Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume1 Chapter2 1

Rumours circulate quickly.

By noon the next day, every high school student had learnt of the fact that Yumi had rejected Sachiko-sama.

"Tsutako-san, did you tell?"

"Of course not. These things are far more amusing watching than participating." In that case, the Roses probably proactively spread the rumor, fueling the fire with their peculiar sense of humor. Of course, there was the possibility that Sachiko-sama was the originating source, too.

It wasn't that I wanted to track down who spread the rumor so I could complain, especially because we had made no mention of the topic being secret, but since this was an obstacle for my desire for a peaceful life, I think I at least had reason to complain.

First came the stares of classmates, who, upon meeting eyes with Yumi, must have thought, "as if," and then looked away. No one spoke directly to her.

"'There's a weird rumor circulating about you, but you shouldn't pay it any heed.'"

Katsura-san concluded during class.

The students in the same class already knew how Yumi looked, but because they didn't know the gap between truth and fiction, they settled into a pattern of being confused, and then gradually accepting that it was probably a baseless rumor.

However the reverberation among the students who didn't know Yumi (and granted, those people were far more common) was great.

A person of such magnificent traits that Sachiko-sama would shift gears after being rejected by Toudou Shimako-. The rumor took on a life of its own, and many people gathered in front of the first-year peach-class room during recesses.

"That they need someone to tell them who's the subject of the rumor is both fortunate but painful."

Tsutako-san mumbled as they put away their textbooks after the fourth-period class.

"Indeed. I feel conflicted."

Yumi laughed drily. As Tsutako-san said, Yumi was the perfect image of ordinary, so people who had come to see someone that stood out like Shimako-san had to be pointed in the right direction.

Her classmates, however, were being thoughtful, and so they constantly guarded her with "Yumi-san is not here right now." Because of this, she was able to walk out through everyone and even go to wash her hands.

"Alright, then I have an advice too. Don't be in the classroom during lunch."

Tsutako-san spoke quickly, while smiling peacefully and acting like she was simply having a normal conversation.

"Why?"

"I caught news that the newspaper club was intending to interview Yumi-san. The newspaper club is persistent. They have a lot of sensationalist, paparazzi drama-lovers."

"Fueh…"

She turned pale. Paparazzi would be like, those people that ask, "Did you really marry?" or "Did you really divorce?" or something out of the blue, right? Sachiko-sama is powerful in her own right, but the newspaper club seemed like something she preferred to be away from entirely.

"Understand? Okay, then, pick up your lunch."

Tsutako-san pulled out Yumi's boxed lunch from her bag, hanging from the side of her desk, and, forcing Yumi to grab ahold of it, began pushing her.

"Oh? Yumi-san where are you going?"

Katsura-san asked curiously, as they usually always ate together.

"I'm borrowing Yumi-san for a second."

Tsutako-san answered in Yumi's stead. Then, she swiped her own lunch and urgently whispered, "Hurry hurry." As if she were saying, "Hurry or the newspaper club'll arrive."

"Woah."

Just as they walked out in the hallway, three students whose appearances screamed "newspaper club!" were standing in wait.

"… Too late."

Tsutako-san's regretful voice only reached Yumi's ear.

Camera, tape recorder, memobook… Of course, despite calling them "paparazzi" earlier, they did not have a hand microphone or one of those shoulder cameras.

"Oh, gokingeyou, you were part of this class, too?"

The one in the lead noticed Tsutako-san and began speaking. Newspaper club and photography club, as expected, they'd had previous relationships.

"Gokigenyou, and what matter brings the newspaper club here today?"

Even though she knew everything, Tsutako-san smiled, feigning ignorance.

"We came to interview Fukuzawa Yumi-san. Delightful timing, would you mind calling her here?"

"Umm. Yumi-san, Yumi-san… is."

Acting senile, Tsutako-san looked back into the classroom without giving Yumi even a single glance. Her eyes scanned the peach-class room, beyond the door from whence they had come.

The classroom was in the midst of getting ready for lunch. Some clumped their desks together and laid down table-cloth, some distributed milk and bread and other such ordered food, students from other classes join in, all in all it was chaotic.

"Ah, I think she might be Yumi-san, over there?"

Tsutako-san acted like she was adjusting her classes and pointed to the furthest reaches of the class.

"I'll go call her, wait one second."

Just as Yumi was wondering what Tsutako-san intended to do, she took a step into the class, then stopped, abruptly, and turned around, as if remembering something.

"Natsume-san, you were in a hurry, correct? There is no need for me to keep you waiting, go on ahead."

"Huh? … Ah, yes."

As Tsutako-san had deliberately looked into Yumi's eyes and winked, she assumed that meant her.

"Then I will go on ahead."

Yumi gave Tsutako-san and the newspaper club members a quick bow and left the scene. As she walked down the hallway, she thought of Natsume Souseki -> Fukuzawa Yukichi -> Fukuzawa Yumi, and clasped her hands in realization. The connecting point was the figures on printed money.

Even so, she wondered what Tsutako-san was going to do. Because it was her, she might be able to weasel out by claiming, "I got the wrong person," but despite claiming things were more interesting as an observer than a participant, she was pretty caring.

As Tsutako-san was gone, she wondered where to go. As she walked down the stairs in such thought, a voice called out.

"Yumi-san. Over here."

