Editing Maria-sama Ga Miteru:Volume17 Chapter 4 3

===<noinclude>The Mouth of Truth's Complaint </noinclude>Part 3===

That night, while Yumi took a bath, Yoshino-san called Rei-sama on the phone.

Since it was 11 p.m. Sunday here, it would be 6 a.m. Monday in Japan. Rei-sama would probably be getting dressed for the morning, with time for a nice long phone call.

The rule was that calls to Japan from the hotel room had to be called collect. Because of that, students could only call their homes. Even if they wanted to hear their soeur's voice, it would be impossible unless they burdened the other party with the phone bill.

But in Yoshino-san's case, her onee-sama was Rei-sama, her neighbor and cousin. They had more flexibility when it came to finances. She could call Rei-sama at home, even collect, and a relative could cover the cost.

Yumi got out of the bath without noticing, saw the back of Yoshino-san sitting on the bed and laughing, and envied her.

She wanted to hear Sachiko-sama's voice. To say silly things, and be scolded for it.

When she was touring various places, in a hurry, helping out, then she didn't feel so lonely. But when the day was done, and she had a chance to breathe? She really missed her onee-sama during such nights.

There was no TV program here to distract her. Even variety shows were not funny when they're in Italian.

A person could be homesick, but this was something different. In other words, she was sister sick.

And though she could call home, that would do nothing for this particular ailment

She wanted to see her right now. She wanted Sachiko-sama to know that she missed her.

Japan and Italy. Right now they were separated by an easy-to-understand "distance on a map" that could only be bridged by a return flight home.

But.

What should someone do when sooner or later such vague things as "circumstance" or "daily life" or "time" pull two people apart?

As she thought about it, a flood of tears overwhelmed her.

It was already late, and too hard to think about things after onee-sama graduates while in the middle of a school trip.

Slowly but steadily the tears filled her eyes and rained down. And she could not make them stop.

She heard no sign of Yoshino-san's phone call coming to an end, so Yumi softly closed the open door.

Back in the bathroom, she washed away her tears with cold water.

Tomorrow was Florence.

She had to change moods.