after message but you didn"t respond to my question."

"Huh?"

"Please stop making such idiotic responses."

This was &h.e.l.lip; pretty bad.

"I deeply apologize. If your humble servant has been inept, please enlighten them, Lady Youko."

"&h.e.l.lip; You know I"m really furious."

Youko took out her own cell phone, pressed a number of b.u.t.tons and spoke as she looked at the display.

"Yesterday, without warning, I received a message saying, "Free tomorrow? Even if you"re not, add this into your schedule and come. You"ll probably see something interesting." You said to come, but where was I supposed to go. You should at least put the location in the message."

"And then I sent you another message saying it was for the high school graduation."

"But if I hadn"t asked, you would have just left it like that, right. And anyway, saying that "we might as well meet in front of the school gates" is hardly what you"d call making an appointment. I sent you a message saying, "When?" and then waited and waited but you never sent me a response.

"Heh heh - my bad."

At times like this, all you could do was apologize.

"And to top it all off, not too long ago I got a message asking, "Where are you now?" Don"t you think that"s a bit unfair?"

While Youko was yammering on and looking at her mobile phone, Sei too took out her phone. Oops, she had three new messages. All from Youko.

Sei had put her phone into silent mode, so she hadn"t noticed their arrival. She probably should have noticed the vibration of the phone in her pocket but, unfortunately, she hadn"t felt it. Probably because she had been so absorbed in playing with Goronta.

Timidly, Sei read through the messages, starting with the oldest.

"Ahh - Youko"s at the train station."

The first message said, "Now? I"m at K-station."

"I am not. Right now I"m standing here in front of you."

Indeed. The other two messages were, "Where are you?" and "Has something happened? Please answer me."

"If I were to send you a response saying, "I"m in front of the gates at Lillian"s Academy," you"d get mad, right?"

"...You"ve got some nerve, don"t you."

If Sei were to push just a bit further, it seemed likely she would permanently damage their friendship. Since it seemed that Youko had left her house a bit earlier than normal to go to the train station, but upon seeing Sei"s message had a.s.sumed something bad had happened and hastily caught the bus here.

"Anyway, what"s up? You"re here quite early, aren"t you?"

Youko patted Goronta on the back as she said this. Goronta rarely let people pat her, but with Sei there she didn"t seem to mind.

"Early? What time were you planning on arriving?"

Sei shook her head. If she hadn"t sent that message it looked as though Youko wouldn"t have arrived yet.

"What time indeed. Since you didn"t bother to specify a meeting time, I figured you meant around lunchtime."

Huh?

"Lunchtime? But wouldn"t the graduation ceremony be over by then?"

As Sei was wondering what exactly Youko was saying, Youko was looking at her with an expression that implied she was thinking the same thing.

"Huh? So you were planning on going to the graduation ceremony?"

"You weren"t?"

Youko and Sei looked at each other. Then they instinctively checked the time on their wrist.w.a.tch and phone, respectively, before smiling wryly.

No matter how you look at it, the graduation ceremony would have already begun. Rendering their current conversation pointless.

"I see. Well, that explains why you"re so well dressed."

Youko said after closely examining Sei"s appearance. Just like Youko had said, underneath her coat Sei wore a charcoal gray pant suit. Normally she"d wear the same coat when going to university, but it would be worn with a sweater, or a thick shirt, and a pair of jeans. But since she had planned on going to the graduation ceremony, she had decided against wearing jeans.

"Still, you should have put that in your message."

Even though Youko wasn"t expecting to attend the ceremony, she was still impeccably dressed. A black high-necked sweater and a gold necklace were peeking out from underneath the collar of her coat. Youko"s skirt was hidden, so Sei couldn"t tell what type it was, but she was wearing stockings and high-heels.

"Let"s start at the beginning - why did you call me here? You said there"d be something interesting. Was that supposed to be the graduation ceremony? And why did you only ask yesterday when it"s on today?"

Sei shrugged her shoulders at this rapid fire succession of questions.

"I don"t know. Yoshino-chan only invited me yesterday. And she asked me to invite you too."

As expected, Youko was astonished by her response. What"s Yoshino-chan got to do with any of this? Well, that"s a fair question.

"I"d be able to see something interesting? She said that? Yoshino-chan?"

