Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume15 Chapter3

Friend's Affection and Onee-sama

Part 1

White, purple, yellow, pink, green, red.

Under their respective flags, the young girls wearing matching colored headbands stood in rows in the center of the track.

The school principal's opening remarks.

The team captains' pledge.

Then radio calisthenics.

It wasn't just the athletics festival, any event, once it started, ran non-stop. While it was happening, those involved were completely absorbed by it, so they didn't have time to worry about how they were feeling, or their body, or the time.

Supposing it were possible to put a numeric value to enjoyment, then they'd probably have to get 7 or 8 out of 10 enjoyment points from the preparation for the event, in order to get a sense of accomplishment out of it.

The family seating area was on the outside of the track, near the curve, and it was so jam packed that it seemed like they should put out, "Thanks for the full house," banners, like they did at sporting events. There were so many that there were still plenty of parents standing and watching even after the teachers had offered up half of their area.

Just as Yumi was exiting the stage, she felt as nervous as she did on parent's visiting day, and glanced into the family seats. Although they were seats in name only – her parents were in that crowd, sitting on a plastic groundsheet. Her eyes jumped to her conspicuous father, who was holding a camera and waving happily. Yumi quickly turned away.

Why did she feel so embarrassed by seeing her family at school? She thought about this as she hurried to the green team's area, but it didn't look like that riddle would be solved any time soon.

The students' barracking area was also on the outside of the track, but they were on the straight.

It was roped off into six blocks, one for each team, on a hill that sloped gently upwards towards the back. There were nylon sheets spread about, but they weren't separated by grade, so all the students in the team mixed freely together.

At the back stood large signboards, emphasizing their team color.

It didn't end with the signboards, the teams worked hard to ensure they had color-coordinated groundsheets, megaphones, folding fans, and the like. Although, not all items came in every color, so some of the teams had to dye or stick colored paper over some of their things.

Now then.

The first event was the first-years' mandatory participation "Ball Rolling Race."

This is slightly different to the more commonly known "Giant Ball Rolling Race."

The track was split into thirds, with ping-pong balls being followed by tennis balls, and then basketballs. The giant balls were waiting for them to return to the start line, at which point they would be rolled around the track – basically, it was a relay.

Last year, Yumi's cohort had found the ping-pong balls surprisingly difficult to roll. Since "roll" was in the name, the rules stated that the ball had to roll along the ground. They were allowed to use their feet, so they kicked them along using a soccer dribbling technique – except for the giant balls, which required two to three people to move. So another name might be the "Ball Kicking Race."

The four-ball cycle was run six times, with teams awarded from 25 to 5 points based on their order of arrival.

"Take your marks, get set … "

The pistol went off with a bang and the lead runners took off.

The balls were painted with the team colors, but because they were ping-pong balls it was impossible to see them from the spectators' seats. They could tell who to cheer for because of the color of their headband and the sash the runners wore.

Ping-pong balls are light. So when they kicked them, they rolled further than expected. Sometimes they'd lose sight of their ball, and inadvertently kick a different one, furthering the progress of some other team, and these repeated accidents made it fun to watch the ping-pong ball race.

Even though she knew she had to support the green team, Yumi's gaze kept straying to the red team.

Noriko-chan, Touko-chan, and Kanako-chan – the first-years she was familiar with were concentrated in the camellia class, so her eyes were always drawn to their location.

It was the fourth lap that had her palms sweating. Touko-chan was on stand-by at a ping-pong ball, Noriko-chan a tennis ball, and Kanako-chan a basketball.

At that point, the yellow team was in first, pink in second, purple in third, red in fourth, and green in fifth. The white team being in last place was a bit of a surprise – earlier they had been fighting it out for the lead, but a wayward kick sent their ball off course into the family seating area and they'd lost a lot of time looking for it.

The red team completed the third lap with their giant ball and passed the sash to Touko-chan, who started the fourth lap.

Touko-chan carefully kicked the ping-pong ball, using the instep of her sneaker.

Rolling lightly and then stopping.

It was a painstaking task, because she'd lose everything if it went flying too far.

Kick! Roll, roll, roll, kick! Roll, roll, roll.

By maintaining a good tempo, the green team steadily gained on her.

"Go for it!"

As she shouted out her support, Yumi wondered just who it was she was cheering on. The green team's first-year, or the red team's Touko-chan?

Yumi terminated that line of thought immediately. In the unlikely event it was the latter, she'd be making an enemy of every single person in the green team's section.

"Say, don't you think Touko-chan's usually more forceful?"

Yoshino-san said idly. Yumi thought she was right. Discovering this unexpected side of Touko-chan may have been a byproduct of the athletics festival.

In the end, she was overtaken by the green team before handing the sash over to Noriko-chan. But Noriko-chan looked to dispel her good friend's regret with a single kick.

"Ohhh …. "

Powerful and accurate, she kicked the ball so it would land in a good position to run to.

"Look at Noriko-chan go."

Kicking the ball hard meant it went further faster, but there was more risk too. The ball could hit one of the runners up ahead and go off track, or bounce off in an unexpected direction, resulting in an unrecoverable loss of time.

