Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume25 Chapter2 3

Slightly Slipping Away. Part 3

After Sachiko had washed her hands with soap and rinsed her mouth with mouthwash, Suguru-san addressed her quietly from behind.

"Did anything happen while I was away?"

"Anything? It was only a sprain, so surely you were able to read the newspaper by yourself?"

After wiping her hands and mouth on a towel she turned around, and Suguru-san was standing there with a forced smile.

"Do you think I'd be asking you about local news?"

"Then what?"

"Now you're teasing me. I want to hear about Yumi-chan and Touko."

"Yumi and Touko-chan?"

Sachiko hadn't meant to tease him. Initially, she'd had no idea what he was inquiring about. But now she was more surprised by the fact that she hadn't been all that surprised when those two names had been mentioned. Somewhere in the back of her mind she had had a sneaking suspicion.

"Why are you interested in those two, Suguru-san?"

Perhaps Touko-chan had told him about what transpired between them at last year's Christmas Eve party. Or maybe there was something about that pair he was interested in, and this was his chance to find out. There was also the possibility that it was just a passing interest.

Suguru-san opened up surprisingly easily.

"Last December, Touko had a fight with her parents and ran away from home. Although she was only gone for half a day, so it was no big deal."

"… That's news to me."

Sachiko muttered, and Suguru-san agreed, "So it seems."

"They didn't want it to turn into a major drama, so I did my best to keep it under wraps."

"So why are you telling me now?"

They didn't want it to be a major drama. Therefore he had been keeping it quiet. That was all fine and well. The Ogasawaras and the Matsudairas, Touko-chan's family, were relatives but they weren't directly blood related. Sachiko understood that there were things they would keep from her. But in that case, she thought Suguru-san should have kept his silence forever.

"Well, it's more than a month old, and it seems like Touko's calmed down since then. There's a fair few people that know about it already, so I'm sure there's rumors about it spreading throughout the family anyway. It seems like trying to keep it a secret would be pointless. But that doesn't mean I'm going around announcing it publicly. It's just that you asked me why I was interested."

"I see."

Sachiko poured a small amount of mouth wash into a cup then diluted it with water. Offering this to Suguru-san, she asked:

"So how is Touko-chan running away from home related to Yumi?"

Sachiko had asked him why he was interested in those two. Answering that by just telling her about Touko-chan running away from home seemed somewhat insufficient.

"Well."

Suguru-san took the cup, rinsed his mouth rather perfunctorily and continued.

"Touko was found at Yumi-chan's house."

"At Yumi's house?"

That was also news to her. Of course, if she was just hearing about Touko-chan running away from home for the first time, then obviously she shouldn't remember any other conversations related to it either. Having said that, it was harder to accept since it involved her own petit soeur, Yumi.

"It wasn't like she ran away to Yumi-chan's house. From what I heard, she was walking through their neighborhood and ran into Yumi-chan's brother, Yuuki."

Even so, the fact that Touko-chan was in Yumi's neighborhood surely meant that in some way she was putting her trust in Yumi.

"When did this happen?"

Making up her mind, Sachiko asked.

"I told you, it was in December … "

"I know that. What I want to know is whether it was before or after Christmas."

"In that case, it was before."

Suguru-san answered clearly.

"From memory, I think it was during the post-exam break."

"… I see."

Which meant it was before Yumi offered Touko-chan her rosary, and was rejected.

At the time, when she heard Yumi had made the offer she felt it was a bit sudden – but if something like this had already occurred between them then Yumi's actions were probably just the natural flow of events and not abrupt at all.

Even as late as the post-exam break, Touko-chan had obviously thought she could rely on Yumi. In that case, why had she rejected the soeur proposal?

"Yumi-chan seemed to be worried about Touko."

Sachiko's thoughts were disrupted by her cousin's voice. Even as she was thinking, "Wait a minute, I'm considering this," she made the content-free response, "I see."

