Editing Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume23 Chapter4 2 (section)

===<noinclude>Full to Bursting at the New Year's Party. </noinclude>Part 2===

With their stomachs already quite full, they all looked in anguish at the containers of sushi placed in front of them.

"I want to eat it, but I don't know if I can."

"It's torture … "

Just like last year, Yumi faltered when she saw the array of high quality nigirizushi delivered to them by the official sushi suppliers to the Ogasawara household.

"Oh my. You can just set it aside and eat it when you're hungry. We've got plenty of time, so feel free to peck at it as you like."

Sayako-oba-sama said.

"But, it's nigirizushi."

Even though they were in a hard-to-warm traditional Japanese room, the party had been going on for an hour and a half and it had already warmed up significantly. Leaving the raw sushi there and pecking at it seemed ill-advised.

"Alright. Then how about we play cards, and whenever you lose you have to eat a piece?"

Sayako-oba-sama said, smiling innocently, since it was already torture. But since that would only result in one piece disappearing every game, it didn't seem like it would be all that efficient.

"No. Why don't we just try and eat the sushi for now? If you can't eat it all, we'll put what's left over in the refrigerator. We can leave the games until after."

Sachiko-sama's proposal was the correct one. No matter how large the Ogasawara family's refrigerator was, they probably couldn't put nine people's untouched sushi boxes in there.

Even so, it was funny how their chopsticks kept moving after saying, "Itadakimasu." It was probably because the sushi was made of such good ingredients. Their color and gloss was enough to stimulate the appetite just by looking at them.

"Onee-sama. Um, would you like to swap your sea urchin roe, salmon roe and abalone for something of mine?"

Naturally, she wasn't about to pull the same stunt as Kashiwagi-san and reach over into Sachiko-sama's sushi box directly, so she tried asking.

"Huh?"

Sachiko-sama seemed confused, but then she smiled and said, "Ah."

"Is that because of what Suguru-san did?"

"Yeah … I suppose."

Yumi admitted truthfully, since there was no point lying about it. But she wasn't thinking about competing with Kashiwagi-san, she simply wanted to remove the foods Sachiko-sama hated from her sight.

"You really shouldn't pay so much attention to Suguru-san. It's not like there's foods I will and won't eat. Moreover, it would be somewhat pathetic of me to be coddled by you."

"But."

Your eyes glazed over when you looked at them, onee-sama. 

"I was thinking I should broaden my diet, just a little. Even if I don't like them, I'm not about to say that I can't eat them."

"Hah."

Yumi thought she was offering a lifeboat but instead it looked like she'd backed her onee-sama into a corner. By making this declaration, she'd cut off her avenue of retreat.

Their friends were listening attentively to their conversation, although they weren't joining in. The movement of chopsticks had suddenly slowed and the soft twitter of conversation had disappeared. 

With her chopsticks still on her sea urchin roe sushi, Yumi pondered what she should do next.

"Do you like those?"

Sachiko-sama asked her.

"Huh? Yeah."

Since she'd been fine with taking Sachiko-sama's if she hadn't wanted it, obviously she didn't hate it. Although there wasn't really any types of sushi that Yumi hated.

"If you feel like doing something, how about you enjoy it in front of me?"

"Huh?"

That was a rather strange request.

"All you want me to do is eat it?"

"Right. That's all. Give it a go."

"Well then."

She opened her mouth wide, saying, "Ahhh," and took a mouthful of sea urchin roe sushi. She was going to act like a mother trying to get her child to eat by saying, "Tasty," but once she started eating she couldn't talk.

(Ah … )

The taste of juicy sea urchin roe spread out in her mouth. The rice, nori seaweed, and accompanying soy sauce were all undoubtedly made from fine ingredients too. She instinctively closed her eyes and enjoyed the exquisite harmony. Once again she'd been able to experience the taste of the Palace of the Dragon King.

"Yumi-chan."

Hearing Rei-sama whispering to her,  Yumi opened her eyes as she chewed.

"Ah."

Sachiko-sama was adding soy sauce to her sea urchin roe. With the air of someone taking up a challenge.

"Watch your mouth, Yumi."

Just after she said this, Sachiko-sama ate her gunkanmaki sushi piece. As for Yumi, even as she was thinking about what brought that warning on she realized that this was a pivotal moment for Sachiko-sama, so she chewed silently without responding.

Sachiko-sama's gaze held firm. Staring straight at Yumi's face as she chewed.

Then, finally, she swallowed it down. Her eyes darted around lightly.

"There's nothing I can't eat."

But she was clearly overdoing it. Because Sachiko-sama's eyes were tearing up.

"It's just a matter of getting accustomed to it."

Sachiko-sama, who hated to lose, said with finality.

"Incredible. Oh Sachiko-san, having Yumi-chan's expression as a side-dish with your hated sea urchin roll!"

The silence was shattered by Sayako-oba-sama's exclamation.

"Yumi-san looked like she was enjoying eating it."

"That reminds me, isn't there a folklore about eating lots of rice accompanied by the smell of grilled eel."

Everyone laughed along and added their own comments.

"That's enough from the peanut gallery. Yumi, next up is abalone."

"Ah, okay!"

So, in this way, Sachiko-sama ate all the food she loathed, even though she was overdoing it a bit.

Then, with her work done, Sachiko-sama quietly placed her egg roll in Yumi's container. It looked as though she'd remembered Yuuki doing this last year.

Even though Sachiko-sama had said she shouldn't pay so much attention to Suguru-san. Yumi smiled to herself.