Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume14 Chapter3

Setting Aside the "Bread Incident"

Part 1

Lunchtime.

As she was hurrying to Milk Hall to buy a pastry, Yumi spotted someone she knew from behind and instinctively called out to her.

"Touko-cha~n."

With her characteristic hairstyle, two ringlets – one on the left and one on the right, there was no mistaking her for someone else. As expected, when her name was called she slowed down and turned around.

"… Yumi-sama."

"Are you by yourself?"

Yumi jogged through the crowd of people to stand beside her. The somewhat stubborn girl, one grade below her.

"Is there something wrong with being by myself? But since you mentioned it, Yumi-sama, you don't seem to have any companions with you either."

Prickly Touko-chan.

Yumi hadn't been trying to say that there was anything wrong with being alone, but … well, Touko-chan usually had a sharp tongue.

Still, Yumi thought that she was inoculated against it now, as opposed to when they'd first met. Maybe she was used to it, or maybe she just thought Touko-chan was cute, like a menacing kitten.

"Well, today, my mom forgot to set the timer for the rice cooker and we didn't have any rice. So I have to buy something from Milk Hall, since all I've got in my lunchbox is side dishes."

Yumi held out the bag holding the small plastic container.

"I didn't really need to hear about that."

"Really? You mean you weren't thinking, "Yumi-sama always brings a lunchbox, so why's she going to Milk Hall?""

"How conceited. The world doesn't revolve around you, Yumi-sama."

"Oh, really?"

"Yes, really. Well then, goodbye."

Intending those as parting words, Touko-chan hurried off. Yumi hurried after her, having more or less anticipated that reaction.

This path led to various other places, like the school store and the chapel, but at this time of day she was probably heading to Milk Hall too. Yumi didn't really want to walk the rest of the way to their destination looking at Touko-chan's back.

"Touko-chan's being so cold. Makes Yumi so lone~ly."

Clinging on to Touko-chan.

"Please stop."

Touko-chan took half a step sideways to put some space between them. But that was all she did, perhaps having lost her earlier desire to shake off Yumi. Maybe she'd given up, seeing that running away was pointless.

"How come you haven't visited the Rose Mansion recently?"

Yumi asked as they walked side-by-side.

"I've been busy with club activities. Besides."

Touko-chan looked down.

"It's filled with an evil presence."

"An evil presence?"

Yumi asked and Touko-chan raised her head, surprised.

"Please ignore that last part. It's my problem to deal with."

Ignore it or not, it was a cryptic remark. Without clarification, Yumi had no idea what it meant.

"Are things like evil presences popular at the moment?"

"What do you mean, popular?"

This time it was Touko-chan asking for clarification.

"There was something I heard from my brother."

"Your brother? – Ah."

"Oh, that's right, you've met my brother."

Boy meets girl at Kashiwagi Suguru-san's mansion. Well, let's just set that aside for now.

"The other day, one of my brother's friends was walking down the road when he got this really bad feeling. Like he was being haunted by something."

"In that case, couldn't he just pray or have an exorcism? That's a different sort of evil presence to mine."

"That's like what my brother's friend said."

"But just now you said it was like he was being haunted by something."

"That's what I said, but."

Yumi agreed. It was like he was being haunted by something but not by an actual ghost.

"They have a strong sense for the supernatural, so they knew it wasn't a spirit. It was something more troublesome than that, a live human being."

Touko-chan listened silently, then after a little while mumbled something that seemed to indicate she understood.

"More troublesome because it's a human … it really is like that."

Maybe something came to mind for her too.

"You should come and visit us every so often. Sachiko-sama would be happy to see you too. If I make things too gloomy, you can pick a time when I'm not there."

Touko-chan made no response to this comment.

Arriving at Milk Hall, it was as packed full of middle and high school students as she'd expected it to be.

Touko-chan bought a strawberry milk from the vending machine by the door, then spoke to Yumi who was waiting by her side.

"Aren't you misunderstanding something?"

Like the sounds the coins made as they dropped into the change slot, she spoke in a way that seemed to say, "You'd better not forget this."

"Misunderstanding?"

"You're not the one I can't stand, Yumi-sama."

"Oh, then who?"

As she asked this, Yumi thought, "Darn it."

She'd be better off not poking her nose into matters of "Who likes who" or "Who hates who." With those sorts of interpersonal problems, if she knew both of the people, she'd be reminded of it every time she saw one of them.

"Um, Touko-chan."

Yumi thought she should take back her earlier remark, or Touko-chan could help her out by hesitating to speak.

However, Touko-chan immediately opened her mouth.

"Hosokawa Kanako."

She spoke clearly, so there was no chance of mishearing her. As expected of the self-proclaimed actress. Displaying the results of her daily vocal training.

"I cannot bring myself to like her."

Touko-chan didn't just blurt out her name, but also added, "I cannot bring myself to like her," to be doubly sure. She'd heard them described as natural enemies but it was still a bit confronting to hear this first-hand. Since Yumi considered both Touko-chan and Kanako-chan to be cute juniors.