"Given your fixation with the timing of this, I take it something happened between Touko and Yumi-chan at Christmas. And Touko didn't attend your women-only New Year's party either."

"But that was for Yamayurikai members – "

"I know you sent her an invitation. And that Touko spent that entire day at home, not going anywhere. It was a private gathering, so there would have been no obligation for her to attend. But, it is a bit concerning."

"That's true."

Sachiko agreed with him.

"You're her cousin, Suguru-san. It's only natural you'd be worried about your family."

"Something like that."

"Well, anyway."

To think that something like that had happened between Yumi and Touko-chan, and she hadn't been aware of it. It wasn't so much of a shock as a complete surprise.

"Don't blame Yumi-chan."

"I don't."

The reason Yumi hadn't told her was probably because she'd decided it wasn't the right time to discuss it. She may have had been concerned about Touko-chan's privacy, since it involved her running away from home. No, Yumi was probably determined to resolve things with Touko-chan without relying on anyone else.

This was undoubtedly a "soeur" problem for Yumi and Touko-chan – although Sachiko honestly wasn't sure as to whether or not they'd actually become soeurs. Even though she was Yumi's onee-sama, this was territory that she couldn't venture into.

In that regard, her cousin was in the same spot.

"I still haven't answered your initial question."

Therefore, she thought it was okay to tell Suguru-san.

"My initial question?"

"You asked me if anything happened while you were away, didn't you?"

"Ah."

Suguru-san said, "That's right," as though he'd only just remembered. Although Sachiko didn't know if that was the truth. He may have just pretended to forget.

"Touko-chan ran in the student council election, and lost."

"Huh."

"I don't know why she did that."

Sachiko said, anticipating the question. There had to be a reason behind such a reckless action. But she had absolutely no idea what it was.

"Unbelievable."

Suguru-san looked down, using his hand to stifle a groan. A muted, "To treat Yumi-chan like that," leaked out between his fingers.

"Suguru-san. Do you like Yumi?"

This thought had suddenly crossed her mind. Suguru-san's face froze for a moment before he smiled at Sachiko.

"What a strange thing to say. I – "

"I suppose so. Forgive me."

Sachiko immediately retracted her remark. Her former fiance had previously confessed to her that he was homosexual. If he were to admit that he liked Yumi, it would raise a contradiction.

However, just now, Suguru-san had interpreted "like" as romantic interest. That seemed like a mistake on his part.

Suguru-san soon realized this too.

"… I see. I should have just smiled and said, "Yumi-chan's a good girl, so of course I love her.""

"Something like that."

"But I don't want you to misunderstand."

"In the past I wouldn't have understood. But, recently, I feel like I'm starting to understand all sorts of things. You don't have to intentionally simplify your explanation to me."

The reason he didn't consider Sachiko a romantic interest wasn't because she was female. It was an issue beyond gender. So even if Sachiko had been born a male, he wouldn't have seen her in that light.

But explaining that to a still immature cousin would be quite a challenge, so at the time he'd simplified things by saying he was gay, to force her to accept it. Probably.

"In pure quantity terms, I like you more than I like Yumi-chan."

Hearing this, Sachiko understood.

"But it's a different kind of "like.""

"Right. You always were the smart one, Sacchan."

"Compared to whom?"

Suguru-san was quiet for a moment before answering smoothly.

"Silence is golden, don't they say?"

Which meant it was probably someone she knew too. So that was it – by saying, "Silence is golden," he was implying that, for Sachiko, "Not asking is golden."

"But it's true that I like guys."

"You mean, you like them too."

"I give up."

"Bulls-eye?"

The day was coming when she would be able to laugh and joke about such matters with Suguru-san. Such a thing had seemed unimaginable to her when she was fifteen.

"I suppose we should get back soon. If we spend too much time locked up in the washroom, even your mother will start to have strange thoughts."

Suguru-san was starting to leave, but Sachiko grabbed him by the arm and pulled him back.

"Hold on, you forgot to wash your hands."