Editing Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume29 Chapter5 2 (section)

===<noinclude>Santa's Refreshments. </noinclude>Part 2.=== 

Lunchtime.

While waiting behind the Rose Mansion, Yumi saw Sachiko-sama walking through the courtyard and waved at her, saying, "Over here."

"Gokigenyou, Yumi. By the way, what is it that's 'over here?'"

"Huh?"

What's over here? In this case, the subject of the sentence was "I" so Yumi had shortened the sentence "I'm over here" to "Over here."

"Umm, onee-sama. Didn't you come here to meet me …?"

"Oh?"

( – That response would seem to indicate a 'no' then.)

If she had come here to see Yumi, then she certainly wouldn't have asked the question about what was over here.

"You didn't read my letter?"

Yumi had suspected that she would be busy today, so she'd left the letter so there was no chance of them missing each other. It would have been better to visit Sachiko-sama in her third-year classroom during one of their breaks between classes, but people were always asking her questions about the third-years' send-off while she was in her classroom or walking down the corridors, so she didn't have any time to do her own errands during those breaks. So, as rude as it may have been, she left a note for her onee-sama asking to meet.

"Letter?"

Shaking her head. So then it was just a coincidence that Sachiko-sama happened to be walking past here? Then you'd have to say it was lucky. But was that really the case? It just seemed too good to be true.

"A letter from you, Yumi? Where did you put it?"

"In the shoe racks … in your locker … inside your indoor shoes."

"Inside my indoor shoes? Oh, I wonder how I didn't notice it. Perhaps it's still inside my shoe."

"Well, I don't really think that's likely."

Even thought it had been a light piece of paper, Yumi had folded it in four. At that level of thickness it would definitely have been noticeable when wearing the shoes, and would probably have made a rustling sound as well. Despite this, Sachiko-sama placed one hand on the wall, lifted her left foot and slid her index finger into the back of her left shoe, taking it off.

And then.

"Ah."

A folded piece of paper fell out.

However, watching this chain of events unfold, Yumi knew something was up.

"Onee-sama. I put the letter in your right shoe."

Yumi ventured timidly. Even if Sachiko-sama hadn't noticed when she put her shoes on, why would it have changed placed?

Sachiko-sama grinned.

"What a relief. It looks like you've still got some of your wits about you."

"Hey-."

It appeared that Sachiko-sama was just testing her, for some reason. Well, at least it looked as though Yumi got the right answer.

"What do you mean? My brain's still working fine, right?"

"I said you still had some of your wits about you."

Sachiko-sama held out the letter, urging Yumi to read it. Opening the paper that still retained the warmth from Sachiko-sama's heel, Yumi saw the request for a meeting written in her fairly ordinary looking handwriting.

"Which part do you think is strange?"

"Have a closer look."

  Onee-sama,
    During the lunch break, I'll be waiting for you behind the Rice Mansion.
  Yumi.

Sachiko-sama pointed to a spot on the paper.

"Ahh."

She'd written the 'Rice Mansion,' instead of the 'Rose Mansion.' A building made out of rice? In that case, it was only natural that her onee-sama would think she was going senile.<ref>The original has Yumi writing 薔薇の飯 (instead of 薔薇の館), which makes it 'Rose Rice,' that she then imagines to be rice cooked with rose petals. I thought Rice Mansion worked better in English.</ref>

"Were you feeling tired?"

Yumi briskly shook her head.

"What probably happened was, I started thinking about what was in my lunchbox after I wrote 'lunch.'"

It wasn't an explanation she was particularly proud of, but Yumi didn't want to let that misunderstanding continue. She'd written the letter first thing this morning, and was still yet to do any homework or Yamayurikai work today. So, if she had been tired, it wasn't because of either of those things.

"Then that's fine. You don't want to push yourself too hard."

"Okay."

Her onee-sama turned to her and gave her the kind of look you would use when admonishing a baby, at which point Yumi finally turned an embarrassed red.

"What are you smiling about, Yumi?"

There was no way that Yumi could say she was overjoyed that her onee-sama was concerned about her, so she turned away. There was some work she really had to do today, so that it didn't become a huge problem in the future.

Just as Yumi was about to leave her and enter the Rose Mansion, Sachiko-sama called out, "Wait."

"You're still not thinking straight. Didn't you call me out here so that you could give me an answer to my question from Saturday?"

"Ah. That's right."

So it wasn't a matter of being tired, or overexerting herself – Yumi was just naturally absentminded.

"The answer is 'okay.'"

Yumi stopped, turned around, and used her arms to form a circle over her head.

"Thank-you for your efforts."

In return, her onee-sama made a small circle using her thumb and index finger.

That small circle was enough to fill a petit soeur full of energy.