But Noriko-chan wasn't worried about that as she vigorously kicked the ball. Her control was perfect.

When she got close to the green team, she switched strategy to dribbling the ball and gradually shortened the distance between them.

Moving with no superfluous actions.

Her footwork made it look like she was making all sorts of instantaneous calculations as she moved.

Distance, speed, time, angle, friction … Yumi wasn't quite sure, but it looked like various math and physics formula were flitting around her.

In the end, Noriko-chan caught up to the green team and handed the sash over to Kanako-chan with a narrow body-length lead.

But, when it came to Kanako-chan. She took off, and flew. She didn't bother with control, and when the ball went a long way off course she caught up to it and righted its trajectory, but she never slowed down.

Cheers rang out from around the ground.

The conspicuously tall young lady flew around the track, not worrying about the people ahead of her, or how she looked.

Yumi turned to follow what most of the cheering was about, and saw the purple team's runner momentarily stop as she was overwhelmed by the force with which the red team overtook her.

One down, then a second, then a third, before the sash was handed over. In other words, Kanako-chan had single-handedly taken the red team from fourth all the way to the front.

"… Incredible."

As Yumi looked on in amazement from the green team's area, Mami-san quietly scooted over and whispered, "The red team's secret weapon, huh? What's really going on, Yumi-san?"

"With what?"

"Is she going to be your soeur, or not?"

" – I've told you already."

Yumi was about to add, "That she said no," but stopped. If the green team's final score was lower than the red teams, and Kanako-chan said, "Please make me your soeur," then what would she do? Even Yumi didn't know the answer to that.

Yumi pondered this as she sat on the floor grasping her knees, when Sachiko-sama's voice came from overhead.

"Yumi. That's enough chatting, it's almost time for you to go. The second-years are up next."

"Ah, right."

Yumi stood up and turned around, and there was her onee-sama wearing her cheer-leading outfit.

"Oooooh."

""Ooooh"?"

Sachiko-sama raised an eyebrow, unable to discern the meaning of Yumi's utterance.

"Onee-sama, you look so dashing … !"

"Really?"

Sachiko-sama nimbly raised a hand and spun around, modeling the outfit. Her expression showing that she wasn't too dissatisfied.

A traditional boys uniform, made from cloth the same color as the Lillian uniform, white gloves, a green headband that was significantly longer than the regular ones, topped off with a tight sash in the same color as the headband. There were a handful of third-years in the same outfit, but none of them wore it as well as Sachiko-sama. Of course, Yumi was well aware that that was a "petite soeur's folly" … but it had to be said.

"I was completely disinterested when it was first decided. But when I say you wearing one at the Hanadera school festival, I thought maybe it wouldn't be too bad."

"Yeah, it looks good on you, Rosa Chinensis. Us second-years will do our best to live up to the expectations of the third-year onee-samas cheering us on."

Mami-san said, after bowing. Then she grabbed Yumi by the scruff of the neck and practically dragged her over to the entry gate.

"I know you're so very reluctant to part, but you can run back to your beloved onee-sama as soon as the "Ball Escape" is over."

"But then it's the third-years' "Ball Toss.""

They would trade places as participants with the third-years, so even though they were in the same team they couldn't have a leisurely chat because they were in different grades. On top of that, Sachiko-sama was one of their cheerleaders, so when she was in the green team's seating area, she was at the front, on standby.

"… You two really are close, aren't you."

Mami-san said, sounding honestly amazed.

Incidentally, the athletics festival always started with the three ball events, "Ball Rolling Race," "Ball Escape," and "Ball Toss," to get the ball rolling, so to speak.

The second-years had already started assembling into their teams near the entry gate.

"You're late."

Yoshino-san was already waiting there and looked up angrily. Even though she said they were late, the first-years hadn't finished exiting the oval yet, so their tardiness probably didn't warrant that level of anger – as Yumi stood there looking confused, Tsutako-san drew close and whispered in her ear.

"The princess has been in a foul mood for a little while now."

"Do you know what caused it?"

"All sorts of things, from what I can tell."

"All sorts of things, huh."

Yumi glanced at the scoreboard.

From the "Ball Rolling Race," the green team was second from the bottom, in fifth place. But the red team, their rivals for the wooden spoon, had slowly dropped back after Kanako-chan and finished fourth, so it wasn't too bad, all things considered.

"Have you seen Rei-chan's outfit?"

Yoshino-san muttered abruptly, sounding subdued.

"Huh? No, not yet."

They'd walked behind the yellow team's supporter area, but she hadn't had time to look around because she was being pulled along by Mami-san.

"It's like, geeze."

Yumi thought, "So that's it?"

She wasn't entirely sure, but it looked like Yoshino-san was irritated with Rei-sama. And since she couldn't vent to her directly, her irritation built up inside, so she was getting upset over minor things – like, for example, her classmates being slow to arrive.

"And Sachiko-sama? You must have seen her, right?"

"Yep."

