Editing Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume7 Chapter1 4 (section)

===<noinclude>The Beginning. </noinclude>Part 4===

The photographs were put into a pocket of her school uniform. The internal pocket between the pleats of her skirt. A place that couldn't be seen from outside.

Where Rosa Foetida was going and what she was doing wasn't something that Yumi wanted to meddle in.

What should she do about this unearthing of Rosa Foetida's private life?

Perhaps that sort of thinking was why Tsutako-san had withdrawn from the matter. But even if that was true, handing these photographs over to someone else would be problematic. Just what should she do about them?

She couldn't just put a photograph of somebody in the bin. Much less tear it to shreds. It would be disrespectful.

Creak, creak, creak, creak.

The worn-out staircase in the Rose Mansion groaned as she climbed to the second floor. 

If the staircase gave way, and she went tumbling head over heels right now – . Such thoughts would occasionally pass through Yumi's head, usually when she was worrying about something.

Like when she left for school in the morning determined to finish a report that was due that afternoon during the lunch break. If something were to happen, then her teacher would find out that she hadn't finished the report, so she mustn't die.

Or when she left home knowing that one of the seams of her petticoat was coming apart, but she didn't have PE that day, and didn't have time to change it. If she were rushed to a hospital emergency room, then they'd see her petticoat, so she mustn't suffer a serious injury.

If she really was in a life-threatening situation or suffered a serious injury, then she wouldn't have time to worry about reports or underwear, but as a student of Lillian's, and a pubescent girl, such were her concerns.

Creak, creak, creak, creak.

Right now, if the stairway collapsed and she landed badly, she might die. What would everyone think when the peeping-tom photographs of Rosa Foetida crawled out of her corpse's pocket? – Therefore, she mustn't die.

Heeding the warnings about her potential funeral, Yumi finished climbing the stairs.

The wooden staircase had been creaking for a few years now, but it wasn't about to collapse. Everyone said that if something that big was going to give way, there would be early warning signs. Rosa Gigantea joked about it, saying, "It'll be fine at least until your petit soeur graduates, Yumi-chan."

(…)

Setting aside the matter of the staircase, Yumi felt that the best thing to do was to give the photographs to Rosa Foetida.

But having said that.

Yumi didn't know when the third-years would come to school, and to carry them around continuously would be a bit of a chore. She'd constantly have to watch out for traffic accidents, and so on.

"Sorry I'm late … huh."

Yumi burst through the biscuit door,

"Hi."

and was immediately deflated by what she saw in the room.

Sitting alone at the large table was first-year chrysanthemum class member Shimazu Yoshino-san, who had half raised her right hand to wave a greeting.

"Where is everyone?"

Yumi asked, placing her bag and coat on her usual seat. While it was normal that the third-years weren't present, there was no sign of either of the second-years, Yoshino-san's onee-sama, Hasekura Rei-sama, and Yumi's onee-sama, Sachiko-sama, or Yumi's classmate Toudou Shimako-san.

"Not here yet."

Yoshino answered acting bored, no, she probably was actually bored, as she poured Yumi a cup of tea.

"Oh, all three of them?"

"Well, I'm sure they have all sorts of things to do. They're becoming Roses."

" … I see."

The student council elections were over, and in truth the boutons had largely taken over the job of the Roses.

"Even us, we're going to have to do our best from here on."

"That's true."

As they faced each other sipping their tea, the pair let out sighs to rival the steam rising from their teacups. After the school entrance ceremony in April, they would attain the position of bouton. The duties of a bouton were to provide proper support for their onee-samas, officially called "Roses." 

But in the current situation, without their onee-samas, there was nothing the little sisters could do. Time passed slowly. Hmm. It was quite boring, although probably not as bad as it had been for Yoshino-san earlier. There were homework printouts in her bag, but Yumi wasn't in the mood for that just now. She couldn't divert her attention to other matters while she was waiting for the people she expected to arrive.

In this situation, chatting was probably the proper way to kill the time.

(But even so … )

Since they met every day, there was nothing new to talk about.

