Maria-sama ga Miteru

Chapter 247

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Touko walked with the words, "The pet.i.t soeur supports" echoing in her mind.

(I don"t have to do anything.)

Smiling, she entered the school grounds. Rosa Gigantea, who had just imparted those words to her, and Noriko still remained in the Rose Mansion that she had just stepped out of.

Touko turned around to look up at the second floor, before starting to walk again.

It wasn"t from jealousy.

When she had said earlier that she didn"t want to chase after her onee-sama, she had been telling the truth. Touko was happy for Sachiko-sama and Yumi-sama to be with each other.

Yumi-sama was the person that Sachiko-onee-sama had originally chosen.

Touko had been jealous, and opposed it thinking that Yumi-sama wasn"t fit to be Rosa Chinensis" pet.i.t soeur. But at some point she had stopped being bothered by it and accepted it.

And then it seemed like her eyes chased after that vision.

Above all else, she enjoyed seeing Sachiko-sama together with Yumi-sama. As though she was watching a play from the spectator"s seats.

The pair of them didn"t have to realize she was there. Touko was fine with that.

But before she knew it, she had been pulled up onto the same stage - . And Touko was perplexed by that. While there was still the three of them, it was fine. But Sachiko-sama would soon be leaving them. When that happens, what should she do?

Touko knew that Sachiko-sama played an incredibly huge role in Yumi-sama"s life. And the day that larger-than-life existence went away, the day a gaping hole would be opened in her heart, was approaching. And Touko didn"t believe she could fill that hole.

"Oh, is that you Touko-chan?"

On the first floor of the school building, she ran into Rosa Foetida.

Alone.

Probably on her way home, as she was wearing her coat and holding her bag. And she probably thought the same thing upon seeing Touko.

"Gokigenyou, Rosa Foetida."

So that was all Touko said as she bowed her head. It would show a lack of refinement to ask, "Are you alone?" or "Are you on your way home?"

The first-year and third-year shoe boxes were a distance apart so they momentarily separated before reuniting at the entrance.

"That reminds me, how did it go?"

Rosa Foetida inquired.

"Huh?"

"You"ve just been searching the first floor of the Rose Mansion, right?"

The soft breath blew across the top of Touko"s head, disturbing some specks of dust. It was times like these that drove home the difference between their heights.

"Ahh, yeah, we have. Unfortunately, we didn"t find a single item of yours, Rosa Foetida."

"I"ll bet. And Sachiko too?"

"Naturally."

They looked at each other and laughed. No-one had come out and said that Rosa Chinensis had done a check of the first floor room, but it was common knowledge by now.

Suddenly remembering, Touko said:

"Although Yoshino-sama left the Rose Mansion a short while ago."

"Oh, really?"

"She may still be at school though.... Would you like to go after her?"

If Rosa Foetida ran, she could probably catch her at the statue of Maria-sama, or by the front gates.

"Nah, not really."

"I don"t mind, if you want to go on ahead."

"It"s not that important."

"Ahh, I see."

Rosa Foetida and Yoshino-sama were cousins and neighbors, so they could see each other whenever they wanted to.

"&h.e.l.lip; What is it?"

Touko asked, feeling Rosa Foetida"s eyes on her. Rosa Foetida just laughed.

"Oh, I was just thinking that recently you"ve stopped referring to yourself in the third-person."

How to respond to that kind of question.

"I still do. At times suited to that character."

"Character, huh?"

"&h.e.l.lip; It"s like western style clothes. When the time and circ.u.mstances are appropriate, you pull them out of the closet and put them on."

"I see."

Rosa Foetida laughed loudly. She seemed to take that as a joke.

Was it a joke, or was it the truth? Touko didn"t really know herself, so she laughed along too.

"Sorry, but I"ll have to leave you here."

As they pa.s.sed through the entrance, Rosa Foetida turned towards the left.

"Are you returning home by the back gate?"

She asked without thinking. Usually, Rosa Foetida would head towards the right, the same way Touko was going. But, on reflection, since Rosa Foetida walked home, she didn"t have to board one of the buses in front of the main gate. She probably had a number of choices when it came to deciding her route home.

"Nope. I thought I should go to the martial arts building before I went home."

