Editing Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume13 Chapter3 2 (section)

=== <noinclude>OK, Let's Do It.</noinclude>Part 2. ===

The day they agreed upon was the third Wednesday in August.

There was no deep meaning behind it, but there were a number of minor reasons.

For instance.

While the Yamayurikai members would be going to school starting from the second week of August, running into each other straight away would be a bit too abrupt, so they'd established a one week grace period during which they could observe Sachiko-sama's condition.

Plus they chose a day which wouldn't clash with Rei-sama and Yoshino-san's kendo club activities. 

Furthermore, they'd tentatively ruled out Friday and Saturday, since they expected the streets to be busy (and they weren't meeting on Sundays, since they didn't go to school then during the semester).

""Yo, Sachiko-san. Fancy meeting you here. If you'd like, why don't we have some tea? What luck, all our student council members are here too.""

"– You're a terrible actor. It sounds like you're speed-reading the fine-print at the end of an ad."

Yumi was sitting on the living room sofa, critiquing her brother's rehearsal.

"You say that, but there's a lot of information I've got to get across in a short time, so what else can I do? Anyway, would I really start with "Yo, Sachiko-san," when you're there, Yumi? How about something like, "Hey, Yumi." "What is it, Yuuki? What are you up to?" "Oh, nothing, just meeting with the student council." "Same here." "Oh, really? We were just about to head to a restaurant, why don't you join us?" "Oh yeah, let's go."? That's more like a typical conversation."

"Mmm."

Her brother had a point.

"Alright, let's go with that. But when you're giving the invitation, look at Sachiko-sama and say, "Would you like to accompany us?""

"Okay."

Yuuki used a red pen to make some more amendments to the text in the notebook. It was the script for their meeting that Kobayashi-kun had scrawled in his messy handwriting.

It was approximately five hours before the big event. The Fukuzawa children were quite earnest, so they were devoting themselves to this final run-through right up until when Yumi had to leave.

They were so enthusiastic about it that the question of whether or not they should be changing the script at this late hour never crossed their minds.

"Oh? Which school festival is this play for?"

Their mom asked, poking her head out of the kitchen. Surprised, they both responded immediately.

"Lillian's."

"Hanadera's."

The two siblings were both alike in that they both blamed the other's school. Yumi hadn't intended to deceive her mother, but it was hard to tell someone who didn't know about Sachiko-sama's situation that they were doing this to trick her, because it wouldn't reflect well on her. Even if she did explain everything from the beginning, they probably wouldn't have understood anyway.

"Yumi-chan says Hanadera and Yuuki says Lillian's. Just which one is it?"

Naturally, their mom was looking at them skeptically.

"When you say which one … well, it's more of a collaboration, there hasn't been a final decision yet, so we thought we'd just try practicing some temporary lines."

Sorry mom. But, in the broadest sense, it wasn't a lie.

"Oh, really? I'm looking forward to it."

Their mom laughed as she wiped the soap foam from the palm of her left hand onto her apron.

"Because this year, no matter what, I'll be going to Lillian's school festival. Cry and howl all you want, Yumi-chan. Naturally, your dad will be there too."

"Oowah."

"Since Yuuki's also going to be in the Yamayurikai play this year."

"… Maybe. What's the Yamayurikai doing? A play?"

Having just been drafted, Yuuki turned to Yumi.

"Probably. It seems they do that every year."

Sachiko-sama and Rei-sama had been secretly planning something, and from what she could gather it was all related to a stage play.

"What, you haven't asked about it? What the hell have you been doing all this time when you've been going to school during the summer holidays?"

"There's still a mountain of work to do that's not related to our performance."

Yumi counterattacked against her brother's abuse by sticking out her tongue.

"But I'll find out for you. Or isn't the Hanadera student council going to help out this year?"

"We'll be there. Our student council's presence has been requested."

"But you haven't been told why."

"Yeah."

"It's because your Hanadera school festival is sooner."

"But we're not putting on a play so it's fine."

When Yuuki thumped the sofa with the notebook, mom threw the washcloth she had on her apron in between them.

"What are you two doing, acting like little kids. You're in high school, so if you're going to have a sibling fight be a bit more smart about it."

Seemingly shocked by the heat of their dispute, their mom shrugged and withdrew to the kitchen.

"A sibling fight, she said."

"Yeah."

They looked at each other. Indeed, they may have got a bit worked up.

The heat had gone out as soon as their mom had left, and Yuuki muttered in a subdued manner:

"So we'll be doing a play at Lillian's … it'll be tough if we have to do something like Kashiwagi-sempai last year."

Playing a prince, dancing with girls. – Well, it seems like most high school boys should be able to do something embarrassing like that. But those who liked it, like Kashiwagi-san, were probably in the minority.

"Don't worry about it. Last year there was only Kashiwagi-san, but this time the underlings like you will probably just be one in a crowd."

"Underling" and "one in a crowd" probably weren't the right words to use, but at any rate, Yumi was trying her best to cheer her younger brother up.

"I suppose. All we can do is pray to Maria-sama that it turns out like that."

Yuuki looked up at the ceiling, placing his hands together in prayer.

"Oh, not to Buddha?"

"No. It has to be Maria-sama in this case."

"Alright. I'll pray to Maria-sama for you today then."

"Please do."

Even though he was going to a Buddhist school. Yumi couldn't stop herself from smiling at this. But still, she had to pray for it earnestly.

So she decided to leave the house a bit early this morning, although not just because of that.

She gently smoothed the pleats of her skirt that had been crumpled when she was sitting. It really was tough wearing her school uniform and having to go to school today despite it not being a school day. On top of that, the Lillian's uniform was black, so it absorbed the sunlight. Even though the material was lighter and the sleeves were shorter, it was still hot.

"Thanks for the help."

Yuuki was planning on leaving a bit after her, but apparently he was okay in plain clothes. That must be one of the differences between a boy's school and a girl's school. It felt a bit unfair.

"Well, see you."

"Ah, I hope it goes well."

"Yeah."

At the entrance, they gave each other a thumbs-up.

"I'm heading out."

Yumi cheerfully called out after putting on her shoes. Her mother came out to see her off, and seemed astonished by their behavior.

"What, you've made up already?"

They had indeed.

Yumi opened the door and leapt into the midsummer sunlight.

Because, like Kobayashi-kun had noted, the Fukuzawa siblings had a good relationship with each other.