Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume34 Chapter2

Chinami-san and me

I worked so hard to get into high school, but I failed miserably right from the start.

Free from studying for entrance exams and of course with no homework, I was enjoying the spring break, spending every day hanging out with my friends from middle school. But then I caught influenza, which I must have gotten somewhere during that time, and was absent from school from the first day.

The entrance ceremony was a chance to meet my classmates with whom I would be studying in the same classroom for the next year, and I wanted to attend even if I had to crawl, but my mother persuaded me to give up, saying that it would be a shame to spread the disease to my classmates with whom I would be studying in the same classroom for the next year.

I wouldn’t be able to bear the thought of being treated like a pathogen for a year because of that, and I wouldn’t like being given a strange nickname like “Influenza-san”.

So when I recovered and tried on the black uniform I had always wanted and went to school, I was shocked to find the student sitting next to me was missing. Of course, my virus didn’t spread.

“Chinami-san has gone overseas for treatment. I was keeping this for Terasu-san and was told to give it to her when she comes back”.

My classmate handed me a notebook.

Thanks to the injections and medicine, the high fever from the flu went down in about three days, but my family doctor, who had been taking care of me since I was a child, was slow to prescribe me medicine, and it was already ten days after the entrance ceremony that I went to school for the first time. Meanwhile, the orientation was over and the classes had already started.

Apparently, the kind person sitting next to me, Hibino Chinami-san, had made the notebook for me. In the notebook, information about all the subjects taught was written down. It wasn’t filled with only study-related material; it was fun and included pages with teachers’ self-introductions and, in some cases, even caricatures.

“I’m really glad you came to school today, Terasu-san. Chinami-san asked me to continue this, but I’m not as good at writing or drawing as Chinami-san”.

Hiroe-san, sitting in front of me, who must have opened the notebook and looked inside, added with a laugh.

**

My classmates warmly welcomed me back even though I was absent.

Of course, at Lillian Girls’ Academy, a prestigious school for rich girls, not a single student would call me by a silly nickname like “Influenza-san”. Actually, no one here has a nickname. If you are in the same year, it is a standard to call them by their first name with the “san” honorific.

Now, I received the notebook and decided to continue the work that my classmates had been asked to do by Chinami-san.

Maybe, since I am attending classes now, it is no longer necessary? What are you talking about? Starting today, this notebook will become a notebook for Chinami-san, who is currently absent.

“May I help you?”

Some people from my class asked me, but I told them “It’s okay”. After all, Chinami-san made the notebook for me by herself, so there was no reason why I couldn’t do it, and more than anything, I wanted to do it by myself.

Because it seemed like it was my turn to sit there. This is like an exchange diary between me and Chinami-san. Although we haven’t met yet, Chinami-san is my first friend from high school.

As I was filling the notebook, I imagined all sorts of things about Chinami-san.

“Chinami-san? Yes. She has short hair and a round face. But she is thin and has thin limbs. Her skin looked pale, but now that I think about it, maybe she was sick and had a bad complexion. Also, she has a yaeba .”

When I asked, Hiroshi-san told me that. She has a round face, is thin, has a pale complexion, short hair, and has a yaeba – even having these fragmentary features, it is still difficult to create an image of the girl. If anything, it would be easier to imagine her by learning what celebrity she resembles. Hiroshi-san seemed to be unable to come up with any good ideas.

“If I had to say, she looks like my cousin.”

“…………”

Unfortunately, I have never met Hiroe’s cousin, and I don’t think I will have the chance to meet her in the future either.

“Quiet and elegant, serious and reliable.”

This was clear from the neatly written letters in the notebook. And, if I may, the illustrations are great too.

The comical illustration titled “Terasu-san’s imagined image” drawn in the margin of the notebook was several times cuter than me, but the arrangement of her hairstyle and facial features was exquisite, and the overall impression was very similar to me, considering it was drawn from imagination.

***

“Terasu-san. Would you like to join us?”

As I was about to leave the classroom with my lunch in hand, a classmate called out to me.

“Thank you. However, the weather is nice today, so…”

I wanted to eat outside, so I waved and walked out into the hallway.

It’s not like I really wanted to eat outside. It feels nice to eat lunch in the sun this time of year, but just being outside means there are bugs and the wind brings in dirt and small leaves.