Yumi nodded. She was probably referring to her boys' uniform outfit.

"Your onee-sama looks stylish, but my Rei-chan is, my Rei-chan is, my Rei-chan is – "

A broken record, is usually how her actions would be described. If left alone, she'd just keep repeating that over and over.

"What does she look like?"

Yumi threw Yoshino-san a lifeline. And then.

"Like she's partying at a canary carnivale."

"C-canary?"

– Yumi asked, but she'd already concluded that Yoshino-san must have been speaking about those familiar little birds that were good singers. Rei-sama's team color was yellow, after all. But she'd never heard the combination of canary and carnivale before now.

She turned her head towards the yellow team's supporter area, wondering what that looked like, but Yoshino-san grabbed her head and firmly turned it back.

"Don't look."

"Huh?"

"Show some warrior's compassion, please, Yumi-dono. At the very least, don't look in front of me."

Well, if she was willing to go that far, there was no way Yumi could look. As a warrior, no, as a friend, she had compassion, but frankly speaking, Yoshino-san's retaliation after being wronged was terrifying.

"Here, Yumi-san, Yoshino-san."

A large basket was passed to them. Inside were soft, spongy balls, about the size of a tennis ball, which were wrapped in a cloth of their team color, and easy to hold in one hand.

Yumi took four and passed the basket along.

Yoshino-san took some too. Mami-san and Tsutako-san were already holding some. The basket was passed around, as most of the people were on the "throwers" side.

So then, since it was called, "Ball Escape," just who would be escaping?

That would be three people per class. Those chosen for this role were the tall, the fast, the quick-witted and agile. The duty of those chosen was to carry a basket upon their back and fly, with single-minded devotion, to escape the balls.

In contrast, those on Yumi's side had to pursue the enemy, with single minded devotion, in order to get their balls into the opposition's baskets. Ultimately, the team with the fewest balls in their baskets was the winner.

Having completed the "Ball Rolling" race, the first-years left the oval. This was followed by the second-years entering the oval, so they could perform the "Ball Escape." Their game used the full area inside the track. The teams arranged themselves as though they were protecting their basket carriers and waited for the start.

"We're attacking the red team. Got it?"

Yoshino-san instructed her nearby teammates.

"At any rate, we won't be bombarded by the teams looking to win. Since we're in last place, with hardly any points."

Just earlier she had been like a warrior, but now Yoshino-san had transformed into a military tactician.

"I suppose you're right."

"Okay."

The classmates nodded along with what she was saying, but all strategy would be out the window once it started. They all knew that.

It would be chaos, with all six teams mixed together. Spotting who had the baskets would be difficult, and not long after it started the grounds would be transformed into a battlefield with balls flying every which way. – They'd already experienced this in practice.

"It's starting."

The sound of a pistol roared. With that cue, multicolored balls started flying from every direction.

The balls were light, which meant they didn't travel as far as expected. So the most effective tactic was to get as close to the target as possible.

For defense, they wanted to surround their basket carriers with teammates, to block any balls thrown at them and drastically lower the chances that a ball would get into the basket.

But, if they were defending, they couldn't attack. And if they were attacking, they couldn't defend. That dilemma was part of the game.

"Ooh, that's not fair."

Yoshino-san spotted something and cried out, as she defended the green team's basket alongside Yumi.

"The purple team has Shimako-san carrying the basket."

Yumi looked where she was pointing and, sure enough, there was Shimako-san looking flustered as she ran carrying a basket. However.

"Why's that not fair?"

Yumi asked, and Yoshino-san answered as she swatted away an incoming ball.

"Have you ever heard of Shimako-san being a fast runner? Or incredibly tall? Is she nimble, like a dancing mouse? If anything, she's like an old cat, sunning itself on the porch. And yet they made her take that role, how pathetic."

"…"

Yumi thought it was far more pathetic that someone would talk that way.

"Don't you get it? You couldn't say Shimako-san is qualified to do that even as flattery, so there's only one reason that they asked her to carry the basket. The majesty of Rosa Gigantea."

"Majesty?"

"When you go to throw the ball, you might momentarily hesitate, thinking you might hit Shimako-san. That's what the purple team is aiming for."

"But it's a tactic, isn't it?"

Yumi didn't really understand how it was different to Yoshino-san saying they were going to exclusively target the red team, but, at any rate, it looked like the basket attached to Shimako-san's back had raised Yoshino-san's ire.

"I'm heading out."

"Huh!?"

"I'm not going to hold back against Shimako-san."

Immediately after saying that, Yoshino-san dashed off towards the purple team's basket.

Hold on, Yoshino-san. What about our tactic of targeting the red team?

But even if Yumi were to call out to her, Yoshino-san was the reckless sort of person that wouldn't stop.

Seeing no other choice, Yumi joined in the attack on the red team. Since her height wasn't anything to boast about, perhaps she'd be better suited to finding a gap in the enemy's defenses instead of protecting her allies.

