Editing Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume30 Chapter3 4 (section)

===<noinclude>Those two, on the other hand. </noinclude>Part 4.===

On the other hand.

Touko and Kanako had made it to the amusement park.

Winding back the clock a little while.

Their loss of time due to an unexpected problem when they were supposed to meet (they were both waiting on opposite sides of the ticket gate!) could only be described as unfortunate. Consequently, when they arrived at the amusement park ten minutes after opening time they had no way of knowing they were the first ones to arrive, so they hastily bought their tickets and entered the park. Since they hadn't told anyone whether or not they were going, they simply assumed that the others had gone into the park ahead of them.

Anyway, they were at most ten minutes late. Touko joked that with a bit of searching they should be able to find the others straight away.

Sachiko-sama and Touko's onee-sama would definitely be there, as would Rei-sama and Yoshino-sama. In their discussion yesterday, Rosa Gigantea and Noriko had been leaning towards going. Oh, right, Suguru onii-sama and Yuuki-san would be there as well, making it a fairly large group. They would stand out when they were all walking around together, and it would be easy enough to find the group by spotting any one of them lined up for a ride.

Looking back on it later, their hypothesis had seemed reasonable enough but their search had failed to find any sign of the group.

"You want to stop somewhere and get a drink?"

Touko had grown weary of their futile effort and made the suggestion hoping to have a bit of a rest. Kanako-san's response was:

"Mind if I get something to eat?"

"Huh? You want to have lunch already?"

"I didn't have anything to eat for breakfast, so it's more like brunch."

"… I guess that's okay."

Which was how they ended up going to a cafe that also served light meals.

"You should have come with Yumi-sama, since you're her petit soeur."

Kanako-san remarked as she ate her sandwich. "At least that way you wouldn't currently be moping, Touko-san."

"I told you yesterday on the phone, didn't I? They'd initially planned to go to the amusement park together as a date. Since we're just along for the ride, we have to be quiet and not intrude.

Touko sipped her tea. She had a fruit tart in front of her. This was all the concession to Kanako-san's brunch that she could make, since she ate breakfast before she came. Incidentally, Kanako-san was drinking coffee.

"You did say that on the phone, but I wonder if it still applies. After all, Rosa Chinensis invited everyone to come along."

"Well, apparently she said that we should all go together back during the Christmas party. Which led to this, right?"

"How thoughtful of her."

"Really."

There were hardly any customers in the cafe, probably because the park had only just opened. It should get incredibly busy around noon with people looking to satisfy their hunger, much like they were doing now.

"But you still came, even though you said you didn't want to intrude on them. You couldn't stand the thought of something fun happening when you weren't around, right?"

"Pretty much."

There was no need to put up a front for Kanako-san. Touko knew how alike they were.

"You didn't think about hanging out with the Yellow or White Rose sisters?"

"And be a third-wheel?"

Touko shook her head as she responded.

"Well, how convenient for you that I just happened to be invited."

"Indeed. Thanks for coming along."

If Kanako-san hadn't come along, Touko might have been sitting there alone sipping her tea. Of course if she had come alone then there wouldn't have been that delay when they met, so chances are she would have got here on time, before the amusement park opened.

"Because I evened out the numbers?"

"Exactly."

The pair looked at each other and giggled softly. Then they slowly resumed eating the food they had ordered.

After eating in silence for a little while, Kanako-san suddenly raised her head.

"Even so, I'm really glad you invited me."

Touko quickly corrected Kanako-san's expression of gratitude.

"It was my onee-sama who told me to invite you."

Then:

"….Hmmm...."

"What?"

In the odd gap of time before Touko's question, Kanako rested her chin on her hands. Her cool response was:

"You've become quite used to calling her 'onee-sama.'"

"Thankfully."

Then they both sipped the last of their beverages.