Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume13 Chapter6

Search for Takuya-kun!

Part 1.

There was a man sitting alone, by the window, in a cafe on the first floor of the station building.

He looked to be in his seventies. His hair could probably be called silver-gray, a blend of black and white hair making a lovely gray color – although there was perhaps a bit more of the white hair.

His spring green linen suit was paired with a bright yellow T-shirt, making him quite the stylish old gent.

She pinned her wristwatch down and checked the time.

It was 8 minutes to 11. There was no time for hesitation.

"Are you by yourself, ma'am?"

The waitress standing by the entrance asked, and she replied with, "Ah, no," as she walked inside.

"Were you meeting someone?"

"Mm, yeah."

She answered vaguely then walked straight to the seat she wanted. Of course, since they hadn't arranged to meet, there was no reaction from silver-gray when a young woman walked over to his table. He just continued sipping his coffee, looking lazily out at the scenery beyond the window.

"Uncle."

Mami gathered her resolve and spoke to him.

He looked old enough that she could probably call him "Grandpa" but she thought that this sounded better.

Silver-gray raised his head. Then when he saw Mami's face, he looked confused.

Like he was trying to recall where they'd met before.

At last the answer seemed to come to him. After about five seconds of consternation, he smiled and said:

"I think you're mistaking me for someone else."

"This is the first time we've met. Is it alright if I sit here?"

Mami moved the leather bag from the seat opposite him and sat down.

"I still haven't said whether it's alright or not … "

"Oh, sorry."

She apologized to the bewildered silvery-gray, but most definitely didn't stand up. Now that she'd sat down, Mami would have to be pried off with a crowbar.

"What do you want? I'm waiting here for someone."

"Liar."

"Why do you think I'm lying?"

"Because you wouldn't have put your bag on the seat opposite if you were waiting for someone."

"Ah, I see."

Uncle thumped his left palm with his right hand. Then he leaned over the table a little way, lowered his voice and spoke to Mami.

"Are you one of those girls that go out with lonely old men. and in exchange they get an allowance, umm – "

"A sugar-baby? No, I'm not."

She flatly rejected this. But that he would even think such a thing was a huge problem itself.

"I'm glad."

Hearing this, Mami thought, "Same here."

"I just wanted you to let me have this table."

"Oh, why this table?"

He was going along with the conversation. Mami faithfully recited the line she'd come up with when she decided to launch a blitzkrieg at the store entrance.

"Well, the truth is, my boyfriend's cheating on me."

"Cheating? That's dreadful … "

As she'd expected, uncle listened amicably to her story.

If she kept it up, he might let her keep the seat out of compassion. Mami continued talking vigorously.

"I was secretly told that he was going to meet her at this fountain."

"How did you hear about it?"

She momentarily paused at the old man's question.

" … Um."

Damn it. She hadn't thought it that much. Mami hurriedly added new lines to her scenario.

"One of my friends … "

"Oh, and then what?"

It wasn't clear whether he believed her explanation or not, but he was urging her to continue, so Mami resumed her story.

"I thought I'd get proof of his cheating with this camera. To do that, I absolutely need this seat."

She pulled the camera out of her bag to help make her case.

"But you don't have to be here if you're only after a photo."

"He'd run away if he saw me."

Mami pleaded, in an acting display that she thought was worthy of an invitation to join the drama club.

And then.

"I see. I understand."

The old man agreed almost too easily.

"So, you'll let met have the table!?"

She sprung up in delight, but this time he shook his head slowly.

"No. Sorry, but I want to stay here a little while longer."

"But you just said that you understand … "

From elation to dejection.

"Because, how about this? Why don't we share the table?"

He made a counter-proposal. Naturally, there was no reason why Mami should object. Since she should still be able to see the fountain even with the unknown old man blocking part of her vision.

"Thanks uncle."

With the negotiations complete, Mami raised her hand to signal to the waitress.

"To show my gratitude, I'll pay for your coffee."

The old man smiled and stroked his moustache.

"Oh my, that makes me happy."

"Welcome to our cafe. Have you decided what you want?"

The waitress asked, as she filled their glasses with water.

"Apple soda."

Mami ordered perfunctorily after flipping through the menu. She didn't have time to bother within minor things like that since her mind was filled with thoughts about the stakeout.

"One apple soda. Was there anything else?"

She shook her head in response to the waitress's question but then from the seat opposite her a voice called out, "Wait a minute."

"Add the mixed sandwiches to that."

"Ah."

Mami turned to him in surprise and the old man seemed quite satisfied as he said, "Thanks for the food."

– It seems that she'd somehow got tangled up with a strange old man.

Part 2.

"Can you see?"

"Mm, well enough."

After the waitress left, Mami surveyed the view through the window.

As she'd expected, this spot gave the best view of the plaza.

