Editing Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume23 Chapter7 3

===<noinclude>The Heart in the Frosted Glass. </noinclude>Part 3===

They said goodbye to Shimako-san at the station, like when they met. Yumi got on the train with Noriko-chan and then they split up at M Station.

Yumi flopped down into a bus seat and looked out the window. Today was the third of January. She could still see people dressed in their finery here and there. 

As she watched the scenery flow by, her thoughts turned to Kashiwagi-san for some reason.

When Touko-chan ran away from home, Kashiwagi-san had gone to the Ogasawara's house to find out whether or not she was there. Sayako-oba-sama had thought he was acting strange, and that was because he was hiding something. 

That said, there had also been something strange about Kashiwagi-san last night.

If there was a reason for his "strangeness," then it seemed like it could be because he was hiding something from someone, like he had when Touko-chan had run away from home.

''"I'm going skiing with my uni buddies from the morning of the fifth."''

Nobody had asked him, so why had he said that?

''"The winter break will be over by the time I return."''

The winter break will be over. He would have been referring to his winter break, right?

But she'd heard that university holidays were much longer than high-school holidays. Nonetheless, he'd said that the break would be over by the time he returned. There's no way he'd still be blithely skiing when classes had already begun. Despite his appearance, Kashiwagi-san was surprisingly studious and it seemed rather unlikely that he'd make such rash plans with his university friends.

(Then whose?)

He wouldn't have been referring to winter vacation in general. That would have no bearing on Kashiwagi-san's ski trip.

(He couldn't be. … No, I suppose he could.)

''"So if there's anything you need me to do."''

(Kashiwagi-san was telling me.)

As she thought about it, she came to understand. Kashiwagi-san's statements had seemed strange because they were directed at only one person.

No-one else knew that Touko-chan had run away from home.

''"If you ask me about it next time, I'll tell you."''

Yumi had asked Kashiwagi-san about the problems Touko-chan was dealing with.

It was a secret shared just by the two of them.

Therefore Kashiwagi-san had left Yumi with something like a code, so that none of the others would find out.

If she wanted to ask him about Touko-chan, she'd have to do it before he went away.

If she waited until he got back from his ski trip, school would have started. When that happens, she wouldn't be able to visit him whenever she wanted.

(He said the afternoon of the fourth.)

Yumi wrote the number "4" on the glass with her finger.

To ask about Touko-chan's situation or not to ask. She hadn't come to a conclusion just yet. It was scary to think about, so she'd put off making a decision.

So maybe it was a good thing for her to have a deadline placed on her decision.

When the name of the bus stop near her home was announced, Yumi pressed the buzzer and prepared to disembark.

(The afternoon of the fourth.)

She still had a whole day to think about it.