Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume28 Chapter10

The Awkward Princess

"I'm off."

I flew out of the classroom as soon as the fourth period class had ended.

"Ah. Hiromi-san, where are you going?"

"There's some stuff I've got to do. I'll skip lunch."

"Wait, I have no idea why you're in such a hurry, but at least put your seat back in its proper position."

My classmate grumbled. I heard her, but didn't turn back. Right. Like she said, currently I was in a hurry.

The only time I slowed down was when I passed one of the older teachers. But I don't think I was able to stop my ragged breathing. This morning, when I woke up and looked out the window, I was struck by a brilliant idea. What would her expression be when I told her?

"Oh, pardon me."

Turning the corner out of the corridor, I barely managed to avoid running into Takeshima Tsutako-san from the second-year pine class.

"No, it's my fault."

Not watching where I was going while breaking the speed limit. It's quite obvious who was at fault here, but that's the standard greeting when you suddenly come to a halt. I knew Tsutako-san from back in first-year, when we'd both been in the same class.

"Oh, you're off to have lunch somewhere?"

Tsutako-san asked, noticing the lunchbox I was carrying.

"Ahh, yeah."

In return, I dropped my gaze to look at what Tsutako-san held in her hands and, as usual, she was holding a compact camera. Tsutako-san was the self-styled 'Photography Club Ace' so she carried a camera everywhere, as though it were attached to her body.

"The weather's nice today."

Thinking that things could get problematic if the conversation went on for too long, I looked towards the first-year classrooms. At that precise moment, the flash went off.

"Kya."

I instinctively looked down, but Tsutako-san said:

"Sorry. But you had a nice look on your face."

"A nice look?"

That was unusual, so I questioned it. It was the first time that anyone had ever taken a surprise photo of me like that. Naturally, I'd had my photo taken countless times before now. Most of the time, it was because I requested it. There were times when I'd unknowingly had my photo taken, but that was usually when I was chatting with a group of people – and in those cases it wouldn't matter if it was me or somebody else in the photo.

"I can bring a copy around to your classroom if you'd like … Umm."

"It's wisteria group."

"Ah, right, right, wisteria group. The same one as Shimako-san."

After that Tsutako-san continued the general flow of the conversation and inquired about how things were with Toudou Shimako-san. I wasn't particularly interested in that, so I merely responded with, "Same as ever."

"Okay. Well, sorry for keeping you. I'll bring the photos around sometime soon."

"Ah, Tsutako-san."

"Yes?"

Tsutako-san was walking away when I called out to her, and she slowly turned to face me.

"Sometime soon I may ask you to take some photos for me."

"Oh my. Something's about to happen, huh."

"Is that okay?"

"Of course. Just let me know when."

My former classmate said, then left. I waved her goodbye, then resumed jogging down the hallway.

I moved with a spring in my step.

My target was the first-year camellia class. Home of the adorable Mickey.

"Mickey."

She was surrounded by a couple of classmates so I stood at the door and called out to her directly, not bothering to get someone else in the class to fetch her for me.

"Kan … no, Hiromi-sama."

Freeing herself from her classmates and rushing out into the corridor, Mickey was as short and skinny as ever.

"It's okay, you can still call me Kan-chan."

"No. Since you're a year older, it's only proper that I call you Hiromi-sama."

"You're strict."

As I said this I reached out to touch her tie but she pulled back with her face flushed. Perhaps she was conscious about being in public.

"Things are different to before."

"Nothing's changed though."

In the past, I'd often straighten her hair after it had been messed up by boys who were teasing her. Mickey had been even smaller than now and her fingers weren't as dexterous, so she'd come crying to me for help. I was the one who'd untangle the string when she got stuck playing cat's cradle. I was the one who'd open the juice box for her when we went out. And I was the one who'd close the folding umbrella for her.

"So what brings you here today?"

Mickey was looking back inside her classroom. It felt like one of the girls she had been talking to earlier was staring at us.

"Is that your lunch?"

I pointed at the small handbag that was hanging from a strap around her shoulder.

"Huh? … Yeah."

"Perfect. Bring that and let's go."

"Let's go? Where to?"

"Just follow me. We'll eat lunch outside today."

I grabbed hold of Mickey's hand and was walking off when I saw that classmate of hers walking over.

"Hold on, Sayuri-san. We're still in the middle of our conversation."

She had a stern look on her face. I stopped momentarily, turned to face her and emphatically stated:

"I'm borrowing Mickey for a while."