"The martial arts building?"

Well, it was between here and the back gate. The martial arts building was where they practiced various martial arts. And Rosa Foetida was in the Kendo club. But, there probably wouldn"t be anything happening there now.

"I may not have left anything in the Rose Mansion, but my gear is still in the martial arts building. And it"s not really the sort of thing you want to take to a graduation ceremony, so I should get it today."

Rosa Foetida shrugged, and smiled.

"When my exams were over, I thought I"d be able to lead the younger girls in a lot of practice, but that didn"t really happen."

That may have been regret on Rosa Foetida"s part. It wasn"t that she had forgotten her gear, she had left it there on purpose.

"Well, all kinds of things happened, and tomorrow"s the graduation ceremony."

"All kinds of things?"

"You got it. But once you start, there"s no end. So I"m graduating with the feeling that there are still many things left undone."

It seems everybody had something they wanted Rosa Foetida to do.

"That"s quite n.o.ble of you."

"Huh, isn"t it the opposite?"

Rosa Foetida cackled, but Touko stood by what she said.

To admit that there were still things left undone, and to realize that was okay, was refreshingly n.o.ble. Far better than puffing your chest up with pride and declaring that there is nothing left undone.

After going their separate ways, Touko was struck by a thought:

- Rosa Foetida, what on earth have you been doing until now?

"That person - "

As Noriko was walking or, rather, running, along the path between the cla.s.srooms and the library her gaze fell upon a student walking in front of her.

"Rosa Chinensis&h.e.l.lip;?"

Even from a distance, you could identify her based on her graceful carriage, the long, straight, glossy black hair and her proportions. There was no mistaking it, that was Rosa Chinensis.

(Hmmm.)

Noriko hit the brakes, slowing to a walk.

If that was Rosa Chinensis, just what on earth had she been doing until now?

Since there were no cla.s.ses this afternoon, the students who didn"t have activities were allowed to go home. And because Rosa Chinensis hadn"t partic.i.p.ated in their search for lost items, Noriko had a.s.sumed that she would have left by now. Perhaps she had been reluctant to leave her cla.s.smates and her cla.s.sroom.

Or perhaps it was just a look-alike.

Supposing that was Rosa Chinensis on her way home, there would be no logical reason for her to leave the path and continue walking straight ahead. Like Noriko, she would have followed the path as it curved towards the left in order to arrive at the front gate.

It must be someone else after all, then.

Noriko wanted to make sure of this, but then she remembered that she was chasing after Touko, and gave up on the idea. If Touko were to get on the bus before Noriko caught her, it would be a waste of the emotion that Shimako-san had sent her out with.

Noriko followed the path towards the left.

As Noriko picked up speed once more, she couldn"t stop wondering who that person had been.

At any rate, that girl had looked just like Rosa Chinensis.

And looking that much like her, she would be a shoe-in for the "Rosa Chinensis look-alike when seen from behind" contest at the school festival (if there was such a thing).

Perhaps she wasn"t on her way home.

Noriko didn"t think she had been wearing her school coat. She couldn"t remember if that girl had been carrying her bag or not. Similarly, whether she was wearing her indoor or outdoor shoes was fuzzy.

But if she wasn"t on her way home, where was she going and what was she going to do?

(If she kept going straight, she"d reach the sports oval. Before that is the gymnasium.)

By now Noriko had completely discarded the "look-alike" theory, and decided that it must have been Rosa Chinensis.

Arriving at the fork in the road, Noriko again slammed on the brakes and prayed to Maria-sama. Due to the influence of the deeply religious Shimako-san, this was something she had to do even though she was alone and didn"t have time to spare. Despite being extremely fond of Buddhist statues, she was flexible on this matter.

(If you think about it.)

As Noriko resumed her run, she was thinking: It doesn"t matter whether or not that really was Rosa Chinensis. It"s no business of mine whether she"s going somewhere unexpected. It"s not like this is a game of hide-and-seek. Even so, why is it bugging me so much?

"Ahh."

That was when she finally realized.

It did matter whether that was her or not. Because if Rosa Chinensis was hiding in some out of the way spot then Yumi-sama wouldn"t be able to find her.

