Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume24 Chapter5

First Year Camellia Class is Normal

Part 1

"Like – I – said."

Yoshino-san said, with a bit of bite.

"Even if you were spacing out during the information session, it's all written on the printout. You'd know if you read the series of events for the election. If you read it. Here!"

Lunch time in the Rose Mansion. Tapping on the document she held in her hand.

"Election Announcement, Candidate Registration … "

Feeling a bit like she was being pushed, Yumi read aloud the section indicated. She was better off going with the flow here.

"… Candidate Speeches, Election Day … that's all."

There was a reason that Yoshino-san's attack was focussed on Yumi alone. Shimako-san had answered Yoshino-san's questions properly, plus Yoshino-san already understood exactly what would be happening next. Even Noriko-chan, who wasn't directly involved in the election, seemed to know. Yumi was a potential candidate, so why was she so inattentive?

"Right. And today's the first day of candidate registration. So, let's go."

Yoshino-san had been on her feet the moment she put her lunch box back in the carry bag that Rei-sama had made for her.

"Go? Where?"

"What are you asking? To the Electoral Committee Office. Now you're going to ask me where that is, aren't you?"

" … It's next to the staff room."

"Wonderful. And what are we going to do there?"

"… Register as candidates?"

"Why was there a question mark at the end of that sentence? It's a statement about yourself. Yumi-san, you need to be more self-aware."

The printout was brought down on her head a couple of times. Yumi thought that in the past Yoshino-san would have held back more, but recently she'd been showing no restraint, like when she faced off against Rei-sama. But it was 3 pieces of A4 paper so it didn't hurt.

"But, you know."

Yumi said, fending off the printout.

"We don't have to register on the first day."

"Wha~t."

Yoshino-san opened her eyes wide with feigned surprise.

"Well, like, last year, Shimako-san cut it really really close, leaving it to the last hour."

Their gaze turned to Shimako-san, who smiled and said, "That's also an option." But she didn't seem to be doing that this year. She was getting ready to stand up and go with Yoshino-san to the Electoral Committee's office.

"Back then, Shimako-san hesitated because she had all sorts of doubts. So then, if I have some doubts – "

Shimako-san's doubts were due to her being a first-year, and wondering whether the second-year Rosa Canina would be more fitting, and other such internal conflicts. At the time, she was also keeping secret the fact that her family ran a temple.

"Well then, Yumi-san, can you tell us these doubts of yours that rival Shimako-san's?"

Yoshino-san pressed her for an answer, saying, "Come on, come on."

"Uh."

"Is the current Rosa Chinensis en bouton and second-year Yumi-san less fitting as a Rose than the mere first-year Touko-chan?"

"That's not what I said."

"Are you nervous because you're going to be leaving Lillian's in the near future?"

"No, that's not it either."

Yumi recoiled as she answered, then Yoshino-san grinned like she was pulling out her trump card.

"In the past you told me, Yumi-san, that we should be Roses. Have you forgotten that promise?"

"Huh? Wasn't it that we should be good friends, like the Roses?"

"Same thing."

Yumi thought that there was a little, no, a huge difference between being a Rose, and being a good friend like the Roses.

"Speaking of which, didn't you say that we'd be friends regardless of my title, Yoshino-san?"

"Did I say that?"

She had. It was during the rainy season, when Yumi's relationship with Sachiko-sama was strained and she was keeping her distance from the Rose Mansion.

But Yoshino-san was playing dumb because it was inconvenient to her. In truth, she should remember it.

"So, what? You're saying you're not interested in being a Rose, Yumi-san?"

Before Yumi could respond to this direct question, an answer came from the side.

"That's not true, Yoshino-san."

Shimako-san said decisively, having remained silent until now.

"Some time ago, Yumi-san told me that she wanted to lead the Yamayurikai with me as a third-year, and that she wanted to be a Rose."

The sole statement of a taciturn person held more persuasive power than the words of a chatterbox.

"Right?"

Yumi nodded without thinking, and when she said, "Let's go then," Yumi allowed her hand to be taken and to be led out.

Was "bewildering" the right word to use to describe this situation? Watching them leave from the doorway, Noriko-chan mumbled, "Incredible, Shimako-san."

Part 2

"What's weighing you down like that?"

During cleaning, as she was wiping the blackboard with a cloth, Tsutako-san called out to her from behind.

"You can tell?"

"I can. I've been watching you since first-year, Yumi-san. Do you really think you can fool my eyes?"

They were in the same cleaning group and Tsutako-san had come over to help – apparently finished moving the desks and chairs back to their original position from where they'd been stacked off to the side. That said, Yumi was pretty much finished too.

"I was told off by Yoshino-san."

Yumi rinsed her cleaning cloth in the bucket and wrung it tightly. A quick check of the other cleaning cloths showed they had all been rinsed, so she picked up the bucket of dirty water.

"Oh, why was that?"

Tsutako-san walked with her. It would have been dangerous to have two people carry a bucket full of water, so she'd declined Tsutako-san's offer of help, but Tsutako-san followed her anyway. Perhaps at a loose end, Tsutako-san pulled a miniature camera out of her pocket and held it in one hand, occasionally pointing it at Yumi.

