Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume33 Chapter2
The Green Bird and the White Flower
Part 1.
Yumi was standing by the bus doors so when it arrived at the Lillian Girls Academy stop she was the first off, leading the charge across the pedestrian bridge.
There was still some time until they were supposed to meet. Even if she walked to the classroom, she probably wouldn't be late.
(Even so.)
If five of the six people were already there, the last person to arrive would give the impression of being late even if they were a few minutes early.
(Especially considering...)
Yoshino-san was one of the members, so Yumi expected some irrational complaints. Ahh, she could just imagine it. Yoshino-san standing there with her hands on her hips, saying, 'You're laaate.'
When she got on the bus, Yumi had checked to see if any of the four people she was going to meet (excluding Yoshino-san, who walked to school) were also on board, but she couldn't see any of them. They had all probably caught an earlier bus. As expected, missing the earlier bus to the station had cost her.
Yumi wanted to run, but she thought of the students that were following behind her and instead decided just to walk quickly. As the next Rosa Chinensis, it would not be proper for her to be seen running around with her skirt in disarray.
"Oh?"
Just before the fork in the ginkgo tree lined path, Yumi saw the back of a person that she knew well.
"Kanako-chan?"
There was no need to wait until she had turned around to confirm this. There were very few students at this school who were as tall as she.
"Ahh. Gokigenyou, Yumi-sama."
"What's the matter?"
Since Kanako had arrived here before Yumi, that meant she must have been on an earlier bus. But if that was the case, then she had taken quite a long time to only get to here. The previous bus would have arrived over five minutes ago, and if it had hit traffic there should have been other students here with her too. Furthermore, Kanako-chan was just standing there.
"It's a bird."
"A bird?"
"Just after I'd stepped through the front gates, a tiny bird on a branch caught my attention so I stopped to watch it."
"For five minutes, or ten minutes?"
"No,"
Kanako-chan smiled.
"It was probably only two or three minutes. I felt like I could stay and watch it forever, but I had to get moving again. When I got here, I saw a student offering another her rosary, so I waited until they were finished."
"I see."
Looking further down the path, Yumi saw two students walking away hand-in-hand. They had probably waited until the crowd of people had passed through before performing the rosary ceremony. Kanako-chan, who had stopped to watch the bird, had become separated from the crowd of people and happened to arrive at just the wrong time.
Like Yumi had witnessed earlier, there were people that would wait until the day before, or the day of, the graduation ceremony to decide to become soeurs. Don't tell me that the onee-sama is a third year, …, no, there's no way that could be the case.
"Shall we walk together."
Yumi urged Kanako-chan on, and they walked over to the statue of Maria-sama and prayed alongside each other. While they were standing around talking, the next wave of people was bearing down on them.
"You said it was a tiny bird, but what kind of bird was it?"
Yumi asked Kanako-chan, as they walked towards the school building.
"It was a green color, that looked like powdered green tea."
"A Bush Warbler?"
When she heard it described as small and the color of powdered green tea, that was the first bird that came to mind. Yumi looked up. Of course, the small bird that Kanako-chan had seen was nowhere in sight.
"That's what I thought too, so I stopped to have a look at it. I guess it is the time of the year for plum blossoms, after all."
Which means.
"You don't think so?"
Kanako-chan shrugged her shoulders when asked this.
"I can't really say for certain. I was a fair way away from it, and couldn't see all of it. It could have been a white-eye. It didn't really look like a parrot, but it could probably be identified by its call."
"Did it sound like 'hoohokekyo'?"
"Yeah, that's what it sounded like."
If its call was 'hoohokekyo,' then it was undoubtedly a Bush Warbler. No parrot would be able to imitate that sound.
"Do you know what the call of the white-eye sounds like?"
"Nope. But at the very least, it wouldn't sound like 'hoohokekyo,' right?"
"I suppose so."
Just then, they heard a 'caw-caw' sound coming from somewhere.
"And it's not that either."
The pair looked at each other and laughed.
Part 2.
"You're laaaate."
Just as Yumi had envisaged, when she opened the door to the second year pine group classroom Yoshino-san was standing there looking imposing.
"Umm, Yoshino-san, according to my watch there's still one minute…"
Before Yumi could open her mouth, Mami-san of the newspaper club tried to intervene, but Yoshino-san quickly stamped that out, saying 'You should have been here five minutes early.'
Yumi instinctively nodded her head, but if you think about it, it's a strange rationale. If they really needed that extra five minutes they could just have arranged to meet five minutes earlier.
"Well, now that everyone's here, let's go."
Yoshino-san seized the initiative, stripping Yumi of her coat and bag before heading off, like a bus tour guide. The five other members blinked, shrugged, then followed after her.
