Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume29 Chapter5

Santa's Refreshments

Part 1.

On Monday morning, after changing into her indoor shoes, Yumi took a slight detour and made her way over to the third-years' shoe boxes. She had arrived at school earlier than usual, but only by a little bit. There were other students all around her, but everyone was moving at a leisurely pace so there was no need to worry about bumping into anyone. It wasn't empty, but it was quiet.

(Excuse me.)

She opened that familiar lid in the third-year pine area. Inside the shoe box, the left and right indoor shoes were neatly arranged.

(Okay.)

Her onee-sama had not yet arrived. Whatever had led to her waiting outside Yumi's classroom on Saturday didn't seem to have happened today.

Yumi took a piece of paper from her pocket and left it on top of Sachiko-sama's indoor shoes. When she closed the lid, it caused a slight puff of wind. Concerned, Yumi opened the lid once more and saw that the letter had shifted slightly from its former position. The paper was light, so it didn't take much wind to affect it. If the lid were opened or closed enthusiastically, then the paper might just fly away to some unknown location.

Reconsidering, Yumi put the piece of paper inside the right shoe. This way, there was no need to worry about it being blown away by a slight breeze.

(That's better.)

This time around, Yumi shut the lid and headed to her classroom.

"Gokigenyou, Yumi-san."

Yumi was pounced upon as soon as she entered the hallway. Tapping her on the shoulder from behind was the president of the arts club.

"I'm glad I ran into you. It's about the signboard for the 'Third-Years' Sendoff.' When I got a quote for the paint, they said they probably didn't have enough in stock. I asked them to put in an urgent order, but it looks like they won't get any until tomorrow evening, which means we probably won't be able to get our hands on it until Thursday."

Yumi listened as they walked. She suddenly recalled a scene from about a year ago, with this girl eating bread crusts as she sketched with charcoal.

"Will you have it done by Friday?"

"We will. We'll finish painting on Thursday, so by Friday it should have dried completely and be safe to move."

"Roger that."

Yumi gave the thumbs-up. Their schedule had a little bit of slack in it. They seemed to have a realistic outlook, so it would probably be okay.

They parted ways at the arts club's president's classroom.

"As an apology for being late, we'll bring it around to the Rose Mansion ourselves."

The voice called out to Yumi as she was disappearing down the corridor, and she stopped and turned around. She brought her empty right-hand up to the side of her cheek to amplify her voice and called out:

"Thanks, that'll be really helpful."

It looked like today was going to be another busy day.

Part 2.

Lunchtime.

While waiting behind the Rose Mansion, Yumi saw Sachiko-sama walking through the courtyard and waved at her, saying, "Over here."

"Gokigenyou, Yumi. By the way, what is it that's 'over here?'"

"Huh?"

What's over here? In this case, the subject of the sentence was "I" so Yumi had shortened the sentence "I'm over here" to "Over here."

"Umm, onee-sama. Didn't you come here to meet me …?"

"Oh?"

( – That response would seem to indicate a 'no' then.)

If she had come here to see Yumi, then she certainly wouldn't have asked the question about what was over here.

"You didn't read my letter?"

Yumi had suspected that she would be busy today, so she'd left the letter so there was no chance of them missing each other. It would have been better to visit Sachiko-sama in her third-year classroom during one of their breaks between classes, but people were always asking her questions about the third-years' send-off while she was in her classroom or walking down the corridors, so she didn't have any time to do her own errands during those breaks. So, as rude as it may have been, she left a note for her onee-sama asking to meet.

"Letter?"

Shaking her head. So then it was just a coincidence that Sachiko-sama happened to be walking past here? Then you'd have to say it was lucky. But was that really the case? It just seemed too good to be true.

"A letter from you, Yumi? Where did you put it?"

"In the shoe racks … in your locker … inside your indoor shoes."

"Inside my indoor shoes? Oh, I wonder how I didn't notice it. Perhaps it's still inside my shoe."

"Well, I don't really think that's likely."

Even thought it had been a light piece of paper, Yumi had folded it in four. At that level of thickness it would definitely have been noticeable when wearing the shoes, and would probably have made a rustling sound as well. Despite this, Sachiko-sama placed one hand on the wall, lifted her left foot and slid her index finger into the back of her left shoe, taking it off.

And then.

"Ah."

A folded piece of paper fell out.

However, watching this chain of events unfold, Yumi knew something was up.

"Onee-sama. I put the letter in your right shoe."

Yumi ventured timidly. Even if Sachiko-sama hadn't noticed when she put her shoes on, why would it have changed placed?

