Editing Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume29 Chapter5 1 (section)

===<noinclude>Santa's Refreshments. </noinclude>Part 1.=== 

On Monday morning, after changing into her indoor shoes, Yumi took a slight detour and made her way over to the third-years' shoe boxes. She had arrived at school earlier than usual, but only by a little bit. There were other students all around her, but everyone was moving at a leisurely pace so there was no need to worry about bumping into anyone. It wasn't empty, but it was quiet.

(Excuse me.)

She opened that familiar lid in the third-year pine area. Inside the shoe box, the left and right indoor shoes were neatly arranged.

(Okay.)

Her onee-sama had not yet arrived. Whatever had led to her waiting outside Yumi's classroom on Saturday didn't seem to have happened today.

Yumi took a piece of paper from her pocket and left it on top of Sachiko-sama's indoor shoes. When she closed the lid, it caused a slight puff of wind. Concerned, Yumi opened the lid once more and saw that the letter had shifted slightly from its former position. The paper was light, so it didn't take much wind to affect it. If the lid were opened or closed enthusiastically, then the paper might just fly away to some unknown location.

Reconsidering, Yumi put the piece of paper inside the right shoe. This way, there was no need to worry about it being blown away by a slight breeze.

(That's better.)

This time around, Yumi shut the lid and headed to her classroom.

"Gokigenyou, Yumi-san."

Yumi was pounced upon as soon as she entered the hallway. Tapping her on the shoulder from behind was the president of the arts club.

"I'm glad I ran into you. It's about the signboard for the 'Third-Years' Sendoff.' When I got a quote for the paint, they said they probably didn't have enough in stock. I asked them to put in an urgent order, but it looks like they won't get any until tomorrow evening, which means we probably won't be able to get our hands on it until Thursday."

Yumi listened as they walked. She suddenly recalled a scene from about a year ago, with this girl eating bread crusts as she sketched with charcoal.

"Will you have it done by Friday?"

"We will. We'll finish painting on Thursday, so by Friday it should have dried completely and be safe to move."

"Roger that."

Yumi gave the thumbs-up. Their schedule had a little bit of slack in it. They seemed to have a realistic outlook, so it would probably be okay.

They parted ways at the arts club's president's classroom.

"As an apology for being late, we'll bring it around to the Rose Mansion ourselves."

The voice called out to Yumi as she was disappearing down the corridor, and she stopped and turned around. She brought her empty right-hand up to the side of her cheek to amplify her voice and called out:

"Thanks, that'll be really helpful."

It looked like today was going to be another busy day.