Editing Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume29 Chapter3 6 (section)

===<noinclude>Not Here. </noinclude>Part 6.=== 

"Geeze, where have you been?"

When Yumi opened the 'biscuit-door' on the second floor of the Rose Mansion, Yoshino-san was waiting there, looking intimidating.

"What do you mean? I went to see the manga club."

Hadn't she told them about that during lunch? Yumi waved the recently retrieved questionnaire form in the air. There was no need to tell Yoshino-san and the others about her run-in with Tsukasa-san, as that didn't relate to them directly. Touko was there, just like Tsukasa-san had said, but Yumi didn't plan to tell her about their conversation either.

Yumi handed the completed questionnaire form to Yoshino-san and was walking over to the drawer to return the blank paper she had taken at lunch when she heard a frosty voice calling from behind.

"You were late, so she went home."

"Who did?"

Looking around, all the usual members were present. Shimako-san, Yoshino-san, Noriko-chan and Touko. It was Touko who spoke next.

"Rosa Chinensis, onee-sama."

"What?!"

"She waited for about ten minutes, but then she left."

Noriko-chan said, as she cleaned one of the tea cups. It was probably the one that Yumi's onee-sama had sipped tea from as she waited for Yumi to return.

"How long ago was this?"

"About fifteen minutes ago. She said she couldn't stay too long because she had something to do at home."

Shimako-san said, her eyebrows lowered in commiseration.

"...She's gone home then."

"How unlucky is that," Yumi thought. It was only at times like these, when her onee-sama came all the way to the Rose Mansion just to see her, that she wasn't there.

"I wonder what she's going to do at home. Study?"

Yoshino-san asked, folding her arms.

"Who knows. You didn't ask her?"

"You said you were going to ask her, Yumi-san, so we all refrained from asking even though we wanted to."

That's true.

"Sorry. I haven't asked her yet."

"Hu-."

Yoshino-san's overreaction made it seem as though the sky was falling.

"That's why I said 'sorry.'"

Yoshino-san expressed her disbelief at Yumi's actions, so Yumi pacified her before turning to Shimako-san, who looked capable of holding a sensible conversation, and asking:

"Did she say why she came here?"

"She didn't give a specific reason. Perhaps she just wanted to see your face, Yumi-san?"

"Like she gets unsettled if she doesn't see your face at least once a day, that kind of thing?"

Yoshino-san teased from the sidelines. Yumi would have been overjoyed if that theory was true, but it probably wasn't.

"We saw each other today, but just for a moment. We walked past each other in the hallway."

"So why didn't you ask her about the rumor then?"

Yoshino-san seemed annoyed at the delay, niggling away at her.

"Because we were moving between classes. All of our classmates were around, and I didn't want to ask her about it in front of everyone."

"Ah, back then, huh."

Yoshino-san was in the same class and it didn't take her long to visualize the circumstances, so she let the matter drop.

Seeing that Yoshino-san had fallen silent, the usually quiet Shimako-san spoke.

"Touko-chan, do you have that – "

"Yes."

Touko held out something towards Yumi, as a way of informing her what 'that' was.

"What's this?"

"It's a letter from Rosa Chinensis. I've been looking after it for you."

A folded, white piece of paper was being held out to her. It looked like report paper, or similar, and was folded four times. The origami-esque manner in which it was folded gave it a completely different visual impression to the folded notes that were passed around during class.

Sachiko-sama had probably written it here, just before leaving, when Yumi hadn't returned.

"Sachiko-sama left that behind?"

So Yoshino-san hadn't known. Despite looking so self-important when she chided Yumi for her tardiness, it seemed as though Yoshino-san hadn't actually been there when Sachiko-sama came to visit either.

"What could I do? I had to go to a kendo club meeting."

"I'm not criticizing you."

"You didn't have to. Your expression said it all, Yumi-san."

Good point. No matter how dignified or well-spoken Yumi tried to be, that fact still remained. She had a face that reflected whatever she was thinking, with stunning clarity.

(Oh brother.)

Yumi took the letter from Touko and opened it immediately. Yoshino-san came over to have a look, but Yumi decided that she would read it by herself first since she didn't know what the contents of the letter would be.

Rudely turning her back on everyone, Yumi let her gaze fall on the words written there. Then.

"What's this?"

She said, without thinking. Drawn in by Yumi's voice, her friends gathered around and read the contents of the letter. They too were at a loss for words.

There were a mere three lines, written in that familiar handwriting.

  Yumi,
    Tomorrow after school, wait behind the gymnasium.
  Sachiko.

– Was her onee-sama challenging her to a fight?