Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume27 Chapter2

The "Absentee's Chance" Girl

Part 1

The following day.

Yumi went to school with a slight stomach ache and muscular pains, which she believed to be due to the tension of sitting on that chair the previous day. The lively nature of the high-school area made the melancholic feelings about the remains of the warriors dreams that she'd felt while all alone in the Rose Mansion at twilight after the event seem like a lie.

"We've heard, Yumi-san."

"Huh?"

Upon entering the classroom, she was pounced on by four, no, five of her classmates without even a "Gokigenyou."

"Matsudaira Touko-san, and how she nominated herself."

"Oh."

Yumi went to hang her bag on the hook at the side of her desk but missed, accidentally dropping it on the floor.

"Umm?"

What to do, what do do? As she picked her bag up off the ground, Yumi looked confused.

"There's no point playing dumb. Everyone knows. "Yumi-sama, won't you take me as your petit soeur?" – she said."

"Ah."

Yumi had completely forgotten. Well, she most definitely had not forgotten that Touko-chan had asked to be her petit soeur. What she had forgotten was that the confession had taken place in front of a large audience.

There was no zipper on people's mouths. Especially when the subject was as fresh and juicy as this, so it was only human nature that those in the know would pass that knowledge on to everyone else.

"That's not exactly right."

Rather than being a self-nomination, it had all started when Yumi initially asked Touko-chan to be her petit soeur. Well, at that time she'd been rejected, so this was something akin to a settling of the score.

Because of that, and other things, from Yumi's point of view it was seen more as a response to her previously expressed feelings than a self-nomination. But for those people who had no knowledge of those other events, the request must have seemed like it came from out of the blue. A while back, there had been that rumor about Touko-chan being a candidate for Yumi's petit soeur, but she hadn't called on the Rose Mansion in a while, plus she'd nominated herself in the election for the school council which had taken place last month, so to people watching on the likelihood of that had dropped dramatically.

"And?"

"And, what?"

When Yumi asked this, they all closed in on her, eyes sparkling.

"Have you answered her yet?"

"Huhh!?"

"Is she your petit soeur? Or not?"

"Ah, umm … "

"If she wants to be your petit soeur, that means she likes you, right Yumi-san? So why has Matsudaira Touko-san been acting so rebelliously up until now?"

"Well, that's … "

That was asking a question that Yumi didn't know the answer to, so she was stumped.

"I wonder if it's that sort of thing after all. They bicker and fight then they love each other."

"Oooh, how romantic!"

"Like the way young boys will bully the girls they like?"

"Oooh, how adorable!"

Yumi just let them continue talking as much as they wanted. That way, it wouldn't matter whether the subject of the rumors was present or not. Then she could just quietly slip away – although, since she was surrounded, quietly slipping away would be quite tricky.

(Ahh, what was it?)

A long time ago, Sachiko-sama had taught her a way to deal with this type of situation. When there's something you want to say, wait until the conditions around you are ripe for listening, then say it once, clearly. While everything around you is noisy, be like the willow in the breeze.

So, while they continued to chatter on seemingly endlessly, Yumi listened intently.

"Touko-san's in the drama club, isn't she? Up until now, they've only done performances with the whole club!"

"Ohh, so this is a supporting actress role!"

"Don't you mean lead role?"

"Wouldn't that be Yumi-san?"

"No way!"

( …It's hopeless. I can't use onee-sama's trick this time around.)

Not only were the conditions around her never going to be ripe for listening, but, more importantly, Yumi had absolutely no idea what she should say to them.

"Even still, the current first-years are pretty audacious."

"Approaching an older girl and putting their name forward? Maybe they just know no fear?"

"Yeah, that's something we never would have even thought about doing."

They grumbled, like old people complaining about kids these days.

"So, what about me?"

A familiar voice called out from behind them. Stung by these sharp words, everyone turned to look, and standing there, in an imposing stance, was Yoshino-san.

"Umm."

One of her classmates opened their mouth, to try and clear the misunderstanding.

"What we were saying … was about Matsudaira Touko-san."

She stalled and avoided saying, "Has nothing to do with you, Yoshino-san."

That was correct.

"Approaching an older student, nominating yourself."

