Maria-sama ga Miteru

Chapter 184

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"How about we go with: I was initially on a date with Ami-san, but then after lunch we accidentally ran into her cla.s.smate Chiho-san, who had come to school, by chance, to pick up something she"d forgotten, and we joined company."

After eating lunch, Shimako"s group held a strategy meeting.

So call it a subst.i.tution, or a replacement. While Shimako accepted that she hadn"t been on a date with the real Igawa Ami-san from the start, thinking about it from the general student"s point of view, that wouldn"t have been the end of it.

Shimako"s personal opinion was that submitting a completely honest report would make for interesting reading. But if they did that, it seemed likely that Ami-san and Chiho-san would get blamed for breaking the rules. They were forbidden from transferring the card, or its accompanying privileges.

"Okay? Chiho-san can write the first half, and Ami-san can write the second half of the report."

That way, there would be at least some consistency. While they were perhaps deceiving the readers of the Lillian Kawaraban, it was necessary to bring things to a close. Since Shimako had really believed that Chiho-san was "Ami-san" for the first half, it wasn"t a complete lie - just an expedient.

"Oh?"

As she was cutting the cheesecake, the creaking sounds of someone climbing the stairs could be heard.

Who would be coming to visit the Rose Mansion on a Sunday? The three girls looked at each other. They had already finished their meeting, so their wasn"t the sudden tumult of papers being hidden. However, they did look a bit like they"d been caught in the act.

Knock knock, creak. Without waiting for a response, the biscuit door opened.

"Heyoo. Photography club here, do we have any takers?"

"Huh &h.e.l.lip; ?"

In strode Takeshima Tsutako-san. Following behind her, more subdued, was her junior from the photography club, Naitou Shouko-chan. They were both in school uniform.

"What"s going on?"

Shimako set the cake knife down and walked over to them.

"Oh, it"s Shimako-san. Hmm, I didn"t imagine you"d be doing the same thing two years in a row, so I was certain it was going to be Yumi-san or Yoshino-san."

Tsutako-san"s eyes were still wide from the surprise of seeing someone unexpected. That made two of them.

As a start, the new and old visitors greeted each other with "Gokigenyou." Then Shimako returned to her task of cutting the cake, and they all ate. Tsutako-san and Shouko-chan were initially reluctant, but since Chiho-san was there as well they decided to join in. Three"s the same as five, in other words.

"Well. As I was walking through the courtyard, I saw the window was open. I thought someone might be there, or it could just be that they forgot to close it yesterday, in which case I should close it for them. But then I was worried that someone might be there, after all. I didn"t want to interfere with their date, but maybe I could take a commemorative photo for them. Of course, I"d keep it a secret from the newspaper club."

Tsutako-san winked as she gestured with the fork she"d used to transport the cheesecake to her mouth.

"That sounds reasonable enough. But why are you at school in the first place?"

Shimako asked, as she closed the window. She knew there were a number of clubs at the school today, but she hadn"t expected the photography club would be one of them.

"At Katsura-san"s request, I came to take photos of the tennis club. She said they wanted to give their graduating seniors a handmade booklet with photos of them doing club activities. Which they"d all sign. For various reasons, it was better doing it today than before or after school, plus the weather report said it would be sunny."

Then after coming to school on Sunday and looking around, she saw that there were numerous other sports and cultural clubs holding activities, so she went from place to place taking photographs.

"Shall we get them to take a photo of us too?"

Shimako asked Ami-san and Chiho-san, and was met with resounding approval. Apparently these two first-years had a special yearning to have their photos taken by Takeshima Tsutako-san.

"What"s the magic word?"

Tsutako-san asked, holding up her camera.

"Cheesecake"s "cheese"."

Just as Chiho-san said this, the shutter clicked.

"Ah."

At that moment, Shimako suddenly remembered.

"Chiho-san, on the day of the treasure hunt, you visited this room, didn"t you?"

She didn"t stay long, but she was definitely there. Although, rather than saying she visited it was more like she burst in and then ran off, like a coastal squall.

"I remember &h.e.l.lip; you said something about finding Shimako-sama"s "shi.""

Lots of students converged on Shimako"s location as they tried to rea.s.semble her hint.

"That"s incredible, Rosa Gigantea. That you could remember my face from out of that sea of chaos."

Chiho-san giggled. But, in that case, Chiho-san must possess an enormous amount of courage. To impersonate someone from the absentee"s chance draw after she"d put herself in a position to be seen during the treasure hunt itself.

"Is that right?"

However, Chiho-san shook her head, "No, it"s not."

"Actually, it was Shimako-sama"s "ma.""

- Right.

It started with them taunting the animals with it, and ended with them screaming it from atop a pedestrian walkway: "Rei-chan you d.a.m.n idiot!"

