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

===Part 4===


When she thought about it, if she introduced Naitou Shouko to Eriko-sama as her soeur, then Eriko-sama would be very surprised.

Yoshino daydreamed as she lifted her chin from the top of the paper on her desk.

She had no expectations for the Naitou sisters, but if she were just going for impact, then at this moment, Naitou Shouko was the best she could get. But you couldn't find a soeur by just filling out some documents, so she needed to meet her in person. But if she did make Naitou Shouko her soeur, she didn't think it would be as bad as it was supposed to be.

Maybe it wouldn't be that bad, but she knew she was playing with a danger that you could only shake your head at.

The paper was actually a problem set handed out in math class to take home and finish, but because it had become a nuisance for her thought process, she had not finished a single problem.

Perhaps because she was bad at math and wanted to not deal with it, or because she had been thinking about too many other things, or because her thoughts were not letting her solve the equations correctly. Either way, when she stared at the paper, her thoughts seemed to evaporate into thin air.

"Let's do it."

Now to start, she thought, and rose with determination. When she looked at her watch, it read slightly past eight. It was about time.

Yoshino trailed down the stairs, and she saw her mother in the living room, with a bag.

"I should start preparing now. You're right on time."

"Huh, what's that bag?"

"Did you come from next door? It's a pastry I bought today at the store. I wanted to share, so I gave your aunt a piece."

"Why didn't you give me any?"

"Because today you and Rei-chan came back at different times. I knew I had to meet your aunt. I had a reason, but for some reason, I would cancel each time. So I thought I'd let Yoshino do what she wanted, and if Rei-chan came back to her house, I'd give her a little souvenir."

"If I or Rei-chan doesn't get back, how does it matter?"

"It's not a fresh sweet, so it's fine. The expiration date is the last day of the month."

"Last day of the month?"

She had remembered something bad.

"But I had to go meet her so... eh? Am I wrong?"

"No, you're not."

Yoshino took the paper back and went out of the door. When she looked inside, she was a little annoyed, but it was her mother, so she let the matter drop.

"Good Evening!"

It was next door, but they were right next to each other. Their front doors were a cheerful stroll apart.

"Welcome. Could you wait a bit, I just finished peeling an apple. Did you bring that bag from your friend? Still this year? I'll fill up the bag, so just wait there."

"Ah, sure. Thank you very much."

No matter how you looked at it, her aunt and her mother seemed to have the same thoughts. Her mother had just talked about sharing a pastry, so the apple made her smile widely.

But.

"Rei-chan."

Rei-chan looked as if she was completely unprepared for a visit. She was idly staring at the newest edition of Cosmos Friend while sitting on the bed.

"Huh, Yoshino. What's wrong?"

"I came to share some pastry with you."

"Huuuuh."

"-- Well actually, I came to ask you for some help on homework."

Yoshino placed a glass platter where she had put her aunt's peeled apple and the paper she had brought from home onto the low table.

"What's it about?"

Rei had no choice but to get out of bed.

"It's not that simple. But if you just told me which formula to use, I could solve it."

"I know that. But you came here just to ask me which formula to use?"

Those were not the words of a person who taught, Yoshino thought to herself.

"There's no way you can use the wrong formula here. Open your book. Hey, wait a second. It's the second-year book, so I need to find out where it is."

Rei-chan would look over her problems, no matter how much time it took. Yoshino held the hand of the person who, in her heart, was her Onee-sama, was her sempai in a club, was her neighbor, and was her beloved cousin.

"Rei-chan, you know, today at the Rose Mansion ..."

"... Yoshino. We'll gossip later."

Rei-chan looked busily through her bookshelves. The ends of her disheveled hair had dust that resembled powdered snow. Yoshino unheedingly went on talking.

"Um, you know. When looking through the list of applicants for the Tea Party, the name of a first year kinda like Naitou Katsumi-sama's little sister was there. What should we do?"

"Huh?"

Rei-chan turned back swiftly. She had said that they would gossip later, but she fell straight into it.

"Don't you have a bad feeling about this? Because wasn't Naitou Katsumi-sama Eriko-sama's rival?"