The events of one year prior needed no introduction. Yoshino-san, as a first-year, had been the one to nominate herself. Not only that, she'd previously taken the outlandish step of handing her rosary back to her onee-sama. It was known as the "Yellow Rose Revolution."

So, rather than being something, "we never would have thought about doing," it was actually ground that Yoshino-san had already covered. Not only that, but it was a path that countless girls followed her down, although those memories seemed to have been covered in weeds and slipped from mind completely just recently.

" … Sorry. My mistake."

Any criticism of Touko-chan was the same as criticizing the pioneer of that move, Yoshino-san. Having recognized that, her classmate meekly apologized. But if that's what they really thought, then there was no need to apologize – except it would be more trouble than it was worth. Yoshino-san could be persistent and annoying.

"Don't worry about it. Just so long as you realize that what Touko-chan did is no big deal."

She smiled sweetly. That, in itself, was scary.

"Yeah … of course."

The ring of people around Yumi loosened, as one by one her classmates stepped back.

"Well then, I'll have to borrow Yumi-san for a little while. We've got a review meeting in the Rose Mansion."

Yoshino-san thrust her hand into the ring of people and grabbed Yumi's arm. Then, while Yumi was still confused, marched her out of the classroom.

"Review meeting?"

Wasn't that supposed to be during lunch? When Yumi asked this, Yoshino-san responded with, "Stupid."

"That was a ruse. If I hadn't said that, I wouldn't have been able to get you out of there."

"Ah, I see."

She'd noticed that Yumi had been in trouble, and come to rescue her. Sharp.

"Thank-you."

"You're welcome."

Setting aside the review meeting, Yumi had been thinking about going to the Rose Mansion this morning anyway, since they'd only half-finished the cleaning yesterday. She was still wearing her coat when she'd been dragged out of the classroom, but Yumi figured, "Ahh, whatever," and walked alongside Yoshino-san.

"So anyway, what happened?"

"What do you mean?"

"With Touko-chan. Although I know I'm doing the same thing as those other girls. But it's okay, you can tell me."

Well, that was fine.

"Nothing, so far."

They hadn't met after that. So Yumi had no juicy information to report.

"You didn't call her? – Although, that's probably not right."

"Feels wrong somehow, doesn't it?"

Although, after returning home yesterday, Yumi caught herself looking at the telephone and almost standing up a couple of times. But in the end she hesitated, as though the proposal had been made over the telephone and she was sending her response as a text. It would be different if they were in a long-distance relationship, but they went to the same school, so she felt like they should meet properly, face-to-face. Of course, there were plenty of people who wouldn't care about that sort of thing.

"Hold on, I'll just run down to first-year camellia class and get Touko-chan."

As soon as she said this, Yoshino-san spun around and headed for the first-year classrooms.

"Wai … no, stop."

Yumi frantically grabbed Yoshino-san's arm and pulled her back.

"See, she threw the ball to you, now it's your turn. What do you think would have happened if she came to our classroom to hear your response? The reaction. Even for someone who knows no fear, like Touko-chan."

" … Yeah. I guess."

That much was true.

"But, because of the reaction, you shouldn't go."

If Yumi was peppered with questions by her classmates because Touko-chan asked to be her petit soeur, think of how much worse it must be for Touko-chan herself. Add more fuel on to that fire, and who knows what you'd get.

"I see. If I act, things will just get more out of control."

Yoshino-san concluded, and stopped. Once more she changed direction, and they headed towards the Rose Mansion.

"Sorry. I know you were just looking out for me."

"It's fine. But if there's anything you want me to do, just let me know."

"Okay."

Take this, as an example. With just one or two sentences, another ten or twenty could be implied. Yumi felt that these instances highlighted the evolution of their friendship.

When they arrived at the Rose Mansion, the White Rose sisters and Mami-san were already there.

Even though the review meeting was scheduled for lunch, they'd probably all assembled for the same reason. Given the number of people that had passed through the Rose Mansion yesterday, a haphazard cleanup would not suffice.

"So, Yumi-san?"

Shimako-san asked, hesitantly. – The implication being, "What happened afterward?"

It was only natural that those who had witnessed it all unfold were interested in how it ended.