There were about twenty people near the fountain, some standing and some sitting, each looked to be waiting for someone that hadn't arrived yet.

She hadn't spotted Noriko-chan.

"Is your boyfriend there?"

"Um … "

Not good.

Mami didn't know what Takuya-kun looked like.

But in order to get a photo of Takuya-kun and Noriko-chan together, she'd have to smoke out Takuya-kun and identify him as her boyfriend.

(However.)

This was a thorny problem. Just which one of them was Takuya-kun?

The middle of the day on Saturday.

On top of that, it was summer vacation too.

At a quick count, there looked to be five or six guys aged around twenty in front of the station plaza fountain. If she took into account the possibility that he was baby-faced then that number rose to about ten.

If someone pointed at any of those guys and said that he was Takuya-kun then she would have nodded and accepted it without comment. But because of that, there was no conclusive evidence for any of them.

Honestly, it would have been so much better if he'd put a photo of himself on the introduction page of his website. – Mami wanted to lodge this selfish complaint with the as-yet unseen Takuya-kun.

"Maybe he hasn't arrived yet."

Mami prayed desperately to Maria-sama that Noriko-chan would arrive soon. She must have been delayed by the accident on the JR line after all. Without Noriko-chan here to show her, Mami had absolutely no idea which one was Takuya-kun.

"What time were they meeting?"

"I think it was 11."

"That's right now."

"Yeah, I know … he's late."

Upbeat chimes accompanied Mami's forced smile. The clock tower beside the fountain let everyone in the plaza know that it was 11 o'clock.

Almost simultaneously, the Takuya-kun candidates all looked at the clock tower. Others turned towards the source of the sound too.

Just then.

"Ah."

Mami called out, unthinkingly.

"What's the matter? Has he arrived?"

Uncle put his face up to the glass and looked outside.

"No, not yet."

Mami's attention was still elsewhere as she attempted to smooth things over with this answer.

Question: Why was that?

Answer: Because she'd seen someone completely unexpected.

Mami thought she'd been there for a while now.

That white dress with the navy blue floral pattern had been in the corner of her vision a couple of times recently. But Mami hadn't noticed her because she'd only been thinking about Takuya-kun and Noriko-chan. It was also hard to make out her face because of the large hat she wore low over her eyes.

(That's Rosa Gigantea, Toudou Shimako-san … !)

Mami didn't question why she was here. Shimako-san's petit soeur was supposed to be meeting Takuya-kun here, so it was obviously because of that.

(Is Noriko-chan going to introduce him to her onee-sama?)

This was getting more and more interesting. A completely unexpected development. Tsukiyama Minako-sama would be crying tears of joy if she knew.

– The headline was undoubtedly, "Onee-sama, I'd like you to meet my boyfriend."

"Is there something about that girl over there?"

Uncle asked, following Mami's line of sight.

"That's the girl I'm looking for."

The end result being that Shimako-san was rather unfairly labeled as the "girl her boyfriend was cheating with." Since she'd only come up with the scenario as a way to get the old man to give up his table, she was already half desperate.

"What a pretty girl. … Ah, pardon me."

"Huh?"

Initially she was confused as to why he was excusing himself, but on second thought complimenting the girl that her boyfriend was cheating with probably wouldn't go over well with most women. Mami contemplated whether she would have been better off showing immediate irritation. It was important to get immersed in a role.

"Sorry for the wait. One apple soda."

"Ah, here."

Mami replied to the waitress and the drink was placed in front of her.

"The mixed sandwiches go over here."

Even though the old man had ordered them, the waitress had placed the large plate with the sandwiches in the middle of the table, probably assuming that they were going to share them.

"What have they got inside them? … Tomato and cucumber, egg, and avocado, huh."

The old man looked pleased as he wiped his hands on a handtowel. Mami shot a glance at him, but more than the contents of the sandwiches, her gaze was drawn to the small flag stuck in them.

"I wonder what country's flag that is … red, yellow and green."

A small flag stuck to a toothpick. Obviously not the outline of the sun from the Japanese flag.

"They just picked one at random, don't you think? I saw the stars and stripes in a pilaf some time ago."

Just as he was saying this, Mami saw something in the same red, yellow and green of the flag cross her vision on the other side of the glass.

Just as Mami was turning her head to look at it, she was brought back by the old man's sudden shout of "Ah!"

"W-what happened?"

Surprised, she turned back to the old man's seat but he wasn't there.

"Uncle?"

" … One of my contacts fell out."

He'd dived under the table.

"You lost a contact? That's bad."

Mami was about to help him search for it, but he said, "Don't move." Mami concentrated her efforts doing as he said and not lifting her shoes.

"Ah, here it is. Sorry for the bother."

Uncle emerged from the table holding the contact between his thumb and index finger, then gave it a quick rinse in the glass of water before saying, "Excuse me a moment," and turning around. Probably putting the contact lens back in his eye.

