Editing Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume20 Chapter1 (section)

===Part 3===

"I've heard that there is some audition thing going on?"

It was passing period between periods two and three. Yamaguchi Mami-san, who had gone to the bathroom or some place, returned to the classroom, approached Yumi's desk sneakily, and whispered.

"Where in the world did you...?"

Yoshino-san had declared just yesterday, after school, that she would hold an audition. Not even a day had passed before the news had gotten out.

Wondering whether she was the one who spread the rumor, Yumi turned to look at her seat. Yoshino-san, however, was immersed in her English-Japanese dictionary, furiously looking for the word 'leader', and did not turn her attention towards Yumi.

"It wasn't Yoshino-san. I heard it from Rosa Chinensis. She told me to make a huge advertisement in the Lilian Kawaraban, and in exchange for that we were given permission to cover the audition."

"..."

Sachiko-sama was an incredibly fast worker. Before her petite s&oelig;ur could find a good excuse to evade the audition with, she had already begun to dig a moat around Yumi.

"But what a relief! This year there was no questionnaire made for the Mister Lillian contest, so after the school festival, this was the one period of the year lacking an event. With this, we can keep the pace up."

"If something like last year ever happened again, it was decided that it was better for the event to simply not take place. The members from last year aren't here though, so things are a bit more boring."

In other words, it's not that the faith in the vote was lost, but that it was obvious most people would pick a member of the Rose family. However, even without collecting the questionnaires, it was even more obvious that there would be no deliberation on picking Rei-sama again as this year's Mister Lillian.

"But I've thought about this audition. It really is like a ferry across bad waters. The Newspaper Club will cooperate with the Yamayurikai to the greatest extent possible. Today after school, the Newspaper Club was supposed to meet at the Rose Mansion &mdash; huh?"

Mami-san abruptly stopped talking. She had probably noticed Yumi's demeanor.

"You don't want to do this?"

"Yoshino-san is the one who wants to do this."

"Mmmf."

Mami-san took one look at Yoshino-san and replied to Yumi.

"So, can I hear the reason why Yumi-san does not want to participate?"

"Why?"

Yumi bowed her head onto the desk and let out a sigh.

Mami-san squatted next to the desk, and brought her face close to Yumi's.

"Wouldn't you try to explain it for me? I'm not Sachiko-sama after all."

"I see. Of course."

After the two shared a laugh together, Mami-san began talking again.

"Well now. Do you oppose the concept of an audition? Or do you not want to choose your s&oelig;ur in an audition?"

"I don't really know."

It wasn't as much the fact that she had been forced by her Onee-sama as much as she simply was opposed to the audition in general.

"Let's try to analyze the situation. If you don't, then you can't form an effective counter strategy."

"What counter strategy? A way to escape from the audition?"

"To accept the audition, but to simply work against it. Even though the Newspaper Club is ecstatic that two boutons are holding an audition at the same time, as a friend, I don't want to see you forced into doing anything you don't want to."

The bell for third period rang, and Mami-san uttered, "There'll be a one-page special in the paper," as she found her way back to her seat.

"Analyze, huh."

If she thought about why she hated it so much, it seemed as if her best option was to write a one page paper on it. As she was thinking, the teacher, who needed to know the word for 'leader', came in. Yumi glanced at Yoshino-san, and saw that she had quickly found her word; Yoshino-san had closed the dictionary and put herself into a somewhat aggressive position.


Question: Do you agree with an audition? (Yes | No | I Don't Know)<br/>
Answer: "I Don't Know"


During third and fourth period, Yumi listened to only half of the lecture and tried to used the remaining half of her brain, but could not.

As she walked towards the Rose Mansion with her lunch, she could do nothing but sigh. Today, everyone was talking about the s&oelig;ur auditions. Yumi had seriously thought about just spending lunch in her classroom. It was not as if she was invited to the Rose Mansion, or that there was much work for the Yamayurikai to finish. However, she did not make any course change as she walked up to the Rose Mansion.

Yumi let out a yell of confidence, and opened the entrance to the Rosa Mansion. In front of her she could see the figure of a person hurriedly climbing up the stairs.

"Shimako-san."

"Uaa! You surprised me, Yumi-san."

She'd probably been climbing the stairs silently, with the sudden rattling of the staircase caused by her surprise. Shimako-san turned around, with one hand still on the railing and the other clutching her chest.

