Editing Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume24 Chapter5 3 (section)

===<noinclude>First Year Camellia Class is Normal. </noinclude>Part 3===

Yoshino-san dragged Yumi to a rather delicate position – the hallway next to the first-year camellia classroom.

"Got it? We'll walk past slowly, having a friendly chat, so get a good look at what's going on inside that classroom."

"Um."

Slowly, friendly, good. Overly complicated orders would just result in confusion. So if she dropped the adverbs and just focused on the verbs, then, basically, they were going to walk and chat and look in to that classroom. "That classroom" was obviously the first-year camellia classroom.

"Because of what's going on, you haven't had a chance to check it out, have you Yumi-san?"

"No, not really."

Yumi didn't know how she'd react if she saw Touko-chan. So for the last couple of days she'd been avoiding the first-year classrooms as much as she could. The hallway alongside Touko-chan's classroom was right in the danger zone.

"I figured as much. So I thought we should do this."

But even so, Yoshino-san herself had obviously checked things out. Like last year, when she started investigating Rosa Canina as soon as she heard about the new contender.

"At any rate, take a look. We'll talk about it after."

Yoshino-san grabbed Yumi by the arm and started walking off. 

Walking slowly and having a friendly chat by itself wasn't that bad, but adding on "getting a good look at what's going on in the classroom" made it a bit more difficult.

Because, wouldn't it look unnatural if she was walking along, apparently engrossed in conversation, but staring into the classroom instead of looking at who she was talking to? 

Luckily, the first-year camellia class looked like they were still in the middle of cleaning, with the front and back doors wide open despite it being the middle of winter, allowing for a good view into the room. But on the flip side, it allowed those inside to get a good view of them too, so they may have looked like a rather suspicious duo. To the trained eye, they may have looked like they were scoping out the enemy's positions.

"Well?"

Yoshino-san said, after they'd hidden themselves around a corner – since it would have looked strange if they stopped walking just past the first-year camellia classroom.

"Nothing much. What was strange about it?"

Yumi tilted her head to the side in confusion. Wondering if she'd overlooked something.

Yumi expected Yoshino-san to get angry, saying, "Have a better look," but instead she cracked her knuckles and said, "That's it."

"What's it?"

"It's normal. Nothing's changed in first-year camellia class. Don't you think that's odd?"

Nothing had changed in first-year camellia class.

"It's odd that it hasn't changed?"

"Think back to last year, and second-year wisteria class."

"… Ah."

With that, Yumi suddenly understood too.

"Right?"

Last year, Kanina Shizuka-sama, Rosa Canina, was in second-year wisteria class. In a sense, she had been in the same position that Touko-chan was in now, despite their difference in grades.

"That is indeed strange."

Last year's second-year wisteria class and this year's first-year camellia class were noticeably different.

"We should ask Noriko-chan."

Yumi turned back. She was probably in the classroom. Either that or she'd gone to the Rose Mansion. Either way, she wouldn't be where they were.

Then a voice called out to her from behind.

"Ask me what?"

Yumi turned around and there she was.

"N-Noriko-chan!"

"Gokigenyou … Oh, what's the matter?"

Noriko-chan was on outdoor cleaning duty this week, and had been returning to her classroom when she spotted the two boutons from behind.

Noriko-chan wanted to return to her classroom and get her belongings before heading to the Rose Mansion, so they accompanied her back through the hallway. This time they had a proper conversation, unlike before, so there was no need to worry about appearing unnatural, and there were no orders to get a good look at the classroom either, which made it a lot easier.

"Our class is normal?"

Noriko-chan asked. Apparently not immediately understanding what they were saying. The class was normal. Indeed, there was nothing unusual about that by itself.

"Well, one of your classmates is running in the election, right? And she's taking on the favorites – the current council and their successors. So why is your class acting like it's business as usual? Shouldn't they be getting all fired up?"

Yoshino-san went on and on. Caught on the back foot a bit, Noriko-chan instead posed a question.

"So, you're saying the second-year pine class is – "

"We're about as fired up as normal."

Like many other classes, they had a handmade board showing "X days until the election." They also had a "Certain Victory" prayer doll, although it was made of drawing paper, not a proper one. On the back blackboard there were messages of support – "Good Luck Yumi-san, Good Luck Yoshino-san," and they had light pink and cream (presumably meant to be red and yellow) origami flowers adorning their lockers. There were rules against doing anything in the hallway or other places, but their classmates were still getting into the spirit and showing their support by decorating their classroom.

That's the level of support there was for the favorites (to borrow Yoshino-san's phrase). The show of support for their classmate Touko-chan should have been relatively larger, to make up for her lack of name recognition.

"Even if you say that."

Noriko-chan muttered.

"There's not a lot of support for Touko."

Noriko-chan had only entered into Lillian's at the start of high-school, so, naturally enough, she didn't know anything about Rosa Canina. Consequently, she may have been under the impression that it was like this every year.

"But Touko's at fault here too. In the beginning, our classmates would ask her questions about the election, but she ignored them or ran away. It's hard to support someone that acts like that."

They'd just arrived at the first-year camellia classroom and Noriko-chan looked at the door and let out a sigh.

Was Touko-chan feeling isolated inside her classroom?

"I wonder if she's okay."

Yumi said, also staring at the closed door.

She knew there was nothing she could do to help in that class, no matter what she wanted.