Editing Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume4 Chapter1 1 (section)

===<noinclude>A lonesome warmth. </noinclude>Part 1.===

The first day of the third semester.

Like other schools, Lillian Girls' Academy lifted the curtains to the new semester with an opening ceremony.

"Ugh, it's cold."

First-year peach-class attendance number 35, Fukuzawa Yumi shivered, like the swaying of a horse, the moment she stepped out to the hallway.

She wasn't fond of winter, having been born in the spring.  Plus, the building she was in was structurally old, so it was absolutely miserable.  Wind actually snuck into the hallways.  She wanted to turn around immediately and huddle next to a stove, but part of the reason why school life was so harsh was because she couldn't.  She needed to attend the opening ceremony at the sanctuary, as it was an obligation, and in a way, a privilege of being a student.

The bell that sounded just a moment earlier sounded especially crisp as it traveled through the cold air.  Maybe it was because she hadn't heard it in a while.

Normally, as soon as the late bell sounded, the morning prayer would be broadcast.  But that wasn't the case on ceremonial days like this.  We'll just handle the morning prayers right before the opening ceremony! was the school's very logical reasoning.

Even the homeroom teacher simply popped in for a quick new year's greeting, and then rushed back to the staff room after giving an abridged homeroom session.

"Quickly form a line in the hallway and follow the other class to the sanctuary."

The students obediently answered, "Okay," to the teacher's directions.

Counting from the day they entered high school, it would be their fifth ceremony, combining the opening and closing ceremonies.  At which point you ended up becoming used to it, so even if the teacher wasn't keeping an eye on you all the time, you handled it smoothly.  Actually, maybe we ended up doing everything smoothly because the teacher wasn't here.

"The sanctuary is warm, probably."

Katsura-san smiled bitterly, she was born in the winter.  She seemed to find the sight of classmates feverishly rubbing their hands against disposable hand warmers, like flies, absurd.

"Thanks for the pose!"

And that voice came accompanied with a flash.

Surprised, Yumi looked and saw Takeshima Tsutako, this time laughing and showing off a different camera than the one she had at the second-semester closing ceremony.  Well, the other one was probably a Christmas present, and this one was probably bought using the New Year's gifts.  How many did she need?

"Tsutako-san, they might not look kindly upon a camera at the ceremony."

Several classmates surrounded her, glared at her, and scolded her.

Actually, there's a reason for this.  During the second-semester closing ceremony, she used her camera's flash, and apparently the teachers all ended up staring at her class.  Fortunately, she put away her camera and sat quietly for the rest of the ceremony, but the girls around her were embarrassed to death.

"… Okay, I'll keep my camera in my case.  So don't confiscate it!"

"Fine.  As long as you promise."

The teachers had already left with the bag of valuable items, and if something were to happen to the camera by leaving it in the classroom, that would be a whole new set of problems, so the girls let her go.  Cameras are expensive, after all.  But when she put her camera in her pocket, the bulge in her plaited-skirt was quite visible and ugly.

"Have you lined up in attendance order?  The chrysanthemum class has already gone in, so follow after them."

At the class president's directive, the peach class also split up into two lines and began walking down the cold, cold hallway.  As they passed through the courtyard, she noticed ice needles in the shadows, holding up mounds of dirt, like a bunch of mushrooms had sprouted.

A cold day at school had begun.

 

We entered the sanctuary starting with the lowest grades.  First, the plum class, then the wisteria class, then the chrysanthemum class.  Followed by the peach, pine, and camellia classes.  Once the first-years finished being seated, the second-years followed, and then the third-years.  The first-year welcoming ceremony and graduation ceremonies were always lead by the spotlight grade, like third-years for graduation, but otherwise the young students always welcomed the elder statesmen into the room.  That was how it'd always been.

After the second-years entered the sanctuary, while somewhat improper, Yumi spun around and searched for her onee-sama.  Of course, if she were seen like this, she knew she'd be scolded, "Don't look around restlessly!"  But that was the nature of little sisters, so she hoped she would be forgiven.  It was like a child during parent visitation day at school.  Other first-years were also doing the same.

(Well, other than Shimako-san.)

Shimako-san, sitting diagonally in front of her, didn't betray her expectations, sitting straight and looking ahead.  Well, that sœur was special, so that's just how it was, with them.

(But Yoshino-san, with how glued to Rei-sama she is…)

But when Yumi glanced at the chrysanthemum class in front of her, she noticed Yoshino-san was just whispering with her classmate.  Even though it was Rei-sama's entrance scene, she didn't even show signs of wanting to look.

"…"

Come to think of it.

Shimako-san was in more of a "not my responsibility" sisterly relationship, and Yoshino-san was always with Rei-sama anyways, so neither of them really needed to confirm anything.  –Which meant, embarrassingly enough, Yumi was the only first-year in the Rose family that was restlessly looking about.

(Am I standing out…?)

She blushed.  Just then, with good timing, the second-year pine-class students entered.

Onee-sama's name was Ogasawara Sachiko.  Because the attendance numbers were ordered by name, being number seven, she was always near the front.

Her heart beat.

Even though she'd be scolded that it was unladylike, her eyes kept wandering in that direction.

One, two, three, four…  Maybe some students were absent.  Sachiko-sama showed up on number five.  As she appeared, she must have noticed Yumi, as she made a scolding "hey!" face before taking a seat.

(W-w-wow…!)

Even though she'd just been scolded, she had to stop herself from smiling outright.  If she could, she'd go by onee-sama's side and be scolded directly.

(Am I masochistic?)

Compared to when onee-sama was just an adored upperclassman, Yumi's "Sachiko-sama sickness" was definitely advancing.

"It's certainly not a good condition.  I'll prescribe you some medicine, so make sure you take it every day."

She imagined Rosa Gigantea, dressed up as a doctor, show up and give her an evil grin.  When Yumi snapped out of her illusion, the third-years were already coming in.

"Yumi-san, it's about to start, so you should wake up."

Katsura-san, sitting next to her, whispered the warning.  –It seemed she'd been daydreaming for about five minutes.

Yumi stifled a yawn.  It seemed she was a bit sleep deprived.  Of course, the reason was onee-sama.  When she thought about seeing onee-sama for the first time in a few days, she became too excited to sleep.  She definitely had a serious case of "Sachiko-sama sickness."

(No, no.)

When she started spacing out, the illusion of Rosa Gigantea returned, trying to drag her into the kingdom of sleep.  The sanctuary was warm, so her eyelids automatically began drooping.

She straightened her back and look straight ahead.  When she locked eyes with Maria-sama, standing on the platform, she felt like her sleepiness had been whisked away.

It wasn't the white Maria-sama statue that stood at the fork among the gingko trees, but rather the full-color Maria-sama that was in the hallway of the visitor entrance, right before the offices.  She embraced Jesus in her left arm and wore a fabulous crown on her head.  Apparently she'd been brought to the sanctuary today, specially for the ceremony.

(Huh?)

A classmate who'd vanished after attendance was taken was on the platform, singing a hymn, wearing a white, apron-like clothing on top of her uniform.

(Oh, yeah.)

The third-years retired from the choir, she remembered.  Until then, the first-years only did backstage work, even if they were part of the choir.  Of course, you learnt the hymns while doing the backstage work.  But today was the first-years' choir debut.

After the students all entered the sanctuary, Yumi looked around again.  The third-year neighborhood looked especially lonesome.  Even for the relaxed Lillian Girls' Academy, the third-years at this time of year must be busy.

Compared to the first-years and second-years, it felt like many third-years were absent.

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