While Yumi apologetically thought about how she made them all worry, she also knew that that didn't necessarily entitle them to know all the gory details, so she made a similar report to what she'd told Yoshino-san earlier, plus what had happened on their way over here. Mami-san from the newspaper club was there, but that didn't bother her. Mami-san probably wouldn't go off and use it in an article.

"Right."

Shimako-san nodded. That nod implied, "Settling things in a reasonable manner is fine."

"As for Touko."

Noriko-chan spoke.

"It seems that she's come to school, but she hasn't been to our classroom. Yumi-sama, Yoshino-sama, you made the right choice in not coming to our class. It was in uproar. They were even thronging around me."

Just as Yumi had expected, it was hardest on Touko-chan.

Nobody said anything, but perhaps the sooner Yumi gave Touko-chan the rosary and officially made her her petit soeur, the better.

Part 2

The review meeting took place in the Rose Mansion over lunch.

The attendees were, from the Rose families, the three second-year future Roses plus Noriko-chan, and members of the newspaper club.

They had gone through what went well, concerns, ideas for improvement and were currently working their way through complaints that had been received from teachers and students. Since it was only the day after the event, it seemed unlikely that they'd received all the feedback they would, but for now they were just going through the raw opinions they'd collected. In good time, they planned on sending a survey to the participants.

The review meeting wasn't particularly interesting, but it was something that had to be done. As Yoshino chewed on her fried chicken, she idly listened to the conversation flowing back and forth across her.

"You know, it's just a minor thing, but I wonder if the red card got a bit crinkled?"

Yumi-san raised her hand, and gave her report. After spending about an hour trapped between the chair's cushion and her backside, it did come out looking a little bit wrinkled. Geeze, it really was a minor detail.

"If Matsudaira Touko-san requests so, we should replace the card. Sorry to bother you Yumi-san, but if that happens would you write another one?"

When Mami-san shot a sidelong glance at Yumi-san looking for confirmation, Yoshino remarked, to no-one in particular:

"It's not like Touko-chan's going to ask to have the card replaced anyway. Yumi-san spent the whole time warming it up."

A quick glance at Yumi-san showed she felt the same, and wasn't particularly displeased by that, but then her serious face returned and she said, "But we can't know that for sure." Recently, Yumi-san had adopted a 'by-the-books' approach. As a result, the jabs made to alleviate the boredom just looked childish.

At any rate, they decided to have Noriko-chan ask Touko-chan. The likelihood of anyone using the same hiding location next year was pretty low, so there was no pressing need to develop a plan to combat 'crinkling of the card when it's between cushion and buttocks.'

"As for the yellow card. The most common complaint I heard was people didn't understand whether it's hiding place was in bounds or out of bounds. It looks like those towards the end of the line didn't hear the explanation."

At the mention of the yellow card, Yoshino's heart started to beat a little faster.

"Understood. We'll follow-up with a diagram in the next issue of the Lillian Kawaraban. We'll do the same thing for the red and white cards too."

Mami-san quickly disposed of the issue.

"There was a window of opportunity between the end of the event and when we went to collect the white card where someone could have spotted the card and taken it home. We probably should have assigned someone to watch over it."

"Then shouldn't newspaper club staff collect the cards when the announcement is made?"

"But if we did that, it would give people a clue to search near the newspaper club staff in the dying moments of the game, wouldn't it?"

"Plus the participants would follow them around, wanting to see where the cards were."

(Hmmph.)

– And so it continued, from the large to the small, Yoshino stuffed her face as the various opinions flew past her. Everyone was taking it all so seriously.

"Well, that should be about all."

Mami-san used the passing around of the after-lunch tea as an excuse to end the meeting, and Noriko-chan brought a cardboard box over from the corner of the room.

This was today's main event, the opening of the absentee's chance box. Yoshino clapped in anticipation. She'd endured the boring review meeting solely for the moment when the absentee's chance box was opened.

The box was still in the same sealed condition that it had been since the start of the treasure hunt. Mami-san didn't open the sealed mouth of the box, instead turning it over and breaking the seal on the bottom of the box (which was just done with masking tape and magic marker), before dumping the contents on to the table.

