Editing Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume8 Chapter2 4 (section)

===<noinclude>Farewell Gift. </noinclude>Part 4===

The morning of the graduation ceremony dawned.

Blessed with fine weather befitting such an auspicious occasion, the kimono clad members of the PTA had just started making their way towards the gymnasium to farewell the young ladies. It was right at that time:

She tricked me,

tricked me,

tricked me – !

Yumi walked silently down the corridor that ran alongside the third-year classrooms.

"Rosa Gigantea!"

The door to the third-year wisteria classroom was open, so she stood in the corridor and shouted at Rosa Gigantea, who was in the middle of the room.

Everyone in the classroom turned to look at her.

She immediately thought, "Oh no," but it was too late. Nothing she could do now. Her head had been so full of rage that she'd forgotten that today was a special day, as well as the proper way to request someone's presence.

"That's a scary looking face, Yumi-chan. What's the matter?"

Smiling, Rosa Gigantea weaved through her classmates, over to where Yumi stood.

"… Gokigenyou. Congratulations on your graduation today."

"Thank-you."

Belatedly, Yumi offered the standard greeting, then dragged her out of the classroom.

"Wait, where are we going?"

"Anywhere's fine, as long as there's no audience."

"Somewhere private? Sounds nice. Are we going to continue what happened yesterday?"

"Hmph."

Rosa Gigantea followed in silence, then stopped Yumi next to the first-floor stairway.

"This should be fine. There's people everywhere today."

"Ah."

She'd forgotten. Much like Valentine's Day or the Christmas Eve closing ceremony, there would be plenty of students openly expressing their feelings on graduation day. Particularly if their target was a third-year – a lot of students would be spurred on by the thought that this was their last chance. All of the secluded areas would be quite popular.

On that note, the stairway was a bit gloomy, so not a particularly romantic place for a love confession. Naturally, there were still people using the staircase, but it was a strange place to stop and listen in on the conversation of people standing at the bottom of the stairs. It was probably a safe spot, as long as the head of the newspaper club didn't sniff them out.

"So, what is it?"

Rosa Gigantea asked, looking directly at Yumi.

"Is it true?"

"Is what true?"

"The university."

"The university?"

"Still playing dumb, huh."

What was it she'd said?  "You've been too busy running around, preoccupied with thoughts of your beloved Rosa Gigantea." If she'd known that, then she should have told her. No, even then would have been too late. Before the farewell gift.

"Oh, you found out? That was surprisingly fast. I thought it'd be funny if you didn't find out until April."

"So it is true then. My head burst into flames this morning when Shimako-san told me."

She'd been fooled by Rosa Gigantea's sorrowful face, going so far as to kiss her on the cheek, exposing herself as a fool. Even though she'd only done it because she had thought it was an ending.

"Oh, really? Burst into flames? I would have loved to have seen that."

"Keep mocking me and I'll hit you."

"Whoa, a settling of scores?"

"Oooh."

How did it turn out like this?

"Oh, don't whine like that. Sure, it was my fault for not making a full report to you. But I thought you would have heard about it from someone else, normally."

"You weren't intentionally hiding it from me?"

"Why? For the kiss?"

"Don't say that."

To keep her from talking, Yumi pressed both her hands over Rosa Gigantea's lips. But, due to her strength, Rosa Gigantea easily removed the makeshift gag.

"But it's fine, right? It's true that I'm graduating. It's true that I'm going to university. So I should get a farewell gift. Where's the problem?"

"But the university you're going to is Lillian's!"

Yumi shouted.

"Yep."

Rosa Gigantea agreed, with every fiber of her being.

By chance, one of the old male lecturers wearing a traditional Japanese hakama had just come down the stairs and turned to look at them.

So that's how it was.

From April, Rosa Gigantea would be enrolled in the Lillian's Girls University's Literature Department, majoring in English Literature. Naturally, the university campus was on the same grounds as the high-school.

"I'm not going to university to study. I like school, but more than that, I'm going to university to make my peace. That's why it had to be Lillian's. Besides, once I've graduated, I can't be hanging around the high-school all the time anyway."

"… I guess not."

Now that Yumi had cooled down, she could more or less accept it.

She should have guessed when she'd heard that Rosa Gigantea was only applying for one school. Or if she'd paid more attention when she heard about her missing out on the priority placement deadline.

"It's the same as Youko and Eriko going to a different university."

The point Rosa Gigantea was trying to make was probably that they couldn't rely on her. Even so, knowing that she would be on the same campus made Yumi a little bit happier. No, a lot happier.

Hang on, wasn't she supposed to be angry? How long has she been grinning like this?

So the sense of relief at knowing Rosa Gigantea would be at Lillian's had won out over the feeling of being cheated about the kiss.

Suddenly, the number of people using the stairs swelled. Looking at the time, it was 8:25. They weren't having morning prayers today because of the graduation ceremony, but they were still taking attendance in homeroom, so they had to head back to their classrooms soon.

"What a shame. It looks like we're out of time."

"Yes."

They parted quite naturally, one heading down the hallway, the other up the stairs.

"Well, see you."

"Yeah, see you later."

As she climbed each step, Yumi felt something lifting from her.

Tap-tap-tap.

Her footsteps kept getting lighter.

Then, at last, from the bottom of her heart, she thought:



Rosa Gigantea.

I'm fine with you graduating.