As expected, Mickey's classmate wasn't about to defy someone older than her and didn't pursue the matter further. Mickey looked momentarily troubled about being caught between us, but eventually followed me. I was pleased. Taking Mickey out of that stagnant classroom and into the fresh air had been the right decision.

When we reached the courtyard, I asked Mickey a question.

"What did I do?"

"Huh?"

"Your classmate, just before. She looked like she was mad about something."

At long last, Mickey smiled.

"Masami-san? That's her normal face."

"Really?"

"Yeah. That's how she always looks. So it's kind of sad that you thought she looked mad."

This seemed to have tickled her funny bone, as Mickey started to giggle. She then went on to say that she'd been in the same class as Masami-san all throughout middle-school and they were close friends.

"Is that it. I thought you were being bullied again."

"Not at all. Anyway, why don't we eat our lunch here? If we don't hurry, the lunch break will be over."

I spread out the plastic tarp and Mickey say down and opened her lunch box.

We were soon joined on the grass by a few more groups of people, all of whom probably had the same idea, and our elegant lunchtime began. It looked like most of the other groups thought this up on the spur of the moment, because we were one of the few to have a tarp. Even so, the other girls didn't give up, spreading about old newspapers and fliers they had acquired from somewhere. I heard a distant voice joke that their white socks would be stained by the newspaper ink.

Peace.

Even without Mickey's earlier refutation, the light and carefree traditions of Lillian's Girls Academy meant that bullying seldom occurred. That was probably why Mickey, often teased at school, had eschewed taking the entrance exam for our local public middle-school in favor of this private one.

Since I had been preparing to protect her during middle-school I was a bit worried when I first heard this, but now I could see that it had been the best choice for Mickey.

Suddenly, I felt the urge to ask her.

"Hey, what did you feel when you saw me at Lillian's?"

"Why do you ask?"

Mickey stopped eating and looked up at me.

"You were so shocked, I didn't ask you at the time."

It was in April, and the cherry blossoms were fluttering down. I spotted Mickey in front of the statue of Maria-sama and called out to her. When she turned around, she looked so surprised that it made me feel ashamed. Like she'd seen a ghost or something.

"Yeah, it really was a big surprise."

Mickey smiled.

"After all, I'd heard nothing from you since my family moved away. I never imagined that you'd be at Lillian's."

And then she'd seen someone she hadn't expected to be there. So to say she'd seen a ghost wouldn't be entirely incorrect.

"Anything other than surprise?"

I asked, looking straight into her eyes. Then Mickey got a slightly troubled look on her face.

"How to put this, it wasn't a single emotion. It was like a flood of memories came back to me all at once … Sorry I can't explain it any better."

"That's okay."

Because they were her honest feelings. Of course, if she'd said, "I was so happy since I never expected to see you," then that would have felt good too. But it wasn't like her to use such sweet words anyway.

"If there's ever anything bothering you, come and see me. I'll help you."

"I couldn't. I don't want to cause you any trouble."

"Don't worry about it. I'll just take this as an advance payment."

I took the last remaining sausage piece from Mickey's lunch box and popped it into my mouth.

"There's nothing bothering me."

Mickey closed her lunchbox, put her chopsticks back in their holder and smiled.

"But when there is, talk to me."

"Yeah. When there is."

Ten minutes before the start of the fifth period, I rolled up the plastic tarp and escorted Mickey back to her first-year camellia group classroom.

* * *

Two days later, I heard Mickey's name spoken by someone completely unexpected.

"Hiromi-san. Ahh, about that first-year student you're often with."

Toudou Shimako-san called out to me just as I was about to head home for the day.

"You mean Mickey?"

"Mickey … ? Ahh, yes. Her name is indeed Miike-san. Is she your petit soeur?"

"We're not soeurs."

I mentally added, "For now, anyway," then challenged Shimako-san.

"Why do you ask?"

Petit soeur.

The question itself wasn't that unusual.

Whenever I'd walk alongside Mickey, my classmates would innocently pepper us with that question.

And every time we were asked, I'd deny it by saying, "We're not soeurs," just like I had done with Shimako-san. I felt that we would become soeurs at some point, but I hadn't yet presented her with a rosary.

It had only been a month since the school opening ceremony. There was no rush. That's what I thought.

The reason I followed up the, "We're not soeurs," response with a, "Why?" was probably because Shimako-san had been the one asking.

Shimako-san came across as fairly aloof, someone who wasn't interested in the high-school equivalent of celebrity gossip – which two students had become soeurs, or which soeurs were currently quarreling, that kind of thing.

"There's something I'm a bit worried about. Although I don't mean to intrude."

Shimako-san said, haltingly. She prefaced what came next by saying this was something she'd heard from a first-year whose acquaintance she'd recently made.