"What do you think, Shimako-san?"

Of course Shimako-san wasn't telepathic, nor was she even in the same class as Yumi, so perhaps she wouldn't be thinking about the same things as the people in her class. That's why Shimako-san's response, "About what?" was quite appropriate.

"About the audition. Yesterday, you didn't say whether you were opposed to it or whether you liked the idea."

"Aaah...."

Shimako-san whispered and once again began walking up the stairs.

"I'm not really in a position where I can oppose or approve of the situation."

Picking the s&oelig;ur was the job of the older sister: that was Shimako-san's idea of it. Yumi once again followed Shimako-san up.

"That's true. But my s&oelig;ur will have to become a very good friend of Shimako-san's. Are you opposed to finding that sort of a friend at an audition?"

"That's true."

Shimako-san laughed as she crossed the last step on the stairs.

"Of course, if I say that I have no reservations about the idea, then I would be completely lying. But if the auditions do work out, then maybe there's a value in trying them out."

"Trying them out?"

Yumi asked, to which Shimako-san replied: "Of course, I'm speaking assuming that I'm in your position."

"If I didn't have a s&oelig;ur, right? Then ... then I would work together with Yoshino-san to look over some applicants."

Of course, Shimako-san had recently found her cute, boisterous s&oelig;ur, Noriko-chan, so she was using words like 'If I' or 'then I', which meant the conversation was meaningless for Shimako-san. In spite of this, Yumi still wanted to listen to Shimako-san's thoughts. She wanted to sample and gather the thoughts of several people about the audition idea.

"But why wouldn't you completely oppose it?"

Shimako-san replied as she was turning the knob on the biscuit-like door.

"Because maybe, in that list of candidates, Noriko would be there."

When the door opened, a first year could be seen from across the room. In spite of it being autumn, this first year smiled in a way reminiscent of a spring breeze.

"Gokigenyou"

It was Noriko-chan.

"Oh, I see." Yumi finally understood Shimako-san a bit. Shimako-san was sure that, even if she would not have met Noriko-chan during the spring, that she would find her some other time. It didn't matter how the next meeting would happen.

"It's better to start somewhere than nowhere at all? Is that it?"

"I wholeheartedly think so."

Shimako-san genuinely wanted Noriko-chan by her side, so the method to acquire her was of no consequence.

Noriko-chan sat down and said, "I've prepared green tea." The steaming teacup was placed right in front of Yumi.

"How about you, Noriko-chan?"

"Huh?"

"How would you react to becoming Shimako-san's s&oelig;ur in an audition?"

Noriko-chan mulled over her response and tried to figure out a way to answer the point that Yumi was driving at, but instead cleverly threw a question back at Yumi.

"Yumi-sama, you wouldn't dislike having a petite s&oelig;ur, would you?"

"Maybe."

Since Yumi became Sachiko-sama's petite s&oelig;ur, she herself knew vaguely that she would have to have her own. The reason she still did not have a s&oelig;ur by the second term was not because she was harshly rejected, but that she had simply missed out on chances to look for s&oelig;urs.

"So then, are you simply against the concept of the audition itself?"

"That may be the case. But if you look at it from the outside, it's just another way of finding a s&oelig;ur." 

"Then what about Yoshino-sama choosing her petite s&oelig;ur through an audition?"

"Yoshino-san is Yoshino-san, so I wouldn't object."

She'd probably even help out if she was asked to.

"But it's different when it comes to yourself, right?"

"That's right. I wonder why that is."

Noriko-chan and Yumi began to think deeply about the issue. Shimako-san, who had been silently listening, offered another angle.

"Perhaps, Yumi-san is opposed to the part about judging people."

"That's it."

Yumi snapped her fingers, but it didn't make a sound.

"I don't know how many worthy first-years there are who want to be my s&oelig;ur, but it's a bit tough to pick one of them. I mean, what's the criteria to choose against? What is it that separates the chosen one from the others? I'm supposed to be choosing a petite s&oelig;ur, so isn't it strange to run it like a knock-out competition? What's my place in all this? A judge? It feels like I'd be acting superior, looking down on them."

Right as she said that &mdash; 

"Well sorry for being superior."

The door opened with a thud, and in the doorway stood Yoshino-san.