"Aren't you changing the subject, Yoshino? If Eriko-sama or Katsumi-sama were still in school, then maybe. Now that they're at different universities, there's no reason for them to compete. Aren't you interfering a bit too much on the affairs of Katsumi-sama's real little sister?" [[Talk:Maria-sama_ga_Miteru:Volume20_Chapter1.3|*]]

Rei-chan said, as she took out the math book she used last year. Yoshino loved Rei-chan's textbooks. If only one word could describe them, then they would be 'beautiful'. They had not the beauty of disuse, but the beauty of much use. It had important notes added into the margins, and colorful underlines. It had an unmistakable feel of a 'girl's textbook.'

"Well, the two sisters."

As if having won a competition with a small hint, Rei-chan whispered about memory.

"Last year when I fought in that Taisho's Fight with that girl Tanaka-san." [[Talk:Maria-sama_ga_Miteru:Volume20_Chapter1.3|*]]

"Oh yeah, I should be the one who gets revenge for you Rei-chan."

Unfortunately, because she was a third year last year, Yoshino's wish to cross swords with her could not be fulfilled. Even though she didn't yet have the strength needed to play in an actual match.

"That Tanaka-san who graduated, you know this year her little sister is entering. As a high rank too."

"Hmmph. Is she highly ranked?"

"Well she's rumored to be. Tanaka-san's grandfather runs a dojo, and the four Tanaka sisters have a big reputation."

"Four sisters? From the top, which sister is this?"

From her shelf Rei-chan searched in the book and pulled out a fat volume named "Kendo 3". These were scrapbooks where Rei-chan cut out magazine and newspaper articles. There were others like "Pastries 6" and "Handicrafts 2".

"Hey look. It's in here."

Rei-chan pointed to something that seemed as if it had been copied out of an area or municipality map. There were even pictures. One picture, which looked as if it had been copied countless times, had a gruff-looking person in it who Yoshino did not recognize at all.

"But it says 'The Three Tanaka Oonakas'."

"No, I'm pretty sure that there's a fourth. A long time ago, when I was in middle school, I had seen the four lined up on a map."

"So then maybe the fourth one isn't an Oonaka?"

"I see. Maybe because she's a middle school student, she's not an Oonaka yet!"

Yoshino hit Rei-chan with her palm.

"Hey, Rei-chan. They may be sisters but, not everyone goes to same school."

"Ah."

Both the Naitou sisters and the first three Tanaka sisters went to the same High School, so not going to the same high school seemed like some illusion.

"Of course. Fufufufu."

"Haha..."

Rei-chan's laugh was for some reason androgynous. But the two laughed their guts out. After laughing, stopping, then laughing again three times, a broadly smiling Yoshino spoke while she wiped tears off her face.

"Rei-chan. You know, I'd be happy, if I had a soeur."

"Eh?"

Rei-chan looked up with a slightly surprised face.

"Whatever kind of soeur she will be, I think my relationship to her will be completely different than my relationship to you."

".... Yoshino."

Rei-chan mad a painful-looking face, and then Yoshino clapped her hands together.

"It's not like I'm going to ignore the relationship we have together, Rei-chan. Don't get me wrong there. The two of us are real cool together, we're great friends, and I'm proud to think that we get along really well. But you know, it's a very special relationship. If you look around, there aren't other soeurs like us."

"Yeah. You're right."

"Rei-chan, were you happy being Eriko-sama's soeur?"

Rei-chan nodded, but a bit guardedly.

"I'm really jealous. If Rei-chan looked at it later, she'd understand. But even now, I think you'll understand. Growing up in a different style with a person you don't know. Making new acquaintances. How should I say this, it's a very refreshing feeling. So I won't just let whatever happen to Rei-chan. Whatever happens, even if I find a soeur, I will always really love Rei-chan."

Clasping their arms together, Rei-chan giggled a bit, and flicked Yoshino's forehead.

"Well then, I wonder if soon I'll be able to enjoy both Yoshino and her soeur."

That would be nice too.