"Nope. That was my own prediction based on what I thought would happen."

"Hmmm."

After thinking about this for a short while, Youko said:

"In that case, I think we should wait until the graduation ceremony"s over and see them when they"re all together. Since it"s Yoshino-chan, she"s not going to do anything to get a laugh during the graduation ceremony. She"ll take that very seriously. So it"s not going to be all that interesting."

"Really? Last year"s graduation ceremony was pretty interesting, right?"

Sei whistled innocently.

The students" representative had started sobbing as she was reading the farewell address, at which point a hero had appeared from somewhere in the gymnasium to rescue her. Then, together, they were able to safely finish reading the address. Something like that.

"What would someone who was half asleep at the time know about that?"

Youko prodded Sei lightly on the forehead with her finger. She understood that the "interesting event" from last year concerned her pet.i.t soeur, Sachiko, so she changed the topic.

"And? What about Eriko? She probably thought that you meant for us to meet after the graduation ceremony was over, too."

"Probably not, since she wasn"t invited."

"Huh? Why not?"

For the second time today, Mizuno Youko was astonished. She had obviously thought that since she was invited Eriko would also have been invited. Even after a whole year had pa.s.sed, perhaps even for the rest of their lives, she seemed to view the three of them as inseparably bound together as one group.

"Even so, I think she"ll probably come."

Goronta walked off, finally tiring of people patting her.

"Was that also something Yoshino-chan said?"

"She didn"t say it, but&h.e.l.lip;"

Sei looked up at the sky.

"It"s just a feeling I get."

Youko found herself intuitively agreeing with Sei"s a.s.surance. Eriko would probably come. No, make that definitely.

"She"ll come, but I don"t want to just idly wait around for her."

Youko took out her mobile phone and typed in a message. Of course it was to Eriko. Are you really coming today? We"re at the school gates right now, where are you? We should probably meet up, but how are things on your end? These things could be said more concisely, but that wasn"t in her nature.

The response from Eriko was almost immediate. It wasn"t a message, but a direct call.

"Oh, didn"t Yoshino-chan say that we were to meet after the ceremony was over?"

Eriko was still at home. Of course.

"You two should go inside. I"ll be coming in through the back gate."

"Oh, that"s right. Okay."

Eriko"s house was closer to the school"s back gate. When she was at school, Youko had taken that information as a given but now that it was no longer part of her daily routine, it seemed to have slipped her mind.

"So, anyway, how about you wait near the statue of Maria-sama until I arrive. Although I hate to keep you waiting like this."

"It"s alright. Take your time."

Youko ended the call and turned around. Sei was still looking upwards.

"What"s up?"

This time it wasn"t the sky. Sei"s gaze seemed to be a bit lower than that. Probably at a branch of the plum tree planted beside the bus stop. A light pink flower was blooming.

"A bird."

"Bird?"

"A warbler was chirping tweet-tweet-tweet as it pecked at a flower. Fascinating."

In that case it was probably a white-eye. Despite liking animals and plants, Sei was disinterested in their names or species. In much the same way that Youko had trouble remembering names and faces because she wasn"t interested in using them to cla.s.sify people.

"Eriko said we should go inside."

Youko thought that as long as she could remember her friends, it was fine.

"Did she say she was coming?"

Sei"s upward looking face returned to its normal position.

"She said she was coming."

It would have been inexcusable for Youko to laugh at such an innocent looking face.

Pa.s.sing through the main gates they entered into a reception area where two desks and chairs were set up, with a student receptionist at each one. One was resting her chin on her hands, the other was stifling a yawn.

They probably would have been more energetic, and accompanied by other students, during peak hour. Since there would be hardly anyone arriving now, they had probably reduced the number of students rostered on.

"Huh."

When the girls at the reception desk saw the faces of the people standing before them, they were so surprised they jumped up. That wasn"t a figure of speech. Their backsides literally left the chairs.

"Ro, Rosa&h.e.l.lip;!"

Except for the first years, everyone probably still remembered the faces of Youko and Sei.

"The former ones."

They were no longer high school seniors. So they no longer had an obligation to correct students if they were resting their chin on their hands, or stifling a yawn. While they didn"t have an obligation, it wasn"t in Youko"s nature to let this pa.s.s. Thankfully, the students corrected their behavior voluntarily. Youko felt like she was getting dragged back into the past.