Both Chisato-san and Yoshino were completely overwriting the events of last year"s date with today"s.

"That was fun. Really."

Chisato-san said as she tightly grasped Yoshino"s hand in front of the K station ticket gate. It was a handshake.

"I don"t mean to be rude to Rei-sama, but it was much better than last year. Back then, it felt like the me that I was projecting was a fake. But this year, it was the real me, so I think that"s why I could enjoy it so fully."

"So, you"re saying that you didn"t feel like you had to take into account my wants?"

"Yep. But that"s a good thing, right?"

" &h.e.l.lip; If you say so."

Yoshino thought, "Well, whatever." It wasn"t as though she hadn"t enjoyed herself either.

Hiding her fear behind laughter in the horror movie, eating her flop of a lunch, looking at the animals, and screaming out loud.

No, it was much more fun. So much so, that they found it hard to part after their time together. Which explained her slip of the tongue.

"Chisato-san. Why don"t we go and see Rei-chan now?"

"Alright."

Despite the unexpected nature of the request, Chisato-san replied immediately.

"I thought something was missing. And you"re right, Rei-sama. My revenge won"t be complete without making a joyous report to Rei-sama."

Chisato-san was getting quite excited about the prospect, overawing the person who invited her.

"Hold on a minute."

Let"s calm down and think about this.

"What?"

"Sorry, I forgot. You have a commuter pa.s.s, so you"re fine, but I"m 10 yen short."

Since she was 10 yen short, she couldn"t take the bus.

"Oh, but didn"t you say you were going to pay that yourself?"

"Yeah, but."

That had been her original intention. But, how to put this, she was reluctant to fudge the numbers of their date while it was still alive. In other words, she"d been willing to pay 210 yen of her own money to get home, since it didn"t feel right to be stingy when they had 200 yen left, but Yoshino had been contemplating fooling Chisato-san into thinking she was catching a bus, and then walking home. Of course, she was completely unconcerned that Chisato-san was going to write in the report that she rode her bike. The important thing was the question of her feelings.

"Hmm. Well, let"s go then. I"ll walk you to Rei-sama"s house."

"Huh? How far do you think it is?"

How many bus stops was it? Yoshino counted on her fingers as she thought. Was it eight or nine? No, wait, she couldn"t recall all of the names of the stops, so that would make it at least ten.

"But Yoshino-san, it"s not so far that you can"t do it, right? I thought you"d be all for it. Plus, I can just get the bus back easily enough."

Brandishing her commuter pa.s.s, Chisato-san quickly walked off.

"Geeze."

If that"s the way she wants it, that"s the way she"ll get it.

Sometimes playing shiritori word games, sometimes riddles, sometimes skipping, and occasionally singing, they pa.s.sed the bus stations one by one.

By the time they arrived at the bus station in front of Lillian"s Girls Academy, an entire hour had pa.s.sed.

They"d followed the bus route the entire way. Rei-chan would probably know a safe short-cut, but Yoshino studiously avoided that so she wouldn"t get lost in some unfamiliar street. Even Chisato-san only knew the commuter routes, from K station to school, and from M station to school. At any rate, she knew how to get to home (Hasekura) from here, but they had to cross the road using the pedestrian overpa.s.s.

Looking down at the school grounds from that height, there were so many trees that it almost looked like a small forest. If it looked like this in winter, when all the deciduous plants had lost their leaves, then surely it must look absolutely stunning in summer.

"Are you getting caught up in your emotions?"

Chisato-san tapped Yoshino on the shoulder. Those who take this bridge on their way to school every day must grow accustomed to the view.

"Mmmm."

How to put this feeling into words?

"It"s like, when you see something familiar from a slightly different angle."

And you realize once more that you love it.

As Yoshino was wondering if she was going to get laughed at for saying something so out of character, Chisato-san stood next to her and said, "Yeah."

They watched the bus to M station finally arrive.

From their position atop the walkway, they saw a group of students running towards it.

Simultaneously, they both called out different names.

"Shimako-san?"

"Tsutako-san?"

When they heard what the other had said, they said, "Huh?" and looked again. However, the group had already been swallowed up and the bus departed. There was no chance to confirm it.

There were a number of other students who got on the bus too. Maybe they hadn"t been doing anything together, however -

"Why would Shimako-san and Tsutako-san be with each other?"

On top of that, at school.

No matter how much she thought about it, Yoshino couldn"t come up with an answer. She bunched her hand into a fist and raised it high above her head.

"Tomorrow, I"m definitely going to ask Shimako-san about it."

She looked forward to the coming of tomorrow.

"I used to hate you, Yumi-sama."

Touko-chan mumbled.