Even without a topic of conversation, their relationship was such that they could pass the time together without feeling awkward, so there was no need to force herself to find something to talk about. But seeing her companion so bored she was yawning and fiddling with her braids, Yumi tried to think of something interesting to offer.

(At this point, Komori-sensei making a fool of herself onstage is old news … )

With no-one looking on, Yumi made various faces for a minute as she thought. While she couldn't come up with something interesting to talk about, there was something she wanted to borrow Yoshino-san's insight into.

"Yoshino-san."

"What?"

Yoshino-san raised her head listlessly.

"There isn't an easy way to get hold of the third-years, is there?"

"What do you mean?"

Twitch. Her eyebrows raised.

Was that concern in there?

"I want to see Rosa Foetida, but I don't know when she'll be at school."

"Why don't you call her and find out directly?"

Her curtly uttered answer was simple and direct.

" … Ah, right."

Until then, Yumi hadn't even contemplated telephoning the third-years. That was Yoshino-san for you.

"Why do you want to see Rosa Foetida?"

"A classmate asked me to give her something."

"Hmm."

With that, Yoshino-san quickly withdrew. If it had been related to Rei-sama, she probably would have bit down, asking who it was that asked her, and what they wanted to give her.

"I guess I should give her a call."

Yoshino-san said, "Yeah," and stood up.

"Huh, now?"

"Strike while the iron is hot. Come on, up you get, Yumi-san."

"Uh, strike?"

"Stop splitting hairs."

Yoshino-san tugged hard on her arm. Was this a trait common to all Yellow Rose family members? That they were drawn like a magnet whenever something slightly interesting seemed to be happening.

"But our onee-samas. "

"We'll be straight back, so it should be okay. It's not like there's a meeting scheduled. It's just a voluntary gathering."

That was indeed true. But the reason Yumi was there was because she was waiting for her onee-sama. If she wasn't going to wait, she'd probably be better off going home. In Yoshino-san's case, her onee-sama was her "next door neighbor Rei-chan," so she was more at leisure.



In the end, Yoshino-san dragged Yumi to the front of the office. It was the location of the only phone the students were allowed access to, a pay telephone.

Yoshino-san picked up the receiver, slid Yumi's offered telephone card into the lime green body and quickly punched in a phone number. Apparently she'd memorized it.

Ring-ring, ring-ring. As the tone rang out, she passed the receiver to Yumi. 

"Huh, you're not going to talk to her?"

"So naïve."

Implying that if she hadn't done that, Yumi would have dithered in front of the telephone. Apparently she knew her well.

While this was going on, the call was connected.

"Hello, Torii residence."

A lady's voice came through the handset. There was no running away now.

"Ah, I'm Lillian's Girls Academy first-year high-school student Fukuzawa Yumi. Is Rosa Foe … ah, is Eriko-sama available to talk?"

Yoshino-san silently clapped.

"Well, thank-you for always taking care of Eriko."

It was probably Rosa Foetida's mother. She had a calm and gentle voice.

"No, not at all, she's always gently guiding me … "

Mumble mumble. Her words trailed off. It was tough talking to an adult. Especially over the phone, where she couldn't see their face.

"Eriko's … "

The mother's voice suddenly turned hazy. Then, after a short pause, she continued.

"Not home just yet."

"Do you know when she will return?"

"…"

"Uhh."

"I don't know."

She didn't know. That seemed a bit odd. Normally a high-school-aged girl would say what time they were coming back before they went out, right? But each family probably had their own rules regarding curfews and the like, so Yumi rethought her strategy and asked:

"I'm at school right now, would it be a bother if I called again later tonight?"

If Yumi had simply said, "Is that so?" and hung up, then it would have been a waste of her phone credit.

"Tonight?"

She heard a bewildered voice coming from the other end of the phone-line.

"Yes, what time would be good?"

Apparently covering Yumi's question, Rosa Foetida's mother answered:

"About that."

"Yes?"

"She might not be back today … "

"Huh!?"

That answer had not been what Yumi was expecting. A sleepover. So no matter what time she called that night, Rosa Foetida would not be there.

