Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume32 Chapter9 2

The Ribbon's Path Part 2.

So when that item was found there was a general sense of weary exasperation.

The search was winding down when Noriko-chan found a single ribbon in the space between two cardboard boxes.

This discovery was obviously unlike the Rose Mansion stationery, the pens and labels, that had been discovered earlier. But even so, it didn't look like it was something of Sachiko-sama or Rei-sama's either, and the only feeling that it aroused was that it was one half of a matched set.

"Is it yours, onee-sama?"

When Touko asked her this, and Yumi looked at the ribbon, she was immediately sure of it.

(Ummmm…)

The White Rose Family, Shimako-san and Noriko-chan, Yoshino-san and Touko, in other words all the other members of the search party, were waiting for Yumi to answer. This kind of situation may have been amusing, but Yumi had cold sweat running down her back. It felt like an interrogation.

Yumi had recognized it, and already knew that it was hers. But what she couldn't understand was what it was doing here.

Why, is that, here? Why, is that, here? Why, is that, here?

Those words swirled around her head.

The shiny, black velvet ribbons had been her favorite, so she would often wear them on special occasions.

Like for school opening ceremonies and closing ceremonies, or Christmas – .

But currently it was neatly folded in the drawer of her closet at home.

There were no questions about how one of the pair had come to be missing either – Yumi and her onee-sama were both entrusted with the care of one of these precious items.

On Christmas Eve during her first year at high school, when Yumi hadn't brought a present, her onee-sama had asked her for one of the ribbons that she had tied in her hair.

To Yumi, this ribbon was like one of those heart pendants that come in two pieces.

So then, why was it here?

Had the ribbon teleported itself here?

That's just stupid.

Then, did that mean that she had brought it here and left it laying around, but then forgot all about it. In that case, it was a huge problem. She should go to a hospital and have a doctor examine her if she suspected such a defect in her memory.

(So that means – )

"… It's mine."

Yumi mumbled.

"What's up with that pause?"

Naturally, that dig came from Yoshino-san.

"Oh, I didn't expect to find it again, so I was a bit surprised."

Because this was the ribbon that Yumi gave to her onee-sama. She didn't expect to see it again. It had been quite a while. One year and three months, or thereabouts.

"Come to think of it, I haven't seen you wearing those ribbons lately. I suppose it's because you lost one of them. But I don't understand how you'd manage to drop one."

"Hehehe."

It was true Yumi didn't wear these ribbons any more because she only had one of them, but she hadn't dropped it. She remembered precisely how it had left her possession. But it would be hard to concisely explain that so Yumi chose to laugh it off.

But what was the ribbon that she had given to her onee-sama doing here?

Sachiko-sama had long hair, so she didn't usually use ribbons. So it was impossible to believe that she had used it to tie her hair, then untied it, carelessly flung it aside and forgotten it.

First things first, how long had that ribbon been here?

Yumi imagined a calendar that went from Christmas Eve of the year before last until today. Like a scroll with the dates flowing from left to right.

The start date was Christmas Eve of the year before last.

Right before the party was about to begin, Sachiko-sama had unfastened the ribbon and put it in her purse. She had said that it would be a disaster if she were to lose it when forced to wear a paper hat in the Rose Mansion.

But Yumi thought the truth was that she was embarrassed. Sachiko-sama wouldn't have liked it if someone had seen that they were both wearing matching ribbons and teased her about it. So Yumi had also taken her ribbon off and instead rolled her hair around a ruler and then wreathed it with crepe paper. And then Youko-sama had unexpectedly complimented her, saying 'Yumi-chan, that looks great.'

In other words, Yumi could safely assume that the ribbon remained inside Sachiko-sama's purse and made its way to her home.

Then jump forward a bit until this time last year. At the very least, the ribbon hadn't been found during the equivalent search last year. So she could cross out all the way up to March of last year in the calendar in her mind.

Yumi couldn't think of any large-scale searches that took place after that, but from time to time they would come down here and they would usually have a cursory look around. And participants in this year's Valentines Day treasure hunt would probably have had a rummage around too, but nothing was found then. – So that means it wouldn't have been here before the middle of February.

(A cursory search…)

That's right, they were just here looking for something the other day. They had decided to make purses as gifts for White Day and were here looking for the sewing machine and iron. Now, the sewing machine and iron are hardly small items, so they didn't look in every nook and cranny but they probably would have shifted the cardboard boxes. So if the ribbon had been here back then, they probably would have found it.

(Which means.)

The conclusion Yumi reached was that the ribbon wasn't here back then. At which point, realization started to dawn on her.

Why was the ribbon here? If we rule out the ribbon teleporting here by itself then the only reasonable explanation was that Sachiko-sama had hidden it here.

(But, for what purpose?)

About a week ago, on the second floor of the Rose Mansion, Sachiko-sama had laughed like some olden days noble from a comic book and said:

"Well, there's no way we would have forgotten any of our personal belongings."

You wouldn't expect that someone who would make such a proclamation would purposefully hide something of theirs. Or perhaps it was meant as a challenge – if they couldn't find the ribbon then just what kind of search had they done?

(No, it's not that.)

Yumi's intuition told her.

This wasn't something that her onee-sama had forgotten.

The black ribbon that Yumi previously wore. The other people here didn't know that this was something that Yumi had given to Sachiko-sama. So to everyone else, this was just something that Yumi had dropped.

Her onee-sama had left a message that only Yumi would be able to understand.

That was it. There was absolutely no mistaking it.

"Well,"

Yumi turned to Shimako-san and Yoshino-san and addressed them.

"I think we're finished with the search, don't you?"

"Yeah."

Shimako-san agreed.

"Then, I suppose we're done for today."

Yoshino-san and Shimako-san both looked at Yumi for a moment. They were probably thinking that Yumi had something to do, since she had suddenly brought up the topic of leaving. But they didn't take it upon themselves to press her for information. After giving a slight nod, they cheerfully responded.

"Looks that way. Don't worry about tomorrow."

"Right, right. We've already done enough preparation and practice."

Shimako-san and Yoshino-san probably didn't have any idea what Yumi was planning on doing after leaving. But they were aware that her thoughts had turned to matters outside the Rose Mansion, so had given her a pleasant farewell. Just what you would expect from close friends.

Sorry.

Since they were both probably expecting that there would be a final meeting about tomorrow after the search was over.

"Thank-you."

At any rate, Yumi graciously accepted their generosity. As she turned to leave, Touko caught her eye.

"Touko, you can go home ahead of me."

Those were Yumi's parting words as she left the room. She was still a little bit concerned about Touko, but Shimako-san and Yoshino-san and Noriko-chan were still there with her.

She'd be fine. If anything happened, they would take care of her.