Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume28 Chapter4 4

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Not long thereafter, an unlikely rumor made its way around the school.

I think it was after school on Friday when a first-year from the tennis club made her way to my classroom and said:

"Have you heard that Sakae-sama has a petit soeur?"

"Huh?"

She overlooked my momentary unrest.

"Ah, but I don't suppose you'd be interested in hearing about that, Mayu-san."

Even though she was acting polite, it was quite obvious that she was thinking, "Serves you right."

Her onee-sama wasn't someone that I'd tried to get close to. And yet she still despised me. It looked like I was an enemy to all first-years, after all.

"It all started a few days ago, on Valentine's Day, when she gave Sakae-sama chocolates."

Those kind of details were completely irrelevant.

"Who?"

I asked, irritated.

"Want me to tell you?"

The girl from the tennis club smirked.

"If you want me to tell you then you'll have to bow down before me and say, "Please tell me.""

What was she thinking?

"I refuse."

My voice was shaking from anger. My face twitched.

"I have no desire to bow down to the likes of you."

I spat out those words then walked out of the classroom and into the hallway. Aimlessly. Knowing only that I no longer wanted to be around that girl.

"Wh, what did you say – !?"

I heard her hysterical cries coming from behind me. Like hell I'd bow down to someone who came all the way over to our classroom just so she could laugh as she watched me bowing.

I walked out of the building to escape the suffocating feeling. I was still wearing my indoor shoes, but that was of no concern to me. I stamped onwards. My feet were moving before I had time to think about it. Almost as though they weren't my feet at all.

My feet stopped at the fork in the road, in front of the statue of Maria-sama.

Just what on earth was I doing? I came to my senses, found it all too ridiculous, and a laughing cough slipped out between ragged breaths.

Even though there was nothing I should be running away from. If I truly believed that what I was doing was 100% correct, then I should have been able to stand my ground regardless of what anyone else said. But since I couldn't, did that mean that there was a part of me that was feeling somewhat guilty about this, after all?

If so, what should I do?

I took no pleasure from splitting apart happy soeurs.

I only wanted to shine brightly and become a four-leaf clover. So why did things turn out the way they did?

I prayed to Maria-sama. I desperately wanted Maria-sama, who silently watches over us, to answer my question.

What should I do to find happiness?

No miracle would take place, no matter how faithfully I prayed.

I wasn't expecting to open my eyes and see my kind onee-sama standing there, waiting for me with lots of friends.

(But, what if.)

I asked myself a question. Would I really want to go back to the day when I informed Sakae-sama that I was breaking up with her and redo things?

But I couldn't answer. Because somebody called out my name.

"Mayu?"

I lowered my hands and turned around. Standing there was Sakae-sama.

"Onee … "

I started to speak, but then stopped myself. She was no longer my onee-sama.

"It's been a while. How are you?"

We were still students in the same high-school. Even after the break-up, I'd seen her around school numerous times. But never this close, and we'd never exchanged words before now.

That was because I'd gone to great lengths to ensure we didn't meet. If I spotted Sakae-sama coming towards me down a corridor, I'd turn around and head back where I was coming from, or escape via a nearby stairway. And if I found out that a second-year student I was interested in was in Sakae-sama's class, then I'd give up on talking to her.

But there was nowhere for me to hide from this sort of surprise attack. I looked up at Maria-sama bitterly.

However, the person that I had probably hurt the most didn't say a single resentful word, instead she smiled gently at me.

"What's the matter? Did something happen to you?"

Why was she being so sympathetic to the person who had hurt her?

As though everything in the past hadn't happened. The innocence of a chance reunion with a friend that you'd drifted apart from.

"Sakae-sama."

For a moment I thought that this could have been a miracle brought about by Maria-sama. That Maria-sama had taken pity on me and reset everything, giving me a chance to fix things.

"I – "

Just as I was reaching out my hand.

"Sorry I kept you waiting, onee-sama."

A student ran up to Sakae-sama from behind.

"I had left it in the classroom, just like I thought... Ah."

Memories came flooding back to me. The new arrival seemed to realize who was standing beside Sakae-sama the moment she saw me too.

"Mayu-san?"

"… Akemi-san."

After seeing the two first-years greet each other by name, Sakae-sama said:

"Huh? Oh, that's right. You've both been here since preschool. Of course you'd know each other."

"Uh …, yeah."

Even as I nodded, my chest was almost bursting from the violent thumping of my heart.

Ahh, so that's how it was. I quickly grasped the situation. So I immediately forced a smile, otherwise I wouldn't be able to deal with this at all.

"I heard you two became soeurs, right?"

Despite the shock I had just received, that piece of information hadn't been forgotten. More for the sake of a peaceful world than for my own sense of self-respect.

"Word travels fast."

The pair smiled shyly at each other.

"One of my friends from the tennis club came over to tell me about it straight away … "

I suppose my acting had been up to the challenge. Either that or the gentle, quiet Sakae-sama couldn't have conceived of me lying about such a thing.

"Oh, really. That's good. I was worried about you Mayu, since you stopped coming to club activities right after we broke up. But you're still talking to the first-years from the tennis club. That's a relief."

"Yeah."

I agreed eagerly, so as not to shatter that sense of relief. It was strange, but after that I no longer felt like I hated that tennis club girl from before.

"So, what are you doing out here, Mayu?"

"I think I dropped one of my hair-clips around here during lunch."

The explanation that came easily from my mouth was stolen straight from Chisato-san.

"Shall we search for it together?"

Akemi-san asked, bright-eyed. She didn't know that I didn't habitually wear anything like a hair-clip.

"No, it's all right."

I declined, shaking my head.

"The sun's starting to set, so I think I'll just come to school a bit early tomorrow and search for it then. Plus, it might not be here anyway."

"Really?"

"Yeah, thanks anyway."

If Akemi-san put her mind to searching for it, it seemed likely that she'd really find a hair-clip that didn't exist.

"Well then, I have to head back to the classroom."

"Okay, gokigenyou."

After confirming that they were walked away, I turned back towards the school buildings.