Editing Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume33 Chapter7 4 (section)

===<noinclude>Connecting Chains. </noinclude>Part 4.===

"Oh? Yumi-sama, weren't you wearing black ribbons today?"

Noriko-chan asked her.

"Yep."

When Yumi and Sachiko-sama arrived at the statue of Maria-sama, the two first-years and Shimako-san were already there, which meant they were only waiting for the Yellow Rose sisters.

Tsutako-san, their photographer, was scouting out locations for the shoot and taking photos of students who requested her services. Naturally, Shouko-chan was following her around.

"Very eagle-eyed of you."

Yumi said to Noriko-chan.

She had been wearing the black ribbons only for the graduation ceremony. Since Yumi hadn't seen Noriko-chan before or after the ceremony, she must have spotted them while Yumi was giving the farewell address. But it was a long way from the stage where Yumi had delivered the address to the seats where the first years sat.

"But my onee-sama was wearing those ribbons this morning."

Touko said to Noriko-chan, referring to the red ribbons Yumi was currently wearing. Correct. However.

"Oh, I don't remember seeing you this morning, Touko."

Yumi shook her head. Yumi had no memory of meeting Touko, starting from the time she left her house this morning until just now when they had all gathered together. And speaking of ribbons, this was the first time she had ever seen the ones that Touko wore (red lace ribbons with a black stripe down the center that looked as though they were recently purchased).

"I only caught a glimpse of you as you were walking down the corridor."

It seems Shimako-san's petit soeur wasn't the only eagle-eyed one, her own was as well. Yumi smiled without saying anything.

"So it seems as though Yumi-sama was wearing them only during the ceremony, perhaps as some kind of symbol."

"Those black ribbons.... It's the one we found yesterday in the room on the first floor of the Rose Mansion, right?"

That was also correct. It's not just their eyes that were sharp, the petit soeurs of the boutons also had sharp minds.

"That's right. It's a charm. Rosa Chinensis lent it to me."

When Yumi had finished, Noriko-chan started to speak and only got as far as, 'But that was,' before she seemed to recall something. After that, no more questions came. Touko merely said, 'Is that so?' and smiled. They think quickly too.

Being supported by these two reliable petit soeurs, next year's Yamayurikai should be a breeze - although that's something you'd expect the graduating seniors to say, not the people themselves.

Hey, onee-sama... As she was thinking this, Yumi turned to where Sachiko-sama and Shimako-san were standing a short distance away, when they both simultaneously called out.

"Onee-sama!"

(Huh? Onee-sama?)

The two of them were Yumi's and Noriko-chan's onee-samas. So Yumi thought she must have misheard them. But when she followed their gaze to where they were looking, their onee-samas were indeed standing there.

The former Rosa Chinensis, Mizuno Youko-sama.

The former Rosa Gigantea, Satou Sei-sama.

And the former Rosa Foetida, Torii Eriko-sama, were all there.

The trio were all smiles as they walked over and stopped in front of Sachiko-sama and Shimako-san. So Yumi rushed over as well.

"Ooooooh."

Yumi couldn't stop herself from getting excited at seeing their beautiful appearance. Just how long had it been since she had seen all three of them together like this? Not since the inter-school kendo tournament, which would make it about four months now.

"Gokigenyou. Is everybody well?"

Eriko-sama inquired.

Sachiko-sama and Shimako-san seemed delighted as they responded, 'Yes, thanks for asking,' and 'Gokigenyou.' But as for Yumi.

"Wh wh wh wh."

Yumi's excitement at seeing these unexpected visitors had turned her into a broken record. Then Sei-sama feigned a serious expression and said:

"Allow me to explain. The translation of the Yumi-ese phrase 'Wh wh wh wh' is 'What brings you all here?'"

Before Sei-sama had a chance to finish, someone else shouldered their way in front of her.

"Anyone could tell that.... Yumi-chan, you haven't changed a bit."

"Youko-sama. Did you come here today to celebrate my onee-sama's graduation?"

Yumi skipped around, overjoyed at seeing her beloved grand-soeur. She realized, all too late, that Touko was watching her from behind. The dignity of the onee-sama had come crashing down to earth – although she really didn't have much of that to begin with.

"Yes, of course I'm here to congratulate Sachiko. Although the one that started it all was that shape-shifter over there."

"Shape-shifter?"

"Currently she's in human form, but it seems she's actually a honey-bee."

Youko-sama said, pointing at Sei-sama.

"Ummm."

Even the usually level-headed Youko-sama could occasionally make random statements. Sei-sama was a honey-bee. What kind of a metaphor was that? At any rate, it looked like today was honey-bee day. 

"Yoshino-chan said to come and have a look, so hey, we came to have a look."

Said the honey-bee.

Yumi was a bit surprised to learn that Yoshino-san had called them here. Because she hadn't heard a single word from Yoshino-san about this.

(Ahh, maybe that's why.)

Why Yoshino-san had been looking like she was about to blow her fuse all morning. Still, what could she be planning, calling the former Roses here?

"Eriko was invited to come along by Yoshino-chan too, right?"

Youko-sama turned to where she expected Eriko-sama to be, but Eriko-sama wasn't there.

"If you're after Eriko-sama..."

As she spoke, Shimako-san looked off to one side. Following her gaze, they could see Eriko-sama talking to two members of the photography club.

"Sorry, sorry. I just went over to ask Takeshima Tsutako-san for some photographs."

Eriko-sama said after she had hurried back.

"Photographs?"

"Over the new year's break, I ran into her at a shrine and she took some photos then. I thought if I didn't ask her straight away and kept putting it off, I'd probably forget about it. Plus, I took the opportunity to say hello to Shouko-chan, the little sister."

"Shouko-chan isn't a little sister, though."

Yumi instantly corrected her. Shouko-chan was always by Tsutako-san's side, but she wasn't her petit soeur. You could probably add, 'yet,' to that last sentence, although there had been no movement from either of the people involved.

"Oh, but she is."

Eriko-sama smiled and turned to look at Shouko-chan.

"Katsumi-san's."

Ahh, so that's it. Eriko-sama knew that Shouko-chan was Naitou Katsumi-sama's little sister.

"So then where is Yoshino-chan? And Rei's gone missing too."

Sachiko-sama muttered, and then:

Two people simultaneously converged on them, from the right and left sides of the path.

– Rei-sama and Yoshino-san had arrived.