Maria-sama Ga Miteru:Volume17 Chapter 6 3

Resounding! Leaning! Melting?! Part 3

It was 1:40 when they left the baptistery. Shizuka-sama and Shimako-san said their farewells and split off, leaving the group of four close friends (?) to head towards the leaning tower.

The general rule for the leaning tower is to raise both hands to the sky when you go up. They left their bags in a small locker in a spot a little ways from the leaning tower. Tsutako-san took the camera hanging from her neck and put it in her bag. As a replacement, she pulled out a small camera out and placed it in her pocket. Just how many cameras did she bring?

"My heart's racing, somewhat."

It was an odd nervousness, like before riding a roller coaster.

Fewer than half of the Pine class were climbing the tower, 16 people. Did they view this number as many or few? Incidentally, it seems that Fuji class' Shimako-san did not go up. The reason was "because it is tall and scary." One had no choice but to nod at such a strong view.

Although Yumi never bothered to ask, she thought that when Sachiko-sama came to Pisa last year, she probably did not go up the leaning tower. But because Sachiko-sama's demonically stubborn hatred of losing, she would never say "it was scary." Yumi decided that Sachiko-sama would have declined by saying something like "where's the fun in climbing a tower?" or "I don't do well in tilted places?"

The time had come. In succession, they entered the leaning tower.

Inside the stone staircase, the walls were sturdy, so it wasn't as scary as they had imagined when looking from outside. Because it was a spiral staircase inside a cylindrical building, they could only focus on climbing the stairs. They could not see the landscape outside.

Although it wasn't scary, it was still hard to walk. Because it was leaning. But that was obvious.

But the human brain is too good at processing information on its own. It cannot help but correct things coming in from the eyes as if this were a properly straight building. Which is why even though their heads understood that things were leaning, their feet kept trying to stand perpendicular to the steps. But in reality, their feet were on a slope, so it felt like gravity pulled at an angle, and that was unpleasant. Depending on the place, the walls would either stick to or separate from the body. They could not get used to the sensation.

"I cannot believe you got Rei-sama to approve of this."

The stone steps had been worn smooth and slippery, which would have made the climb to this height difficult even without the lean. She can say that, but overprotective Rei-sama was not there herself. She disliked Yoshino-san's rashness more than anything else.

"I did not exactly get Rei-chan's approval."

Yoshino-san said, while out of breath.

"Because she might have misunderstood things on her own. I might have said something like 'Yumi and friends are going up the tower. That sure is brave.'"

"..."

Saying it like that, Rei-sama would certainly think that Yoshino-san was not interested in going up the leaning tower.

"Yoshino-san, I can't believe the Mouth of Truth didn't bite your hand."

"It wasn't a lie."

But. It wasn't the whole truth. Not when said like that.

"Oh well, it's totally impossible. I can't go out."

They had come to a balcony-like place on the way. Mami-san stuck her face out the opening, and was now trembling in fear.

"Even just walking inside, aren't you nervous? There's no reason to stand outside. Since the earth's surface is tilted diagonally."

To be correct, it was the tower that was diagonal.

"Plus, there's no railing."

There was no railing. Which is why even if the tower wasn't leaning, it would still be "totally impossible." Because it was a world heritage site, they tried to modify it as little as possible. If this were Japan, they would have put up iron bars or something to prevent folks from falling over.

"Anyway, let's go up to the top."

Tsutako-san led, cheering on Mami-san who had suddenly lost her strength. Because there are people coming up from behind, if they did not go up or out, they would block the passage here.

They thought this place was already up plenty high. It felt like the stone steps had grown narrow. Before long, they came to a small opening. Seeing the people before them relaxing and doing as they pleased, it seems this was the final destination.

"If you think of this as three layers, the highest layer's small column connects to the second layer's long column here."

With their hand holding on the lower part, they were practically crawling on all fours. To do something so vaguely terrifying as stand up was completely impossible. At the risk of repeating the same thing, the floor was slanted. If you lost your balance and took a tumble, you were in danger of falling from the tower. There was a fence here, but it was thin and had spaces wide enough for a person to pass through easily. Your survival instinct said you should not put too much trust in that fence.

Timidly making their way through all the people, they finally found a place where four people could sit down. If they looked up, they could see a small circle placed above this big circle. There was a donut-shaped ring section upon which maybe 20 people had crowded.

Far, far below, was the tilted ground. Far away, they could see a soccer field.

From the top of the leaning tower, battered by the wind, gazing at the ground, it was a wondrous feeling. Just a small change in angle and height make a huge change in how the world looks. That's why, even with human relationships, if you can take one step ahead, and look at the same things from a different side, you can gain a greater understanding. From this place of great height, Yumi thought of great things.

"It seems there is still more above to go..."

They heard Tsutako-san say, after a shutter click and while she returned her camera to a pocket. If they looked up, it seems that it had become possible to go to the top of the column that the four of them were clinging to, thanks to signs from others who had already gone up.

The top of the tower is like a belfry, shaped more like a pipe than a column. The pipe section had a narrow walkway (also leaning), not very walkable. Sitting here was more than enough.

"That's impossible."

"Pass."

"Me too."

Mami-san, Yoshino-san, and Yumi all declared retirement. Tsutako-san who had originally asked also said softly "Oh, thank goodness." If the three others said they were going up, she didn't know what she'd do.

So with a unanimous decision to "end here", they descended the tower.