Editing Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume26 Chapter1 3 (section)

===<noinclude>Good Morning Chocolate. </noinclude>Part 3===

After that they parted company, and Yumi went into the Rose Mansion by herself.

Yumi had explained that it wouldn't matter if she came inside, but Sachiko-sama still refrained. She may have been worried about causing a needless misunderstanding by being too close to the headquarters when she was a participant in the treasure hunt.

There were already benefits to being the s&oelig;ur of a host. Even though they wouldn't be leaked all the details, Yumi could understand why some people might mistakenly believe that. In reality, knowing their personality and preferences probably made it easier to reason where they would hide their card.

Yumi considered this as she opened the door. 

It was probably for this reason that Sachiko-sama had left so quickly after their exchange of chocolates.

The other participants wouldn't begrudge s&oelig;urs exchanging chocolates on Valentine's Day, no matter the circumstances. This brief interlude did not require them to be in the Rose Mansion; neither Sachiko-sama nor Rei-sama. 

But, drawing a clear distinction between those two events, Sachiko-sama was full of enthusiasm for the treasure hunt. However, Yumi couldn't imagine her running around with the crowd, checking every nook and cranny.

As Yumi put her hand on the handrail and was about to climb the stairs, she caught a voice seeping out of the room on the ground floor.

(Is that Yoshino-san and the others…?)

She removed her foot from the first step and turned towards the room. A while ago, they had discussed tidying it up prior to the treasure hunt, but had been so busy that it hadn't happened yet.

As a result, Yumi casually opened the door, like, "I'll help with the cleanup too."

"Gokige – "

But, the next instant, she was surprised by the scene in front of her and instinctively slammed the door closed.

"P-pardon me!"

Wah wah wah. What was that just now? That dazzling scene had blinded her.

"Yumi-san?"

Shimako-san called out from the other side of the closed door.

"I'm sorry."

She'd seen something she shouldn't have.

"What are you apologizing for?"

Yumi was leaning with her back against the door as it slowly opened.

"Well, you're exchanging chocolates, right?"

"That's true, but it's not really a problem if someone else sees that. If we didn't want to be seen, we would have gone somewhere were no-one would find us, so it's okay."

She'd said it was okay, but even so.

"That reaction was like a middle-school boy who'd stumbled upon a group of girls getting changed."

After the grande s&oelig;ur came the petite s&oelig;ur. Noriko-chan likewise stepped out of the room as though nothing had happened. So, by majority rule, it looked as though it was Yumi's excessive reaction that was out of place.

"Oh, I don't think she'd be that surprised to see us getting changed. We were in the same class in first-year, so we used to get changed for PE together."

It wasn't said as a joke, but that response was kind of absurd, Shimako-san.

But, in a sense, that scene was even more "private" than getting changed; the s&oelig;urs facing each other, with the chocolates between them. The atmosphere in the storage room sparkled brightly only in their immediate vicinity and, since it was somewhere unexpected for them to be, the White Rose s&oelig;urs looked almost like illusions.

It felt like they'd been in their own private world. And, as the name suggested, it was like no-one should intrude upon them.

At any rate, it was beautiful. Too beautiful. That vision of s&oelig;urs exchanging chocolates…!

After Yumi's thoughts had raced to this point, they came to a sudden stop as she thought: "Hold on."

From an objective perspective, did she and her onee-sama possibly project the same sort of atmosphere? To test this out, she tried imagining what their exchange of chocolates would have looked like, and her face flushed crimson.

"Yumi-san's – "

"Yeah, it's quite funny to see."

Whispering to each other as they studied her face. My, what an impolite pair of s&oelig;urs.

Then Yumi thought, "I wonder if the White Rose s&oelig;urs' chocolate is sweet and creamy," and Noriko-chan said, "It's just regular milk chocolate." Shimako-san said she made the same marble cake as last year.

Oh, so they also had the onee-sama giving the petite s&oelig;ur chocolate too? – Apparently, this thought also showed up on her face.

"Sorry for flustering you like this, Yumi-san. We probably could have done it after school, but given what happened last year...."

Shimako-san giggled.

"Last year … ah."

Yumi nodded, remembering those events. Then Noriko-chan immediately asked:

"What happened last year?"

No matter how close two s&oelig;urs are, they won't know everything about each other's past.

"Shimako-san hid the chocolates she was going to give to her onee-sama … ah, wait, it was cake wasn't it? Then, when the treasure hunt was over, it was nowhere to be found."

Yumi pointed to the storage room, indicating that the cake had been hidden in there.

"Wha–!?"

Bravo. She'd elicited the correct reaction from Noriko-chan.

"One of the treasure hunt participants had eaten it."

"But, but that's horrible … although it's shocking that a student who could do such a thing would be at Lillian to begin with."

"Oh but there was such a student. Only one."

"Right."

Noriko-chan deduced what had happened from Yumi and Shimako-san's expressions and once more said, "That's horrible."

"I just can't believe it no matter how I try. That person was my onee-sama's onee-sama."

"Oh, but Sei-sama was amazing. She was popular with the younger grades too."

Yumi had a soft spot for Sei-sama, but even ignoring that, she had been held in high regard by the school.

"I get that she was amazing. And popular too. But there's such a disparity. I know I may be turning a blind eye to my own shortcomings, but how did someone like that get involved with Shimako-san?"

Noriko-chan hung her head, her expression showing a mixture of regret, disappointment, and incomprehension.

"You can't say anything about this to Shimako-san or Sachiko-sama."

Yumi stealthily whispered to Noriko-chan, as though she were really about to tell her a secret, but Noriko-chan perked up the moment she heard Shimako-san's name.

"What is it?"

Apparently that was her reaction upon hearing her beloved Shimako-san's name.

"Shimako-san rejected Sachiko-sama's rosary and chose Sei-sama."

"Wha– ... why? They seem way more fitting."

Straightforward Noriko-chan spoke her honest thoughts.

"Hey now, what about me then?"

Yumi faked a scowl at Noriko-chan.

"Ah."

Belatedly realizing what she'd said, Noriko-chan covered her mouth.

"I didn't mean to say that you weren't fitting for Rosa Chinensis."

It was fairly typical for someone who found themselves in deep trouble to try and squirm out of it like this. It was amusing to see the usually cool and collected Noriko-chan frantically try and justify herself, so Yumi thought about stringing her along further, but since they didn't really have the time right now she decided to let her off the hook.

Still climbing the stairs, Shimako-san laughed.

"Sei-sama would definitely cough at a time like this."

Her sweet voice melted those listening.