Sachiko-sama grinned.

"What a relief. It looks like you've still got some of your wits about you."

"Hey-."

It appeared that Sachiko-sama was just testing her, for some reason. Well, at least it looked as though Yumi got the right answer.

"What do you mean? My brain's still working fine, right?"

"I said you still had some of your wits about you."

Sachiko-sama held out the letter, urging Yumi to read it. Opening the paper that still retained the warmth from Sachiko-sama's heel, Yumi saw the request for a meeting written in her fairly ordinary looking handwriting.

"Which part do you think is strange?"

"Have a closer look."

 Onee-sama,
   During the lunch break, I'll be waiting for you behind the Rice Mansion.
 Yumi.

Sachiko-sama pointed to a spot on the paper.

"Ahh."

She'd written the 'Rice Mansion,' instead of the 'Rose Mansion.' A building made out of rice? In that case, it was only natural that her onee-sama would think she was going senile.

"Were you feeling tired?"

Yumi briskly shook her head.

"What probably happened was, I started thinking about what was in my lunchbox after I wrote 'lunch.'"

It wasn't an explanation she was particularly proud of, but Yumi didn't want to let that misunderstanding continue. She'd written the letter first thing this morning, and was still yet to do any homework or Yamayurikai work today. So, if she had been tired, it wasn't because of either of those things.

"Then that's fine. You don't want to push yourself too hard."

"Okay."

Her onee-sama turned to her and gave her the kind of look you would use when admonishing a baby, at which point Yumi finally turned an embarrassed red.

"What are you smiling about, Yumi?"

There was no way that Yumi could say she was overjoyed that her onee-sama was concerned about her, so she turned away. There was some work she really had to do today, so that it didn't become a huge problem in the future.

Just as Yumi was about to leave her and enter the Rose Mansion, Sachiko-sama called out, "Wait."

"You're still not thinking straight. Didn't you call me out here so that you could give me an answer to my question from Saturday?"

"Ah. That's right."

So it wasn't a matter of being tired, or overexerting herself – Yumi was just naturally absentminded.

"The answer is 'okay.'"

Yumi stopped, turned around, and used her arms to form a circle over her head.

"Thank-you for your efforts."

In return, her onee-sama made a small circle using her thumb and index finger.

That small circle was enough to fill a petit soeur full of energy.

Part 3.

There was a guest waiting for Yumi in the Rose (not Rice) Mansion.

"Gokigenyou, Yumi-san."

Her exams were over and Tsukiyama Minako-sama was coming back to life, like an animal waking from its winter hibernation.

"Go – gokigenyou."

Yumi studied Touko's face to try and determine what was going on as she took a seat beside her. Their guest was still standing, but that wasn't a problem. Noriko-chan, Yoshino-san and Shimako-san were all in the room. It was inconceivable that no-one had offered her a chair already, so Minako-sama was probably standing because she wanted to.

"What's the matter?"

Touko was silently working on something, so Yumi asked Shimako-san who was closest to her on the other side.

"That's …"

Mindful of Minako-sama's presence, Shimako-san spoke softly. To summarize, Minako-sama had come to the Rose Mansion because she had a job for Touko and was waiting for Touko to finish because she wanted it as soon as possible.

"And then."

Shimako-san half-rose from her seat and whispered in Yumi's ear, being mindful of Touko.

"Touko-chan said she shouldn't just suddenly ask for this, and they had a bit of a quarrel. But in the end …"

Apparently Minako-sama had used her position as a senior to twist Touko's arm.

Yumi peered at Touko's hands to try and determine what kind of work she was doing. Then, without staying her hand, Touko said:

"I'm proofreading for the Lillian Kawaraban."

This week's edition was the special feature on the dates that the Valentine's Day event winners had with the next Roses. Touko was checking over the report that she had submitted and making corrections on the test print with a red pen. Yumi had done a similar thing last week, however unlike the extra edition that contained hardly any writing, it looked like this was taking somewhat longer.

"Hey, what are you going to do?"

Yoshino-san inquired, from the seat opposite.

"There's not a lot I can do."

If Yumi had been here while they were having their dispute then perhaps she could have done more, but now that Touko had already started working it was a bit late for her to be butting in.

Yumi opened her lunch-box and started to eat. Noriko-chan poured her a cup of tea and brought it over. Minako-sama was also offered tea, but she declined, saying she wasn't going to be staying long.