On the way, she picked up some balls from on the ground. Turning up the shirttail of her sports uniform made a pouch that held a surprising number of them. The balls were all color-coded, but that didn't matter for the game itself. The game was scored by the number of balls in the basket, so they didn't bother checking who was throwing which colored ball. So she picked them all up, even those that weren't green. Throwing with all her might. Sharing the balls she'd picked up with her classmates, they aimed for the red team's basket. Only that.

Not because of Yoshino-san's tactic – Yumi's enemy was the red team. Since Kanako-chan had taken it so seriously, Yumi had to respond with all her strength too. She felt as though that was a way of showing her sincerity, or something along those lines.

While she was absorbed in the game, the ending pistol rang. Looking around once it was all over, there was no vestige remaining of the camps that had protected the baskets. It looked like everyone that had been on defense suddenly surged towards the enemy camps when the time limit drew near.

Then they started counting out the number of balls that had been gathered in each team's baskets.

"One, two."

Everyone counted as the balls from the baskets were tossed into the air. Since the goal was to have the lowest number, the team that ran out of balls first was the winner.

"Seventy-eight, seventy-nine."

Compared to the relay and similar races, being fast didn't give as much of an advantage, so there wasn't going to be a difference of 30 or 40. Typically, the difference between first and last was less than 20.

"Eighty-five, eighty-six."

The first team to run out of balls was, surprisingly, Yumi's green team. Followed closely by the red team, the white team, the pink team, and then the purple team.

"What's this? The yellow team, that's generally considered the favorite to take overall victory, has come in last place? What an upset."

The student commentating called out from the broadcast booth. Even though they still had some balls still visible in their basket.

"It's tough to be the favorite."

Mami-san mumbled as she watched the balls being tossed into the clear sky, one after the other.

"They become every team's target. Since they can't match them in the other events."

"And you published the rankings in the "Lillian Kawaraban" knowing this?"

As Yumi asked in surprise, the balls kept flying out of the yellow team's basket. One hundred.

"Of course. Those out in front deserve a handicap, don't you think?"

Mami-san nodded.

So in that case, the green team may have won the "Ball Escape" because none of the other teams saw them as a threat.

"I'm not sure whether to feel happy about that or not."

"Since we went unchecked and got the best score, other teams are going to start targeting us. Things are about to get interesting."

"Hey … "

"Don't worry. If they take a moment to look at the situation, our true strength will be evident. They'll quickly realize it was a fluke."

"…"

Those words of consolation weren't particularly comforting.

The yellow basket was finally empty. The scoreboard was updated to include their results and the order to exit the oval was given.

As the students clumped up to exit through the gates, Yumi ran into Shimako-san. When asked her impressions as one of the basket carriers, she had only one thing to say.

"Yoshino-san was scary."

– Right.

Part 2

The third-years took the place of the second-years, for their "Ball Toss" game – which was played in the conventional style.

The teams' baskets were each fastened to a pole, and they had to throw balls into their own basket. In contrast to the "Ball Escape," the winning team was the one with the most balls in their basket. Naturally, the balls were beanbags.

"Hey, doesn't it seem like the third-years have it easy?"

Yoshino-san said, as she played with the cheerleading props nearby. They were encamped right at the front of the spectators area. She was comparing the third ball game to the previous two, where the first and second-years had run themselves ragged.

"Yeah, I suppose."

Indeed, since all they had to do in the "Ball Toss" was stand beneath their basket and toss the beanbags upwards, it didn't seem like it would burn all that much energy.

"It's fine. The third-years are retired, after all."

Tsutako-san said, suddenly appearing behind them.

"What?"

Yoshino-san looked a bit sullen at this defense of the third-years. Yumi had thought that Yoshino-san would have sweated out at least some of her stress, but it looked like her bad mood still persisted.

"Well, when you're a third-year, you've got a lot to deal with."

As she said this, Tsutako-san reached deep into the cardboard box of supporter gear and pulled out her personal camera.

"What do you mean, a lot to deal with?"

"Like choosing a course for priority entrance, or entrance exams, or getting ready to study abroad, or job hunting. It's a lot. With all this going on, they're usually exhausted most days, so it'd be kind of pathetic if we didn't show them some compassion."

After saying this, Tsutako-san quickly excused herself and left. By the looks of things, she had only come over to retrieve her camera.

Tsutako-san usually kept her camera close at hand, but not even she would walk around taking photos during their game. It seemed like she could have left her camera with someone on the green team in a different grade, but since the morning games were mandatory and ran one after the other, there was no-one that would stay in the supporters area for the whole duration.

For any valuables that hadn't been left in the staff room, the school wouldn't do anything even if they went missing. But it went without saying that if she left her camera in the staff room, she wouldn't be able to go back and get it easily.

The camera was valuable. But she wanted to take photographs.

As a last resort, it looked like she'd imitated a dog hiding its treasure, and buried her prized camera deep in the box of supporter gear. Having quickly dug up her camera, she was now flitting around everywhere, taking photos of the third-year's game. This was Tsutako-san at her most animated.

"Planning their future, huh."

Yumi muttered as she watched the ball-toss game. Basically, she was saying that the third-years were retirees and normally exhausted.

