Editing Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume8 Chapter1 3 (section)

===<noinclude>Lost Items. </noinclude>Part 3===

"A final request, huh. I think I understand."

Yoshino-san muttered as she put the cleaned teacups in the cupboard.

"You understand?"

Yumi squeezed the sponge under running water, making sure she got rid of all the foam, then returned it to its holder. 

The meeting was over and the boutons had gone to the first-floor storage room ahead of them. To check that the Roses hadn't left any of their personal belongings behind. In truth, Yumi was relieved to be left behind to clean up the second-floor salon with Yoshino-san. Helping with a task whose sole purpose was to ensure the Roses never had to return to the Rose Mansion again would be absolutely heartbreaking.

"It's like going to the shrine for pre-wedding jitters. Well, it's also like making a love confession just before graduation."

"It's like those? How?"

"In every way."

Yoshino-san turned off the tap as she spoke. 

In her mind, Yumi questioned how a last request was similar to pre-wedding jitters. That said, she could sort of understand how it was like a love confession.

"It's like this. When people leave an environment they've been familiar with for so long, they're bound to have all kinds of thoughts about the things they've left undone."

"So they make a final request."

"Right. That's just another name for it. It's called pre-wedding jitters when they're wondering if it's really okay to get married. And it's pretty common for people to make a confession when they'll never have to see that person again if they're turned down."

"Hmm. Wait, what about the shrine?"

Yumi innocently asked, and Yoshino-san momentarily stopped moving and said, "Huh?"

"I mean, is it really regret, if they're going to the shrine to thank the gods?"

"It's just a figure of speech. At school, "going to the shrine" might mean, hmm, getting a teacher you hate to meet you behind the school gymnasium … and then venting your frustrations at them … well, all sorts of things could happen."

Probably expecting some kind of reaction from Yumi, Yoshino-san had been deliberately vague in her explanation.

"That dreadful sort of thing actually happens?"

"Well, Lillian's doesn't really have that sort of tradition, so you can relax."

"Ah, right."

Even if she hated a teacher, she didn't want to become like that student. It was kind of sad, slinging mud around right on the verge of leaving.

"As for the back of the gymnasium, I was called there by Rosa Foetida."

"Oh."

"Rei-chan's in the middle of our love triangle. There were things we wanted to say to each other."

Yoshino-san posed holding an invisible blade, like the samurais Musashi and Kojirou about to duel.

Still, why would she go straight to that example?

"Like what?"

"Who won. About the closeness of Rei-chan to her next door neighbor and cousin, me. And whether that was outweighed by her onee-sama, Rosa Foetida. We covered it all."

Given her usual attitude, they probably went into minute detail, like how much sugar and milk she liked in her coffee.

"And?"

Who was Miyamoto Musashi and who was Sasaki Kojirou? Basically, who won?

"There's no way we could come to a conclusion. It's because we couldn't decide that we've been able to get along so far. It was … simply a performance."

"A performance?"

"Yeah. Everyone does it. Their methods may differ, but in their own way they're reluctant to let go."

Ahh, so that was it. Yumi felt like she understood. And because Sachiko-sama knew that, she hadn't scolded her petit soeur for being taken aside by Rosa Chinensis.

The wise Sachiko-sama had probably guessed what the general topic of conversation had been too. Perhaps Sachiko-sama had even been entrusted with the care of Rosa Chinensis by her onee-sama, one year earlier.

After they'd finished cleaning, Yumi and Yoshino-san met up with the boutons in the first-floor room. When they entered the room, they were surprised to see what looked like three bodies huddled together, crying. But that wasn't it.

"Here, take a look. There's a lot of Rosa Gigantea's personal belongings."

Noticing their entrance, Sachiko-sama smiled as she held out a paper bag.

"Textbook, sports towel … ? Oh, that's the lunch box she made such a fuss about when it went missing!"

"Yumi-san, don't just take everything out of the bag."

Yoshino-san looked away. The case of the missing lunchbox dated back to before winter break. A small consolation was that it was empty, the contents having been eaten. But if the lid of the box were opened, it would almost certainly smell awful.

"It had fallen down behind a stack of cardboard boxes."

Rei-sama smiled, dust piled on her shoulders.

While on that topic, the number of items stored in that room had increased since then. The end result of them being busy and neglecting to properly sort things.

"Back then my onee-sama was so adamant that it was on the second floor."

Everybody nodded at Shimako-san's statement. And because of that, everyone had focused on searching the second-floor room. They'd moved the table and looked through the mainly unused shelves. Right, right, they'd even checked the courtyard thinking there was a possibility it may have fallen from the window.

"She must have eaten lunch on the second floor, then stopped in here on her way out. That's why she had the wrong idea."

"So no matter how hard we searched, it wouldn't turn up."

"Since it was on the first floor."

They all suddenly burst into laughter. It may be their last opportunity to laugh at Rosa Gigantea's expense.

"At any rate, I'm glad we found it before the graduation ceremony."

Sachiko-sama placed the lunchbox back in the paper bag. Indeed. It did seem sort of pathetic to come back to your alma mater merely to pick up a forgotten lunchbox.

They'd unearthed a single mechanical pencil belonging to Rosa Chinensis, and one handkerchief of Rosa Foetida's. Both items had probably got mixed in with the storage boxes back during the rehearsals for their Cinderella play in the lead-up to the school festival.

As well as the Roses' personal belongings, they'd also found a pair of scissors and a couple of marker pens that were part of the Rose Mansion stationery.

"Even though they don't have names written on them, you know whose they are?"

Yumi asked bluntly, and Sachiko-sama picked up the mechanical pencil and rubbed it against her own cheek.

"Of course we know. Because we're their petit soeurs."

Tears streamed down Sachiko-sama's face, but no-one moved to comfort her. No, they couldn't move. They all knew their own eyes were equally clouded.

"Let's return these tomorrow."

Sachiko-sama said, as though issuing instructions.

As though drawing a clear line in her heart.

Perhaps the various pre-graduation performances were necessary rituals for the heart.