"There's two things we're looking for. The first is the name. Check that it isn't Tanuma Chisato-san or Matsudaira Touko-san. The other is the location. Anything that has carpark, or car, or Aota-sensei, or any similar keyword should be put to one side."

Everyone agreed with Mami-san's instructions, and set about the task of sifting through the entries. A lot of them had been folded to fit in the mail slot easier, and unfolding them took precious time.

(Name, name … uh)

Yoshino ran her eyes down that line of text.

(Iida, Sakashita, Matsunaga … argh, they're all wrong)

In Yoshino's case, she was checking for three names. Tanuma, Matsudaira, and Arima.

(Nana. Surely you must have entered the absentee's chance draw, right?)

Yoshino had even gone all the way to the middle-school to tell her about the treasure hunt. Nana hadn't exactly jumped at the chance, but she did say, "That sounds fun." Or maybe it had been, "That could be fun."

(Arima, Arima, where's Arima?)

Consequently, Yoshino wanted to check all the entries herself.

Of course, even if she did find Nana's entry, and Nana had written the correct location, it was too late anyway. Tanuma Chisato-san was the winner, and that was that. Even so, Yoshino still wanted to know. How much did Nana know about her? How close was she to Yoshino's thinking?

"Yoshino-san, are you looking at them properly?"

Yumi-san whispered to her.

"You're going kind of quickly."

"Ah."

Yoshino realized she'd only been checking the names, and stuck out her tongue. Because she was peeved, she didn't want to admit she'd messed up.

"First I'm doing a quick check of the names, then I'm going to go back over them and check the location."

After giving her justification, Yoshino took her stack of 'rejected' entries and set them in front of her once again.

(Inside the watering can in the old greenhouse, beneath the mat by the school building's emergency exit.)

Not in those places, nope. In her mind, Yoshino poked fun at them as she read the locations. It was a bit rude, but reading everyone's predictions when she knew the truth made her smile.

"Yoshino-san."

Shimako-san held out a piece of paper to her.

"Was this what you were worried about?"

"What's that?"

She hurriedly took it.

"…"

However.

"This."

After reading the name written there she was bewildered, in more ways than one.

– Hasekura Rei. It was Rei-chan's entry form.

"Am I wrong?"

Shimako-san asked, looking straight at her.

"Nope. Thanks."

Until right at that moment, she had forgotten about Rei-chan. Obviously not her existence, but that Rei-chan had entered into the absentee's draw.

"Library, reading room – "

Ahh, how simple. The hiding place that Rei-chan had so confidently written was the DIY corner where last year Yoshino had hunted through the cooking and handicraft books.

(Was this supposed to be a return favor for last year?)

It was really quite idiotic. Most of the books there weren't restricted to in-library use. Even though Rei-chan had hidden a card last year, she still hadn't realized that.

Yoshino let out a sigh, then returned to her task.

(Beneath the tatami mats in the martial arts building? Is this first-year a fan of mine?)

That put her in a somewhat better mood.

(On the wall in front of the staff room.)

So close. If the yellow card hadn't been found, this would definitely be a candidate. But, this was for the white card. They were looking for whoever was closest to under Aota-sensei's car in the staff parking lot.

(But is there really going to be anyone who would write that? Even guessing the parking lot would be hard.)

Just as she thought that.

"Ah!"

Yoshino called out, by reflex.

"What's the matter?"

Everyone was looking at her.

"Here, this."

Yoshino handed the piece of paper to Mami-san.

Igawa Ami.

Beneath the name of the unknown first-year.

The words, "Under a car in the staff parking lot," were written.

Part 3

"Is Igawa Ami-san available?"

Standing at the entrance to the first-year peach classroom, Shimako asked the closest member of that class.

Calling upon a stranger was a little bit nerve-wracking. However, Shimako felt that the reason her heart was beating slightly faster was probably due to the nostalgia she felt for the classroom that she'd been studying in last year.

"Yeah."

As soon as the student saw Shimako's face, she stiffened and said, "Wait here," then ran off into the classroom. 'Fleeing' would probably be the best way to describe her appearance.

Even though it hadn't been Shimako's intention to cause a commotion. But, that was probably the terrifying life of the older student.