"What's Sachiko-sama doing after graduation?"

Yoshino-san asked, picking up on Yumi's comment.

"I haven't asked."

After responding, Yumi returned the question.

"How about Rei-sama?"

"You haven't heard that she's going to Lillian Women's University? She decided on it a long time ago."

"Really? Lucky you."

"If you've got the time to sit there and say, "Lucky you," then why don't you hurry up and ask? In a lot of cases, you'll lose your chance if you just fritter away the time without asking. Like with the role for our school festival play."

"Ooooh, don't say that."

She hurriedly covered her ears. For Yumi, their school festival play had recently become an unmentionable topic. Well, that was a matter for the future, so she set it aside for now.

"It'll be an even bigger shock if you only find out at the last minute that she's applying to other universities."

"I know … but."

She could postpone the shock by not asking.

"Good grief. Why are you so passive when it comes to Sachiko-sama? She's your onee-sama, you have to meet her head-on."

"… Yeah."

But, regardless of whether she asked or not, Sachiko-sama had probably already decided upon her path. So the matter of losing time that could never be recovered was only an issue for Yumi's heart.

The green beanbags sprung up into the sky, like water from a water fountain.

White too, and yellow, purple, pink, and of course red.

This continuously boiling water of beanbags was Yumi's anguished heart.

Sachiko-sama had been at Lillian from kindergarten all the way through to high-school. Yumi's baseless expectation was that this would continue on to university.

But, no matter how much she might wish for this, life didn't have to conform to her desires.

Sachiko-sama's father often went overseas, so she may even have chosen a foreign university.

Onee-sama, what are you planning on doing after graduation?

It was merely a short question, but it would clear everything up in an instant.

The main point was that this wasn't the first time she'd lacked courage. Yumi was well aware of this, without Yoshino-san having to point it out.

Bang, bang.

As soon as the pistol rang out, the various colored water fountains disappeared.

Each team's basket was lowered and the count began.

"One. Two. Three."

Since the teams couldn't impede each other, the "Ball Toss" game was more a measure of their ability. In the end, Rei-sama and her yellow teammates had given it their all and achieved first place, making up for their previous crushing defeat in a single event. Unfortunately, the green team finished in fifth place. Was this a measure of their true strength? Although, using phrases like "true strength" in relation to the "Ball Toss" game felt a bit strange.

"That's so annoying. How did we come fifth after throwing so many of them?"

Sachiko-sama grumbled, after returning to the green team's area.

The response, "Well, that would be because the other teams got more beanbags in their baskets," was almost out of Yumi's mouth before she managed to hold it back. Since her onee-sama was not expecting any sort of response.

She was merely frustrated by losing, so she had to say something to someone or she wouldn't be able to calm down. So at times like these, it was important to listen and not say anything.

"On my way back here, I ran into Rei, looking triumphant. Ah, it makes me so mad. We have to turn it around, and triumph over them somehow."

"That's right, onee-sama. Please bring us back in the "Centipede Race.""

"We could. We should. We shall."

Sachiko-sama said, as though she were practicing verb conjugations, then clapped her hands together. Then, looking like she'd completely recovered, she put her boy's uniform costume on over her PE clothes and joined the other cheerleaders.

Hurray, Huray, Gree-ee-een.

Bang, bang, ba-ba-bang, bang, ba-ba-bang.

"Yumi-san, you've completely become Sachiko-sama's parent."

Yoshino-san teased, but in her heart, Yumi thought, "Maybe she's right." After all, she felt she'd become quite proficient at handling Sachiko-sama when she was sulking or hysterical.

And yet, she couldn't ask about the most crucial topic.

When she saw her onee-sama's happily smiling face, she just wanted to stay like that for a little while longer, and not think about any difficult matters.

On the oval, the first-year's massed calisthenics performance was starting.

The V-shaped Boat pose, the T-shaped Warrior III.

Supported handstand.

Folding fan pose.

Two-level pyramid.

It may have been called group gymnastics, but it was by no means acrobatic. Even so, each time they changed poses a round of applause bubbled up from the visitor's seats and from the supporters.

Fweee, fw-fwe.

The sound of the whistle was refreshing.

To call it an intermission would be rude, but there were no points attached to it, so the performers moved in a relaxed manner and the audience were at ease as they watched.

Kanako-chan, Touko-chan, and Noriko-chan were all there in the sea of first-years.

They may have been carrying all sorts of burdens in their hearts, but for this single moment, all the first-years were acting as one. Yumi was overjoyed by this thought.

Since it meant the athletics festival wasn't just a competition. There was another side to it, of banding together and working towards a common cause.

The group gymnastics came to an end, to a round of applause from everyone – a massive success.

Checking her schedule, the team cheerleading contest was up next.

"First up is the red team's cheerleaders."

The red team bubbled with excitement at this announcement, and three students clad in red dresses crossed over the rope fence from the supporters area and burst onto the track. They clasped bright red flowers between their lips and held castanets in their hands. The other students were also holding the same small instruments.

The red team's theme this year was "Carmen."