"Cheerful, innocent, a face that would show everything, but was never muddled."

After saying farewell to Touko-chan"s grandfather, they left the hospital at about 3pm. As expected, they took the courtesy bus back to the train station, then set about retracing their route to get back home. Currently, they were being gently rocked by the train.

"No, I get as &h.e.l.lip; muddled &h.e.l.lip; as anyone else."

Yumi responded.

"I know that now."

"Ah, right."

After their visit to the scene of the accident, Touko-chan had been quite meek, but she suddenly came out with the "hate" punch. Plus, she"d confirmed Yumi"s muddled status. The normal response would be to say, "That"s not what I meant at all," but there didn"t look as though there was going to be any follow-up. Still, compared to a withering flower, one that bared its thorns as it bloomed was far more Touko-chan-esque, Yumi thought as she sat to the left of her, feeling her warmth.

"Someone who never gets muddled isn"t really all that human."

Touko-chan smiled briefly, then said:

"Which is why I thought I definitely wanted to be like you, Yumi-sama. I wanted to be like you, even though I couldn"t be. Because of that, I became jealous, annoyed, and hostile. I thought it"d be better if you weren"t near me. But you methodically broke down all the walls I frantically put up, and kept coming."

"Please don"t make me sound like some kind of monster."

"But it"s true."

Touko-chan said, defiantly. She was one of the villagers frantically trying to flee the monster.

"Then that rumor started that I was a candidate to be your pet.i.t soeur."

This line she spat out, as though it had been an immense bother.

In early summer, when Sachiko-sama took a short break from school, Touko-chan had been asked to a.s.sist the school council. Also around that time, she"d been part of their performance for the school festival and was constantly visiting the Rose Mansion, which led to the rumor. Either way, Yumi had been the one to initiate both events. Yumi reflected upon how much of an inconvenience it must have been for Touko-chan.

"Everyone was just making things up. I"d never considered such a ludicrous outcome."

Touko-chan"s voice rose in agitation, so Yumi took the flask from Touko-chan"s bag, poured some tea into the lid and offered it to her. They"d refilled it before they left the hospital, so it was still hot.

" &h.e.l.lip; Well, I suppose I may have thought about it once or twice."

Touko-chan said softly after taking a sip of tea.

"You always wanted to become like the Roses, didn"t you Touko-chan?"

That vague yearning to get closer to those lovely, kind seniors who could do anything. The pure thought that she could be like that. Yumi was the same. So she knew.

"They used that rumor to good effect. Even though it was nothing like that. Even though you hated me, they said. In my mind, I desperately tried to rebut them. Which was why I only did things that would make you hate me. But instead, I kept finding myself drawn to you. Even though I knew I shouldn"t, I wanted to go to you, I wanted to, and couldn"t stop myself. So once more, I ran away."

Running, running, so she wouldn"t be caught up in the rumor.

"But even though I ran frantically, you yourself abruptly asked me, "Won"t you be my pet.i.t soeur?" I couldn"t comprehend it."

"I"m sorry."

Yumi said to Touko-chan. She wasn"t sure if an apology was appropriate at that point, but it was the only way to get in.

Touko-chan was angry at Yumi. Angry at the students who had thoughtlessly propagated the rumor. At the gears that didn"t turn properly. At the fate she couldn"t escape from. And she continued to be angry with herself.

In that case, more anger was welcome.

More, more. She should raise her voice, let her temper flare, stamp her feet and cry out.

She should let everything that she"d silently been keeping bottled up inside her come out.

Tell me all the complaints that you have, Yumi thought.

Take all the time on the train, and on the bus, all the way to M station. If that"s not enough, then there"s tomorrow and the next day. We can meet each day at lunch, and you can list them all, one after the other.

Who cares if everyone else is shocked. Or if they poke fun. Let them say whatever they want.

Because Yumi and Touko-chan were to become soeurs.

Once she"d let it all out, they"d fill those empty s.p.a.ces with happy memories.

Like Yumi had with Sachiko-sama. As time goes by, the tough times and the sad times, as well as all the happy times, will all get rolled up together.

Soon they would be arriving at M station.

"Touko-chan?"

Either the tension had been released or she was tired from talking, for Touko-chan was peacefully dozing beside Yumi.

Outside the window, it was darker than when they boarded the bus.

Something made a clinking sound when they went round an intersection.

Was it the coins that remained in the envelope from their date money?

Or was it the rosary in Yumi"s pocket?

It was a tiny, cute sound, like something whispering.

(She wants to wait until after our date for a response.)

Today"s mystery tour would be completed after they went down that familiar road and returned to their starting point, M station.

(Wait just a little while longer.)

Yumi reached her hand into her pocket and gently caressed the rosary.

Tomorrow, they"d go to school.

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