Editing Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume8 Chapter5 3 (section)

===<noinclude>Farewell Address and Formal Reply. </noinclude>Part 3===

The beginning was boring, but the ending was wonderfully amusing. – That was how Sei would remember the graduation ceremony.



At least nothing had happened to make her nod off. Her mouth wasn't dry either. So she obviously hadn't been drooling.

Sachiko's face, sloppy with tears, was worthy of her respect, and the way it let Rei enter the scene like an action hero from a children's TV show was also satisfactory. It would have been better if Youko smiled more, but if she let her emotions out who knows where it would have ended.

It was hard to make allowances for those sort of things. While the audience had been deeply moved by Sachiko, if Youko had then burst into tears it would have almost certainly been boring. Besides, Sei was never going to jump in and read the formal reply alongside a crying Youko. The same undoubtedly went for Eriko.

That didn't mean they were uncaring. Youko, Eriko, Sei. Unexpectedly, the three of them got along well together. When it came to dealing with other humans, everyone was different. Every group had its own way of getting along.

In Sei's case, a hands-off relationship seemed to work well. Shimako seemed to be the same way. Nothing more needed to be said about the failure of Sei's overly-close relationship with Shiori.

When both parties understood the unspoken rule of not delving too far into the other's territory,  they were able to get along well together. With Youko, sometimes she'd enter in too far, and then they'd argue. But it was because she was always thinking of what was best for the other person, and they'd built their relationship with this understanding, so their friendship didn't collapse.

(When you find something precious, take a step back from yourself.)

The words that her onee-sama had spoken on this day one year ago came back to her. Sei looked up at the ceiling.

Back then, she'd been nervous about the year that lay ahead of her.

But the year had gone by in the blink of an eye.

In the blink of an eye, but still an incredibly fun time.



She could hear the intro to the traditional graduation song, "Aogeba Toutoshi." 

Sei couldn't really identify with the lyrics.

Maybe some day, decades later, she'd be able to see the teachers' efforts as a "great struggle." But at this moment, she didn't see it as something she should be "deeply indebted" for.

(And all this "hold your head high, make your name, strive.")

Since the song had been written during the Meiji era, the lyrics were bound to contain some anachronisms. But wouldn't it be better if it just said to live a happy, healthy life, without all that career stuff? It was just begging to be mocked.

But this time was a little bit different. Because of Yumi-chan's extraordinary kindness, Sei decided to sing "swiftly" as "sweetly."

So she did, and, hmm, that was strange.

Even including the teachers she hadn't liked and the painful memories, the entire lot could all be bundled together and described as sweet.

Lots of things had happened, but in general, she had good memories. 

As she thought this, she felt she could sing.

(Now is the time to say farewell with an eternally grateful heart.)

Even with those words of farewell on her lips, she wasn't overcome with emotion. Yesterday, she'd informed her classroom of her departure. She looked out through the windows of her classroom at the budding trees, and then through their branches to the sky.

If she could carve into her mind that she had been there, then that was enough for Sei.

There were no people she needed to inform about her departure.

She wouldn't say, "Farewell," to the people she held dear. If they felt the same way about her, then Sei thought that they would surely meet again one day, even without any specific plans.

After the final bars of "Aogeba Toutoshi" died down, the music teacher started playing the opening to the school song.

The very familiar Lillian's school song was more suited to a Sei-ntly place than a gymnasium.