The cheerleaders danced nimbly to the sound of a guitar, as they led the rest of the students in clapping to the beat.

"Olé!"

They finished the performance by throwing the flowers they had held between their lips up into the air. On closer inspection, the flowers weren't roses but plastic camellias. That made sense, the red team was made up of the camellia classes.

"Up next is the green team."

For the cheerleading contest, the teams went in order from last to first. Sachiko-sama and the rest of the boys-uniform squad stood in a line on the track. Standing with their feet shoulder-width apart and their hands behind their backs. Their spines straight, brave and imposing.

As they'd arranged, Yumi moved to the front, in the cheerleaders' seats, and waited next to a taiko drum. Yoshino-san was also on stand-by, a short distance away.

"Hooray."

The center cheerleader raised her right arm.

"Hooray."

This time it was the left arm.

"Gree-ee-een, go."

With that as their signal, the entire green team shouted, "Hooray, hooray, green. Hooray, hooray, green," and clapped to the beat.

Yumi beat the taiko drum as hard as she could, in time with the hand movements of Sachiko-sama and the other cheerleaders – thump, thump, thump-thump-thump – while Yoshino-san waved the flag furiously.

The 3-3-7 beat continued. The five girls in boy's uniforms took out folding fans and led the others. The folding fans were, of course, green in color.

It was an orthodox cheering style, but the way they nailed all the important details was incredibly cool.

Yumi hoped she'd be in the green team next year, so she could lead the cheering in a boy's uniform like her onee-sama. It was a well established tradition that the green team's cheerleaders wore boy's uniforms, so there must have been a lot of second-years that felt the same as Yumi throughout the years.

After the green team was the pink team.

Their theme this year, "Momotarou," was written on large signs. Since they were from the peach (momo) classes – it was rather straightforward.

It may have seemed like they'd have Momotarou and his followers – a dog, a monkey, and a pheasant – but instead they had three Momotarous. Their followers were in the stands.

After putting on their cardboard masks, a whole bunch of dogs, monkeys, and pheasants started calling out in unison, "Momotarou-san, Momotarou-san." Hearing this, the Momotarous called out, "Now let's vanquish those demons," and menaced the yellow, white, and purple teams with their folding fans.

It went without saying that the three teams they were likening to demons were those ahead of them. But this didn't anger any of the targeted teams, instead they seemed to find it amusing. In second-to-last place, it really hit home to Yumi how much more annoying it was to be ignored at times like this.

After the pink team it was the white team's turn.

Their theme was "Angels." – At least, that's what they said, but since their wings were attached to their arms and not their backs, it made them look more like doves than anything else. Still, even though they were cheering, those wings were an unexpected display of skill. All they had to do was raise their arms slightly and the wings would flutter in a very eye-catching manner. It was hard to describe the spectacle of five winged doves leading a 3-3-7 cheer. …. No, they were really angels though.

Following them was the purple team with the kabuki dance, "Fuji Musume."

"Oh?"

The cheerleading squad was usually made up of third-years, but wasn't that the second-year Shimako-san right in the middle of them?

"… They even sweet-talked her into doing this?"

Yoshino-san groaned, with her arms folded. It went without saying that Shimako-san was Rosa Gigantea. A perfect fit for a leadership position.

"But their theme is Fuji Musume, so doesn't it make sense that she's there? Shimako-san's a master of traditional dance, after all."

"But they could have picked Fuji Musume because Shimako-san's there."

"Hmm."

Which came first, Shimako-san or Fuji Musume? The chicken or the egg?

"It feels like it was a more complicated decision than which came first."

Shimako-san danced brilliantly, with a branch of purple wisteria draped across her shoulder, and completely oblivious to her good friends' gossiping. They'd heard that the kimono was simply machine sewn from cheap cotton, but from a distance it looked like a fine long-sleeved kimono. The hand-made traditional conical hat was also quite the sight.

The ground sighed in admiration at the beguiling dance of the young ladies.

Now then, the last to go was the yellow team.

Yumi had made an effort not to look at Rei-sama because of Yoshino-san's plea, but it would be impossible not to see her in the cheer contest.

Tweee-twe-tweee-twee, tweee-twe-twee-tweee-twee, tweee-twe-tweee-twee, tweee-twe-twee-tweee-twee.

Suddenly, a cheerful whistle rang out, and Rei-sama and the other cheerleaders entered onto the track in their showy yellow costumes. Their bodies shook energetically, in time with the upbeat samba rhythm.

"Canary … "

The sleeves, made up of many layers of frills, really did resemble the feathers of a canary.

Canary, certainly. Which made "Canary Carnivale" the perfect phrase.

" – right."

Yoshino-san couldn't bear to look at it any longer. She was staring straight at the ground and waiting it out, no doubt hoping it would end soon.

"I don't think it's that bad."

Rei-sama was enjoying it. Their whole team was getting excited by the latin beats. Because they were men's costumes, they were certainly evocative of carnivale, but they didn't show any skin at all.

"You can only say that because it's not your onee-sama, Yumi-san."

