Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume33 Chapter5 1

Parting Gift Trio. Part 1.

"The farewell address."

The vice-principal announced.

"The students' representative, second year wisteria class, Toudou Shimako."

Shimako acknowledged her name with a 'Here' and rose from her chair.

Sitting in front of her, Katsura-san turned around and whispered, 'Good luck.' Her fellow classmates smiled at her as she walked by, and Shimako nodded to them as she made her way to the aisle that split the neat rows of chairs.

The gymnasium's stage was straight in front of her.

It was Shimako's duty to take that stage and to deliver a speech that would send forth the graduating seniors.

Her heartbeat gradually picked up pace.

Shimako took a deep breath, then slowly started to walk forwards. There was no turning back now. When she next walked down this path, it would be after she had completed her important duty. Then she would be going in the opposite direction, returning to her seat.

When she reached the aisle that signalled the boundary between the graduating seniors and the remaining students, Shimako once more came to a halt.

With approximately 450 current students at her back, Shimako looked out over the graduating class.

Maria-sama, please look after them.

Keep them from harm.

Unusually, Shimako made a direct request of Maria-sama. Probably because of the pressure associated with this task. – The pressure on Shimako, that is.

* * *

"Ahh, Toudou-san."

It was the middle of February, and afternoon homeroom had just finished. Her homeroom teacher had been on the verge of leaving the classroom when she called out to Shimako, asking, 'Do you have a moment?'

"Yes."

Her teacher was waiting with one foot in the classroom and one foot in the hallway. If the door were to remain open too long her classmates that were still in the classroom would get cold, so Shimako hurried over. Although that situation would be unavoidable. It was almost time for cleaning, and all the windows in the classroom would be thrown open.

"When you've finished cleaning, please go and see Yamamura-sensei."

"Hmm?"

"She'll be waiting for you in the staff room."

"Okay."

"Do you have any questions?"

"No."

"Okay then, I'll leave you to it."

Having concisely delivered the message, her homeroom teacher walked briskly down the hallway. Shimako bowed at the departing figure, when a voice that came from right beside her ear suddenly inquired:

"What did our teacher want?"

"Augh"

Shimako's heart leapt in her chest, but her body didn't follow so she had managed to partially suppress her surprise. Even so, how long has she been there? Shimako looked to her side, and her classmate Katsura-san was waiting for her response.

"She told me to go to the staff room when I had finished cleaning. That Yamamura-sensei would be waiting there."

There was nothing particularly secret about what Shimako had been told, so she responded openly. Her homeroom teacher had probably thought it better not to announce it in front of the whole class. If it was something secret, Shimako's teacher probably would have taken her somewhere else to tell her. But there was really no need for secrecy when the message was simply that Yamamura-sensei had asked for her to come to the staff room.

"Why?"

Katsura-san shook her head.

"Who knows …"

Shimako shook her head in the same manner.

"You didn't ask?"

"Because it's Yamamura-sensei that wanted to see me, right?"

What would she ask her homeroom teacher? Her homeroom teacher had asked that she go to the staff room and meet Yamamura-sensei, but she wouldn't know why.

"But, you know. Normally a teacher would ask why another teacher wanted to see one of their students, right? 'What business do you have with my Toudou?' That sort of thing. She'd definitely ask. She'd know."

Katsura-san's voice was like that of a child coaxing a reluctant toy.

"You may be right....Ahh."

"What?"

"You just reminded me. Our teacher asked, 'Do you have any questions?'"

"Well there you go. The correct response would have been, 'Why does Yamamura-sensei want to see me?'"

Katsura-san made a tut-tut noise, showing her exasperation with Shimako. But then Katsura-san smiled wanly, as though she thought better of it.

"Then again, the conversation wasn't a complete loss."

"Why so?"

"Well, you wouldn't want a hint if it was something unpleasant. So when our teacher asked you, 'Do you have any questions?' it was probably because she wanted to tell you. Right?"

Indeed, that's one way of looking at it.

"Katsura-san, you're so smart."

"...Why does it feel strange when you're saying that to me, Shimako-san."

Katsura-san had an inscrutable look on her face as she said this. Shimako thought it would be nice if she could understand her more easily.

"Why is it so strange? … Ah"

After Shimako asked this, Katsura-san slumped, as though a support that had been holding up her body had been removed. Shimako would occasionally see people doing this, but she wasn't sure what it was they were trying to convey.

"What is it now?"

Ahh, right, she didn't have time to waste thinking about this at the moment.

"Cleaning. First we have to do the cleaning."

Shimako clapped her hands together, then went back into the classroom. Then after the cleaning was finished, she was expected to go to the staff room.

Shimako had finished cleaning the classroom and made her way to the high school's staff room. It was Yamamura-sensei who first noticed her, and beckoned her over, saying 'Come here, come here.'

"Just wait for a while. Until two more people get here."

