Editing Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume13 Chapter2 1 (section)

=== <noinclude>Cunning Boy.</noinclude>Part 1. ===

The following day.

Standing before a huge wooden gate that looked like it belonged on the residence of a shogun's personal retainer, or an Edo-period town magistrate, the Fukuzawa siblings sighed.

"It's bigger than I thought."

"… Yeah."

"Still not quite as big as Sachiko-san's, but it sure beats any normal house."

"Right."

Of course, the lady of the house was originally a daughter of the powerful Ogasawara family, so it shouldn't have been hard to imagine that the family she married into would have a house like this. But, but, even taking that into account, the estate was incredibly large. Yumi was seriously considering calculating how many times the Fukuzawa house would fit inside the grounds.

In other words, this was the house where Kashiwagi-san lived.

In order to accomplish the task set for her by Rei-sama at the previous day's secret Yamayurikai meeting, they'd caught a bus, followed by a train, then another bus, and lastly a ten minute walk before finally arriving at this previously unseen plot of land.

Naturally, Yuuki had accompanied her. Not only had he been the instigator of all of this when he came to talk to her, but as the junior of the recently graduated Hanadera student Kashiwagi-san, his position was easily understood.

"I want to go home."

"Me too."

It was hot.

Despite the parasol, her shoulders, arms, and other parts not covered by the summer dress were stinging.

2pm. The hottest part of the day.

They spent about five minutes looking up at the gates. Although they'd arranged to meet him, they didn't have to see Kashiwagi-san to know that their mission was over. Even without talking to him, just seeing this place was enough to make it obvious that they'd have to change their plans.

"Hey."

"Yeah."

They should find a public telephone and let him know they couldn't make it. Yuuki and Yumi looked at each other and with a silent understanding they turned around.

Just at that point.

"That's not nice, Fukuzawa siblings."

A voice came from behind them.

"After coming all this way, you're going to go home without saying hello?"

They didn't have to turn around to know. That immediately soothing voice. With a bit of a host's spice. Plus the occasional undercurrent of poison.

There was no doubting it was him, the ginkgo nut prince, Kashiwagi Suguru.

"If I'm not mistaken, that box contains a Maple Parlor fruit jelly selection. They're my favorite, don't you know. As good as a nice gin and tonic. Ahh, I wish I had one. If only someone would drop by, bringing some with them."

Would anyone be able to run away after hearing all that? Like rewinding a video, the Fukuzawa siblings spun around, returning to their original position.

"Go-gokigenyou, Kashiwagi-san."

"Hey there, Kashiwagi-sempai. Sorry about coming to see you on such short notice."

The blameless Maple Parlor box was handed over with a forced smile. Kashiwagi-san looked eminently satisfied as he accepted it and said:

"Ah, such good children. I'm glad you're so honest."

Then he suddenly patted them on the heads, but they didn't have the energy to fight back. Honestly, how long had he been waiting by the gate? Either way, it was a devastating defeat for the Fukuzawas, whose actions had been completely read by Kashiwagi-san.

"Come on, come inside you two."

Naturally, Kashiwagi-san wasn't going to dismiss them now that he'd received the fruit jellies. He took Yuuki by the arm and, just like that, dragged him inside. It was really aggravating, the way he calculated that Yumi's concern for her younger brother's body would pull her in too.

Once inside the gate, it felt a lot cooler than out on the road, due to the shade from the bamboo grass, pine trees and other plants. 

The entrance was at the end of the stone path that went straight from the gate. The main door was huge, and the front step was high, so, in a word it looked like a ryokan, or maybe a traditional restaurant.

"Come on Yumi-chan, you too."

"Pardon the intrusion."

"Ah, you don't have to take off your shoes."

Even if he said that, it was a basic courtesy.

Yumi turned around to place her shoes off to the side. Just as she was bending over, a voice suddenly came from behind her.

"Welcome."

"Eek."

She barely managed to avoid hitting her head on the stone pavement. She turned around in surprise and saw that an older lady had arrived at some point.

"– !"

This time nothing came out as Yumi's heart once again jumped in her chest. It was scary to theorize about the kneeling, white kimono-clad woman that had appeared in the dimly lit room.

