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

===Part 3===


"Does Yumi-san have any connection with Touko-chan's situation?"

As everyone was leaving, Shimako-san and Noriko nonchalantly split from the main group as they walked down the row of trees. Then Shimako-san stopped and began speaking to Noriko. When she looked surprised at the question, Shimako-san smiled back at her.

"And that's why you couldn't say anything."

"Wow ... you get it all, Shimako-san."

"Funny, isn't it?"

Yumi-sama and Yoshino-sama walked ahead, and the three Newspaper Club girls turned onto a lightly-curving path and disappeared from sight.

"If you don't want to talk about it, then I won't force an answer out of you. But I thought that maybe you would want to lighten your burden by talking about your thoughts with someone."

Shimako-san said the thing that she should have said, and began walking again. She kept her hand within reach, so Noriko grabbed it.

"No, I don't want to talk about it with Shimako-san. It's nothing, really. Keeping it to myself is pretty tough, but I want to see the whole thing through."

When Shimako-san was just being herself, she was something. When it came to herself, she would become confused about what to do, but she would always watch over others. That was why Noriko could speak plainly with Shimako-san. Why is such an incredible person my Onee-sama, Noriko sometimes thought to herself.

"The things Touko has said ... well, I think she said them because of everyone else's jealousy."

Noriko spoke aloud what she was thinking.

"I see."

Shimako-san nodded quietly as she smiled. The two held hands and began walking slowly down the road in front of the rows of trees, as the group that had passed them up earlier came into view again.

"It's because Yumi-sama is popular."

Inside the splendid façade of the Rose Family, Yumi-sama was the gregarious "Onee-sama of the People" and the idol of the first-years. Noriko too did not want to lose to the people, but she lacked an easy sense of familiarity. She had a presence, but she just wasn't Yumi-sama. <!-- Note 4 -->

"I don't know who started it, but everyone thinks that Touko has become Yumi-sama's number one s&oelig;ur candidate."

"Number one s&oelig;ur candidate?"

"I think it's because Yumi-sama had asked her earlier to help out at the Rose Mansion, but...."

The idol of everyone could become the Onee-sama of only one person. Everyone had vaguely prepared themselves for the day it would eventually happen, but they didn't really want to see it. They just had an idea of what it would be like.

Then again, for the people that already have an Onee-sama, how do they talk to her about so many things. If she tried to see how it would feel to involve someone else into her own affairs, Noriko could understand. <!-- Note 5 -->

"But that's it?"

Shimako-san said after some deep thought.

"Last year, when I had come to help out the Yamayurikai and even when Yumi-san came to help during the play, there was a bit of commotion, but no one really hated it. It was the same with you, right Noriko?"

"Yeah, well."

Noriko nodded.

"But Touko has said and done some things in her past that make it hard for people to like her."

"What did she do?"

"During monsoon season ... remember when Rosa Chinensis and Yumi-sama started fighting or something, and things got dark between them? Well, everyone says that Touko was the one who caused it."

In early summer, when Rosa Chinensis had taken off from school, a lot of students saw Touko and Yumi-sama's argument in the milk hall. Then Yumi-sama tactfully asked Touko to help out at the Rose Mansion, and immersed her into it, after which the rumor sort of died down, but....

"That's true."

Shimako-san whispered nostalgically. She was thinking about the first few months right after that monsoon season.

"I know I'm being nosy, but when Touko, who had bullied Yumi-sama, was asked to help out, wasn't it sort of interesting? Because that happened, she inadvertently got closer to Yumi-sama when she had been targeting Rosa Chinensis."

"So then, Noriko, you don't think that Touko-chan is picking Yumi-san to be her s&oelig;ur because she wants to get closer to Sachiko-sama?"

Noriko nodded easily. Touko admired Rosa Chinensis, but she would never do something like that.

"So then, what's happening with Touko-chan?"

Noriko shook her head in response to Shimako-san's question.

"I don't want to talk about it. I'm trying not to hurt Touko after all."

"Well well."

"Well, not forever, but it's like 'We have to clean that, so move it' or 'You're not using the bamboo stick, so lend it to me' or something" <!-- Note 6 -->

"Are you trying to sew a yukata with regular cloth?" <ref> E: It means to make a mountain out of a molehill. A yukata is a light summer kimono. To make it out of regular, i.e. heavier, cloth, you're making too much out of something little.</ref>

"Yeah."

"You're really saying as little as possible, aren't you?"

"Ah, oh yeah. There's something else I wanted to talk about. I had brought the latest edition of the Lillian Kawaraban with me, and I laughed when I thought about whether Noriko-san had talked about this with them, But really, I shouldn't have laughed." <!-- Note 6.5 -->

Her classmates were excited by it, but Touko was very angry.

In the shadows, many rumors flew around; none of them with any real hate.

To help out Touko, Noriko had tried to be the one friend who had kept a straight face about this.

But for some reason, it felt as if she was just running in circles.

Keeping everything inside of her felt bad, but first-year Camellia class, on the surface, looked as if it would keep going smoothly.

(Maybe only my thoughts are strange.)

Everything really seemed to be fine, but inside of Noriko, her strangeness made everything feel as if it tottered. That must be it.

[[Image:MM_v20_081.jpg|thumb]]

"I thought Yumi-sama didn't want Touko."

And Noriko stopped abruptly. Shimako stopped walking.

"But, Touko is &mdash;"

Shimako-san got that far, when she realized that glistening things fell from the tops of Noriko's cheeks.

"Hmm? Why are you crying?"

Shimako-san set her bag down, took her handkerchief out, and wiped the bottom of Noriko's eyelashes with it. She stared directly at Noriko's face and smiled.

"Noriko, you like Touko-chan, don't you?"

"I do, a bit."

As she pointed this out, Noriko realized she liked her more than she thought.

As twilight descended, the obscuring of her surroundings was a blessing. It was a blessing that she was away from everyone else, Noriko thought.

Yumi-sama could not notice her feelings for Touko.

Noriko-chan tightly grasped Shimako-san's hand.

And to keep the traces of her tears hidden from everyone else, Noriko turned to watch a bus go by.