"Still, I'm not going to stop you from being her friend, nor will I criticize you for this, Yumi-sama. It's just – "

At this point, Touko-chan swallowed her words.

"It's just?"

Yumi was pressing her to continue, but Touko-chan glanced at the pastry counter and smirked.

"You should watch out, Yumi-sama. If you don't hurry, they'll be sold out."

"Ahh."

People that had arrived after her had passed Yumi and were swarming around the counter. There was already a pile of empty plastic containers behind the counter.

"You should have put in an order with whoever was on duty."

Judging by her leisurely smile, Touko-chan had only come to Milk Hall to buy a strawberry milk.

"I completely forgot about that, since I usually bring my lunch."

Apparently her mother's careless mistake was contagious.

"See you later, Touko-chan."

Yumi threw herself into the crowd of students, in order to buy a bread roll.

"Best of luck."

Touko-chan waved and smiled.

Part 2

The people swarming around the bread counter were more fierce than she expected. No, let's rephrase that as "full of energy."

This was Lillian's Girls Academy. There were only dignified young ladies here.

"Well, this looks tough."

There were a number of people selling the pastries so even if they were to form something like a line, it wouldn't just be one line, and the lines would just collapse when the person up front looked at what was available on the table and made their decision, and on top of that, the next person in line would just order while the head of the line was making up their mind, which would lead to a sense of, "What's the point in having a line if no-one knows where the head is."

To make matters worse, for someone who wasn't used to it, moving through the crowd was surprisingly difficult. Yumi probably wasn't just imagining that she hadn't progressed forwards in quite some time.

While she was in that situation:

Tap tap.

In the confusing crush of people, someone casually strolled up behind Yumi and tapped her on the shoulder.

Wondering who on earth it was, Yumi turned around and saw a tall girl smiling at her.

"… Kanako-chan."

"What's going on here? You always bring your lunch and eat it at the Rose Mansion, so why are you in this crowd of people buying food, Yumi-sama? At first I thought I'd mistaken someone else for you."

"Well, we didn't have rice this morning."

As Touko-chan had said, no-one would be interested in the details surrounding the Fukuzawa family's rice situation. But since she'd asked, it was fine to answer.

"My, that's quite a bother. What sort of pastries do you like, Yumi-sama?"

"Well, anything really."

The pastries for sale at Milk Hall during lunch time were whatever was left over after the orders for each class had been fulfilled. Since she didn't know what they'd have on offer, she'd come here without thinking about what she wanted to get. And in amongst this chaos it was impossible to say what type of bread she liked. Anything would do. As long as she could get one, she'd be most satisfied.

"Then I'll buy you something suitable."

After informing Yumi of this, and without any sort of go-ahead, Kanako-chan turned to the right and entered the fray of people looking to buy pastries.

"Ah, Kanako-chan."

"Just wait over to the side there, Yumi-sama."

With her height, she stood out among the crowd. She moved forwards, not so much slipping through the crowd as surging through it.

"You don't have to overdo it. Um, I brought some side dishes, so just one would be fine."

Yumi called out to Kanako-chan, unsure of whether or not she was heard.

Kanako-chan seemed to overtake some people that had arrived much earlier, leading Yumi to wonder if she was being a bother to those around her. She couldn't just dismiss it as someone else's problem, because Kanako-chan was acting as a stand-in for herself.

"Sorry for keeping you waiting."

Kanako-chan returned in no time at all, carrying three pastries.

"Ah, you bought three."

"Yes."

"Were you having any of these?"

"No, I brought my lunch."

It looked as though her earlier shout hadn't reached Kanako-chan's ears.

"That was pretty quick … "

"Yeah."

"You didn't cut in line or anything did you?"

"Well, I was just recovering the spot that you had at the start. I don't think anyone has the right to complain about that."

"…"

Something there was not quite right. It wasn't quite right, but Yumi didn't think she'd be able to explain how in a way that Kanako-chan would understand.

Yumi wanted to lecture her about the virtues of waiting patiently in line but that wouldn't have gone over well.

"Anyway, which one did you want? I couldn't narrow it down to just one, so I bought the three I was considering."

– So it looked as though she had heard after all. Even so, Kanako-chan still bought three.

"How much were they?"

Yumi opened her purse.

"Um. For this jam bun?"

"No, how much for all of them?"

"Huh?"

There was no way Yumi could eat all three, but they'd all been bought for her and it wasn't as though she could return the other two.

"You weren't buying any for your own lunch, right Kanako-chan? So I'll pay for all of them."

"But."

"Don't worry about it, how much?"

"– No."

Kanako-chan said, looking down.

"I bought these of my own accord. You shouldn't have to pay because of that. These are all a gift. Please eat them with the rest of the Yamayurikai."

"Kanako-chan."

What should she do? Now she wasn't even accepting payment for one of them, let alone all three.

"I can't let you do that."

Yumi quickly calculated the cost of the three pastries in the bag. Then she took the exact amount from her purse and placed it in Kanako-chan's hand. However.

"I told you I won't take your money."

There was no way she was going to quietly accept the coins.

"And I told you I can't let you do that."

