Editing Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume32 Chapter8 1 (section)

===<noinclude>What's the Person Beside You Doing? </noinclude>Part 1.===

Touko walked with the words, 'The petit soeur supports' echoing in her mind.

(I don't have to do anything.)

Smiling, she entered the school grounds. Rosa Gigantea, who had just imparted those words to her, and Noriko still remained in the Rose Mansion that she had just stepped out of.

Touko turned around to look up at the second floor, before starting to walk again.

It wasn't from jealousy.

When she had said earlier that she didn't want to chase after her onee-sama, she had been telling the truth. Touko was happy for Sachiko-sama and Yumi-sama to be with each other.

Yumi-sama was the person that Sachiko-onee-sama had originally chosen.

Touko had been jealous, and opposed it thinking that Yumi-sama wasn't fit to be Rosa Chinensis' petit soeur. But at some point she had stopped being bothered by it and accepted it.

And then it seemed like her eyes chased after that vision.

Above all else, she enjoyed seeing Sachiko-sama together with Yumi-sama. As though she was watching a play from the spectator's seats.

The pair of them didn't have to realize she was there. Touko was fine with that.

But before she knew it, she had been pulled up onto the same stage – . And Touko was perplexed by that. While there was still the three of them, it was fine. But Sachiko-sama would soon be leaving them. When that happens, what should she do?

Touko knew that Sachiko-sama played an incredibly huge role in Yumi-sama's life. And the day that larger-than-life existence went away, the day a gaping hole would be opened in her heart, was approaching. And Touko didn't believe she could fill that hole.



"Oh, is that you Touko-chan?"

On the first floor of the school building, she ran into Rosa Foetida.

Alone.

Probably on her way home, as she was wearing her coat and holding her bag. And she probably thought the same thing upon seeing Touko.

"Gokigenyou, Rosa Foetida."

So that was all Touko said as she bowed her head. It would show a lack of refinement to ask, 'Are you alone?' or 'Are you on your way home?'

The first-year and third-year shoe boxes were a distance apart so they momentarily separated before reuniting at the entrance.

"That reminds me, how did it go?"

Rosa Foetida inquired.

"Huh?"

"You've just been searching the first floor of the Rose Mansion, right?"

The soft breath blew across the top of Touko's head, disturbing some specks of dust. It was times like these that drove home the difference between their heights.

"Ahh, yeah, we have. Unfortunately, we didn't find a single item of yours, Rosa Foetida."

"I'll bet. And Sachiko too?"

"Naturally."

They looked at each other and laughed. No-one had come out and said that Rosa Chinensis had done a check of the first floor room, but it was common knowledge by now. 

Suddenly remembering, Touko said:

"Although Yoshino-sama left the Rose Mansion a short while ago."

"Oh, really?"

"She may still be at school though.... Would you like to go after her?"

If Rosa Foetida ran, she could probably catch her at the statue of Maria-sama, or by the front gates.

"Nah, not really."

"I don't mind, if you want to go on ahead."

"It's not that important."

"Ahh, I see."

Rosa Foetida and Yoshino-sama were cousins and neighbors, so they could see each other whenever they wanted to.

"… What is it?"

Touko asked, feeling Rosa Foetida's eyes on her. Rosa Foetida just laughed.

"Oh, I was just thinking that recently you've stopped referring to yourself in the third-person."

How to respond to that kind of question.

"I still do. At times suited to that character."

"Character, huh?"

"… It's like western style clothes. When the time and circumstances are appropriate, you pull them out of the closet and put them on."

"I see."

Rosa Foetida laughed loudly. She seemed to take that as a joke. 

Was it a joke, or was it the truth? Touko didn't really know herself, so she laughed along too.

"Sorry, but I'll have to leave you here."

As they passed through the entrance, Rosa Foetida turned towards the left.

"Are you returning home by the back gate?"

She asked without thinking. Usually, Rosa Foetida would head towards the right, the same way Touko was going. But, on reflection, since Rosa Foetida walked home, she didn't have to board one of the buses in front of the main gate. She probably had a number of choices when it came to deciding her route home.

"Nope. I thought I should go to the martial arts building before I went home."

"The martial arts building?"

Well, it was between here and the back gate. The martial arts building was where they practiced various martial arts. And Rosa Foetida was in the Kendo club. But, there probably wouldn't be anything happening there now.

"I may not have left anything in the Rose Mansion, but my gear is still in the martial arts building. And it's not really the sort of thing you want to take to a graduation ceremony, so I should get it today."

Rosa Foetida shrugged, and smiled.

"When my exams were over, I thought I'd be able to lead the younger girls in a lot of practice, but that didn't really happen."

That may have been regret on Rosa Foetida's part. It wasn't that she had forgotten her gear, she had left it there on purpose.

"Well, all kinds of things happened, and tomorrow's the graduation ceremony."

"All kinds of things?"

"You got it. But once you start, there's no end. So I'm graduating with the feeling that there are still many things left undone."

It seems everybody had something they wanted Rosa Foetida to do.

"That's quite noble of you."

"Huh, isn't it the opposite?"

Rosa Foetida cackled, but Touko stood by what she said.

To admit that there were still things left undone, and to realize that was okay, was refreshingly noble. Far better than puffing your chest up with pride and declaring that there is nothing left undone.

After going their separate ways, Touko was struck by a thought:

– Rosa Foetida, what on earth have you been doing until now?