Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume10 Chapter2 3

Raindrop. Part 3

But having said that, she didn't actually have any way to meet her. – Shimako came to a halt at the path lined with ginkgo trees and smiled bitterly to herself.

Before she knew it, she'd come to this spot.

On the other side of the shrubbery she could see yellows and reds going to and fro. A gathering in eye-catching street clothes. One more step along the path and she'd be on the university grounds.

Shimako's heart beat a little faster. Ahead of her were the school buildings of her onee-sama, Satou Sei-sama.

(However.)

She didn't actually have any way to meet her.

As Tsutako-san had pointed out, her onee-sama had probably been lost in the same labyrinth that she herself was in. But even if Shimako was able to confirm this, it wouldn't help her out. Their circumstances were completely different.

Tsutako-san said this too. There's no right answer when it comes to human relationships.

Because there's another person involved, a single pattern doesn't exist.

Shimako looked up at the university buildings ahead of her. They calmly regarded her, as though looking down upon her weak self.

(I should go.)

Even if they were able to meet, in her current state, Shimako would just be an inconvenience. For starters, having spontaneously made up her mind to do this, Shimako didn't know where her onee-sama was at present.

A group of university students emerged from the building's glass side door. Shimako hurriedly turned her back and scurried back to the high-school grounds, putting the pathway between her and the group.

But when the sounds of the seven or eight cheerful voices reached her ears, Shimako couldn't help but think that her onee-sama might be having that kind of happy university life too. And in that case, there was no room for her.

She'd thought that when the cherry blossom season had ended, that she'd broken though completely. But that wasn't the case at all.

She hadn't even seen her onee-sama in that group of women but her chest had tightened in the same manner as when she'd seen Touko-chan by Noriko's side.

(But.)

The truth was, even if it meant she was completely hopeless, Shimako wanted to see her onee-sama. Even though she would only be causing trouble, Shimako wanted to talk to her.

Her onee-sama would surely answer her. Even though it might not be what was right for Shimako. Nonetheless, she would be satisfied if their thoughts overlapped even a small amount.

Back then, how had she kept running at full pace all the way to the end? Having started it without thinking of the consequences, it wasn't the sort of thing you could rethink and stop midway through. Leaving things half done would be incredibly damaging too.

Shimako smiled ruefully.

If it had been Yoshino-san or Yumi-san, they probably would have openly gone forth to meet her. No, wait. They wouldn't be trapped in this labyrinth to begin with.

Her onee-sama had graduated and Noriko had matriculated. Noriko had lodged herself in an empty corner of Shimako's heart and became a support that propped her up.

But she couldn't talk to Noriko about Noriko. By the same token, nor could she talk to the residents of the Rose Mansion about it.

As she entered the school building, Shimako let out a large sigh. The hallway was dimly lit and the windows closed, as though to keep out the rain, which made the air feel choking and oppressive.

Checking her watch, Shimako saw that there was still a little bit of time left before the afternoon classes commenced.

She felt that she wanted to see someone. To be with someone she was close to, who would call her by her name and not "Rosa Gigantea."

Shimako came to a halt at the place where two hallways intersected. Two paths stretched out ahead of her. One led to the first-year camellia classroom and the other to the Rose Mansion.

However, Shimako didn't walk down either of those paths, she took two, three steps backwards, then turned and headed towards her second-year Wisteria classroom.

Thinking that neither of those would put her at ease.

But that was the personality she'd been born with, and changing it wasn't something she was able to do.