It was turning into a scene from a cafe with two old ladies bickering over who should pay – "I'll get it," "No, let me," – and they were making no progress at all. In the end, those old ladies must settle it somehow. If only there was some way she could consult them right now. There was no way they'd keep going until the store closed, so it seemed to Yumi as though they'd have to find some common ground and settle it.

"Stop."

Suddenly there was a flash of light.

"Yumi-san, and you over there. Why don't you calm down a bit and take a look around you?"

As expected, standing there was the self-proclaimed ace of the photography club, and Yumi's friend, Takeshima Tsutako-san. She lowered her camera and calmly stepped towards them.

"Around us … ?"

Yumi took a look around as she was saying this and saw there was a ring of people surrounding her and Kanako-chan.

She didn't think they'd been talking that loudly, but she may have have grown more and more boisterous without realizing it.

Even thought it hadn't yet reached the level of an argument, an onlooker would probably see they were having a disagreement.

"Aha … "

Yumi tried laughing to smooth things over but it was a waste of effort.

But, having taken Tsutako-san's advice to calm down and look around, how on earth was she supposed to regain control over the disturbance she'd caused? Kanako-chan looked down but didn't move either.

"First of all, Yumi-san will take the pastries. Then, you'll take the money that Yumi-san gives you. Okay?"

Tsutako-san briskly ordered them, taking over from the two people at the center of attention who were standing stock still and at their wits end. But still Kanako-chan stubbornly refused to accept the money.

"You may not like it, but just quietly do as you're told. Otherwise, the situation here won't be resolved."

"But."

"If she's willing to pay, you should let her. If you turn it into a big deal, it's going to get out of control. Or are you trying to make things worse for Yumi-san?"

Tsutako-san quietly reprimanded Kanako-chan, who eventually unclenched her right fist to accept the coins.

"Now that's done, I'm going to buy two of those pastries from Yumi-san. And with that, the case is closed. Sorry for the disturbance, everyone. It was just an exchange of pastries. Please continue to have a wonderful lunch break. See you."

Tsutako-san put an arm around Yumi and Kanako-chan's shoulders and walked off. They left Milk Hall like this, walking alongside each other. Yumi wasn't really sure what this would look like to the spectators, but she wasn't too concerned about that. She was still a bit surprised about the incident herself.

The only thing Yumi did know was that Tsutako-san had saved her. Who could tell how it would have ended if things had kept on with neither of them backing down in front of that crowd of people? She shivered just thinking about it.

After they'd walked a short distance from Milk Hall, Kanako-chan stopped and turned to Tsutako-san.

"Thank-you for resolving the situation. However, I bought all three of those pastries for Yumi-san."

"I know that. So does Yumi-san. Right?"

Yumi nodded at Tsutako-san's question. Yeah, she knew that alright. But there were things she could accept and things she couldn't accept.

Kanako-chan quickly bowed, then ran off in the direction of the school building.

As they watched her leave, Tsutako-san muttered:

"I wonder what she was doing at Milk Hall in the first place."

"Ah, now that you mention it."

All she'd had on her was her purse, so she hadn't brought a lunchbox, but despite this she hadn't bought a pastry for herself either.

"Maybe she was buying a drink or something."

Like Touko-chan earlier. There were some students like that.

"In that case, she wouldn't have gone to the pastry counter, right?"

"I guess."

The drink vending machines were concentrated around the entrance to Milk Hall, while the pastry counter was a fair way inside.

Well, people have all sorts of motives. And if motives is too grandiose a word, change it to reasons.

Because there was no point in worrying about each and every little detail. She was better off thinking about what she had to do right now.

"Tsutako-san."

Yumi stopped walking.

"What?"

"Thanks, you saved me."

Yumi felt she had to properly convey her gratitude. While they knew each other well enough that Tsutako-san knew this even if she didn't say anything, since she had the opportunity, she was better off putting it into words instead of being lazy.

Because even if she focused all her energy on beaming it telepathically, it might not reach the target's receiver. Alternatively, if her transmitter was broken, then it wouldn't get through even though she thought she'd sent it.

That's why analogue was best. Since you could tell almost instantaneously whether it had reached the target or not.

"Nah, it was nothing. I was just feeling a bit peckish, so I thought I'd get something to eat. When I got to Milk Hall, there was some kind of disturbance, so I thought I'd stick my nose in to it. By intervening, I was able to get my hands on some pastries easily. I got something good out of it too, so don't mind me."

"A bit peckish … ah, you ate your lunch earlier in the day, didn't you?"

"Ha ha ha."

Tsutako-san laughed to hide her embarrassment, then as they were standing on the door mat at the school building entrance she made a proposal.

"Are you busy, Yumi-san? Could you accompany me for a little while?"

"I don't mind. I was going to eat in the Rose Mansion, but they knew I had to go to Milk Hall, so they're not waiting on me for anything."

Hearing this, Tsutako-san said, "Done," and snapped her fingers.

"Well then, let's get this pastry there right away."

"The pastry?"

Yumi was asking why and Tsutako-san grinned.

"Obviously, we're going to use it as a bribe."

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