Feeling relieved, she turned back to the fountain and saw that a new Takuya-kun candidate had appeared.

"Ah!"

This time Mami let out the cry and stood up.

"W-What is it?"

Uncle asked in return.

"Ah, nothing. – He's."

Mami muttered, dumbfounded.

"Him?"

"Uh … yeah."

Her heart was beating fast, like after some hard exercise. Mami tried as hard as she could to steady her heart.

The shirt of the newly arrived Takuya-kun candidate.

The shirt was traffic light colored – red, yellow and green.

It matched exactly with the shirt of Takuya-kun's that Kounoshin-san had cheekily borrowed.

She had no idea how many of those shirts had been sold throughout Japan, but what were the odds of two young men owning that shirt and just happening to be meeting someone on the same day at the same time in the same small area? It was probably incredibly small.

Therefore, she'd reached her conclusion.

"He's finally arrived."

Mami said, pointing at the new Takuya-kun candidate.

No, not the Takuya-kun candidate.

(Found you.)

He was the true Shimura Takuya.

Part 3.

The young man was about 170cm tall and his muscles made him look toned, if a bit on the thin side.

His wavy, light brown hair was neither long nor short. At first glance he looked like a fairly typical university student. He was more of the "cute" type than the "cool" type. Probably somewhat due to his baby face.

Looking at him, Mami thought he looked like someone she knew. But she couldn't remember who it was he reminded her of. Probably someone from a boy-band.

"… Is that your boyfriend?"

The old man asked.

"That's right."

They hid themselves behind the pot plants near the window and looked outside. Objectively, they looked like an incredibly suspicious pair.

"Hmm, where did you meet him?"

"We both went to the same school."

Mami replied perfunctorily since she was busy watching them, but the old man kept asking questions.

"When?"

"Why do you ask?"

Mami peeled herself away from the glass and looked straight at the old man.

"Oh, no reason. I was just a bit curious."

Oh, no reason? That wasn't the impression Mami had received. Why had he continued to dig into it, seeking confirmation with, "When?" after he'd been told that they went to school together.

"High school."

Mami answered, wary of just who this old man was. Maybe he was some kind of shady fortune teller. Sensing her suspicions, the old man looked out the window and muttered.

"But it's strange, isn't it?"

"What is?"

Mami once again concentrated on what was beyond the glass. In her mind she said, "You're what's strange," but of course this didn't come out her mouth.

"Your boyfriend and the girl he's cheating on you with. They're at point blank range, only five metres apart, but they haven't noticed each other."

Indeed. They were close enough that they should have recognized each other. Since they'd arranged to meet here, they should have been looking around too.

"They're pen-friends."

Mami hastily responded.

No good, no good. She'd made a casting mistake.

Shimako-san and Takuya-kun knew each other through Noriko-chan and had probably never met directly.

"So are they meeting for the first time today? Seems rather poorly planned. They should have both worn something conspicuous, so they could identify each other."

Even though it was none of his business, the old man seemed excited as he talked.

"But no, more than that, isn't it odd that they haven't even exchanged photos? How old-fashioned are these kids?"

How old-fashioned are they? Old-fashioned enough that they'd be called "pen-friends."

"Mm. Well, a mutual friend was supposed to introduce them. But they must have been delayed due to the accident on the JR line."

"You're quite well informed."

"… Well that was the rumor I heard. From my friend."

Even Mami thought that was a pretty lame excuse.

With the way things were now, it may have been better to be honest from the outset. But taking hidden photos wasn't really something to be proud of, which made it hard to tell the truth. Doing it because of a cheating boyfriend made it marginally acceptable so she'd gone with that.

"I see."

The old man nodded. Her improvisation may just have fooled him. Mami felt a surge of relief.

"Oh."

The guy who looked like Takuya-kun glanced at Shimako-san.

(There, that's Noriko-chan's onee-sama!!)

Mami clenched her fists, sending out all her energy.

But the young man then quickly looked away, turning his head in a different direction. Looking around restlessly. He must be waiting for someone after all. The person he was waiting for obviously hadn't arrived yet.

Next it was Shimako-san taking note of her surrounds, going on a short walk around the fountain. She passed by the traffic-light-color shirt.

(Shimako-san. That's Takuya-kun!)

But Mami's thoughts didn't reach her. Shimako-san walked past that flashy shirt without sparing it a single glance.

"Why are you so worked up about this?"

"Huh, no I'm not."

While this was happening, Shimako-san completed her circuit of the fountain and returned to her original position.

It felt almost like snakes-and-ladders, where she'd rolled the dice and moved forwards only to be sent back to her original square.

Mami took a sip of her flat apple soda.

It looked as though the status quo would persist until Noriko-chan arrived.

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