Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume21 Chapter2.1
Panic Attack! Part 1.
Sunday morning: a bit before 10 o'clock. Yoshino, who had almost completed her preparations for going, heard the sound of a car pulling up in front of her home. (Is that a package delivery service?) But given that it wasn't a truck she'd heard… When she casually looked outside through the second story window, a black limousine was stopped there. (Ugh. What is this?)
In the blink of an eye, the driver had gotten out of the car and pushed the intercom button. DING-DONG. Although it rang a ways off, she could still hear it; that intercom didn't go to the Shimazu residence. The driver had business elsewhere. Simply put, this was a duplex house. In addition to the Shimazu family, at this time, the Hasekura household shared this building.
"Father, Mother. That was Rei-chan's house just now..." Yoshino said while noisily descending the stairs. Her parents were relaxing in the living room. As she observed this, she tried to convey to them what she had just seen.
"Ah, that's right. As expected, Yanaka-san is definitely being considerate," her mother said while sipping tea. She nodded understanding.
"What? Sending a limousine is being considerate?" At which point, her father looked up from the Sunday edition of the newspaper and said something totally irrelevant.
"Maybe Yoshino doesn't know but, Yanaka-ojiisan is considered to be wealthy. He was probably able to call in a favor for the hired car." So it seems. Indeed, since she hadn't met Yanaka-san before, she didn't realize he was rich. In appearance he was a non-descript ordinary old man. Ignoring this for the time being…
"Mother, did you say he was being considerate to her just now?" Letting the matter of Father's judgment go unsettled, Yoshino decided to instead focus on Mother's question.
"Yes, I did."
"Why is Yanaka-ojiisan is attending to Rei-chan and Uncle like that?"
"He's going to ask Rei-chan for a big favor… probably."
"A big favor... huh? Like what?" Why was she avoiding the real issue? Yoshino shook her mother's shoulders.
"Hey! Settle down. You haven't heard? Why did you wait until this late hour?" Her mother asked while being severely shaken.
"I haven't heard, what?" Yoshino let go of her mother's shoulders and asked. What's going on?
"Rei-chan told you about her plans for today. That was probably on Wednesday or Thursday night." Her poor daughter's shaking her in order to make her remember, had caused her mother to lose her memory. With all her might, she tried to explain.
"You sat next to Rei-chan in this sofa. I was walking back and forth, in and out of the room, so I missed some parts. But even still, I understood her perfectly."
"It's a relief that you were able to remember." Yoshino showed the palms of her hands to her mother, making an "it's all right" gesture. She had been sitting next to Rei-chan on this sofa. And then, Rei-chan had spoken... This Sunday, Yanaka-san was going to be treating her to lunch. That was as much as she'd heard.
From there, how had a black limo come to be involved? That had definitely not been covered. And this point about "asking Rei-chan for a big favor"…? When asked if she wanted to join them in eating lunch together, had she said it would be impossible? When Yanaka-ojiisan-san got into a deep conversation, it would drag on indefinitely. And anyway, at the time it had seemed like that person would be eating lunch at Rei-chan's house. Still, if he was a close relation, then dining out was harmless, right?
Would this favor keep Rei-chan absent home from school? She remembered that it meant Rei-chan had been forced to cancel a previous appointment. Though she hadn't heard about any specific arrangements.
Given that he had been the one to make the invitation, likely Yanaka-san would be footing the bill. Why in the world hadn't Rei-chan's refused?
"…Yoshino." Her mother and father exchanged glances. Then they looked at Yoshino dubiously.
"Is it true that you really don't know, or..."
"I really don't know." Rather, she had failed to hear it. It seemed that only the essential keywords had been completely missed. While staring at their only daughter with an expression of pity, the Shimazu parents spoke.
"Today Rei-chan is having an Omiai*..." was stated.
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