Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume9 Chapter4 4

Rosary or Juzu. Part 4.

" – Then, this morning, there were paperclips in my indoor shoes."

"Paperclips?"

Hearing Noriko's grumbling, Shimako-san tilted her head slightly in confusion. As busy as Rosa Gigantea was, she had still appeared, lunch box in hand, at the back of the auditorium at lunch time, just as she'd promised.

"Yeah, paperclips. Normally if they were going to do that, it'd be thumbtacks, right?"

"They'd put thumbtacks in your indoor shoes?"

Shimako-san frowned, "That sounds painful." Then, as she picked up a slice of rolled omelet, she said softly, "Why would they do something like that, I wonder."

" – Shimako-san, you don't read girls manga, do you? Putting thumbtacks in indoor shoes or ballet shoes is a standard form of harassment."

"Really?"

" … Although that sort of manga has been on the decline recently."

Even so, there were a lot of reprints lately.

In Noriko's case, rather than spending her allowance on manga books, she slowly saved it up to go towards her photo-albums of Buddhist statues, so she hadn't spent her own money to learn this. She'd gained this knowledge by reading absolutely all of her older cousin's old comic books when she was visiting them. So it was some distance removed from recent manga.

"But that's getting off topic."

An explanation would take up the rest of their lunch break, so Noriko set the discussion about girls manga to one side for now.

The bookshelves in Shimako-san's room probably wouldn't contain girls manga, and definitely wouldn't contain photo-albums of Buddhist statues.

"But it was a paperclip, right?"

"That's right."

They had paperclips in them, but if she'd found them in the bin then that would have been a far more effective form of harassment. No matter how Noriko looked at it, the treatment she was getting was way too half-hearted. She couldn't even begin to fathom the state of mind of whoever perpetrated these acts.

"Do you think they could have got into your indoor shoes accidentally?"

"A 5cm paper clip accidentally getting in there? One in each shoe?"

"I suppose you're right. But why would anyone be teasing you, Noriko?"

"…"

Noriko silently took a bite of her sandwich.

There was no way that the girl in front of her would be thinking about how popular she was, and that others might be jealous of Noriko being around her.

"Ah, on top of that, Touko-san hadn't been speaking to me ever since the conversation about the rosary."

She couldn't hold it in any longer. Even though Noriko would have preferred it if school was just a place for her to learn. Why did she have to think about all this other stuff?

" … Rosary? Ah, that reminds me."

Shimako-san closed the lid of her empty lunch box, then pulled something out of her pocket saying, "Before I forget."

"Here you go."

She was holding out a small cloth bag.

"?"

"Don't you remember? I asked you to come here so I could give you this, right?"

"Ah."

The juzu. Because it was in an usual casing, she hadn't recognized it immediately.

"Don't open it here."

Shimako-san's hand stopped the movement of Noriko's fingers.

"It would be an affront to Maria-sama. When you get home, you can take your time looking at it. If you like it, you can keep it for a while."

"… Are you sure that's okay?"

"I don't have your eyes for these things, Noriko. More importantly, you were saying something about a rosary just before. What was that all about?"

( … wait, she was actually listening?)

"About that."

Noriko summarized the events of yesterday, and Shimako-san responded with the slightly off-base question, "Do you want my rosary?"

"I don't mind."

"I wouldn't hesitate to give it to you. But is it something that you really need right now?"

"… Yeah, I understand."

Noriko nodded, stood up and folded up the handkerchief she'd been sitting on.

Even without the rosary, she'd still be able to meet Shimako-san like this. They'd still be able to talk.

(But.)

The truth was, somewhere deep in her heart, she felt a sense of disappointment.

(What would Shimako-san have to say to me, for me to be satisfied – ?)

Did she want some proof that she alone was special?

(So then maybe what I do want most of all is for Shimako-san to give me her rosary.)

Just then, Noriko had a realization.

That what she wanted was simply to understand Shimako-san's heart.

* * *

When she returned to the classroom, a picture of Doraemon had been drawn in chalk on her desk.

The girl who sat beside her still hadn't returned yet, and looking around the classroom everyone was either chatting or busy getting ready for the next class. No-one seemed to be paying any attention to the graffiti on her desk.

Giving up on tracking down the perpetrator, Noriko once more looked at her desk.

"It's so well done it's a shame to rub it out… "

At present, no real harm had been done. There was an innocence to the pranks. That was why.

(Maybe it's not going to escalate.)

That was the sort of feeling she had, for no particular reason. That it was just a bit of messing around.

But those were naïve thoughts.

Even if they were unavoidable.

At that time, neither Noriko nor Shimako-san knew that someone had witnessed the hand-over of the pouch at the rear of the auditorium.