Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume33 Chapter5 3

Parting Gift Trio. Part 3.

"The farewell address."

The vice-principal announced.

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

Seated some distance away, Yoshino heard Shimako-san respond to her name being called with a 'Here.' Yoshino's heart beat a bit faster. But that only lasted for about five or ten seconds.

Since Shimako-san's name had been called, her own name would be next. Now that it was about to start, she didn't have time to be nervous. Like a nose-diving roller-coaster, by the time you were aware of it, you were already starting to level out. That's usually how things turned out.

"Second year pine group, Shimazu Yoshino."

"Here."

At the second name, there was some murmuring coming from the visitors and PTA seating area.

Oh geeze. There's no need to comment on it, all they're saying is multiple people are giving the farewell address – Yoshino thought as she stood up from her chair and walked forwards. Of course, she was conveniently ignoring the considerable surprise she had felt when she first learnt of this.

Then in that case, they're sure to flip out when the third name is read aloud. As Yoshino silently greeted the waiting Shimako-san, the aforementioned third name was read out.

"Third year pine group, Fukuzawa Yumi."

The 'Here' that came from the bottom of Yumi-san's diaphragm roared through the gymnasium that had momentarily fallen silent, as though taking a breath.

Yoshino briefly thought that was pretty cool of Yumi-san. That was until she followed it up with a violent coughing fit, which chased that idea away.

Well, that's her done for.

But Yumi-san wasn't even slightly discouraged, and was smiling when she arrived at the spot where Shimako-san and Yoshino were waiting.

Now that all three were assembled, Shimako-san led them forwards.

The gymnasium's stage was right in front of them.

The task that had been given to Yoshino was to take that stage and deliver a speech that would send off the graduating seniors.

Well, I'll be back in a bit.

By all rights, Yoshino should have been incredibly nervous, but she wasn't. Because Shimako-san and Yumi-san were by her side.

(More importantly)

Yoshino was more concerned with what was going to happen afterward.

What awaited Yoshino after the large stage of the graduation ceremony may have been small, but it was an important event, and it was all up to her as to whether it succeeded or failed.

Yoshino climbed up a few stairs as she watched Shimako-san's footsteps.

The wooden table that seemed to conceal the audience was awaiting the arrival of the students' representatives. It was a bit tight, but somehow they all squeezed behind it.

When Yoshino lifted her head, the auditorium that she looked down upon seemed like a vast ocean.

It was completely different to the rehearsals. Sure, the red and white curtains, the PTA and the visitors had all been added in, but more than that it seemed like the whole atmosphere had changed.

(Ahh, that's it)

The white corsages that bloomed from the chest of the graduating seniors looked like a wave of flowers.

Yumi-san spread open the scroll the speech was written on and adjusted the angle of the microphone.

"Onee-samas who are about to leave the nest of Lillian's Girls Academy …"

With the brisk voice of their lead batter, this unusual three-person farewell address had begun.

* * *

"Exactly. It's up to you."

Yoshino was the first to answer Yamamura-sensei's question with, 'We'll do it.'

Naturally, this could be because she was unable to contain herself given how much she wanted to do this – but that wasn't the case at all. It was because Yoshino felt that if they were to keep going back and forth on this issue, things would get worse for her.

Yoshino had been caught completely off guard when the phrase 'formal reply' had leapt forth from Shimako-san's mouth. The startling news-flash about the farewell address had caused her to completely forget about the formal reply.

Still, you had to hand it to Shimako-san. Even though she had initially been surprised, she was still able to coolly sum up the situation. The farewell address and the formal reply, the two of them formed a single set.

The intention of the teachers was to have the farewell address delivered by someone whose onee-sama was graduating. And why would they want that? She had said that they weren't particularly concerned about having soeurs deliver the farewell address and formal reply, but the petit soeur of the person giving the formal reply would have to be the frontrunner.

Based on that, Yoshino appraised Rei-chan's chances of delivering the formal reply.

Sachiko-sama delivered the farewell address last year. And they were both Roses, so this year it would be Rei-chan's turn. Rei-chan's grades were excellent and she had the profound respect of her fellow students. There wasn't a single aspect in which she trailed Sachiko-sama. Even if you were really grasping at straws, about all you could say was that she lost out in terms of hair length.

And while Yoshino didn't really want to say it, Sachiko-sama had blown it last year. It had been Rei-chan that had covered for her. Certainly, the parents and relatives may have interpreted that thing last year as a performance, but surely the wise choice would be to avoid someone who might repeat the same faux pas. So it would probably be entrusted to Rei-chan this year. Since Sachiko-sama would be seen as something of a crybaby.

And if Rei-chan was delivering the formal reply, that meant Yoshino was more likely to be chosen to deliver the farewell address. To let things continue on like this would be dangerous. If they rejected the proposal that their teacher had spent so long trying to persuade them of, that the three of them deliver the farewell address, then it looked as though Yoshino would have to deliver it herself.

She had to compromise here, before it got to that point. So.

"We'll do it."

It came out without her thinking about it. Yumi-san and Shimako-san had been incredibly surprised. But you can't make an omelet without breaking some eggs. Sorry, but there was no way Yoshino was doing this on her own.

It turned out that they had to write their own speech for the farewell address.

Naturally, they could consult their teachers for guidance. But primarily it was left up to those delivering the farewell address. After all, what would be the point in reading out a speech that someone else had written for the graduating seniors? None, really.