"Why is Yoshino-san so pumped up?"
Misa-san whispered to Yumi as they were walking along.
"Huh?"
Now that she mentioned it, Yoshino-san definitely looked tense. Having just arrived at school, Yumi didn't really know what was going on. But she really wanted to hear what Yoshino-san had been doing in the classroom before she arrived.
"Who knows?"
While Yumi-san wracked her brain, Itsue-san slowed down so that she was also walking alongside Yumi-san and joined their conversation, saying 'It's a mystery, that's for sure.'
"It's much better for Yumi-san, since your onee-sama is in the third year pine group."
From her left and right sides, Yumi heard her classmates saying, 'Right?' Yumi's heart was thumping, hoping that Yoshino-san, walking ahead of her, couldn't hear them but it looked like Yoshino-san was talking with Mami-san and Satoe-san, so she was probably okay.
Yoshino-san, Mami-san, Satoe-san, Itsue-san, Misa-san and then Yumi. Such a strange combination of people in the group, but they were the ones appointed from the second year pine group to the task of pinning flowers to the chests of the graduating students.
It was a tradition that the students who would perform this blessing for the graduating seniors were from the same group but the year below. In other words, the ones that would pin the flower to the chest of the third year pine group were from the second year pine group. Which is why they had said that she was much better off, since her onee-sama was in the third year pine group. And it was also why it was such a mystery that Yoshino-san was so pumped up, since her onee-sama was in the third year chrysanthemum group.
"But she's been bursting with enthusiasm ever since we decided who was involved."
When Yumi said this, the girls to her left and right said, 'That's true,' nodded, and folded their arms.
This happened about a week ago.
When they arrived for their afternoon homeroom, the following discussion topic was written in big, bold letters on the blackboard:
Below that was written;
"Are there any volunteers?"
When Kaede-san, who was leading the discussion, asked this most of the students raised their hands. Their homeroom teacher was watching on silently, undoubtedly thinking, 'I wish they'd show this much enthusiasm during class.'
"Should we give preference to those students whose onee-sama is in the third year pine group?"
"But surely the petit soeurs would have been there before? Wouldn't it be better to give this chance to students who haven't had any reason to visit their beloved seniors?"
"It should be based on who wants to go the most … but there's no way to measure that."
Everyone had their own ideas about how it should be decided, but it didn't look like they would come to any sort of agreement.
As the heated discussion raged around her Yumi didn't try to voice her opinion, instead daydreaming about how nice it would be to pin the flower to her onee-sama's chest. Although she made sure she raised her hand when the call for volunteers went out.
"For fairness sake, we'll decide this with scissors-paper-rock."
In the end that was the approach they agreed upon. At first it seemed that no-one objected to it, but someone behind Yumi quickly raised their hand. It was Michiyo-san, who had earlier suggested that the students with an onee-sama in the third year pine group should get priority.
"I just want to check something. If someone wins the privilege through scissors-paper-rock, can they transfer that to someone else?"
"Huh?"
At first no-one really understood what she was trying to say.
"Because..."
She explained that because she didn't have an onee-sama in the third year pine group, it wasn't something that she wanted to do no matter what. So if she won, she would turn over her position to someone who did have an onee-sama in the third year pine group, if allowed. Such a kind girl.
"That's okay, I guess."
The transfer wasn't limited just to people who had an onee-sama in that class, it could be given to anyone, so good friends could pitch in and help each other. There were no objections.
"Well then, Katori-sensei, can you do the honors?"
At Kaede-san's insistence, their homeroom teacher took center stage.
For the first round of the contest, the whole class would play against their teacher. Only those who won would advance to the second round. A draw was the same as a loss. This way the whole class could be involved, but it would be sorted out in two or three rounds. This would continue until there were only six people remaining – if there were fewer, then the people that had been eliminated in the previous round would play-off for the remaining places. These were the rules they had decided upon.
"Scissors, paper, "
It was Yoshino-san that was conspicuously shouting this out.
"Rock."
Yumi was wondering what percentage enthusiasm played in whether someone won or lost at scissors-paper-rock.
"Uwaaaah!"
About thirty students held one of their hands above their head in either the scissors, paper or rock gestures. Amongst the various cries of joy and despair, Yoshino-san's cry of 'yeah' could be heard as she held aloft her right hand in the winning form of scissors. In a seat some distance away, Yumi looked up at her own open hand and sighed.
Their teacher had gone with paper. And a draw was a loss. It felt kind of hollow. Yumi thought she would have felt better if she had put out rock, and been properly defeated.
The winners were decided after the second round.
The six people were Yoshino-san, Satoe-san, Itsue-san, Misa-san, Michiyo-san and Minato-san.
