Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume6 Chapter6
Rosa Chinensis' best day of her life
Part 1.
"… This sucks."
Mizuno Youko, the Rosa Chinensis, muttered to herself aboard the bus.
Luckily, the bus wasn't very crowded. There was no one within 1.5m to take umbrage at her self-pitying soliloquy.
It was already evening. The time to be going home from school.
The bus that was going from the train station towards Lillian's Girls Academy obviously wouldn't have as many people on it. Over half the seats were empty.
"– Oww."
Instinctively she winced as the pain swept through her abdomen like a wave.
(No matter how you look at it, it's completely unreasonable that only women have to suffer this kind of pain)
Her body was in a very sorry state. Because it was that time of the month.
(Oh, I give up)
It wasn't that she didn't usually suffer period pain, it was just that this month was exceptionally bad. Not only had it arrived five days earlier than expected, it was heavier than usual too. There had been no signs of it last night, but unbelievably it had shown up this morning. Consequently, she'd been suffering abdominal pain since the start of the day.
(On top of that)
The bad luck just kept piling up, as the slight case of sniffles she'd had for some time turned into a full blown case of the cold last night. Because she was shivering, she had taken her temperature this morning and it was 37.8ºC. What she was doing may have been detrimental to her health, but she didn't have any comfort margin.
If it had been a normal day, she would have given up right away. But it wasn't, for today she had a university entrance exam.
Naturally, she couldn't spare the time to see a doctor, so she took some medicine for the fever and used every trick in the book to get to the examination center. Her temperature seemed to have gone down thanks to the medicine, but she was suffering from drowsiness as a side-effect. And as an added bonus, it made her stomach ache.
It was in that kind of a state that she took the university entrance exam. She had the feeling that she'd completely filled out the answer form, but looking back at it she had no recollection whatsoever of the type of questions she'd answered or the kind of answers she'd derived.
And with that, she had no idea what the point of taking the medicine was. Those two tablets hadn't made anything better at all.
"Ahh, what was it?"
Youko was idly watching the side of her face reflected in the glass window as she thought.
Why was she being shaken around by the bus when she was in such a poor condition. Surely the right decision would have been to go straight home after the exam, wrap herself up in blankets and go to sleep.
(There was somebody)
She tried to fill in the blanks.
She looked out the window, just like she would during class, and the familiar scenery flowed past her.
(There was … something I had to come to school to do with somebody)
So she had come.
It would have been better to do it tomorrow, but tomorrow would be too late. There must have been some reason why she had to come to school today.
But what that was, she couldn't remember.
It wasn't forgetfulness, but more like her body didn't have the strength required to think about it. Her mind still seemed hazy.
What could it have been.
Inadvertently, she glanced out the window again.
"… Huh!"
Youko stood up without thinking. The view she had seen seemed wrong.
"Damn it."
The slide-show of familiar scenery had finished. Some time ago they had gone past the Lillian's Girls Academy bus stop and were now closer to the next stop.
"Ahh"
Usually there would be a lot of students getting on or off the bus, so there was no need to listen to the announcements. Even if she wasn't paying attention, she'd just be swept along when everyone else got off the bus.
With nothing else to do, Youko pressed the button to let the driver know she wanted to get off at the next stop. In all the time she had been commuting to school, this was the first time she had ever missed her stop.
Just what you'd expect, since today was probably the worst day of her life.
Part 2.
After walking back from the next bus stop, she entered the school grounds through the main gates.
Having never missed the stop before today, she didn't realize that the next bus stop was closer to the back gate until she was walking through the front gate, and by that time it was too late.
Youko's head was spinning so badly that she had come to accept that she would make these small mistakes.
Even though she was like this today, she usually conducted herself flawlessly as a senior – possessing a brilliant mind with great judgment and leadership abilities, as well as being beautiful and kind. If her juniors were to see her in such an unfocused state, she wouldn't be worthy of the name Rosa Chinensis.
But right now she didn't have the energy to put up a front.
My stomach hurts,
my stomach hurts,
my stomach hurts,
my stomach hurts.
With each step drawing a complaint from her body that her mind had to assuage, Youko slowly walked down the path lined with ginkgo trees.
Because the pain is only temporary.
Because it'll get better soon.
I'll endure it for just a little while longer.
Let's just struggle through this like we always do.
Even with her body screaming out in pain, she somehow made it to the statue of Maria-sama.
"…"
She was intending to follow her usual custom and pray, but the scene she saw when she entered into the small garden with its fenced off grove and pond took her breath away.
(…)
There weren't enough people there to call it a crowd, but there were a fair few gathered at the fork in the path.
But if that was all it was, Youko wouldn't have given it a second thought. Because students stopped to pray on their way to and from school, this place would occasionally see a 'rush hour.' But this group seemed to have gathered for some reason other than that. Although there was plenty of space in front of the statue of Maria-sama, there were only two people standing there.
(This scene is – )
She'd seen this somewhere before. Youko racked her brain and slowly reeled the memory in. One year, no, two years ago probably. It was definitely something that she'd done. She'd asked her onee-sama, who had graduated last year, and they came down here together.
"Oh, Rosa Chinensis."
The second-year student at the head of the line noticed her, and called out to her with a 'Gokigenyou.' Rosa Chinensis thought she knew her. She was one of Sachiko's classmates. And the girl standing next to her seemed to be a first year. Probably her petit soeur, Youko thought as the girl embarrassedly imitated her older sister and greeted her.
"Please, go ahead and pray."
The two girls who had been standing in front of the statue of Maria-sama had just departed.
"Are you sure that's okay?"
It would be inexcusable to cut in front of a line of people that were patiently waiting their turn. But the second year girl at the head of the queue shook her head.
"Don't worry about it. None of us want to be a bother to the students who are coming here to pray."
The first year student held a small box in her hand. When she took a better look at the line of couples, in each case one of them held something in their hands.
"Ahh – "
Youko finally remembered.
The small packages were chocolates.
"Today's Valentines Day, isn't it."
"Yeah.... Oh, isn't that why you're at school today, Rosa Chinensis?"
"It seems so."
With a nod, she stepped in front of the statue of Maria-sama. As always, the white face of Maria-sama smiled down upon her with profound compassion.
"That's why I came to school."
Just a moment ago, it had all come back to her.
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