Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume28 Chapter1 4

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A few days later, I accidentally ran into "Futaba-san's onee-sama" on the way home from school.

"Oh?"

She was standing in front of the statue of Maria-sama at the fork in the road, and had just finished praying. She smiled, looking a bit nervous, when she turned around and saw me there.

"You're Futaba's classmate – "

"That's right. Gokigenyou."

I somehow managed to give her the proper greeting. If she had just spent another ten seconds praying, I may have been able to run away.

"And Futaba? She's not with you?"

"No. She's trying out for a club today."

"Ahh, right, I remember her saying something about that. I think she only joined the basketball club because she wants to grow taller."

She put her hand to her mouth, stifling a giggle. My first impression of her was that she was quiet and neat, but perhaps she was a bit more lively than I had imagined.

"And you? You're not going to tryout for the basketball club too?"

"I'm not. I'm still recovering, so for the time being I'm not joining any clubs."

Futaba-san's onee-sama's response was merely to nod her head and say, "I see." She didn't ask what illness I had, or how long I had been sick.

"Well, since neither of us are in any clubs, we should try to get along on the way home."

Futaba-san's onee-sama said, then held my hand and started to walk off. I felt deeply guilty for what I was doing to Futaba-san, but I didn't let go of her hand.

At that moment I was enveloped in a flash of dazzling light.

Click. The sound of a shutter reached my ears at about the same time.

"Pardon me. It was a beautiful scene."

Standing there was Takeshima Tsutako-san, from the photography club. No, that's not right, I should refer to her as Tsutako-sama since she's now my senior by one year.

"Are you two soeurs?"

"My, that would be nice. But unfortunately it's incorrect."

Futaba-san's onee-sama giggled once more. Even though they were in the same year, it looked like they were only passing acquaintances.

"Oh?"

Tsutako-sama mumbled. She had an odd look on her face when she lowered the camera.

"Is this deja-vu?"

"Huh?"

"I feel like I've seen this exact same scene before."

I was shocked.

Because just now I had felt the same way.

Tsutako-sama with her camera out, asking us:

Are you two soeurs?

But, that's probably what I should expect from my memory.

I couldn't say when, or to who, it had happened.

(My, that would be nice. But unfortunately it's incorrect.)

I didn't know. My mind was in uproar.

The light of the sun setting in the west sparkled off the new leaves.

"Well, you take lots of photographs of students, Tsutako-san. So you've probably seen something like this before."

Futaba-san's onee-sama said. But that wasn't an outright negation. So I may still have been remembering this. Surely there must have been someone that Tsutako-sama had asked this question of, immediately after taking their picture.

My eagle-eyes soon found proof of that, both easily and regrettably.

After parting company with Tsutako-sama we made our way to the bus stop in front of the main gates. As we were getting on the bus that would take us to M station, I caught a glimpse inside Futaba-san's onee-sama's purse. It was only for a moment, but there was definitely a folded photo of two young women wearing the Lillian's high school uniform in there.

One of the pair looked like Futaba-san. I couldn't make out the other one all that well, but the only sensible explanation was that it was the owner of the purse.

There was nothing unusual about Futaba-san and her onee-sama both appearing in a photo together. After all, they were soeurs.

Even so, I was not amused. I wanted to tear that photo in half and wedge myself in between them.

But I still wasn't sure who I was feeling jealous of. Futaba-san? Or Futaba-san's onee-sama?

"You're not a member of any clubs?"

I asked, as we rode the train away from M station.

I couldn't get the photograph out of my head, but I figured it was more constructive to try and find an easier topic of conversation than to endlessly stew on the negatives.

"Yeah."

That's what she'd said earlier and it looked like she was sticking to it. As she grabbed the handrail near the door, Futaba-san's onee-sama smiled and said, "It just wasn't destined to be."

"But, well, didn't you join the basketball club – ?"

Even though the words coming out of my mouth were mine, I lost my composure.

"Huh?"