"M-maybe you're right."

"I am. Just try to imagine it."

Yoshino-san said. In other words, try to picture Sachiko-sama in a fluttering yellow blouse, shaking her body as she danced around.

So Yumi made an honest attempt to picture this scene. But no matter how she tried, she just couldn't see it. Instead, the scene that popped into her mind was her onee-sama throwing away the costume, saying, "There's no way I could wear something like this."

Yes, indeed.

Yumi glanced at her onee-sama in her boy's uniform outfit and thought that that outcome seemed far more likely.

Tweee-twe-tweee-twee, tweee-twe-twee-tweee-twee, tweee-twe-tweee-twee, tweee-twe-twee-tweee-twee.

The Canary Carnivale was still going on.

Part 3

Now, with everyone fired up from the cheerleading battle, it was time for the second-years' "Tug of War."

Yumi put on her gloves and gathered at the entrance gate with the others. The rules were pretty simple – the teams competing against each other would be chosen by lottery, and the winners would get 20 points. In other words, there was no ranking of the teams, it was just whether they won or lost. Of course, luck played a large part in this – if they drew a weaker team in the lottery, then their odds of winning shot up.

The result:

They fought against Shimako-san's purple team, and suffered a crushing defeat.

There was no way they could have beaten a team that had been independently practicing during their lunch breaks for the last week – that was Mami-san's story.

Was that it? That it was necessary to secretly make that sort of concerted effort in order to win.

"That was terrible. What were you doing?"

Greeting her with these harsh words was, of course, Sachiko-sama. It looked like her own recent defeat in the "Ball Toss" game had been put away on a high shelf somewhere and forgotten about.

It was just like Sachiko-sama. But Yumi was already used to it.

Following on from this was the first-years' "Fetch of War." Thirty poles, about 1.5m long, were placed in the middle of the oval, which the teams had to go and bring back to their positions. The teams got points based on how many poles they retrieved.

This was the last event that all the first-years would participate in, so all the teams were fired up. They could see the first-years checking out the locations of the poles and pointing at them, saying things like, "I'll get that one, you get that one."

In this match, victory or defeat was largely dependent on tactics – how many people did they think would be going for each of the poles? They couldn't just split the team evenly if they wanted to reliably get them, so they had to decide ahead of time which poles they'd target and which ones they'd ignore.

"Ready … "

Bang.

At the signal to start, the first-years all broke into a run. The poles that were closest to each team's starting positions were easier to get, so those students who were confident in their speed left them for their teammates, and ran towards the ones that were a bit further away.

There were some poles that only one girl reached and carried away easily.

There were some poles that were targeted by two teams, and neither one would let go.

There were some poles that were going nowhere because four teams were pulling against each other.

There were some poles that were only a step away from one team's position when a huge number of reinforcements from another team came to carry them away.

Each of the poles had their own drama.

"What are those girls doing?"

Yoshino-san pointed and laughed, sitting beside Yumi.

"Don't tell me they're playing it up as a joke?"

Looking at where Yoshino-san was pointing, Yumi saw Touko-chan and Kanako-chan gripping opposite ends of a pole but not moving. No, it wasn't that they weren't moving, it looked like they were pulling in opposite directions and canceling each other out.

"It's quite the spectacle."

Now then, who will be declared the victor?

"– But, they're both on the red team, aren't they?"

"Yeah. That's why it's got to be a joke, right?"

People in the crowd that noticed it pointed and laughed. And then others that followed where they were pointing would laugh too.

In truth, this was not the time for humor, but the situation with Touko-chan and Kanako-chan was like a circus clown performance so it felt like it was okay to laugh at them. The god of comedy was indeed smiling on them.

"Oh my, what's going on here?"

It looked like the students in the broadcasting club had caught on to the situation too.

"Are they in such a frenzy that they can't see their opponent's face? Two red team members are fighting against each other for a pole."

They excitedly reported, although their reasoning was a bit lacking.

Yumi understood, however. Kanako-chan and Touko-chan were both well aware of who was on the other end of the pole.

In this case, it didn't matter one bit whether they were enemies or allies. At this moment, all that mattered to them was that the other one wouldn't get the pole that they had their hands on. "Like hell I'll let her have it," – that kind of feeling. It felt like their normal everyday hostility had come gushing out all at once. They really were natural enemies.

"They're showing such fierce determination. No-one from another team, or even the red team, is willing to get involved. How is this going to end? If they don't get moving, time's going to run out before it gets back to their camp. That would be such a shame."

No-one knew what to do, so they were just hanging back and watching. It was an unprecedented event, so it looked like neither the red team or the other teams could figure out how to change the situation.

"Oh! One brave student from the red team has run over to them. Now, how will she resolve this?"

"It's Noriko-chan."

Whether it was brave or not, Noriko-chan grabbed the pole right in the middle, and pushed them towards the red team's position. Kanako-chan and Touko-chan were balancing each other out by pushing and pulling directly against each other, so they were unable to counter this unexpected perpendicular force as it slowly started moving them along.

