Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume14 Chapter1 2

The First Step. Part 2

"It's like this," her brother said.

"At Hanadera high-school, the students are traditionally split into two camps."

"Two camps?"

"Right. The hard-liners and the slackers. The sports clubs and the athletics clubs. Genji and Heishi. Red and white. No matter what you call it, in general it comes down to the dumb jocks versus the weak nerds."

It was only after they left behind the JR lines at M station and got on board their bus at the south entrance that Yuuki finally started to explain the situation to his sister.

"But there's some people that are smart and good at sports too, right?"

They chatted quietly, sitting in the double-seater two rows from the back of the bus.

"I said in general, didn't I? Mostly it's based on what club activities you do."

In that case, choosing a club was an important decision that determined how their three years of high-school would play out. Something like that could easily keep a first-year awake at night worrying about it.

"What about you, Yuuki? You didn't join any clubs, did you?"

"I didn't. That was a mistake."

"Huh?"

"It means I'm neutral. One of the requirements of being the student council president."

The students were split right in two. So the student council had to avoid any bias towards one side or the other.

"Kashiwagi-san was – "

"He was the opposite of me. He joined a lot of clubs. Participating equally in both sports and cultural activities."

Now it made sense. Just from what Yumi knew, Kashiwagi-san did kendo and the tea ceremony, and he could even dance. But from what Yuuki said, it sounded like he was also involved in a number of other clubs. On top of that he was also smart enough to get an advance entry into Hanadera University, so he was the so-called "complete package." A super-man that could do anything.

"But there must be others besides you, right? Students not in a club, I mean."

Even if most of the students split into one of two groups, it seemed natural that some would choose neither.

"Only a few."

Yuuki's response indicated there were some.

"So it didn't absolutely have to be you then."

"Kashiwagi-sempai nominated me. A parting gift from him."

"It's decided by who the president nominates as their successor!?"

"Come off it. There's an election. It'd be the same with you, right Yumi?"

"Yeah, more or less."

In the case of Lillian's Girls Academy, the probability of the boutons being elevated to Roses was incredibly high. But even so, they still had the student council elections every year. That's right – this year they had someone other than the boutons nominate themselves, which caused quite an uproar.

"Although in my case, there were no other candidates."

Yuuki laughed self-deprecatingly.

The vice-president, Takada-kun, was with a sports club, the secretary, Alice, a cultural club, and the treasurer, Kobayashi-kun, was unaffiliated with any clubs just like Yuuki, which left the current student council in a pretty good state. They'd all probably been designated for those roles by the previous student council.

"Well, that's how it is, so we'll see how it goes."

As the bus reached their stop, Yuuki closed off their conversation and stood up.

"See how it goes, huh. Hold on a minute."

Yumi picked up her bag and followed her brother down the steps.

"Why did you hide this from me until now?"

She asked Yuuki's back once they were off the bus.

"I wasn't hiding it. I just didn't say anything."

Yuuki waited until Yumi caught up then resumed walking slowly. After they'd got off, the bus waited for some other passengers to get on before taking off and disappearing into the distance.

"It's the same thing. A while back, I asked you what sort of person the current Hanadera student president was. You dodged the question back then."

By saying something like, "You'll find out soon enough."

She'd been worried that the president might have been bullying Yuuki. Or making eyes at him.

When all the time, he'd been the student council president. Geez, what a fool she'd been.

"You couldn't tell your sister something that important? How pathetic am I? Do you even know what this feels like?"

Yuuki stopped when he heard Yumi's words.

"For that, I'm sorry. I knew it was wrong of me."

Like a wilting flower, Yuuki lowered his head. Yumi wouldn't criticize him any more, since she could tell he must have thought about it deeply.

"Why couldn't you just tell me from the start?"

"I couldn't tell you because you're my real sister. Because it's kind of pathetic, don't you think? I'm simply a figurehead, a president that's like a regular worker with no real power."

"Oh, really?"

"Does it look like I have any power?"

"It doesn't… you're right."

Yumi answered, after thinking back on the actions of the Hanadera members during their visit to Lillian's Girls Academy today.

"You didn't have to say it."

Yuuki smiled bitterly, then once again started to walk ahead of her.

As she watched her brother's back, Yumi thought, "But even so, if I was asked who other than Yuuki acted most presidential, there isn't a single person I would pick out as being the one."

"So tell me, Yuuki – "

"Mm?"

"Do you want to be like Kashiwagi-san?"

"Huh?"

Yuuki turned around and looked back at her with a deer in the headlights expression.

"You don't have to force it. What's wrong with being a student council president with no power? It doesn't really seem fitting for commoners like us to have power."

She didn't know under what circumstances Kashiwagi-san had nominated Yuuki, but she chose to interpret it as a vote of confidence in him. He should be proud of that.

The other students certainly wouldn't have wanted a copy of Kashiwagi Suguru. That's why they chose someone life-sized like Fukuzawa Yuuki.

Like with the play for last year's school festival, Yumi couldn't have played the same sort of Cinderella as Sachiko-sama. And Sachiko-sama couldn't play Yumi's Cinderella. It was probably something like that.

"… Really? You might be student council president some day too, Yumi."

"Maybe, but."

Before that, there was the election. Yumi didn't know whether or not she'd get the same vote of support as Yuuki.

There was no point in rushing that, it was still many months away. Either that, or she was determined to let nature take its course. Yumi herself didn't know. Maybe she'd be more excited when the time actually came.

They walked side-by-side in silence for a little while. Passing various houses on the left and right.

Old house, new house.

Big house, small house.

Weird house, house that looks like triplets.

Behind the hedges of one house, a fatherly looking man watered the garden plants with a hose. There was still the lingering scent of summer there.

Eventually their home appeared.

Their beloved home that their dad had designed. But despite this, someone else looking at it might see it as just another ordinary house.

"Yumi."

Yuuki said as they approached the entry together.

"Hm?"

What was he going to say?

"You've got strong."

But.

"Yeah right."

Yumi smiled, thinking it was some kind of joke, but Yuuki was completely serious as he continued.

"I feel kinda rushed."

Then he jogged off, through the front door and into the house, as though he didn't want to get left behind.

"What was that about?"

Why did he have to hurry?

Yuuki may not think it but she was his older sister, sort of. Yumi mumbled this to herself before the smell of dinner drew her into their home.