"Ah, no, she's staying at a relative's house."

Yumi didn't know what the "Ah, no," was about, since Rosa Foetida's mother was offering a denial before she had even said anything.

"A relative's house."

"I'm not sure when she'll be back."

"Alright. When you do get in contact with her, please tell her that Fukuzawa called."

"Fukuzawa-san. Got it."

"Thank-you."

"Goodbye."

With her head bowed, Yumi counted, "One, two, three," in her mind then returned the receiver to its original position.

Beep beep, beep beep. Her telephone card was spat out.

"She said she's staying overnight at a relative's house."

Yoshino-san's arms were folded, a doubtful look on her face.

"Suspicious."

"What is?"

Yumi asked, as she put the telephone card back into her purse.

"What? I can't quite put my finger on it exactly. But there's something suspicious."

Her sixth-sense, perhaps? Yumi knew that, from Yoshino-san, that wasn't something to be sneezed at. She had a touch of ESP.

"How long has she been at her relative's place?"

Yoshino-san asked, as they walked down the corridor.

"I didn't ask that much. Two, three days perhaps?"

Yumi looked into space. The answer wasn't written there, however.

"Two, three days? That makes it even more suspicious."

That look in Yoshino-san's eyes. It closely resembled the president of the newspaper club's.

"But why?"

"Because I saw her yesterday and today."

"Where, who?"

"At school, Rosa Foetida."

Even without any explanation, you should understand. Yoshino-san didn't actually say that, but it was obviously implied.

"She's staying at her relative's house and still coming to school?"

They both looked out the window and said, "Hmm."

There was still more of the cold to come, but sprouts were just starting to appear on the trees. Compared to humans and the like, the trees were far more in tune with the seasons. Yumi spotted the school's resident stray cat, Lunch, scampering from school building to school building through the courtyard.

"Her relatives could live in the city."

Yumi had thought hard, and this was the conclusion she'd deduced.

"Yeah, that's a possibility."

Yoshino-san initially agreed heartily, but then continued as though something didn't make sense.

"But why go to the effort of staying overnight? Especially since she's still coming to school. Normally she'd go home, right? Especially given the distance."

"That's true."

Rosa Foetida's house wasn't quite as close to school as Yoshino-san's, but it wasn't far away. If she was going to school the following day, even if it was late at night, it would be more convenient for her to return home.

"Her grandmother might be seriously ill, or something."

If she'd said that her last dying wish was to see her adorable granddaughter's face, then that could be a reason why she'd stay overnight.

" … In that case, isn't it more likely that Rosa Foetida's mother would hurry over before the granddaughter in high-school."

Yoshino-san instantly rejected Yumi's idea. Although Rosa Foetida's grandmother could be either her mother's mother, or her mother's mother-in-law.

"Hmm."

Casually killing off someone else's grandmother warranted a little contemplation.

"It might just be for tonight, if there was something she couldn't get out of."

" – I know that. So in that case, she'll be absent tomorrow?"

If there was something she couldn't get out of.

"Uh huh."

They weren't any closer to understanding. Since they weren't any closer, they left it alone for the moment, deciding to halt their suppositions. Until tomorrow. Or perhaps the day after that. They didn't have to rush, Rosa Foetida would come to school soon, and she might fill them in on why she had been staying at a relative's house.

They spotted the boutons walking down the corridor ahead of them.

They jogged after them, so that they'd all arrive at the Rose Mansion at the same time.

"Oh my. What were you two doing?"

Sachiko-sama asked.

"Making a phone call."

Yumi answered concisely, since explaining everything would be a pain.

"A phone call?"

Rei-sama repeated.

"There was something we wanted to check on, okay."

Yoshino-san winked at Yumi as she took Rei-sama's hand. The staircase creaked as they all climbed the stairs together. Since it could take the weight of five people at once, it looked like it still had a fair bit of life in it.

"Was it tomorrow's weather forecast?"

Shimako-san asked melodiously.

"Well, something like that."

Yumi smiled as she opened the biscuit door first.

The Rosa Foetida school forecast.

– But would the pair's forecast predictions match reality?