If Touko"s instincts were correct, then Yumi-sama went off hoping to meet Rosa Chinensis. And since it seemed to be a spur of the moment decision, they probably hadn"t arranged to meet each other.

When you"re searching for someone, limiting yourself to that person"s territory is the conventional approach.

Yumi-sama would probably have started by checking Rosa Chinensis" cla.s.sroom - that of the third year pine group. Even before that, she may have checked Rosa Chinensis" shoe box to ascertain whether or not she was still at school.

And if Rosa Chinensis wasn"t in her cla.s.sroom, but her shoes were in her shoe box, what then? The next step would probably be to check areas where students would be gathering.

Milk hall, the staff room, &h.e.l.lip; Rosa Chinensis wasn"t a member of any clubs, so Yumi-sama probably wouldn"t check the clubhouse.

- The gymnasium. Actually, since they were setting up for the graduation ceremony there probably would be people there today. And that"s probably where Rosa Chinensis was heading.

(If that"s the case.)

The determined Yumi-sama could probably struggle on to victory. Although it would be a bit difficult for her.

Noriko exited the school gates just in time to see the bus arrive. She hurriedly boarded the bus that looped past M station.

"What happened?"

Touko, who had boarded the bus earlier, asked the panting Noriko that had just appeared.

"Where"s Rosa Gigantea?"

The bus was less crowded now. So Touko had settled down in a double-seat.

"She"s a bit busy."

"Busy, huh?"

Noriko waited until she had her breath back before she spoke again.

"She told me about the role of the onee-sama."

The onee-sama embraces and protects - what"s up with that?

Just as she was thinking, "Geeze, that sounds like something Youko would say," confirmation came that those really were her words. Beaten again.

Caught up as those two were in their conversation, they hadn"t realized that someone was sitting in the seat behind them, straining forwards to listen in.

Well, that"s okay, I guess - Sei thought. It would be bothersome if she was found out. She"d just stay like this until the last stop, inconspicuously listening to their conversation.

Sei hadn"t realized it while she was waiting for the bus to arrive, but it looked like drill-girl had been there.

Nah, it"s not fair to call her drill-girl. She accepted Yumi-chan"s rosary and officially became her pet.i.t soeur, so even though she has such a hard to remember name, she"s earned the right to be called by it. What was it, ahh, rhat"s right, Matsudaira Touko-chan.

Sei had probably been a little bit ahead of Touko-chan in the line. When she got on the bus all the single seats were taken, so she had plopped down in one of the double-seats. That was when the girl with the vertical hair rolls sat down in front of her.

In this day and age you don"t often see such wonderful vertical hair rolls as those. It didn"t take long to work out it was Touko-chan. Since they were acquaintances, Sei was thinking about saying h.e.l.lo to her and having a bit of fun but then Shimako"s pet.i.t soeur made an entrance and she decided to watch instead. Noriko-chan seemed to be thinking only of Touko-chan and wasn"t paying attention to anything else around her.

Noriko-chan seemed to view Shimako and Yumi-chan as a "blanket."

Touko-chan spoke about a great actress stepping down from the stage and a newcomer having to take her role.

Then Noriko-chan asked Touko-chan where she thought students would be congregating currently, and there was a discussion about whether Touko-chan was going to, or went to, the martial arts building. And whether it was manly to grow accustomed to leaving things behind. What"s that all about?

Sei found it hard to follow what was being said because she was a few steps removed from the original and had joined in the middle. Nothing she could do about that. Also, they were facing away from her as they talked, so she couldn"t catch all they said either. And if you miss a word that"s been said when you"re eavesdropping, it"s not like you can say, "Huh?" or "Can you say that again?"

But still, a blanket? That"s an eye-opener.

Come to think of it, back when she was a first year, Youko had apparently been likened to a cloth wrapper. Maybe by the time she became a third year called Rosa Chinensis it had evolved into a blanket.

(Youko, huh.)

Remembering what Yoshino-chan had asked her, Sei took out her mobile phone and looked up Youko in her address book.

The subject was "Free tomorrow?"

Then she typed in the following for the body: "Even if you"re not, add this to your schedule and come. You"ll probably see something interesting."

With that done, Sei turned back towards the innocent chatter that was happening right in front of her.

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