Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume5 Chapter5 9
St. Valentine's prank. Part 9.
When they'd arrived at the school buildings, they found themselves a part of a pack of students that dwindled as they split off in ones and twos to retrieve their belongings from their classrooms. In the end, only Minako-sama, Sachiko-sama, and Yumi remained.
Yumi actually needed to have gone to her own classroom to get her bag, her coat, and the important chocolate, but she'd ended up following Sachiko-sama.
"Umm, I'll be right back. Could you wait for me at the Mansion? I'll be really fast."
"Of course. No need to hurry."
With Sachiko-sama's permission, she went straight to her classroom. It was usually lonesome in the school buildings after school, but because there were so many who'd stayed behind for the treasure hunt, lights were on everywhere, and so it wasn't that bad.
The lights in the first-year peach class were on, too.
Yumi walked in, expecting Tsutako-san, but she found Shimako-san instead. She turned around in surprise and froze.
"I'm sorry, I surprised you again."
"… Indeed. Yumi-san, you surprised me so much this morning, too. –Yes, this morning…"
Shimako-san ran to Yumi and asked, "Do you know anything about it?"
"W, what?"
"A pink- nevermind."
She started, and then stopped herself.
"Yumi-san wouldn't know, I'm sorry."
"What do you mean?"
"Don't worry about it."
She looked gloomy as she turned her back to Yumi and closed her locker.
"Are you looking for something?"
"Yes… I am."
But she wasn't expounding. She drifted to her desk, double-checked that there was nothing hanging off the hook at its side, and sighed.
"Shimako-san, where's your bag? Is it at the Rose Mansion?"
"… Rose Mansion. Yes, it must be the Rose Mansion. That's the only place it can be."
She'd probably left it there herself, but Shimako-san only vaguely confirmed where her bag was.
"The treasure hunt was quite the event wasn't it?"
"… Yes."
"Sachiko-sama's card is being raffled. Of course, without the dating ticket. Maybe I'll throw my name in."
"Is that so."
"Still, I was surprised by Shizuka-sama."
"Huh? … Oh, yes, a surprise."
Yumi gave up talking to Shimako-sama. She'd tried raising topics since they'd left the classroom, but Shimako-san was completely out of it.
Furthermore she was mumbling to herself, "I was so careless," every now and then. She figured she'd only get another absent-minded answer, but Yumi asked anyways. "What were you careless about?" But she received an unexpectedly clear answer.
"I didn't think that was part of the treasure hunt."
"That?"
"The first-floor storage room. For some reason I thought it was out of bounds. So I-"
She answered, but she was still being unclear. Still, Yumi tried to figure things out with what little information she had.
"So Shimako-san is looking for something that was placed in that room? And so you're panicking because it wasn't there?"
"Yes."
"Mmm."
And that's why she was at the classroom. Because she hoped she might have remembered wrongly. Something that should be somewhere wasn't, so maybe it would be where it wasn't supposed to be. Today was a mysterious day like that. Maybe it was Valentine's prank.
"But, even if they'd gone there for the treasure hunt, they wouldn't take someone else's stuff, would they?"
"I'd like to think so…"
But there was no name on it, and it looked ambiguous… Shimako-san went off mumbling things like she was hosting a quiz show. And then they arrived at the Rose Mansion.
"Wow, Yumi-chan."
The moment they opened the door, Rosa Gigantea jumped out and latched onto Yumi, like she'd been lying in ambush.
"W, wait a second."
She was so clueless!
How could she go hugging with Shimako-san watching? Well, not that it was any better when Shimako-san wasn't watching…
"I held myself because there were too many people before. So I was waiting to thank Yumi-chan for chocolate."
"Chocolate?"
Shimako-san tilted her head.
"Yumi-san, did you give onee-sama chocolate?"
"Huh? No."
She hadn't had the composure to do so today. She was still needing to hand the chocolate to Sachiko-sama, so she'd never even thought of tracking down Rosa Gigantea.
"Come come, stop kidding. Shizuka just gave me chocolate directly, so it must have been Yumi-chan."
She wondered if this was a new way of begging. Was Rosa Gigantea that desperate for chocolate?
"Here."
Yumi took a box from her bag and gave it to Rosa Gigantea.
Well, if she was being begged, she was somewhat forced to comply.
Even though it was the brown box with ten really bad chocolate truffles. She was ecstatic over receiving chocolate from Shizuka-sama so it wasn't Yumi's care, though. It wasn't good, but it wasn't toxic, so she wouldn't upset her stomach over them.
"Shimako-san, this is courtesy chocolate, so don't mind it."
"Y… yes."
As she nodded, Shimako-san looked confused. But Rosa Gigantea, who'd accepted the chocolate…
Looked even more confused.
"… Wait, so it wasn't Yumi-chan?"
"Huh?"
"Uh oh, I ate it. Because I thought it was from Yumi-chan."
Now Rosa Gigantea began blubbering inexplicably.
"Yumi-chan pointed with her eyes, and it totally looked like it was meant for me."
That's when Yumi realized it. Shimako-san probably realized it, too. But she wasn't saying anything, so Yumi spoke up for her.
"Was that wrapped in pink wrapping paper?"
"It wasn't pink wrapping paper, it was a pink paper bag. With a white rose pattern."
Meant for her because of the white rose pattern… that might be a thought process Rosa Gigantea would have to revise. Because there were plenty of things with white rose patterns in the world. Of course in this case it was fortunate it really was meant for her.
"Was it good?"
"Yep. It looked like a beginner made it, and it was a bit deformed. But it was a really good marble cake. Wait, why?"
Was it Yumi-chan after all? Rosa Gigantea seemed to wonder, and that's when Yumi plucked the box of truffles out of Rosa Gigantea's hand.
"Ah, why?"
"You shouldn't eat something this agonizing after eating something that good."
Then, saying, "Congratulations," to a blushing Shimako-san, Yumi left, rhythmically climbing the stairs.
She probably deduced correctly. That "really good marble cake" was what Shimako-san was looking for.
She climbed the stairs.
Sachiko-sama was waiting on the second floor.
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