Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume33 Chapter2 5

The Green Bird and the White Flower. Part 5.

At roughly the same time, in the third year chrysanthemum classroom.

The same ceremony, with the second years pinning the white corsages to the chest of the third years, was taking place.

As soon as she had entered the classroom, Tanuma Chisato was assaulted by the unexpected scene that met her eyes. Of all the things in the classroom that vied for her attention, the most obvious was the large space occupied by the blackboard. That was where the students responsible for decorating the classroom had concentrated their congratulatory messages.

"Congratulations on your graduation."

That message was probably written inside every classroom. Some of them may have 'Happy graduation' instead, but both had essentially the same meaning. Around the edges of the blackboard were what appeared to be yellow flowers in the shape of the chrysanthemum that were made out of tissue paper. These too were appropriately congratulatory. The problem lay with what was in the margins of the blackboard.

"Tears of joy when you hear Auld Lang Syne."

"Laughter and groans at the lame jokes in the PTA president's speech."

"Pay no attention to those arguing about not wanting to graduate."

"Kick and punch at your entrance exams."

Etcetera etcetera. Puns on 'chrysanthemum' filled the otherwise empty space. Was this supposed to be the final act in a vaudeville play?

As she was thinking this, Chisato remembered that the leader of the group of girls who decorated the room was quite the joker. She'd heard that one of the other classes had a dragon and an ink painting, so it looked like there was quite a gap between the classes. But even so, how would the seniors react to the puns written on the board?

The six girls were a bit worried, and were trying to ascertain the situation when some voices called out to them.

"Hey, hey, how about Shouting out gokigenyou?"

"Thanks for the kind puns, right?"

Chisato was so glad to see there were students like that in this class. Such a monumental relief.

(Well then.)

Having pulled herself together, Chisato looked at the rows of desks all lined up. And then.

(… there she is.)

Having found the person she was looking for, Chisato deftly positioned herself in front of her row of desks. Their positions weren't determined on a first-come first-served basis. This was the natural right of the victor.

Chisato was good at scissors-paper-rock.

After all is said and done, scissors-paper-rock is a game of intuition. Or, you could say, of inspiration. Maybe sense, too.

The first step is to clear your head.

There was absolutely no point in interlinking your fingers then raising that up to your face and peeking out from the small gap between your fingers.

Similarly, there was no point in pinching the back of your left hand to look at the wrinkle that's formed. But when it's a one-on-one match, there were certain things you could do to unnerve your opponent.

When it comes time to decide the battle, make your hand into a fist and raise it powerfully overhead at the words 'scissors-paper'. Then, in the next instant, replay the last thirty seconds or so, looking for the signal. Then when you've found that signal, keep your fingers as they are. The shape will come afterwards. Whether you hold out two fingers, flatten them all, or keep them bunched up, that's all there is to it. So maybe it's not just intuition, but a certain amount of processing throughput that's required. If anything in the chain of events doesn't happen at precisely the right time then the plan is ruined and you'll be accused of waiting to see your opponent's move before responding.

And that was how Chisato won the right to pin the flower to the chest of her beloved senior, Hasekura Rei-sama. Apologies to Yoshino-san, but this was the only possible outcome. She too was a good competitor at scissors-paper-rock, but luck wasn't on her side. The outcome had been decided when she was moved into the pine group.

Even so, when Chisato had blurted out, 'Do you want to stand in for me?' it had been said sincerely, with no malicious intent. Because it was such an implausible thing to say there was only one way that Yoshino-san was likely to interpret the offer, but when Chisato saw the look of regret on Yoshino-san's face the words had just slipped out of her mouth. So if Yoshino-san had said yes, she would have persuaded her classmates to let them trade places, just this once. But in the end, Yoshino-san had refused and nothing had come of it.

"Congratulations."

And so Chisato reflected upon the fact that she was standing in for Yoshino-san, just like she had been told.

"Thank-you, Chisato-chan."

Rei-sama smiled sweetly.

"It's only been one year since you joined the kendo club, but you've worked hard and caught up with everyone. Quite impressive. And I've often seen you helping out the juniors."

"… Rei-sama."

Chisato was desperate for Rei-sama to look at her properly as she kept babbling on.

At first she had admired Rei-sama, and Chisato had initially joined the kendo club because she wanted to appeal to her. She had found compatriots within the kendo club and, although she was still a bit raw, could hold her own against club members in the same year level. And now she had the pleasure of being able to pin the flower to Rei-sama's chest. You could think of it as a present from Maria-sama.

"Rei-sama."

"Hmm?"

"I'm grateful to you Rei-sama."

"Why so?"

Rei-sama acted dumb, seemingly saying, 'But I'm the one receiving the flower, right?'

"Because of all the things that I've received from you."

Having finished attaching the flower, Chisato raised a finger as she made each point.

"First of all, for kendo. I knew of it beforehand, but I joined the kendo club because I looked up to you, Rei-sama."

"It makes me happy to hear that."

"And because I joined the kendo club I was able to make some good friends."

She pictured the kendo club members in her mind. For whatever reason, Yoshino-san was in the middle, sulking.

"It's a bit different to socializing with your classmates. Also."

"There's more?"

Chisato smiled and said 'yeah.'

"The trademark short hair."

Rei-sama had been smiling gently, but looked surprised when Chisato said this. This was Chisato's punch-line, so not getting a laugh put her in a bit of a bind.

"Chisato-san, did you used to have long hair?"

...What?

"I wish I could have seen you like that."

….........

As Rei-sama's gentle smile returned, Chisato realized she wasn't just feigning ignorance. Rei-sama really seemed to want to meet (for the first time) the long haired Chisato.

"I..."

Her whole body was quivering and shaking. Her voice was shaking too. But there was no way Chisato could leave it at this.

"I'm here as a representative of every student in this school, which means that I'm also a stand-in for Yoshino-san."

"And?"

" – and therefore I'll borrow her phrase, which is the most appropriate response in this situation."

Chisato looked blankly at Rei-sama and lowered her voice, in acknowledgement that this wasn't the farewell you'd usually give to a graduating student.

" 'Rei-chan you idiot.' "