Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume9 Chapter4 3

Rosary or Juzu. Part 3.

"Noriko."

In the hallway leading to the home economics room, she stopped when she heard her name called.

It was alongside the second-year classrooms and Noriko looked around restlessly until the person who called out to her stepped out of the classroom.

"Ah, Shimako-san."

Touko and the other girls who had been walking with Noriko squealed when they saw who it was. Like fans who'd accidentally bumped into their favorite pop star.

"Do you have a moment?"

Noriko nodded, and Shimako walked her over to a quiet spot near the staircase. It had been quite some time since they'd talked face to face.

"I'm sorry, Noriko. I haven't been able to make it out to see you all that much … "

For a while now, Shimako-san had been addressing Noriko by just her name, without an honorific. It just seemed so right that it felt like she'd been calling her that since the beginning.

"Don't worry about me. I know you're busy preparing for the Maria Ceremony. You're getting in early and staying back late, right? How's your body holding up?"

"I'm fine … Thank-you."

Shimako-san's expression changed to one of relief. She'd probably called out to Noriko instinctively when she saw her, wanting to explain why they hadn't met.

(How conscientious of her. We hadn't arranged to meet, so she shouldn't feel bad about not making it there.)

Noriko thought, "Well, that's just like her though."

Shimako-san lowered her voice slightly.

"I was wondering, do you like juzu?"

"Juzu?"

"Yes. I remembered there was an image of Buddha in the juzu I inherited from my grandmother … "

"Please, I'd love to see it!"

Noriko's voice suddenly grew louder the moment she heard the word Buddha. Shimako-san shushed her, then laughed quietly.

"I thought you'd say that. Wait for me at that spot tomorrow at lunch, please."

"Alright!"

Shimako-san said, "See you tomorrow," and then returned to her classroom. On her way back, she smiled sweetly at Touko-san and the other girls who had been watching them.

"Do you have sewing next period? What are you making?"

"Skirts. Rosa Gigantea."

"I see. I hope you all make wonderful skirts. Do your best."

"Y-yes!"

(Ahh … It's incredible, even Touko-san's stuttering.)

The first-years looked like they were struck first by Shimako-san's gentle manner and then by her friendliness. Noriko sometimes forgot about it, but at times like this she remembered.

That Shimako-san was Lillian's Girls Academy High School Division's idol, Rosa Gigantea.

"Um, Noriko-san."

"Yes?"

Noriko raised her head after she finished cutting the navy-blue cloth. When she turned around, she saw that a student who usually sat a fair distance away was standing right behind her.

It wasn't particularly unusual to see students out of their seats in the chaos of the home economics sewing room. The big group tables were cluttered with four people's cloth.

"What is it?"

Noriko asked, and the girl either didn't have anything to talk about or found it hard to say, because she started with the obvious piece of flattery, "That's lovely cloth you have," before lapsing into an awkward silence.

"Kyouko-san, did you really come all the way over here just to compliment Noriko-san's cloth?"

Touko-san spoke those prickly words, working beside Noriko. She'd been in a bad mood for a little while now, for some unknown reason. Like an enemy of friendliness, her eyes were focused on the cloth she was cutting apart, making her a terrifying presence for those at the same table.

Kyouko-san, however, was unaware of this, so she shrugged off Touko-san's hostility and took a half-step forward, as though she'd firmed her resolve.

"No, there was something I wanted to ask … Um, Noriko-san, have you become close to Rosa Gigantea?"

"Huh?"

That topic was so far removed from the earlier, "Lovely cloth," comment that Noriko couldn't respond immediately.

"Well, you were talking to her earlier, right? Toudou Shimako-sama, the second-year."

"Um, Shimako-san's … "

No sooner had Noriko uttered this than the air around her classmates began to tremble.

"Did you say Shimako-san … !?"

Everyone had been listening in to their conversation.

"Oh my, using the honorific "-san" with an older student."

"Do you have that close a relationship with her?"

"Did you know her before you started school?"

"Have you been to her house?"

"Don't tell me you're related, or something like that."

Since the teacher was in the preparation room just now, everyone took the chance to get out of their seats and crowd around Noriko.

"Ah, um. Hold on a minute."

Sadly, Noriko was submerged in the flood of people, floundering and close to drowning.

"Actually, it's like this."

Kyouko-san, the first to talk to Noriko, started speaking as a representative.

"The Red, White and Yellow Roses are so popular they're adored not just by the high-school students but also by middle-school students. So when one of them takes a special interest in someone, it's only natural that everyone would take note … You understand, right Noriko-san?"

"I guess."