"Two days ago, Miike Sayuri-san ate lunch outside accompanied by an older student. Were you the one who invited her, Hiromi-san?"

"Huh? Yeah."

"After that … Sayuri-san was late for her fifth-period class. Were you aware of that?"

"Huh?"

I couldn't believe my ears.

"That's not true. I walked her back to her classroom. Then I made it back to class before the bell rang for the start of lesson."

I smiled, rebuffing the foolish accusation. But Shimako-san silenced me with a glance.

"The class she was late for was PE."

"Huh?"

"So even if she was back at her classroom before the bell rang, she may not have made it to class on time."

"No way."

I felt my legs starting to give way and reached out for the nearest desk. I couldn't say whether all the blood rushed to my head, or I'd gone pale. My mind went completely blank.

"Why didn't she tell me?"

I mumbled. The question wasn't aimed at anyone in particular, but from beside me Shimako-san provided an honest answer.

"Perhaps she couldn't tell you."

"She couldn't tell me?"

This time around I was questioning Shimako-san.

"So you see."

Shimako-san didn't come out and say it directly, but her eyes said, "That's the problem."

The problem was that Mickey couldn't clearly convey her thoughts to me. And that I hadn't recognized this.

Which was why Shimako-san had involved herself, conveying Mickey's thoughts to me. I needed to start focusing on that problem more.

That was probably true. However.

"Thanks for the advice."

I forced a smile then added one more thing.

"But, Shimako-san. Wouldn't it be better to think about yourself before worrying about other people?"

In truth, I didn't want to say this. I was truly grateful for what Shimako-san had done. But I didn't like to show my weaknesses to anyone. That barb was said out of self-defense more than anything else.

"… I suppose."

Shimako-san nodded slightly, then left the classroom. I waited until she was out of sight before I too left.

Why hadn't Mickey told me?

That question filled my thoughts as I walked down the hallway.

She could have simply forgotten that her fifth-period class was PE. She could be a bit absentminded from time to time. It could have just slipped her mind while she was enjoying herself.

But then why hadn't she told me that she'd been late. I'd seen her a couple of times after that. But she hadn't said a word about it, neither yesterday nor this morning.

Was she acting reserved? I considered this, but quickly discarded it.

Given our relationship, why would she be reserved? It was unthinkable.

But.

What if a distance of four years resulted in a corresponding distance between two people's hearts.

I walked aimlessly. I thought better when my body was moving than when it's sitting still.

I reached the end of the hallway and walked out the entrance.

As I walked alongside the school building, I thought, "Even so."

Even so. Lillian's school traditions fostered a strict seniority based system. Since Mickey was younger than me, perhaps she thought that she couldn't talk to me about being late to class.

That couldn't be it. Like the Yellow Rose sisters, Hasekura Rei-sama and Shimazu Yoshino-san, there was no barrier of seniority between us.

Or take the Red Rose sisters. Hadn't Fukuzawa Yumi-san disagreed with her onee-sama about the location of the red card in the greenhouse?

Wasn't that the kind of relationship we had? Or was there something different between them and us?

Was it because we weren't soeurs?

Mickey appeared in front of me just as that question popped into my mind.

"Gokigenyou. Is something the matter?"

Mickey placed the empty trash bin she was carrying on the ground and looked curiously at me. The location I had arrived at was the school's bin site, an unnatural place to be when empty-handed.

"I was just thinking about things, and before I knew it I was here."

I couldn't come up with a better explanation quickly, so spoke the truth.

"Thinking about things?"

"Yeah."

Mickey didn't ask what I'd been thinking about. If she had asked, I probably would have told her everything.

"Hiromi-sama?"

But since I hadn't been given that opening, there was no way I could release those withheld feelings.

Even without an opening, you're better off saying what you want to say. In my head, I knew that. Still –

There were matters of tactfulness and restraint to consider too.

So then, how should I remove this barrier that existed between us?

"Mickey."

I untied one of the ribbons that hung down beneath Mickey's ears.

"Can I have this?"

"Huh?"

"Please. It's important."

I tied the ribbon around my own hair, which was just barely long enough.

"And can you make time for me tomorrow afternoon, after school?"

"Oh?"

"There's something I want to talk to you about."

"… Okay."

"Alright, I'll come by your classroom once I've finished cleaning."

I broke into a run on the way back.

The ribbon, my good luck charm, fluttered in the breeze.

Previously, I'd seen Sachiko-sama take one of Yumi's ribbons and tie it in her own hair.

Perhaps I wanted the ribbon to lend me some of that courage.

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