"So is there anyone among you that want to transfer this privilege to someone else – "
Surprisingly, everyone except Yoshino-san raised their hand to this. Yumi probably wasn't the only one to think 'what a shame' when they saw this.
"Well then, let's hear who you want to transfer it to and confirm whether or not they will accept. We'll start with you, Michiyo-san, since you originally proposed this idea."
"I'd like to give this to Fukuzawa Yumi-san."
"Huh!?"
Not expecting to be named, Yumi's eyes widened in shock. Everyone turned to look at her, but they were all in the same class so it didn't bother Yumi. So, on reflex, Yumi pointed her finger at herself and asked, 'Me?' Michiyo-san nodded in agreement.
"Won't you accept this in place of me?"
"...Is that okay?"
This was something she hadn't asked for. Michiyo-san agreed immediately, without hesitation.
"Wait a minute!"
Satoe-san, Itsue-san and Misa-san all cried out at the same time.
"We also wanted to give our positions to Yumi-san."
"Huuuh!?"
Fukuzawa Yumi was hugely popular. Or, more likely, everyone was feeling sorry for Yumi, whose onee-sama was in the third year pine group.
"But Yumi-san is just one person."
Even if she were to accept all their proposals, one person could not fill four chairs.
"If there's anyone else who has an onee-sama in the third year pine group that wants to take part – "
Itsue-san offered, but no-one raised their hand.
"Very well then."
With that, the three others resolved to carry out their duties and took back their declarations to stand down.
Still, Yumi felt incredibly happy.
"My thanks to all of you."
Yumi bowed her head, and thanked them from the bottom of her heart.
"But what about Minato-san?"
That's right, Minato-san also raised her hand when they were asked if anyone wanted to transfer their winnings.
"I'm sorry. I just got caught up in playing scissors-paper-rock, but can I be moved into the second group – to help with putting up decorations around the classroom."
"Sure. There's no limit on how many people can be involved in that."
Kaede-san wrote Minato-san's name down under the second heading.
"Although, if possible you should name someone to take your place."
There were plenty of people who wanted to take part. But another round of scissors-paper-rock would be time consuming.
"Then, Tsutako-san."
A few scattered cries of excitement could be heard, from girls thinking about Tsutako-san being there.
"Thank-you. But I'm sorry, I can't accept."
This time around the scattered cries were of dejection. The tone of the voices rose and fell. If you were able to see sound with your eyes, the inside of the second year pine group's classroom would probably look like a gigantic wave.
"Why's that?"
Don't do it if you don't want to. Kaede-san asked, although normally you wouldn't ask an individual why they refused. Kaede-san probably thought that everyone wanted to hear Tsutako-san's reason. Because it seemed more in keeping with Tsutako-san's character that she would have said, 'I'll do it.'
"If I accepted your offer, I'd want to take pictures of it, right."
Tsutako-san answered immediately, while stroking her small camera.
"Huh?"
Yumi thought that was probably what Minato-san expected when she named her. Everyone knew that Tsutako-san was the ace of the photography club. Tsutako-san and her camera had an inseparable relationship.
"But the job isn't about taking photos, it's about pinning the flowers to the seniors, so I wouldn't be able to take my camera."
When put that way, it seemed like quite a natural response.
"Then would you go to the third year pine group's classroom if you weren't responsible for pinning the flowers on the seniors?"
Someone asked, not wanting to let the matter drop. If they weren't able to take part themselves, they at least wanted to see some photos of it.
"I wouldn't, because it's not my class."
Tsutako-san smiled.
"So, I'm sorry."
Even if they were to try and pressure her further, Tsutako-san probably wouldn't agree to it. Minato-san said, 'Well then,' and faced a different direction.
"How about Mami-san? Would you refuse because you wanted to collect information for a newspaper report?"
The Mami-san that had been named was the head of the newspaper club.
"Not at all. I don't need something like a camera to be able to gather information. So I'll gladly accept your offer."
Mami-san happily expanded on that, saying she would burn the information into her memory and write an article about it to appear in the commemorative graduation edition of the Lillian Kawaraban.
And that was the story about how these six people had been chosen for this job.
"I was thinking about giving you my spot, you know."
Yoshino-san had idly remarked to her, much later.
"But since it was Michiyo-san that originally brought up the topic of passing on the privilege, I let her have the honor this time."
"Oh, is that so?"
"Well, of course. It's only natural that I would think about letting my dear friend have the opportunity to pin the flower on her onee-sama."
When it came to games of chance, Yoshino-san didn't seem to care about appearances, only wanting to win.
"Thank-you."
At any rate, Yumi chose to express her gratitude towards her friend.
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