Futaba-san's onee-sama seemed puzzled too.

"Ah –, umm, since Futaba-san's a member of the basketball club. That must have been what I was thinking."

There were plenty of examples of juniors and seniors in the same club becoming soeurs. So I thought that Futaba-san had joined the basketball club because she was looking for a soeur. And that's how they would have met.

"That's how I felt when I first entered high-school, but somehow I lost that chance. And that's how things are now."

This time around I couldn't say it, but in my heart I asked, "Because of me?" Because of me, Futaba-san's onee-sama hadn't joined the basketball club. I didn't fully understand what it meant, but if I could only believe it then perhaps I could remember it.

(But.)

Why would it be because of me?

I passed through the ticket gate and out of the station. Naturally, Futaba-san's onee-sama remained by my side.

Right.

I knew she got off at the same station that I did. No, wait, that was Futaba-san. Once again, my mind was throw into chaos.

At some point I had walked along this road with her. But that can't be right. It must have been with Futaba-san.

I felt dizzy. I crouched down alongside the bus terminal.

"What's the matter?"

Even though she was probably standing right beside me, Futaba-san's onee-sama's voice seemed to come from a long way away.

"My head hurts."

"Should I call an ambulance?"

An ambulance.

I froze.

The red, flashing lights, the ear-splitting siren. The disturbance amongst the commuters.

This wasn't deja-vu. This was my memory of the past.

I remembered.

I'd been standing there, aimlessly.

There, that was the spot. In front of the bus terminal, right by that crossing. That was where I got into an argument with Kazue-san.

"She said, "Do you think it's wrong to join a club just because you want an onee-sama?""

I mumbled to myself. The words that had been shouted at this location, one year ago.

(Is an onee-sama really necessary? Even though we're the same age, couldn't we be that close?)

Back then, I couldn't stand the thought of Kazue-san being closer to someone else than she was to me. Even though we'd only known each other for a few hours, I adored Kazue-san. I felt like we were destined to meet. I wanted to believe that Kazue-san felt the same way I did.

(Ichigo-san is Ichigo-san. Even if I have an onee-sama, our friendship won't change.)

(That's enough.)

I shook Kazue-san off, and ran away. I don't remember what color the lights were in front of me. I hadn't had time to look around. I just wanted to run until I was somewhere Kazue-san couldn't see me.

(Watch out!)

Somebody shouted out. I looked around, and there was a truck right in front of me. In the next instant I was flung through the air for a couple of metres. I remained like that for ten months, without opening my eyes.

"Watch out!"

Somebody shouted out. I looked around, and I had stepped out onto the pedestrian crossing. Panic gripped me and I started to run.

The pedestrian crossing light was red. I looked to my right, and a car was right there.

Deja-vu.

I froze and couldn't save myself. All I had to do was take a step backwards, but I wasn't even able to do that.

(It's no use.)

I closed my eyes for a moment and was dragged backwards by an enormous force on my right arm. I opened my eyes in time to see a station wagon drive past. I heard the driver shout out, "Are you trying to get yourself killed?" as we landed on our butts.

We? – that's right, I had been saved by Futaba-san's onee-sama.

"… Thank God. I made it in time, this time around."

"Kazue-san … ?"

"Ah, you've remembered. Ichigo-san."

The other girl laughed, using her arms to raise her upper body off the sidewalk.

"But, you were … "

The Kazue-san I remembered was tiny, plump and covered in acne – the spitting image of Futaba-san. But the voice that called out "Ichigo-san" sounded far closer to Kazue-san's than Futaba-san's. The voice that came to me in my dreams.

"Looks like I was able to reach you thanks to how much I've grown in the last year."

Kazue-san playfully stuck her tongue out at me, and I recklessly embraced her.

The happy music of the traffic lights reached my ears. Even though the lights had turned green, and even after they turned red, I kept embracing Kazue-san.

(We've finally met.)

Those memories were so precious to me that I had buried them deep, deep inside.

I was able to reclaim them now.