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

===Part 5===

Why did she say something like that?

Noriko was revisiting the moment when she had asked Yumi-sama if she should help out.

Yumi-sama didn't understand what she was asking, so Noriko let it drop.

"Aaah...."

Afternoon classes were filled with such sighs.

(I see.)

She didn't want to overstep her bounds. If she said what she wanted to say, then she would have to take responsibility for her statements until the very end.

Because she had only done her duty halfway &mdash; because she dropped the torch before it was all done &mdash; she felt bad, so she kept brooding about it.

She had to help out now, so there was no point in mulling over it, Noriko thought as she loosened her grip on the broom handle. She didn't feel like listening to Yumi-sama's request, however Shimako-san and Yoshino-sama made Noriko think twice.

"What's wrong, Noriko-san?"

"Ah!"

Touko brought her face close enough to Noriko to kiss her as she daydreamed. Suddenly seeing Touko's face made Noriko jump back.

"Well, I'm sorry. You had been sweeping the same place with the broom for a while now, so I took that as a sign that something was going wrong."

"... I'm sorry. I was just thinking about something."

"I see."

Touko said nothing more as she took out her dustpan and put in the dirt that Noriko had collected earlier and put it into the trash.

[[Image:MM_v20_049.jpg|thumb]]

"Touko."

"Hm?"

Her two banana curls of hair bobbed up and down as she looked up.

"What do you think of Yumi-sama?"

"Hmmmm."

"Her face is never still, her mood is always plain. But her heart is with the people, so her head's just a scatterbrain."

Each of her lines began with an 'H' sound, and ended with a rhyme. Only the third rhyme was off. <ref>(S: The original Japanese had Touko start short sentences with the 'O' sound, and only her last sentence did not rhyme.)</ref>

"She is, but she's still pretty popular with the first years."

"It seems so."

Noriko smiled.

Unlike Yumi-sama, Touko would purposefully misunderstand her questions, and would throw your questions back at you. She understood what Noriko wanted to say, but she probably was dodging because she did not want to answer.

But ever since she had learned that lesson, Noriko understood that she could not give up asking the questions she wanted answered.<!--(R: This probably refers to an earlier incident where Noriko was revealed to have a Juzu in her bag, which she was borrowing from Shimako. The incident was used by the Roses to make Shimako more comfortable about her Buddhist background, while being at a Catholic school.)-->

"Did you think that I had wanted to be Yumi-sama's petite s&oelig;ur?"

Touko said, as she revealed an anger in her face that Noriko had not seen before.

"That's why I was asking. Did I do anything wrong?"

Noriko winced from Touko's anger, but Touko herself did not seem to notice it. It was just that, a hidden part of Touko's soul had just been opened up, which was why she reacted so violently to Noriko's innocent question.

As the two eyed each other, their classmates began to bunch up around them. Students who had stayed after school, students who had clubs to attend, and even conspicuously tall girls. They would stop, say a polite "Gokigenyou," look down at their watch, flutter their hair around, and then run off into the hallways.

"I want to help you out, Touko."

Noriko said honestly. When Noriko had asked Yumi-sama "Are you sure I should help out?" neither Kanako-san nor anyone else had come to mind and caused her hesitation &mdash; Touko was the one.

Maybe Noriko should have asked "Are you sure I should help out?" to Touko instead of Yumi-sama. She would have told Touko about the opportunity to audition s&oelig;urs and asked "Do you want to join in?"

"I need no strength from you, Noriko-san."

As Noriko watched Touko turn coldly and leave the room, she found herself somehow understanding Touko's reaction.

"... Touko."

Noriko did not say anything else aloud, but the thought echoed in her mind.