"My junior from high-school, Fukuzawa-kun, and his older sister. Yumi-san is Sacchan's junior."

They hastily bowed at Kashiwagi-san's eloquent introduction. Immediately, she put herself on guard, thinking "Is this Kashiwagi-san's mother!?" But she seemed a little bit old, and from listening to their conversation it looked as though that thought was incorrect.

"Leave us be, Tomi. I'll entertain them."

"Very well, as you wish."

So apparently she was neither a ghost, nor his mother, but a household maid. Although, at the moment, Yumi wasn't concerned about who that lady was.

(Argh, I said, "Eek." I said, "Eek." What do I do?)

Yumi's spirits continued to fall as they walked through the hallway. And Kashiwagi-san was Kashiwagi-san. In her mind, she unjustly resented him. By introducing her as Sachiko-sama's junior, hadn't he troubled Sachiko-sama? But that was typical of Kashiwagi-san.

"What's the matter, Yumi-chan? Your face is all red, is it too hot?"

He called out to her. As though he hadn't heard her earlier squeal.

"No, it's nice and cool."

Actually, the inside of the house was pleasantly cool. Despite the traditional architecture, it also looked somewhat new.

Just like the front gates, the interior was also as spacious as a ryokan. To make matters worse, the corridor was long and had many twists and turns, making the grounds like a maze.

How would they be able to get out of there on their own when it came time to leave? Instinctively, Yumi grabbed hold of Yuuki's shirt. He had a much better sense of direction.

"While I don't have a problem with my room, it is still a bedroom, so I thought it inappropriate to bring a young lady in there."

Kashiwagi-san said, leading them to a small, detached, traditional Japanese-style room. 

"So it would be appropriate to take a young gentleman there?"

Yumi joked, unable to let his statement go without comment.

"Mm. Right. If Yuuki were here by himself, I suppose I'd take him to my room."

Kashiwagi-san responded, smiling.

"I wouldn't come here alone."

Yuuki scowled.

"Don't say that, come any time. I'll show you the utmost hospitality."

Even though it was just idle chatter, it made her nervous. Because Kashiwagi-san hadn't taken the joke as a joke. Instead, he had taken her joke at face value.

"Is this a tearoom?"

Yumi asked, after taking a look around.

"Yeah. Ah, right. I could prepare tea, if you'd like. But it probably won't go with the fruit jellies."

"No, that's alright."

Yumi and Yuuki simultaneously declined, but Kashiwagi-san had already started getting the tea ceremony utensils out. 

"It's a pain, so I'll use the hot water from the pot. But don't copy what I'm doing."

Don't copy. The Fukuzawa siblings looked at each other. They'd never conducted a full-blown tea ceremony so far in their lives, and didn't intend to do so in the future either.

"Come on, don't just stand there, have a seat."

At Kashiwagi-san's urging, they sat down in the guests' seats. Although they weren't really sure which seats in the tearoom were the guests' seats, and which were the hosts' seats.

Whush, whush, whush, whush.

The sound of the tea whisk was soothing. As she was watching this, Yumi thought, "The tea ceremony's kind of nice." Then Kashiwagi-san stopped what he was doing, stood up and opened a small cupboard in the alcove.

Surprisingly, it was refrigerated inside and Kashiwagi-san took out ice and cold water before closing the door as though nothing had happened. 

"It's inelegant when you see it, right? But it would be most inconvenient if it wasn't there."

So that meant that an air-conditioner was probably hidden somewhere out of sight too. It had been bugging her for a while now as to why the room was still so cool despite being all closed off. 

Kashiwagi-san poured the tea he'd just whisked into the glasses he'd put ice in, then diluted it with water.

"Here, drink up."

The iced green-tea he offered them was surprisingly tasty, but Yumi honestly thought she could have done without seeing how it was made.

"Now then."

His hosting duties fulfilled, Kashiwagi-san spoke smoothly as he opened the box of jellies that they'd brought for him.

"What is it that you want me to do?"

As though he were asking, "Which would you prefer, peach or pineapple?"

(– Ahh, really.)

He's a cunning boy, that Kashiwagi-san.