"At lunch time, we went to register as candidates in the election, but we were a bit slow to get going and Touko-chan got in first."

"I see."

"She said it was my fault we got a late start."

And looked incredibly angry when she said it too.

"My goodness. But the order in which you register doesn't determine the order you finish in the election."

Tsutako-san cackled.

"That's what Shimako-san said too."

For the record, Shimako-san was second, Yoshino-san third, and Yumi fourth to register.

"Hmm. I wonder if Yoshino-san is a bit flustered."

"Flustered?"

"Most students fully expect the three second-years to be elected. But you can't say for certain. There could be an upset, with Touko-chan elected. In that case, one of you three would lose, right?"

"And that's Yoshino-san?"

"She might think so, don't you think? It goes without saying that Shimako-san's an incumbent, and you're popular with the first-years, right?"

"That's not going to happen."

Having arrived at the drain, she tipped the bucket over and poured the water out.

"Yeah, it's not going to happen, but she might still be worried about it."

The silver faucet was shining. The students responsible for cleaning this area had done a good job.

"But, well, it's Yoshino-san, so she'll get over it soon enough. Something else will catch her attention and she'll forget something as trivial as this."

Tsutako-san said.

"I suppose."

Yumi picked up the bucket and walked back the way they'd come.

They walked in silence for a while and when they arrived at the classroom entrance Tsutako-san mumbled under her breath.

"So then it isn't about Yoshino-san."

"Huh?"

They'd already concluded that Yoshino-san's anger would sort itself out. But despite that, Yumi was still weighed down.

"Is Touko-chan the cause of it?"

"Uh."

Tsutako-san laughed, before Yumi could even ask, "How did you know?"

"Well, that much seemed obvious."

Tsutako-san had attended last year's Christmas party in the Rose Mansion. She wasn't a member of a Rose family, but she obviously knew the details about what happened between Yumi and Touko-chan.

"I don't understand Touko-chan at all."

Yumi spoke frankly as she put the bucket away with the rest of the cleaning equipment.

She'd been thinking about it constantly. Where had it gone wrong?

If there was something wrong with the proposal, was it the wording, or the timing, or the situation, or was it a problem with Touko-chan? If some of these changed, would she get another chance to ask, or not?

"You say you don't understand Touko-chan. Naturally, since she's her own person."

Tsutako-san said, as though it were obvious.

"But you understand all sort of things, Tsutako-san. Like how Yoshino-san's anger will pass quickly, or that I'm feeling down because of Touko-chan."

For a while now, Yumi had thought that Tsutako-san was an adult. She knew all sorts of information and could understand why things happened. Like some kind of superwoman, who could answer any question she was asked.

"Well, that's because Yoshino-san's behavioral pattern is easy to understand, and all your thoughts show clearly on your face, right?"

Tsutako-san walked around, checking that the windows were locked. It sounded like Tsutako-san wasn't able to figure out what everyone was thinking, it's just that her targets were easy to figure out.

"Then what about Touko-chan?"

"I don't really know about her. Because most of the time it feels like she's wearing a mask, don't you think?"

"A mask … "

"You've never got that impression?"

"I have."

Quite strongly.

Touko-chan was an actress, right to her core. But, sometimes, even when she wasn't standing on a stage it felt like she was playing some other character.

"As for me, I think one of your good points is the way you're always showing your open and honest feelings, Yumi-san. Forcing yourself to smile when you feel like crying, even if you think you're doing a good job, just makes you look even more pitiful to me. I hate to say it, but you're not a good actor."

"…"

Even so, it felt better to hear her say this directly, rather than beating around the bush. Although if she'd said it a bit earlier, say before the school festival, Yumi may not have accepted the lead role in the Yamayurikai play.

"But I like that. So I think you look great when you're not acting. But when an amateur gets on the same stage as a professional actress, do you think she can win?"

"So, you're saying that even if I understand Touko-chan, it's impossible?"

"For how things are now. She's just too far ahead of you."

Tsutako-san finished her check of the windows, and gave the "OK" signal to their classmate at the podium, writing in the cleaning log. To show her understanding, that girl made the "OK" sign back.

"Your opponent's wearing a mask, but you're going at her with your honest feelings. There's no way you can win. Ah, I'm not talking about the election here."

"Yeah."

Yumi nodded. It was about whether she could do something for Touko-chan, and what she should do. Yumi decided to think about it some more.

"Thanks for the advice."

Yumi thought that Tsutako-san was definitely an adult. Even though she said she didn't know anything, she was still able to say something pertinent. A hint. But Yumi had to come up with the answer herself.

"I'll take your smiling face over words of thanks."

Just as Tsutako-san was steadying her camera, Yoshino-san raced into the classroom, back from where her group had been cleaning.

"Yumi-san, Yumi-san."

Yoshino-san grabbed her by the arm. Just as the light from the flash and the sound of the shutter went off, so it must have ended up as a weird photo of the two of them.

"Come with me."

Yumi and Tsutako-san exchanged glances and smiled.

"Come on."

Yoshino-san's mood had changed quickly, like the weather.

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