She responded equivocally to the question of whether she understood. But Noriko thought they'd just been talking normally in the hallway, it wasn't like they were co-workers having an affair. It was odd that her classmates would get so worked up about that.

"Toudou Shimako-sama has a graceful beauty about her, right? She's always calm, and ascended to the role of Rosa Gigantea young, as a second-year. But despite that, everyone's concerned because she still hasn't chosen a soeur."

The moment she said the word "soeur," it got noisy again.

"Don't tell me they've already made the soeur vow … "

Came from someone in the back, sounding like a scream.

"The soeur vow?"

"You've already accepted her rosary!?"

Most of the students crowding around her had come up through Lillian's middle-school, so they continued their conversation leaving Noriko behind in confusion.

"Rosary? Accepted? Becoming soeurs … "

Having no idea what was going on, Noriko asked the obvious questions and was greeted with the sounds of suppressed laughter, probably from relief, leaking out all around her.

"If you don't know what a rosary is – "

"I do, just not why you're all so worked up about them."

(Such an unpleasant smile.)

Even Noriko knew what a rosary was.

(Rosaries are those things … Christians use them, juzu with a cross attached.)

But it was a complete mystery what that would have to do with Shimako-san.

Basically, one of the classmates surrounding Noriko explained it like this:

"For a long time, there's been a tight bond between grades at Lillian's Girls Academy. Almost like real sisters, the older students provide guidance to all the younger girls, and the younger girls abide by the direction of all their elders."

But there were cases where individuals could join together. Apparently that was done through the previously mentioned "soeur vow," where the older student would give a rosary to the younger one.

"One onee-sama can only have one petit soeur. It's a one-on-one relationship, so the exchange of vows is an acknowledgment of the closest possible relationship. It's a bit like going steady with someone and rejecting other offers."

"We call those sisters "soeurs.""

Even with soeurs, they'd be called older sister or younger sister, or grand soeur and petit soeur if clarity were needed.

"That such a system exists … "

Noriko muttered, looking down.

"My my. But Noriko, you shouldn't be disappointed even if you haven't received a rosary yet."

"Indeed. We'll offer you what little support we can."

Apparently her classmates were under the misapprehension that Noriko desired Shimako-san's rosary. They'd apparently interpreted her silence from culture shock as something else entirely.

(My head hurts … What is up with this school – )

Terrifying, Lillian's Girls Academy. She had dismissed it as just another rich girls' school, but that may have been concealing something far more incomprehensible.

"Don't cry, Noriko-san. We're cheering for you."

( … "Don't cry," seriously, who would? )

"Noriko-san's smart and a little aloof. I'm sure no-one would complain if Shimako-sama chose her as her petit soeur."

The conversation continued around her. No-one seemed to notice that the person in question had been left behind. It was almost as though Noriko was the only one that didn't understand a thing.

Until recently they'd been looking at her with interest, envy and even a little bit of jealousy, but why had those gazes changed to ones of compassion and sympathy? Surely these girls must be good little lambs beloved by Maria-sama, after all.

It was at this point that, accompanied by a clattering sound, the girl sitting beside Noriko stood up.

"Can't you be a bit more quiet?"

She'd been silent the entire time, so Noriko had completely forgotten that Touko-san was there.

"Why are you all saying such impudent things? Noriko-san being chosen as Rosa Gigantea's petit soeur … there's no way that would ever happen!"

Touko-san stormed off, her eyes shimmering.

"Touko-san."

Noriko was about to chase after her, but a muttered, "You should be more discreet," stopped her.

"You know, she's always dreamed about becoming the petit soeur of a Rose."

"Yeah, it must have come as a shock to her to hear that Noriko-san had become close to Shimako-sama."

At Touko-san's vacated seat, there was some left over cloth with a large and showy rose pattern on it, an odd choice for a skirt.

* * *

The omens for a brouhaha were already creeping up on Noriko unnoticed.

It began with her shoes.

She was on duty that day, so was leaving late after writing in the day log when she noticed that her shoe box was empty.

"I'm wearing my indoor shoes right now. Which would mean my leather shoes are unaccounted for … "

If someone had mistaken her locker for theirs, then that careless person's indoor shoes should be in her shoe box, but they weren't. First of all, the small lockers had nameplates on them, so that sort of mistake shouldn't happen to begin with.

"Well, what should I do then?"

Thinking she'd have to go home in her indoor shoes, Noriko stepped out the entrance and saw a pair of black ballet flats lined up neatly on the mat.

"??? … How on earth did that happen?"

Noriko pondered for a while, looking down at the words "Nijou Noriko" written on the insole.