And the answer to “would you like to join us?” should be “Yes” or “No”. “The weather is nice today, so I can’t eat with you guys” is a strange response. There is no way to be sure that the girls who invited me won’t eat outside. There is also the option of eating the lunch together outside.

“Is that so? Okay, see you later.”

My classmates didn’t force me. And after a while they would probably ask me, “Would you like to join us?”

I was often alone.

Ten days after the entrance ceremony, the class committee was decided, students ate lunch together, and students in the same clubs got together, so the friendship groups were pretty much already formed. Because of this I was a late starter and was unable to find my place or position, so I just drifted around the classroom.

By some prank from God, my last name is Watanuki and my attendance number is last. If we had to pair up in order of the list, Chinami-san was absent and the class size was odd, so I was the “extra one”.

(Ah~. Why can’t Chinami-san come back to school sooner)

I was thinking this during a boring class with not much writing on the board, and just as I was sighing, a voice reached me at the exact same time.

“Did you call me?”

If I get a reply to these thoughts in my heart, even if it’s a coincidence, I’d be like, “What’s that?” So before I could even think about such reasoning, I turned my head in the direction of the voice.

Of course, there was no one in the empty seat to my right.

I gave a wry smile and went back to my boring class. An old teacher is writing out mathematical formulae with a piece of chalk. Copy it into your notebook first.

There is no way it’s Chinami-san. Her teacher had just told her this morning that the surgery she had overseas was successful and that she would be back in two weeks.

However, just as I was convincing myself that I had probably just been hearing things, the same voice came again.

“Are you ignoring me?”

This time I heard it more clearly. I looked around Chinami-san’s seat. However, no one in front of me or to my right (our seats are in the last row, and the left seat is mine) turned towards me and showed me, “I was the one who spoke up just now”. On the contrary, it seems that no one even noticed the obvious “Are you ignoring me?”

What does it mean? Then.

“That’s right. I am speaking so that only Terasu-san can hear”.

Who is?

“Here, here”.

Going “koko-koko”, is that a chicken?

Judging by the way they were waving their hand, they were definitely the person who had been speaking to me for a while now.

(…………)

No, I wonder if it is okay to call them a person.

Sitting on Chinami-san’s chair and looking towards me was a light green, spherical object that at first glance appeared to be about the size of a summer mandarin orange. It had large eyes with little pupils, and a large mouth with jaggered teeth like a carnivorous dinosaur, and thin, short arms and legs. The hair was just sitting there like a tomato stem.

“Uh…”

It looked like something you might see for a mascot for a local government or event, but, honestly, I wouldn’t call it cute.

(Chinami-san……?)

I seemed to ask in my mind. The reason I thought so was because that was definitely Chinami-san’s seat, and I was thinking about her earlier when she responded with “Did you call me?” From the preceding interactions I knew I could convey my feelings without saying anything.

“Hmm, well, yeah”.

A vague reply came from the mouth of the pale green sphere. Since I asked if it was Chinami-san, the answer should have been a YES or a NO.

So for now I’ve decided to call her “Chinami-san”. To distinguish her from “Chinami-san” I’ve decided to refer to her in katakana.

It was lunchtime, so I went outside with Chinami-san in my right hand and my lunchbox in my left. The courtyard was too crowded, so today I went out to the grounds.

“Hey, Chinami-san.”

Even when I spoke to her, Chinami-san didn’t reply. She just ran around the slope of the bank that rose up all around the track, yelling.

When I gave up and started eating my lunch, she suddenly climbed onto my shoulder and started watching my chopsticks move. It’s a little heavy, but I endure and continue eating my lunch. Chinami-san came close to me, so it would be bad if I let her go. When I put it like that, it sounds like I’m talking about a firefly that has finally landed on a branch in front of me, but that’s how I really feel.

However, Chinami-san didn’t leave even after lunch break ended. Sitting on Chinami-san’s chair, pretending to listen to the lecture. I continued taking notes for both of us, occasionally glancing sideways. If Chinami-san was Chinami-san, I wouldn’t have had to continue writing her notebook, but it must be extremely difficult for her to hold a mechanical pencil in her small, slender hands.