Ordinarily, all visitors to the Rose Mansion were offered tea, however they had decided to suspend that practice for this week as they expected there would be a large number of students coming and going. But they would still make the offer if they themselves were drinking tea, and if requested would of course serve their guests.

Just as Yumi was finishing her lunch, Touko stood up beside her.

"Here. It's done."

Touko walked over to where Minako-sama was standing and gave her the Lillian Kawaraban test print. Always the actress. Her face didn't show what was in her heart. Knowing that she was really sulking just made it all the more frightening.

Yumi closed her lunch-box and stood up. Ready to support Touko, just in case. Yumi felt that, as Touko's grande soeur, she couldn't let this go unacknowledged.

"I'm so sorry to have made you wait."

"Not at all, I apologize for rushing you."

Touko then said, "Excuse me," and walked away, leaving Yumi standing there. Touko then started heartily biting into her half-eaten rice balls, although it was unclear whether she was trying to insinuate something or just hungry.

"Still, for a third-year to come all the way out here, Minako-sama … "

It would be reading too much into this statement to interpret it as sarcasm, as in, "Have your juniors turned you into their errand girl?" Unfortunately, Yumi didn't have that sort of skill on tap, so the only meaning was what the words themselves contained. Yumi had thought that Minako-sama's involvement in last week's extra edition was some kind of exception, but perhaps she was still fully participating in all newspaper club activities.

"My juniors are all busy, so I volunteered to help. Or, should I say, I talked them in to letting me do this."

So it appears that this Tsukiyama Minako-sama isn't sensitive to such barbs, for she took it as stated and provided a normal answer. Peace and tranquility. Yoshino-san and Noriko-chan had both pricked their ears up, their hearts racing, but, of course, they went unnoticed.

"I want to be part of the Lillian Kawaraban, in whatever way I can."

Minako-sama spoke those words with pride, and there was something to admire about her unfaltering dedication to the school newspaper.

Having no reason to stay now that she had received the corrections to the test print, Minako-sama farewelled everyone with a, "Sorry for bothering you," and walked towards the exit. Thinking she should see her off, Yumi followed Minako-sama, but was stopped at the doorway by Minako-sama saying, "Here will be fine."

"Anyway, hey, did you hear?"

Minako-sama said, with her hand still on the doorknob, as though she had just remembered something.

"Sachiko-san's completely stopped her eccentric behavior."

"Eccentric..."

Is that really the kind of word you'd use to describe someone who doesn't usually cram for exams working through a book of problems?

"So, what was it all about?"

Minako-sama leaned up against her.

"I told you, I don't know."

Yumi herself had never actually seen Sachiko-sama while she was apparently cramming for an exam. So, now that she heard that Sachiko-sama had suddenly stopped, it made her doubt the validity of the earlier rumors entirely.

"At any rate, it doesn't concern me."

Yumi bundled Minako-sama out the door, sending her off with, "That's enough for today." Though she heard Minako-sama say, "Can't you do something about it?" Yumi kept pulling on the door knob so that Minako-sama couldn't open it, and eventually she heard the sounds of someone descending the stairs. Perhaps she had remembered that she didn't have any time to waste.

Touko watched carefully as Yumi returned to her seat, relieved.

"Rosa Chinensis' eccentricities, do they have anything to do with Suguru onii-sama?"

That was a curious question to ask.

"Why would you mention Kashiwagi-san?"

It seemed quite a leap. After all, Minako-sama had said 'Sachiko-san' but she hadn't mentioned 'Kashiwagi-san' at all.

"It might be unrelated, but I heard that, recently, Suguru onii-sama has been going over to the Ogasawara house every day."

"Every day? I wonder what for."

Still, that's what you'd expect from a blood relative. Touko heard conversations that Yumi wasn't even aware of.

"I don't know. But perhaps he has some business with Sachiko-sama's father or grandfather that requires a daily visit."

"Well, who knows."

Still, there was a chance that he was going there to see Sachiko-sama. Well, it felt like that was actually the most likely possibility.

Sachiko-sama had said she had things to attend to, and then went home early every day. Yumi hadn't even imagined that it was because she had an appointment with Kashiwagi-san.

"Hmmmm."

Yumi didn't know the answer. If Touko, who just gave this report, didn't know, then Yumi didn't know either. And if Yumi didn't know, then chances are no-one else here knew either. All they could do was look at each other and think about it, although that felt like a waste of time.

And then.

"Excuse me. I'm from the story-telling club – "

"I'm from the candy-making club – "

They had to deal with a steady stream of visitors like these, and didn't have any spare time to dwell on the matter.

Translator's Notes

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