Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume28 Chapter4 1

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"Waaaaaah"

I was idly watching the young girl as she ran away, crying, towards the school buildings when a voice suddenly called out to me from behind.

"I know I'm just repeating Akiko-san, but you're despicable."

Emerging from the bushes with a rustling sound was my classmate, Tanuma Chisato-san.

"I am?"

I laughed. I had no idea that somebody had overhead our conversation. Even if I had known, it probably wouldn't have stopped me from making her cry. What was her name? … right, Akiko-san.

"I dropped my hair-clip somewhere around here during lunch, then had to wait until after school to look for it. Then you and Akiko-san came along and started your heart-to-heart talk, so I had to stay hidden until it was over."

Chisato-san briefly explained how she happened to be there. I knew she wouldn't have been intentionally eavesdropping anyway.

"So, found your hair-clip?"

Chisato-san responded to my question by shaking her head and saying, "Not yet."

"Then I'll help you look for it."

"It's okay, you don't have to."

"Oh, do you feel the same way? That Tatsunami Mayu – "

"Is someone I have to watch out for?"

Chisato-san snorted derisively.

"I don't have an onee-sama, so there's no reason for me to watch out for you."

"Fair enough."

The rumor going around was that I meddled catastrophically in other soeurs' relationships, and was therefore someone to watch out for.

"Hey, hey, which part of me is despicable?"

Ignoring her initial refusal of my offer to help, I followed Chisato-san's lead and poked around the base of the shrubs and the grassy areas.

"The way you find someone's sore points and open up those wounds. If you keep doing that, you'll end up with no friends at all."

Beaten down by my persistent shadowing of her, Chisato-san relented and allowed me to assist her.

"You know, it's strange. I've heard that advice before, but it sounds more persuasive coming from you, Chisato-san. Because I'm not feeling any resentment. Instead, I'm feeling the love."

I placed my hand over my heart and smiled. Chisato-san looked shocked as she said:

"There's no love whatsoever."

It was only since the beginning of high-school that I had grown close to Chisato-san. Tatsunami and Tanuma in the same class. Opportunities to interact arose from sitting one row apart.

"The sun's setting, so I wonder if I should just come back and search for it tomorrow morning."

Chisato-san muttered, intermixed with sighs. Of the straight hair that hung down to her shoulders, the only part that faintly curled was where the hair-clip had been attached this morning.

"So, Chisato-san, why were you walking around here during lunch?"

It was the middle of February. Even when the weather was fine it wasn't the season to be eating lunch out in the courtyard.

"Well, you see."

Chisato-san hesitated for a moment, before answering.

"This morning, from inside the school building, I saw Hasekura Rei-sama walking around down here."

"Rei-sama … ?"

What came gushing out of Chisato-san's mouth was the name of the second-year student who was called Rosa Foetia en bouton within the high school. She enjoyed immense popularity with the first-years due to her boyish looks, and Chisato-san was one of her ardent fans.

"I thought she might have been scouting out locations for the treasure hunt."

The boutons of Rosa Chinensis, Rosa Gigantea, and Rosa Foetida had agreed to take part in a treasure hunt event to be held on the upcoming Valentine's Day. Whoever found the card that a bouton had hidden would win a half-day date with that bouton.

"Scouting? That seems wrong, don't you think?"

Chisato-san agreed with my opinion.

"I know. There's no way she'd do something so brazen."

Even though she knew this, Chisato-san couldn't help but walk over the same ground.

"Did you give Rei-sama chocolates?"

Still squatting on the ground, I turned my gaze towards the grass.

The vigor of summer had departed. There were still plenty of plants in the area, rooted firmly to the ground and untouched by the harsh winter, although most of them would probably be called weeds.

"And you, Mayu-san? It's your first Valentine's Day in high-school."

Chisato-san turned the question back on me.

"Indeed it is."

I plucked a single stem of clover that was growing near my feet, snapping it off close to the ground.

"If I gave someone else's onee-sama chocolates, I don't think it would end with them just calling me out to the courtyard after school and berating me."

"What about your initial onee-sama … Motoyama Sakae-sama?"

Chisato-san said, somewhat hesitantly.

"And what, reconcile now after having said farewell to her? It's not like I'm Yoshino-san … ah, sorry."

Seeing Chisato-san's face go stiff, I put my hand over my mouth. Yoshino-san was the petit soeur of her beloved Rei-sama.

"It's okay. I'm just fed up with the whole Yellow Rose Revolution."

Chisato-san stood up and stretched. Then, rather than condemning me, she asked me a question, as though she were only trying to find an answer.

"Mayu-san, why are you always doing that sort of thing?"

That sort of thing. – She must be referring to how I was constantly trying to get close to second-year students that already had a petit soeur.

"That's probably because I'm a three-leaf clover, I guess."

I laughed, then threw the clover I held in my hand as far away as I could.