Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume26 Chapter7
Map Stroll
Early February, after school.
Yumi, Shimako-san, and Yoshino-san were about to take a stroll around the school grounds together.
The three treasure "hiders" for the Valentine's Day treasure hunt were doing the homework that Mami-san from the newspaper club had assigned to them a couple of days earlier.
"By the next meeting, you each need to decide roughly where you want to hide your card."
It had been set as individual homework but they had all exchanged glances when they heard this.
If they all showed up at the next meeting having individually selected a spot, that didn't necessarily mean it would all be settled quickly. For instance, what if they all decided that the first-floor of the Rose Mansion would be a good hiding spot? There's no way they'd have a treasure hunt with all the treasure concentrated in such a small area.
So they decided to do the homework as a group assignment.
Basically, this was a strategy meeting.
They started by assembling in the Rose Mansion, spreading out a map of the school, and gathering around it. Three mechanical pencils – Rosa Gigantea, Rosa Foetida en bouton and Rosa Chinensis en bouton.
"Well, let's head out."
The trio set off from the Rose Mansion.
Despite the cold February weather, they didn't need coats.
Because they were about to take a stroll around the map.
Meandering
Part 1
"First of all, does anyone have anywhere that they really want to hide their card?" Yoshino-san asked. They'd just left the Rose Mansion but were milling around, unsure of where to attack first. "If so, we can decide on that spot first and it'll make it easier to think about the other cards. I think they should all be hidden in different locations and in different ways, as much as possible."
"That's true," Shimako-san agreed, and Yumi nodded too. Since the purpose of the strategy meeting was to avoid having too high a concentration of cards in any one area, that was a fundamental principle.
"Yeah, but there's nowhere I'm dead set on just yet."
So, for now, they had a look around the courtyard which served as the starting line. Yumi thought that they would come up with ideas as they surveyed the various locations.
"How about you, Shimako-san? Last year, you came up with the committee notice board pretty quickly, didn't you?"
Shimako-san was the only veteran, having done this last year, so they were trying to draw upon her experiences. In other words, a plan to draw inspiration from history.
"Yes, it was relatively easy. Sachiko-sama told me she immediately thought of the old greenhouse too," Shimako-san answered, raising her gaze slightly.
"And Rei-chan?" Yoshino-san asked without a moment's delay. Their relationship was so close that she could have read this from Rei-sama's diary, but apparently the opportunity hadn't arisen for them to discuss the matter.
"She was initially thinking about hiding it in the martial arts building, but she said there weren't any good hiding places there."
"I see. The dojo is fairly empty and entering the changing or equipment rooms would be pretty intimidating for someone that isn't a member of a martial arts club."
Yumi had thought that they were loitering around inside the courtyard together, but Yoshino-san had dashed off alone and was surveying the interior of the martial arts building.
"Ah, sorry." Realizing that she'd lost the other two, Yoshino-san took out an old, surplus printout (the Yamayurikai regularly reused these as notepaper) which she'd used earlier and drew a quick sketch of the martial arts building on the back. The map they were seated around did have the martial arts building, but all it showed was the top-down view of the building's shape.
"Oh . . . so that's what it looks like inside. I see."
The martial arts building was a difficult place for students not studying martial arts to step foot in. Yumi had been coming to this academy for thirteen years now and had been inside it a grand total of two or three times. It was probably even less familiar to Shimako-san, who had entered into Lillian's Girls Academy in middle school. But looking at Yoshino-san's rough sketch seemed to stir up some memories of last year's planning meeting within her.
"I seem to recall Rei-sama briefly considered hiding it beneath the Judo Club's tatami mats. Wouldn't it be hard to find if it were hidden there?"
"Yeah, probably."
"I think she rejected it because she didn't want the treasure hunt to come down to that sort of manual labor, which was quite kind of her."
"Hmm."
That indifferent response from Yoshino-san showed that she didn't consider that kind Rei-sama had rejected the notion of manual labor out of concern for her.
(She's not considering it, huh.)
Last year, after looking through the books on cooking and knitting in the library, Yoshino-san had gone to the martial arts building and participated in upending the tatami mats. If she'd understood Rei-sama's heart, she obviously wouldn't have taken part in such a pointless endeavor.
"And, lastly, the martial arts building and the old greenhouse were too close together, so she decided to hide it in a different location," Shimako-san said.
"So, the library? I guess it's a safe distance away."
Yoshino-san drew a triangle connecting the three points on the map. Technically, the committee notice board wasn't on the first floor, so it would be on a different map, but she used the spot it would be if it was on the first floor. "I don't have anything definite in mind, but I've got an idea of what I want from my hiding spot," Yoshino-san said, tracing along the triangle.
"What's that?"
"I want to astonish everyone. I want them to be annoyed."
"Huh?"
"Because I was incredibly annoyed when I participated last year."
Yoshino-san had a bit of a history here: not only had she struck out on all the places she looked last year, but someone from the group that had been following her around had found the yellow card and won the half-day date with Rei-sama. Despite her valiant struggle to eventually arrive at more or less the correct location — the library books — she'd seen the card slip away from her grasp. Even though a year had passed, the memories of it were still enough to make Yoshino-san grind her teeth in frustration.
"While I had the experience of hiding a card last year, you and Yumi-san had the experience of searching for them. I'm sure that different perspective will help with thinking up hiding places."
As Shimako-san said, it was good that they were bringing these different perspectives together. As the saying goes, if you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the results of a hundred battles.
"So, if you want to annoy people, how would you do it?" Yumi asked, and Yoshino-san shrugged her shoulders.
"Like I said, I don't have anything definite in mind. That's still to come." Yoshino-san waved the question away. Then Shimako-san clasped her hands together, as though she'd just had an idea.
"I've got a 'feeling' I'm going for too."
"Oh, what's that?"
The other two leaned in and inquired. But the answer that Shimako-san met them with was –
"I want it to be fun."
– That.
"Huh?"
"I don't want it to be just a treasure hunt, but, how can I put this . . . I want it to feel more like a video game."
"In what way?"
They surrounded Shimako-san and urged her on, similar to what Yumi and her brother did to their father when he brought home souvenirs.
"Like Yoshino-san, I haven't thought about that yet."
"Oh, okay."
Even though she'd started out by saying it was only a feeling, it was a bit disappointing to hear that the answer would be delayed.
"How about you, Yumi-san?"
"Me?"
Now that the ball was in her court, Yumi considered the topic once more. The other two were the same, in that they didn't know the exact location they wanted, but they had an inkling of an idea.
"I suppose I'd want to go with a 'close to the Yamayurikai' theme."
"What's that mean? Can you explain it a bit more clearly? Like, close in what way?"
"I'm still thinking about that."
The trio folded their arms and sank into silence.
They hadn't thought it would be easy to decide, but instead it looked like it would be quite difficult.
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