Editing Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume24 Chapter5 1

===<noinclude>First Year Camellia Class is Normal. </noinclude>Part 1===

"Like – I – said."

Yoshino-san said, with a bit of bite.

"Even if you were spacing out during the information session, it's all written on the printout. You'd know if you read the series of events for the election. If you read it. Here!"

Lunch time in the Rose Mansion. Tapping on the document she held in her hand.

"Election Announcement, Candidate Registration … "

Feeling a bit like she was being pushed, Yumi read aloud the section indicated. She was better off going with the flow here.

"… Candidate Speeches, Election Day … that's all."

There was a reason that Yoshino-san's attack was focussed on Yumi alone. Shimako-san had answered Yoshino-san's questions properly, plus Yoshino-san already understood exactly what would be happening next. Even Noriko-chan, who wasn't directly involved in the election, seemed to know. Yumi was a potential candidate, so why was she so inattentive?

"Right. And today's the first day of candidate registration. So, let's go."

Yoshino-san had been on her feet the moment she put her lunch box back in the carry bag that Rei-sama had made for her.

"Go? Where?"

"What are you asking? To the Electoral Committee Office. Now you're going to ask me where that is, aren't you?"

" … It's next to the staff room."

"Wonderful. And what are we going to do there?"

"… Register as candidates?"

"Why was there a question mark at the end of that sentence? It's a statement about yourself. Yumi-san, you need to be more self-aware."

The printout was brought down on her head a couple of times. Yumi thought that in the past Yoshino-san would have held back more, but recently she'd been showing no restraint, like when she faced off against Rei-sama. But it was 3 pieces of A4 paper so it didn't hurt.

"But, you know."

Yumi said, fending off the printout.

"We don't have to register on the first day."

"Wha~t."

Yoshino-san opened her eyes wide with feigned surprise.

"Well, like, last year, Shimako-san cut it really really close, leaving it to the last hour."

Their gaze turned to Shimako-san, who smiled and said, "That's also an option." But she didn't seem to be doing that this year. She was getting ready to stand up and go with Yoshino-san to the Electoral Committee's office. 

"Back then, Shimako-san hesitated because she had all sorts of doubts. So then, if I have some doubts – "

Shimako-san's doubts were due to her being a first-year, and wondering whether the second-year Rosa Canina would be more fitting, and other such internal conflicts. At the time, she was also keeping secret the fact that her family ran a temple.

"Well then, Yumi-san, can you tell us these doubts of yours that rival Shimako-san's?"

Yoshino-san pressed her for an answer, saying, "Come on, come on."

"Uh."

"Is the current Rosa Chinensis en bouton and second-year Yumi-san less fitting as a Rose than the mere first-year Touko-chan?"

"That's not what I said."

"Are you nervous because you're going to be leaving Lillian's in the near future?"

"No, that's not it either."

Yumi recoiled as she answered, then Yoshino-san grinned like she was pulling out her trump card.

"In the past you told me, Yumi-san, that we should be Roses. Have you forgotten that promise?"

"Huh? Wasn't it that we should be good friends, like the Roses?"

"Same thing."

Yumi thought that there was a little, no, a huge difference between being a Rose, and being a good friend like the Roses.

"Speaking of which, didn't you say that we'd be friends regardless of my title, Yoshino-san?"

"Did I say that?"

She had. It was during the rainy season, when Yumi's relationship with Sachiko-sama was strained and she was keeping her distance from the Rose Mansion. 

But Yoshino-san was playing dumb because it was inconvenient to her. In truth, she should remember it.

"So, what? You're saying you're not interested in being a Rose, Yumi-san?"

Before Yumi could respond to this direct question, an answer came from the side.

"That's not true, Yoshino-san."

Shimako-san said decisively, having remained silent until now.

"Some time ago, Yumi-san told me that she wanted to lead the Yamayurikai with me as a third-year, and that she wanted to be a Rose."

The sole statement of a taciturn person held more persuasive power than the words of a chatterbox.

"Right?"

Yumi nodded without thinking, and when she said, "Let's go then," Yumi allowed her hand to be taken and to be led out.

Was "bewildering" the right word to use to describe this situation? Watching them leave from the doorway, Noriko-chan mumbled, "Incredible, Shimako-san."