Sei showed her Lillian"s Girls University student card and Youko signed in with her name and address before they pa.s.sed through the reception area. Even though they had arrived at such a half-baked time, the reason they weren"t questioned was probably because they were graduates. No, wait, they were questioned. The middle school teacher Aota-sensei had been talking to the security guard, and, upon seeing them, had asked, "How are you going?" and "How"s university?"

"This takes me back."

Sei said as they walked along the path lined with ginkgo trees.

"Even though you go to Lillian"s university?"

"I"ve walked in a little way past the gates, but I haven"t been this far along the path."

"I see."

"And if I have some reason to visit the high school area, I can just take the path from the university buildings."

Ahh, so that"s how it is. Maybe it would be a little bit embarra.s.sing too. That"s understandable.

You would seem a little bit out of place, to be walking along this long road wearing something other than a school uniform.

During special events, like the athletics festival, or the school carnival, or the graduation ceremony, it was a trifling matter. But on an ordinary day, Youko thought that it would be an incredibly strong sensation.

"You"re praying?"

Sei asked Youko, as she clasped her hands together in front of the statue of Maria-sama.

"Yeah."

Even though Youko had graduated, it would be strange to suddenly stop. She didn"t pray at home, either at morning or night, but she had no reason not to pray when in front of the statue of Maria-sama. Much the same as she would pray when in front of an altar at a Shinto shrine.

"You once told me that your family grave site was in a Buddhist temple, Youko. And to make matters worse, you came to Lillian"s at the start of middle school."

"What do you mean, to make matters worse?"

Sei probably wanted to say that her Christianity was a convenience. Well, Youko couldn"t really deny it.

"Even at university there"s people like that. Every day during lunch, they"ll voluntarily go out and pray. But they"re not the same type of person as Shimako, it seems like they"re doing it out of inertia. A habit, if you like. If they don"t pray, they"ll feel bad. That kind of thing."

"Yeah, I guess so."

There"s probably a lot of j.a.panese people like that. Even the pious Shimako probably prays in the Buddhist temple when she gets home.

"Well then, what should we do?"

Eriko had said she didn"t want to keep them waiting, but it would probably take her 5 to 10 minutes to arrive since she had still been at home.

"How about we take a stroll over there?"

That should be okay, as long as they didn"t go too far.

"Ahh, wait up."

Sei called out to Youko, who had started to walk off. Youko was wondering what that was all about and turned around to see Sei standing in front of the statue of Maria-sama and praying.

"You"re praying."

Somewhat surprised, Youko called out in wonder.

"Oh, it"s nothing."

Sei said, seemingly uneasy. Youko had known Sei for a long time, but still didn"t really understand her.

"Well, let"s go then."

Having finished her prayer, Sei walked down a different path to the one Youko had been heading down.

"Wait, where are you going?"

Youko hurriedly stopped Sei by grabbing her elbow. For someone seemingly without any destination in mind, Sei had had an impish grin on her face when she had said, "Let"s go."

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

Youko stepped in without waiting to hear Sei"s admission.

"We can"t go to the gymnasium."

"It"ll be fine. We"ll just take a peek."

Youko had been spot on. Sei had been planning on going to watch the graduation ceremony.

"No means no."

There was no way they could "just take a peek." If that was allowed, they wouldn"t have receptionists and security stationed at all the entrances. That was why Eriko"s boyfriend (what was his name? that goofy guy) had been allowed onto the school grounds last year, but wasn"t allowed in to see the graduation ceremony.

"Then we"ll march straight in."

Youko braced herself and put all her strength into stopping Sei"s forward motion.

"Absolutely not."

If they went to the gymnasium, they would probably be allowed in once they were recognized. But people who arrive late are incredibly conspicuous, even if they take their seats quietly. That"s okay for regular parents and relatives. But they would be recognized by most of the students and that would cause a small commotion. The small commotion would spread, leading to a huge disruption inside the gymnasium.

Youko couldn"t let that happen.

Graduation ceremonies are dull events. And boring is fine. If the program progresses solemnly and without incident, then it"s a huge success.

"I"m begging you, please don"t disrupt my darling pet.i.t soeur"s graduation ceremony."

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