Yamamura-sensei looked as though she was taking a momentary break from tidying up some materials for class, or organizing some lost-and-found items. The teacher who sat beside Yamamura-sensei wasn't there currently, so Yamamura-sensei pulled out the chair and said, 'Have a seat' to Shimako.

"Two more people?"

Shimako asked as she politely gestured her refusal of the offered chair. She hadn't heard that anyone else had been invited.

"That's right. You're the first to arrive."

"Ahh."

At this point, Katsura-san would have definitely asked some questions. 'What's your business with me?' or 'Who else have you asked to come here?' But as she looked at the teacher who had resumed shuffling around, Shimako felt as though she shouldn't interrupt her. Instead, she reflected on whether she had arrived too early.

At any rate, what could she want from me?

Yamamura-sensei.

She was one of Shimako's teachers, so it wasn't as though they had no interaction whatsoever. But Shimako couldn't remember having done anything noteworthy during class lately. And even if she had, and it had been a problem, then her teacher probably would have corrected her on the spot.

"…"

When she arrived, Yamamura-sensei hadn't said that she'd mistakenly called for her when she meant someone else. But the conversation would start when those two unknown people arrived, so all Shimako could do was wait.

Just knowing that two other people had been called here could make it easier to guess at why they were called.

If Yoshino-san were here, it would be obvious. Yamamura-sensei was the faculty advisor for the kendo club, and Yoshino-san was a member of that club.

(But I'm not involved with kendo at all)

So there was no way she was being scouted for the club.

Shimako looked down and sighed then pulled herself together and looked up. For some strange reason, Yoshino-san's face was right in front of her.

"….!"

Shimako was too shocked to say anything. She had just been thinking about Yoshino-san, and then Yoshino-san appeared. Instantly. Like magic, or a vision.

"I knew it'd be you, Shimako-san."

But Yoshino-san was real. After tapping Shimako gently on the shoulder, she turned towards the staff room entrance and called out, loudly:

"He-y, Yumi-san. Shimako-san's here too."

"Ah, umm."

"Just wait. Yumi-san's returning the cleaning log right now."

"Ahh, why are you here?"

Shimako asked, unable to comprehend what was going on.

"Huh? We were called here."

"I didn't call you here."

It was true she had been thinking of Yoshino-san, but she had never possessed the ability to summon someone to her side before now, nor had anyone even informed her that she had this power.

"I know. It was Yamamura-sensei who called us here."

"Oh, I see.... Huh, Yamamura-sensei!?"

So, did that mean that the two people they were waiting for were Yoshino-san and Yumi-san? Shimako wanted to confirm this, but Yamamura-sensei was nowhere to be seen. She had been walking back and forth around here a while ago.

"Ahh, you're right, Shimako-san's here."

Upon reflection, Shimako realized that she hadn't been thinking about Yumi-san, so their appearance probably wasn't her doing. She breathed a sigh of relief.

"Yumi-san, you're also here to see Yamamura-sensei?"

"'Also'? So that means you're here to see her too?"

Yumi clasped her hands together in a show of surprise, then came over. Based on her reaction, it appeared that Yumi had no idea why they had been called here either. She even asked, 'I wonder how many more people are coming?'

"Do you know why the three of us were called here?"

"Don't you think it's because we're the next Roses?"

"…It could be."

That would probably be the first thing that came to mind when asked what they had in common. The student council election that was held at the end of January had confirmed that they were the next three to be Roses. That thought must have been going through all of their minds.

"Could it have something to do with the plans for the Valentines Day dates?"

To sternly warn them against causing any disturbances.

"In that case, Mami-san would have been called here too, right?"

Or, rather, Mami-san would have called them together. Since it was the newspaper club that had organized the Valentines Day treasure hunt and the prize of a date with one of the future Roses.

Then, what? They all looked at each other. What had they been brought here to be told?

At the very least, Shimako was convinced that it was unrelated to kendo due to Yumi-san's appearance.

"Ahh, Shimazu-san and Fukuzawa-san have arrived too. Splendid. I'm sorry to keep you waiting."

Yamamura-sensei's voice was light and breezy, to blow away the shadow that her arrival had cast over their faces.

"Since you're all here, shall we go now?"

"Okay?"

Despite not knowing what was going on, the trio could only nod in agreement and follow after Yamamura-sensei.

"Umm, where are we going?"

Shimako asked.

"It's impossible to have a calm conversation in the staff room because everyone's always rattling around, so I thought we'd go someplace else."

At this time of day there were a lot of people coming and going – it wasn't just students here to see a teacher, but also those who were returning the cleaning logs and club members who had come to get the key to their clubrooms.

Yamamura-sensei took a key from the pocket of the jersey that she wore over her sweater instead of a cardigan and wound the strap around her fingers.

"And this way, I thought we could have a full and frank discussion."

The words 'Educational Guidance Room' were written on the strap.