Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume21 Chapter2.2

Panic Attack! Part 2.

"O-Omiai?!" With the cry of a single word, she chose that moment to dash out of the house. Too late, Rei-chan and Uncle had already boarded the limousine. The driver had already started the engine and the car was pulling away.

"Rei-chan." She tried to make the signal for them to wait. Although she ran up to the car window, waving both hands, somehow misunderstanding, Rei-chan smiled and waved her hand in return. Without any hesitation, she mouthed "I'm off" and left.

"No way..." The driver put on the blinker and the car made a left turn at the street corner. A dumbfounded Yoshino saw them off. A person softly touched her shoulder from behind.

"Yoshino-chan, were you seeing them off? Thank you." When she turned back, Rei-chan's mother was standing there.

"Aunt, is it true?"

"What?"

"Rei-chan, having an Omiai…" Catching up with Rei-chan and Uncle and being able to ask them about it had failed. At this point she had no choice but to ask this person. To say that these were two people who lived together and who set out together as a family, even though they were intimately close, she was really only one of Yoshino's relatives.

"Nah, calling it an "Omiai" would be an exaggeration."

Her aunt burst into laughter. "It's only, Yanaka-san's son likes Rei so they're going to talk. Tanaka-san wants to introduce Rei's father so they can become acquainted as well. That's what it seems like he said. And then, it turned into a meal and a talk. That son, he will be busy for a while next week, so it was suddenly decided that they would do it today."

There was no question: this wasn't being called an Omiai. Yoshino clenched her fist and strained. "I wonder what he liked specifically about Rei?" Even though, outwardly she looks like a boy. While she was speaking, Aunt had the expression of not being as dissatisfied as she would have Yoshino believe.

"But that means… Where has he seen her before? And what was it he liked about her?" while gnashing her molars, Yoshino was able to ask. For the moment, meltdown was averted. For the time being, she must try and calmly collect information.

"It seems he came and saw the inter-high school tournament the other day. That was when he noticed."

"But you know, Yanaka's son: wouldn't he and Rei-chan be separated in age? It's okay, isn't it, Aunt? He and Rei-chan wouldn't be marrying, right?"

"Calm down, Yoshino-chan. They're just meeting; we're not talking about marriage this soon, really. Though, due to circumstances, they had said they wanted to meet soon." Circumstances? I don't know what those circumstances are but… Still, for Rei-chan who is a high school student, they were having a talk like an Omiai. Yanaka-ojiisan is still a old guy. This son… must be entreating his relatives to mediate for him because he's a spoiled child. Surely he's a selfish young man from a well-to-do family who knows nothing of the world.

"...How many?" Grind-Grind-Grind. Her molars resounded like a musical instrument.

"Huh?"

"The person she's going to meet. How many years old is he?" Yoshino pressed on her aunt, but...

"I'm sorry. I haven't heard." Why hasn't she heard? Yoshino hung her head. She would probably have heard the age of the person her daughter was going to meet in an Omiai. That is, if she had been a normal mother. Even though she was exhausted, there was no helping it. She changed the direction her questioning.

"Then, have you seen a picture? Oh, never mind. I don't want to hear about it." But that person she's going to meet, if he had left a favorable impression on her, it felt somehow regrettable. Though she tried to block her ears momentarily, it came in just under the wire.

"It was just a snapshot, but I've seen one. He had refined features. His breeding is clear in his facial expression." *

Just as she suspected. The foremost thing that comes to mind when you see his face is that he's a young man from a well-to-do family who knows nothing of the world. Somehow she was getting a bad feeling about this. Naturally, the image that came to mind was Kashiwagi-san, Sachiko-sama's cousin.

"Rather than Yanaka-san, he takes after Yanaka-san's wife." Recalling the photograph, Aunt muttered heartily.

"Aunt, do you know what Yanaka-ojiisan's wife's face looks like?"

"Yes, because they appear together in the photograph. She was with her son."

"She appears with him in the photograph?" This furthered the image of a selfish young man from a well-to-do family who knows nothing of the world. Did he have a complex for his mother? His negative qualities were stacking up; she couldn't permit this. Rei-chan was too good for this guy. I don't want to be asked, 'what kind of man would be good?' In that case, I would be hard-pressed to come up with an answer.

"Is he Single?"

"Of course he's single. There's no mistake. It seems that he loves doing sports and reading books at home, but Rei-chan is the first girl he has shown any interest in, Yanaka-ojiisan was saying."

"Ah, is that so?" Nevertheless some middle-aged person for who this was his first love, and who might have an Oedipus complex, can he be a good partner for Rei-chan? He might be handsome, might be clever, might be gentle, might even be sexy. She was adamantly opposed to this story.

"Aunt, where's the hotel they're going to?" In Yoshino's chest, a bluish-white fire began to spark and burn.

"From way back when Rei and Yoshino-chan called it the 'The Hotel in the Forest'. But wait, Yoshino-chan? Why? Are you planning on going?"

"No way." There is no way that could happen. She laughed.

"I only thought about it for a moment. Today I have a promise to keep with a friend." Though her aunt only panicked momentarily, listening to Yoshino's words, she took a breath and relaxed, feeling relieved.

"Is that right. You could say this is dressing up for you. That color, is it called a peacock green, I wonder? It's a lovely ensemble. It really suits Yoshino-chan."

"It's not really dressing up." When she said it like that, shouldn't it be Rei-chan's who was dressing up, she thought to herself. Though she wasn't wearing, as one might suspect, a kimono. She had been wearing a light brown suit with a little bit of rouge. Certainly underneath she wasn't wearing pants but a tight long skirt with a slit in the back. These were considerably womanly clothes for Rei-chan.

"I can't delay any longer." All the things that had needed to be heard, had been heard. Yoshino finished up her conversation.

"What time were you planning to meet? Since they're fewer buses on Sunday, to be on the safe side, you better check and see."

"K Station at 10:30... Ah!" Crap, it'd already turned ten o'clock.

"I'm off." For a moment, Yoshino returned to the entryway for her bag. She changed her shoes and once more rushed outside. After putting on her sandals, she realized being empty-handed was out of the question. And speaking of being out of the question, if she, the person who made such a coercive promise, ended up being late, that would be. Such a thing would be shameful.

Running to the bus stop, she caught the bus she was scheduled to get on by merely a hair's breadth. Inside, the bus was rattling. Yoshino sat alone in a two-person seat. Almost immediately afterward, she began stamping her feet, discreetly, in impatience.

"Ugh." Taking a breath, she remembered about Rei-chan, and became disgustingly angry again.

"What is with that?" She had told her aunt she was meeting with a friend. Although she had no intention of breaking her promise with Nana, if granted permission, she wanted to run after Rei-chan at once.

When Rei-chan had told her about today, why hadn't she been listening properly? Although it was too late to change anything, she regretted it nevertheless.

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