When she looked down the handrail, she noticed a white hand beckoning. When she leaned out to look, Shimako-san's face popped out.

"Let's eat lunch together."

Yumi rhythmically skipped down the stairs, relieved to see that angelic face.

Shimako-san led Yumi to her personal seat.

"Do you eat here every day?"

Here was behind the auditorium. One cherry blossom tree stood among the gingko in an obscure place. There, the two opened their lunches and sat.

"Only seasonal. When the weather is nice during the spring and autumn."

"The summer?"

"This cherry blossom tree, it gathers a lot of caterpillars, and I am not too fond of that. But the Gingko falls soon after, and that I do eagerly wait."

Shimako-san wistfully stared up at the gingko trees while plucking taro out of her varnished, square lunch box. It was slightly off balance from how she looked like a Western-style doll. The talking about gingko, the tasteful lunch box, oh and, incidentally, the boiled potato balls, too.

"… You are a bid odd, Shimako-san."

"Am I? But as long as they do not get squished, Gingko do not smell too awful. And that is why the Gingko pathway is a sight of misery."

"Shimako-san, does that mean you happen to take home uncrushed Gingko nuts?"

"Precisely."

Shimako-san laughed happily, fufufu.

"Why do you like Gingko?"

"Yumi-san, do you hate them?"

With the question turned, she thought. Hmm, she had no idea people actually ate them.

Until today, she thought it was like the Shiso leaves for sashimi platters, or like the decoration placed on savory egg custard.

"I love things like gingko and lily and soya beans. My parents always say it is unlike a normal teenaged girl, but I think taste preference is affected by your environment, don't you? Because I was raised by them, I like bitter tastes, most likely."

When I asked, I learnt that Shimako-san's house is almost purely Japanese-style architecture, with no Western-style rooms. Image-wise, though, I would have guessed a great, chalk-white mansion complete with a grand piano. Also, a lunch of club sandwiches or fried chicken seemed to suit her looks better.

"Not what I look like?"

Shimako-san asked, staring intently at Yumi's face.

"Mm, a bit, but it's unexpectedly interesting anyways."

Told so honestly, Shimako-san giggled and responded, "Yumi-san, too."

"I am honestly glad we were able to become acquaintances."

The two of them looked at the sky.

The clouds slowly flowed across the clear sky.

Sky-blue and the white of clouds, and below that, the sun's rays shone through the yellow gingko trees, casting a golden sparkle upon the ground. If I were a painter, I would have been able to paint that scene into a giant canvas. Or if I were a poet, into a poet, or a song, if I were a musician, saving that scene for eternity.

"Shimako-san, why did you reject Sachiko-sama?"

When she spontaneously asked, Shimako-san responded, "Should I not return that question to you?"

"That's right, we both did the same thing."

Even so, it wasn't as though their affinity got closer. She felt that Shimako-san and her approach to Sachiko-sama was complete different.

"In my case."

Shimako-san looked up at an oblique angle, still in thought.

"I am not a fit for Sachiko-sama. Conversely, Sachiko-sama is not a fit for me, either."

"In what way?"

"I like Sachiko-sama, but we look for different things in our partners. Subsequently, what we can offer one another differs."

"… That sounds too complicated for me."

"Sachiko-sama said the same thing. She understood what I meant to say, but that it was too vague. Even I would have to admit that it is simply a vague feeling that I have."

What you can offer the companion and what you seek from a companion. Because it is a one-on-one relationship, it makes sense that a concurrence of that would be of the utmost importance, but-.

"If Shimako-san was no good, wouldn't that mean there is no one who could fit with Sachiko-sama?"

"I do not know. Of course, because such a person is so hard to find, she probably is still left with no petite souer. But Rosa Chinensis and Sachiko-sama do face each other, as you saw. Compatibility is possible."

"I see…"

Then perhaps that would mean Shimako-san complimented Rosa Gigantea well, thought Yumi. After all, rather than two-timing, it was a decision borne out of taking careful look at herself and her opponents.

"Well, shall we return?"

Shimako-san stood up. Fifth period would start in five minutes.

"The newspaper club also has class, so it should be safe."

As a consequence of the conversation earlier, Yumi took care not to step on gingko nuts.

She had never paid the ground much attention, but upon closer inspection, the fallen gingko nuts looked like ripe plums.

"In the case of Sachiko-sama, I think her shock was far greater when you rejected her than when I did."

"Why?"

"I believe she felt it coming, in my case. We acted as temporary sisters, so I am sure she had come to notice that we would not be perfect fits."

But in the case of Yumi, she had supreme confidence.

"But she didn't seem to have been that shocked?"

"She is a contrarian who absolutely despises losing. So when she is truly vexed, she refuses to show it."

The two of them lined up and walked up the empty stairs. They overtook the meticulous old teachers whom were entering their classrooms with a greeting, and the chime rang. They had arrived in front of the classroom with a minute to spare.

The newspaper club as well as other students had, as Shimako-san expected, already cleared out of the hallways.

Shimako-san spoke as she opened the rear door.

"Yumi-san and Sachiko-sama may be compatible fits."

Yumi mumbled, "What are you saying," as she stepped in and looked at the backs of the students who had arrived earlier.

How could Yumi be a fit and Shimako-san, who could even describe Sachiko-sama as a contrarian and sore-loser, not?

Sheesh, Shimako-san is definitely an odd-ball.