That was just like Noriko-chan. When something had to be done, she did it.

As the other teams stood around dumbfounded and watched them go, a shot rang out, signaling the end of the game. It was just as the three girls made it to the red team's position. It looked like they'd made it by a hair's breadth.

The red team ended up with six poles, including that last one. It was a wonderful result, since each team had five in their vicinity. The green team had four – and as a result, they swapped places and fell to last.

" … How is this happening?"

Looking at the scoreboard, Sachiko-sama shook with rage. Seeing this, the green team members trembled in fear. The elegant Rosa Chinensis was shaking with anger. How could that anger be calmed?

Yoshino-san was acting like this was an everyday occurrence, and nonchalantly attached a colored paper flower to her middle finger, but those who only knew Sachiko-sama's public image were looking anxious, as though something were about to happen.

"Y-Yumi-sama. Please do something."

With that, the first-years forced this on her. She'd already used, "We'll make it up in the centipede race," so that probably wouldn't be effective any more. On top of that, the second-years dance was next, so it was almost time for Yumi to make her way towards the oval entrance.

Yumi quickly glanced over at her onee-sama, and judged that it would be a while until her anger subsided.

Well, of course. Despite her boasts about aiming for overall victory, they were currently in a mortifying last place.

In that case.

"Here, onee-sama."

Yumi-sama held out a taiko drum and drumstick.

"What's this?"

"Please bang this as much as you want. It's an instrument that was designed to be hit. Well them, I'm off to the "Flower Dance," so I'll leave you here."

Yumi bowed quickly, then grabbed her flower prop and left.

At the very least, this should prevent Sachiko-sama from ripping apart a pretty handkerchief, or tearing the sleeve of her uniform, or breaking the frame of a folding fan, or damaging a sash, or something similar. Although, Yumi would probably still have to follow up on this when she got back.

"Hurry up, Yumi-san."

Waiting near the entrance gate, her classmates waved her over.

"Oka-y."

As she answered, Yumi suddenly felt someone looking at her and stopped and turned around.

(Huh …? Just now.)

She felt like she'd just seen a familiar face somewhere. But.

(Who was it?)

It wasn't her mother or father. She'd already confirmed her parents' whereabouts.

(Where?)

She knew the general direction, but in the vast banked area surrounding the track there were students and parents mixed together, so it was face after face after face. Even though it felt like she'd just seen someone, she wasn't certain, and there was no way to confirm it.

She felt like it was someone she hadn't seen for a while.

"What are you doing? It's about to start."

By the time Mami-san had come back and dragged her to the entrance gate, the music had already started, and the white team were starting to make their way onto the field.

(Focus, focus)

She could think about it later.

Yumi attached the flowers to her fingers and moved towards the center of the track.

They'd been practicing for this day during gym class since the beginning of the second school term.

There were three colors of flowers – pink, light blue, and yellow. Yumi's pine class and Shimako-san's wisteria class both had light blue flowers.

They started as flower buds.

The tightly bound petals slowly opened in time to the music.

Buds, blossom.

Buds, blossom.

Eventually, the oval was filled with three large blooming flowers.

The music changed, and the flowers delighted in the sun's rays.

They braved the rain.

Then the wind came and the petals separated into ones and twos, like a storm of falling cherry blossoms. With no distinction between pink, light blue, and yellow.

After the storm had passed, they reformed into six small multi-colored flowers – their last pose.

She'd tried her best, but unfortunately as a participant, she couldn't really tell how well it came out. That would have to wait until the film in her father's camera was developed, to see what it looked like from the audience's perspective.

With the dance over, the first thing she did after returning was head over to Sachiko-sama, who was getting ready for the centipede race.

"Yumi."

Seeing her onee-sama's smile, Yumi thought she must have brightened her mood by releasing her stress.

"Did you bang the drum?"

Yumi asked a little happily. Sachiko-sama responded with, "You're so silly," and slightly adjusted Yumi's headband.

"It was a dance number, so I couldn't beat the drum even if I wanted to."

"Ah."

"When I realized that, I couldn't help but laugh. And it made me think that my irritation was absurd."

"Ha."

Basically, the drum was indirectly effective as a medicine to soothe Sachiko-sama's anger.

"You really are a mysterious girl."

Hearing these softly spoken words from her onee-sama, the petite soeur had mixed feelings.

"Umm. I'll take that as a compliment … "

"Of course, it is."

Sachiko-sama nodded in the affirmative, then hurried over to her classmates near the track entrance. On the way there she stopped, turned back, and said, "Oh, right," then gave Yumi a genuine compliment.

"The dance was wonderful. You danced beautifully, Yumi."

"Th-thank-you very much."

Feeling happy about the compliment, but uncertain whether that was appropriate or not, Yumi beat on the taiko drum to cheer Sachiko-sama on in the centipede race.

Perhaps as a result of this, the green team came in third and the red team came in sixth, so they succeeded in overtaking them in the overall standings.

The remaining event in the morning program was the club relay, so they would narrowly avoid the shame of being in last place when the scores were announced at the halfway point.

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