They had started by reviewing written copies of the speeches from years gone by, injecting their own personality, and repeatedly revising. By the time the final version was complete, there was barely a week left before the graduation ceremony.

But it wasn't as though they'd been working flat out on it all that time. At first they were very laid back about it, thinking 'We have plenty of time before we have to start.' That then turned into, 'We should start thinking about this soon,' which finally grew into an urgent, 'What should we do? It's almost upon us.'

During that time they'd been extremely busy with the Valentines Day dates, a trip to the amusement park, making return gifts for White Day and other such things. Yumi-san had even nabbed herself a petit soeur and gone to visit the shrine to Inari.

When they had finally finished writing the speech, the conversation turned to how they would present it. As usual, they had been in the room on the second floor of the Rose Mansion at the time.

"We're not all going to read it together?"

Yumi-san naively asked. Yoshino was just about to interject and say how hard it would be for them to stay in sync for such a long speech when Shimako-san spoke up.

"I think it would be good if we could do that."

Huh.

"Because the three of us are taking on the role that's usually performed by one person, I think it would be wonderful if we could all read it with one voice."

You've got to be kidding me. Shimako-san's agreeing that we all read this together? Yoshino's mouth was silently opening and closing as she thought this, but then Shimako-san continued.

"However, I think that will be quite difficult to do."

"Difficult?"

"Yes. Well, rather than trying to explain … why don't we stand up and try it."

Assuming that had been intended only for Yumi-san, Yoshino watched them stand shoulder-to-shoulder in front of the table when Shimako-san prompted her with, 'You too, Yoshino-san.'

"Huhhh."

"It's okay, just for a little while."

Shimako-san then organized them so that Yoshino was in the middle with Yumi-san and Shimako-san either side of her.

"I think the table that will be on-stage for the ceremony is about this wide."

Shimako-san placed a pencil and a ruler on the table in front of them to show the approximate width.

"And then, on top of this table, we'll unroll the scroll with the speech. Oh, there's a microphone as well. Let's say this pencil case is the microphone."

Various other items were arranged to mimic things that would be on the stage.

"Okay, let's read out the farewell address."

Shimako-san counted them in with a, 'One, two, three, go,' and then they simultaneously read aloud the first section of the farewell address.

"Onee-samas who are about to leave the nest of Lillian's Girls Academy, congratulations on your graduation. We are deeply honored to be delivering these congratulations as representatives of all the students in this academy."

Shimako-san cut them off there, and asked Yumi-san:

"Well?"

"It's hard to read. Or, rather, it's hard to make out what's written over on your side of the scroll."

Currently, facing the manuscript, they were lined up from right-to-left as Shimako-san, Yoshino and then Yumi-san. With the scroll spread out in the center, the first line of vertical writing was quite some distance from the person on the left.

"Still, you were able to read it correctly."

Yoshino said to Yumi-san. Yoshino couldn't quite say why, but she thought it had sounded quite pleasant when they all read the speech together.

"Well, that's because I've got the first part memorized."

Indeed. Yoshino changed places with Yumi-san to see for herself, and it really was hard to make out the characters written on the right-hand side when you were standing on the left. It wasn't solely due to the distance, but also partly due to shadows cast by the other two people and their shoulders partially blocking line-of-sight.

"Even if we were to write another copy using larger lettering, the viewing angle or the light in the auditorium may be worse."

"That's true. So it would be difficult for the three of us to read this together."

Yumi-san clasped her hands together in agreement. Yoshino was impressed. Yumi-san agreed to that much more readily than she would have if she had simply been told, 'It's too hard.'

"So my onee-sama and Rei-sama were able to read their speech simultaneously because it was just the two of them?"

Shimako-san nodded at Yumi-san's comment.

"That's right. And there wouldn't be enough room on the desk for us all to have our own copy. Although if we all memorized the entire speech, so we didn't have to look at it, we would be alright with just one copy."

Memorize the entire speech?

"That's impossible!"

Yumi-san and Yoshino shouted out simultaneously. Memorizing the entire speech would be preposterous. Yumi-san immediately ruled out the idea of reading the speech as one.

"Well then, shall we decide on the order of speaking?"

Shimako-san smiled.

They tried reading alternating sentences, but couldn't get that to work and decided that they would each read a single section.

"Normally you'd just split it into thirds, but the text doesn't really lend itself neatly to that."

Yoshino watched spellbound as Shimako-san briskly made annotations to the script. Normally she seemed very passive, but now she was being quite proactive.

"There, that's it. First up is Yumi-san. Next is Yoshino-san. Then I'm last."

"Huh? You've already decided the order?"

"Yeah."

Shimako-san looked tense, but her voice was steady.

"Can I ask why?"

Yumi-san looked into Shimako-san's eyes with intense curiosity.

"Why? … Ahh I wonder why. Somehow it just feels right to me."

The regular, gentle, Shimako-san had returned and shook her head. It was as though she had just been possessed by something.

"So why don't we just leave it like this."

Even if the possessing spirit had departed, it wasn't going to relinquish the speaking order.

"Well, I guess it's okay."

Yoshino strongly suspected that Shimako-san had a reason for suggesting that order, but couldn't guess what it could be. Consequently, Yoshino thought that she shouldn't oppose Shimako-san.

Because Shimako-san wasn't the kind of person who was only looking out for herself.

Yoshino was willing to place her faith in Shimako-san's instincts.