Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume14 Chapter5 6

The Battle For Hanadera . Part 6

It was hot.

Yumi took a deep breath.

That was understandable, since she was wearing another layer – a fur coat – on top of the boy's school uniform. Furthermore, it was September. It was a heat endurance test.

Sweat was pouring out of her body. But there was no way for her to wipe it off. She'd put it on without a second thought, but it was pretty tough to wear.

What time was it now?

She looked at her left wrist, for what she expected to be there. But, naturally, her watch wasn't there. She was still wearing it but it was hidden at the moment.

(A clock, a clock … )

There should be clocks everywhere throughout the school building, but now that she was searching for one they were hard to find. She thought that if she got out of the school building she should be able to see a large clock in a prominent position somewhere but since she was unfamiliar with this school she had no idea which door would lead her where.

Thinking that she had to make it back to the oval, she'd descended to the ground floor, but from there it was hard to tell where to go. The boys had politely informed her of how to get back, but it was hard to picture the route since she'd been blindfolded and carried in a box on the way there.

At any rate, it looked like she was lost.

If she'd known it would turn out like this, she would have called out to Yuuki when they passed each other.

But there hadn't been much of an opportunity for her to call out before her brother ran past looking preoccupied. She could have chased after him, but she really didn't feel like explaining those missing minutes or her current appearance in the crowded hallway if she drew his attention. Apart from that, her head was filled with thoughts of getting back to her onee-sama as soon as possible, since her onee-sama must be worried about her. Thinking about it now, Yuuki may have been running around looking for his missing and unaccounted for sister. It would be bad if that was the case.

"Excuse me, how do I get to the oval?"

Yumi called out to a student with an armband, that looked to be some sort of official.

"The oval? Haha, the oval. Um, there's a shortcut out that emergency exit."

"Much obliged."

She tried to bow her head but lost her balanced and stumbled a little bit. Not only was she getting hot flushes but her head was heavy.

"Are you alright?"

"Ah, sorry about that."

Thanks to the support of the boy with the armband, Yumi somehow managed to avoid falling down.

"No problem. By the way, you're going to take part in the battle for Lillian's, right? You should get a hurry on because the time's almost up."

"Um, what time is it now?"

She thought she'd ask, since she had the chance.

"3:25."

He chuckled when he checked his watch.

"Thanks. Really. Well then."

She didn't bow this time around, but walked off in the direction of the shortcut he'd indicated.

"Hey, dude. Watch your head on the door."

The kind boy said, laughing all the while. Well, that was pretty much unavoidable. Everyone was pointing and laughing at Yumi.

When she went out the door, she momentarily forgot his advice and, misjudging the door frame, she bumped her head. But apart from that, she managed to get outside smoothly. So she thought.

She spotted the oval after walking a short distance.

The white, yellow and red towers were all standing proudly, like impregnable fortresses.

There were no longer any brave heroes climbing the slides. There was just the scattered corpses (not really) of the valiant warriors strewn everywhere.

Without any hesitation, Yumi walked towards the red tower.

Her onee-sama was at its summit. Thinking that, she quickly felt better.

A hundred meters to go.

She staggered on, along the unfamiliar path in her unsteady outfit.

Seventy meters to go.

Yumi's field of vision wasn't that great just now, but she could still clearly see Sachiko-sama atop the tower. The two big guys beside her were probably the Yakushiji brothers.

With fifty meters to go, the sound of someone blowing on a conch shell rang out, informing everyone that the game was over. The "Hanadera war's second stage, the battle for Lillian" had just finished.

In the end, she hadn't been able to make it back before the game was over. But Yumi's "Hanadera war" hadn't ended just yet.

Out of compassion, she'd left the moist towel with the boys of the mystery novel club. Not only was she late returning, but she hadn't brought what she set out to get either. Plus, she'd loaned Sachiko-sama's personal belongings to other people – what an outrageous soeur.

To make matters worse, this outfit – . How would her onee-sama react if she knew this was Yumi?

Even so, Yumi kept walking. She'd been in too much of a hurry to get changed. She wanted to see her onee-sama as soon as possible.

At that moment.

As Sachiko-sama sat atop the tower, it looked as though she cast her gaze down at the ground and then suddenly stood up. Then, as Yumi looked on in shock, Sachiko-sama started climbing down the ladder.

In spite of the height.

Paying no mind to the fact that she was wearing a skirt.

(Onee-sama!!)

She shouldn't be able to tell that it was Yumi there. She shouldn't be able to tell but – .

Yumi desperately continued forcing her way forward, one foot after the other. By now, Sachiko-sama had reached the ground and was rushing towards her.

And then.

"I'm so glad … Yumi!"

Right after calling this out, Sachiko-sama embraced the panda.

"Onee-sama."

Yumi was deeply moved as they embraced tightly.

"You knew it was me … "

Inside the stuffy panda head, her sweat and tears mixed together. Yumi would've been happy to get out of the costume already, but she wanted to embrace her onee-sama forever, so she stayed as she was.

Without knowing why, Yoshino-san and Noriko-chan came over, followed by Rei-sama and Shimako-san who were delayed getting down from their towers.

Amused by the sight of Lillian's Girls Academy's Rosa Chinensis embracing someone in a panda suit, the injured soldiers stood up and slowly gathered around.

Even so, they did not separate.

Because, her onee-sama had proven it.

That even if Yumi didn't look like Yumi, she would never mistake her.

"Even if I was in a silent world of pitch black, if you were there I'd know instantly, Yumi."

– Yes, onee-sama.

"Even if you were lying in bed wrapped in bandages like an Egyptian mummy, I'd still be able to identify you."

– Yes, onee-sama.

Yumi revisited that conversation and agreed with her onee-sama.

She couldn't look for greater happiness than that.