(I suppose I should have expected it.)

Back when Shimako had been a member of this class, from time to time her onee-sama or Sachiko-sama would come to visit her, and her classmates would walk like a robot over to her and speak in a monotone as they announced her visitor's presence.

Coming here alone had probably been for the best, after all.

The initial plan had been to have Mami-san and the first-year Noriko-chan accompany her. However, since the announcement hadn't been made in the Lillian Kawaraban yet, they wanted to keep it as quiet as possible, so Shimako had offered to perform the task alone. None of the people in the Rose Mansion at lunch time knew the girl's name or face, so it was a good idea to meet the winner of the half-day date and have a chat with her.

The afternoon classes had finished, and it was about the time when the cleaning duties were drawing to a close. Since the student she'd talked to hadn't returned immediately, it probably meant Igawa Ami-san was somewhere in the room. Glancing around inside, Shimako saw the student from before talking to another student over by the window.

(Could it be her … ?)

It was hard to see her face because of the distance, and the obscuring effect of the shoulder-length hair that fell past her ears. After a further exchange, the second girl turned and walked towards Shimako.

"I'm Igawa Ami."

Was she imagining things? For a moment, Shimako felt like she'd met this girl somewhere before.

"Gokigenyou."

"Why did you want to see me?"

"You entered into the absentee's draw, right? It's about that."

After Shimako said this, Ami-san said, "If you don't mind?" and walked out into the hallway.

"Huh?"

Shimako didn't know what was going on, but she turned to follow the person she had to talk to and chased after her. Since Ami-san was going quite fast, it made it look like they were two people walking down the corridor on their own separate tasks.

"I'm sorry. I wanted to go somewhere private."

The place they'd arrived at, after going out the emergency exit, was a stairwell landing. Indeed, in this chilly season, there was no one around to overhear them, no matter where the wind blew their words.

"You have a lot of fans in my class. If they found out I won the absentee's chance draw, they would all resent me."

"It looks like you already know that you're the winner."

Shimako probed as she folded her arms. It was cold outside, after all.

"Yeah. Well, more or less."

Rather than being disinterested, she was just being blunt. Wouldn't someone whose guess turned out to be correct be more surprised?

"I heard a rumor from my classmates this morning that the white card had been hidden in the car park. So you see."

Shimako hadn't been expecting a fawning attitude, but these curt responses made even someone as usually trusting as her start to get suspicious. That perhaps the girl was answering this way because it was a bother to her.

Thinking about it, the absentee's draw required the participants to predict where the cards were hidden, but there was no line on the entry form saying whose card it was. Maybe when Igawa Ami-san had written, "Under a car in the staff parking lot," she had been thinking of the yellow card, or maybe even the red card.

"So then … the white card and the ticket for the half-day date – "

Just in case, Shimako decided to confirm it. If the girl refused, she'd have to check with Mami-san about what to do, but it made sense that it would go to the next closest entrant. However.

"Of course I'll take it."

Ami-san answered.

"Oh, ah, right."

So apparently she would exercise her right. This constant stream of unexpected responses left Shimako feeling dizzy.

"May, ahh, may I see your student notebook? It's just a formality."

She'd been told to confirm that she had the right person before handing the card over. They had already confirmed that there wasn't an entry form with Igawa Ami's name on it for participating in yesterday's main event. As soon as this girl could prove that she was Igawa Ami-san, she would be officially recognized as the holder of the white card. In other words, she would occupy the same position as Tanuma Chisato-san regarding the yellow card and Matsudaira Touko-chan regarding the red card.

"Here."

Ami-san took her student notebook from her pocket and held it out to Shimako.

Inside the front cover, "First-year peach class, student number two, Igawa Ami," was clearly written.

"Splendid. Thank-you."

Nodding, Ami-san closed her notebook.

"That's all for now, but I'll be in touch later."

When she heard this, Ami-san said, "About that," and then stopped.

"Huh?"

" … About that, I have a favor to ask."

Shimako asked what it was.

"If you could – "

Once more, a completely unexpected statement made its way to Shimako's ears.

Return to Main Page

Back to Warrior Demands a Response

Forward to Unexpected Words