Editing Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume20 Chapter2 (section)

===Part 1===


"'We will begin accepting applications to participate in the S&oelig;ur Tea Party! The rules permit' . . ."

The words came from all around.

"'The S&oelig;ur Tea Party is an experiment to create a special social setting. Your involvement in the tea party does not constitute a firm decision to obtain a s&oelig;ur.'"

It had all started in the morning and continued on into lunch; everyone was talking about the news that the Lillian Kawaraban announced. It was not an exaggeration to say that the rumors of this S&oelig;ur Tea Party circulated as rapidly as a flower bloomed.

"'In addition, Rosa Foetida en bouton and Rosa Chinensis en bouton are scheduled to attend.' Wow!"

Noriko wondered how many times she had heard "Wow!" throughout the day as she dropped her gaze onto her paperback book. If it was this loud, then how could the other book readers meet? Since Noriko had been at the school for over half a year, she had gotten used to the low hush of gossip at an all girls' school &mdash; but today was different. Because this time, the gossip dealt with her, so she couldn't help but react to what she heard. She couldn't just dismiss it with a, "Ah, Kojima-san's gossiping again," today.

"Hey hey, Noriko-san. We wanted to ask you about the S&oelig;ur Tea Party."

Again, classmates came to Noriko, believing that she would have top-quality news.

"Ah, well . . ."

She didn't want to ignore them, so instead she tried to act friendly.

"I don't know anything more than what's written in the paper about it, except that the boutons want anyone who meets the criteria and who is interested to apply as quickly as possible," Noriko said, and raised her head out of her paperback, giving her best business smile.

"Well, we want to, but &mdash;"

"The requirements . . ."

The girls turned towards each other with sad faces. Of course, those two must be Atsuko-san and Miyuki-san, zealous participants in the Bible Studies Club. But each of them had accepted a rosary from upperclassmen in the club, so they could not go to the S&oelig;ur Tea Party.

Noriko decided she would spend no more time talking about the matter and returned to her reading, but the two girls didn't leave the side of her desk. When Noriko was about to say something back to them, Atsuko-san spoke up.

"By the way, Noriko-san."

"Yes?"

"Is Touko-san invited?"

"Touko?"

When discussing the S&oelig;ur Tea Party, she had prepared answers to questions regarding certain topics. But she had not prepared for any questions dealing with the "Touko" topic. Why were these two s&oelig;urs of second-years the first to ask a question dealing with a proper noun, Noriko wondered. She inclined her head and pointed to the print-out that Miyuki-san held in her hand.

"You've read the Lillian Kawaraban, right? So you know it said that the applicants are picked at random, right?"

"But . . . well &mdash;"

"First of all, I don't know whether Touko will apply or not. If you want to know about someone, why don't you ask her yourself?"

After Noriko finished speaking, she realized, "Well now, Touko isn't with those two." As soon as the school year had started, they said to each other "I'm Touko," "I'm Atsuko," "I'm Miyuki," as if they were idols introducing themselves, and somewhere along the line they had become a group.

"Touko-san . . . she wouldn't apply . . . would she?"

"Eh?"

Wondering what they were talking about, Noriko furrowed her eyebrows. But she dropped the matter, and let Atsuko-san and Miyuki-san go back to their conversation.

"Ah, but, if Yumi-sama comes to the S&oelig;ur Tea Party, then she really doesn't have any preferences, does she?"

"Maybe the party is just camouflage."

"But then, who? Kanako-san?"

"That's exactly who. I wonder how it'll go."

So then, Kanako-san was very high on the list of potential s&oelig;ur candidates. But right now, the person closest to becoming Yumi-sama's s&oelig;ur was Touko. Whenever people were found talking about the tea party, they would keep whispering about a rumor that Yumi-sama would give someone special treatment &mdash; in other words, show attraction &mdash; as if it were true.

"Well then, good luck to Touko-san."

"Didn't she say 'I want to become a Rose some day' in middle school?"

And then they suddenly fell silent. Perhaps they wondered what would happen if Noriko became angry. Noriko wondered would happen if she lost her cool as well. She took a deep breath and spoke again.

"Well, that's not really true. . . ."

"But, but that's something Noriko-san doesn't know about, right?"

"Eh?"

"Well, you said you don't know any more about this than what's written about it in the paper, right?"

Yes, that was what she had said.

In all innocence, in all straightforwardness, in all frankness, the angels were interfering too much today, thought Noriko.