Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume11 Chapter2 3

Classmates. Part 3

"So is the Red Rose Revolution happening, or not?"

"What's that?"

After school, as Yumi was making her way out, Yamaguchi Mami-san pulled her back into the classroom, saying, "Five minutes, please." There were still a lot of their classmates around as Yumi was taken to the back of the classroom, and made to sit down in a seat near the window.

"The word is, you and Miss Matsudaira Touko came to blows today at lunchtime."

"That's a bit of an exaggeration."

Yumi laughed. Had she been testing to see who would believe this rumor? Mami-san was the petit soeur of the newspaper club's president, and the current chief editor of the Lillian Kawaraban, the school's newspaper.

Spinning a mechanical pencil around her fingertips, Mami-san smiled.

"Yeah. I heard the other side of the story from a couple of our classmates, so I know it wasn't anything more than words. However – "

"However?"

"The rumor's spreading fast. It took about two hours to reach me, and by that time it had been embellished to the point where Rosa Chinensis en bouton received an open-handed slap from a younger student."

"…"

So it took two hours for Mami-san to catch hold of the rumor. Which meant her classmates hadn't gone directly to the newspaper club to spill the gossip.

The path to Milk Hall was at peak capacity during lunch break, so it may have been one of the students coming and going.

Those watching at a distance may have passed the word around, each adding their own speculation, and after two hours it had reached a 'truth' unknown to the people actually involved.

"There was a note going around in class that said the same thing, so it looks like the embellishment has stuck."

"Is that so?"

Which would account for the speed with which the rumor spread, given that it had really only been a short time since lunch. On top of that, it was a juicy bit of gossip.

But even so, a slap. What an incredible rumor.

"Another piece of gossip I heard from a different source said that Matsudaira Touko had stolen Yumi-san's rosary."

"Uhh… "

Yumi thought there may have been a bit of truth to that rumor. Last year's "Lillian Kawaraban" had printed articles solely like those from a weekly gossip mag, so there was a bit of an immunity. But how much of these rumors would everyone believe?

"On top of that … right, right. I've heard others like Sachiko-sama's two-timing, that kind of thing."

"Huh."

Hearing the phrase 'two-timing,' Yumi momentarily stiffened. Warning, warning, these were simply examples. She was talking to the extremely perceptive Mami-san. The newspaper club's star reporter. She had to make sure she wasn't tricked by the casual tone of their conversation into letting something slip out of her mouth.

Whether Mami-san noticed that tremor or not, she peered intently at Yumi's face.

"You'd better be careful. The general public is scary."

"S … scary?"

Yumi thought that she was probably just saying this for dramatic effect. Although it may not have been a good example, Mami-san was probably the type of person who was good at telling ghost stories.

"Would you like me to lend a hand?"

This was the real question, and while she didn't say it, Mami-san's eyes blazed brightly.

"A hand?"

"An exclusive interview with Fukuzawa Yumi, printed in the Lillian Kawaraban."

"So that's what this is about?"

"That's what this is about."

If the person involved told the full story, all the useless embellishments would probably disappear, once and for all.

Gossip spread because of people's desire to know what happened, so if the truth was exposed in broad daylight, then the desire would be satisfied and it would recede from people's minds, like an ebbing tide.

"Thank-you, but I'll pass."

Yumi definitively rejected the offer to "lend a hand." Mami-san responded with a cocked eyebrow and a question:

"You don't have faith in what I'd write?"

"That's not it. This time around, I want to handle it myself, one way or the other."

"Will you be able to, one way or the other?"

"Even if I can't, it's okay. People will lose interest in the rumor sooner or later. You know what they say, "Gossip only lasts one season.""

"And summer vacation is coming soon, right?"

"Exactly."

Yumi smiled too. She didn't know if she'd be able to handle this herself, but she felt it was something she had to do.

Her remaining classmates left the classrooms in ones and twos, saying, "Gokigenyou," as they went.

Yoshino-san had left for club activities a long time ago.

Inadvertently, she thought of the Rose Mansion. At that moment, it was probably just Shimako-san and Noriko-chan sitting around the large table on the second floor, silently doing paperwork.

The thought, "I want to go and help," floated through her mind, and Yumi shook her head violently, to throw it off. She'd already made her decision not to go. She couldn't cling on to this lingering affection.

"If people only know a part of the story, they'll just fill in the part they don't know themselves."

Mami-san remained seated, and stretched upwards with both hands. Five minutes had already elapsed, but Yumi was in no hurry to go home, so she stayed chatting.

"For instance, take a look at Yumi-san from my point of view."

Returning her gaze, Mami-san started scribbling something in her report pad.

"A fight with Matsudaira Touko. Recently, for some reason, she's been avoiding the Rose Mansion. And yesterday, in front of the school gate, she was absolutely drenched."

"–"

As expected, she'd caught wind of yesterday's events. And since she'd stated it so confidently, it meant she wasn't treating it as a rumor, so she must have got her hands on some firm evidence.

"That's only three data points. But on the other hand, those three are plenty stimulating. Enough to get the imagination firing."

'Quarrel,' 'Rose Mansion,' 'Drenched.' Mami-san drew curves between the three scrawled phrases, making a rounded triangle.

"The point is, the subject of all three is the same. I'm free to imagine how they're all linked together. In truth, it could be a wavy line, or it could be a dotted line. Or perhaps they're completely unrelated."

"Unrelated?"

"There's no connection between them, they're just interesting things happening at roughly the same time. Well, normally you'd call that a coincidence."

"Yeah, right."

Yumi snorted.

The argument with Touko-chan, the circumstances around her not going to the Rose Mansion, and getting drenched in front of the school gate despite having an umbrella – as if they would all be just a coincidence. Was that really something Mami-san would think?

"But, see, I don't know the truth about this. The only one that does know is you, Yumi-san."

Ahh, was that it? There may have been but one truth, but only the person involved could discern it. People had to rely on their imagination to provide the missing part.

"Then on top of that, add in Rosa Chiensis' absence."

Indeed. While Yumi thought that it was completely unrelated to her, the fact of Rosa Chinensis' absence had been added in like it was all one scene of a movie.

"Why is she absent?"

Mami-san asked.

"I don't know."

Yumi answered, not looking away.

"You're her petit soeur, right?"

"There's things even petit soeurs don't know. You said it yourself, just before, right? For me, the reason for my onee-sama's absence is one of those 'parts I don't know.'"

"Hmm, you've got me there. Alright then, a personal question. What happened to your rosary, Yumi-san?"

"My rosary?"

"When we were getting changed, it wasn't hanging around your neck."

Sharp eye. Which meant Yumi shouldn't let her guard down, even in the changing rooms.

"No comment."

Yumi stood up from her seat, running away from the question. Mami-san remained seated, looked up at Yumi and smiled.

"Smart move. Better to stay silent than to open your mouth and say something poorly."

"You're going to make that into an article?"

"I can't just yet. But when I do, I'll let you see the final draft before it's printed."

"Okay."

That was the type of person that Mami-san was. Which was why Yumi could chat with her like this. She wouldn't just print their conversation in the Lillian Kawaraban. But having said that, Mami-san could be quite persuasive, so it was better not to blurt out something carelessly.

After returning to her own desk and picking up her school bag, Yumi heard Mami-san mumbling behind her, as if talking to herself.

"It's just something I want to know. What's going on with Yumi-san this time around?"

"You can tell that something's going on?"

Yumi turned around and asked.

"I can. But I don't know what."

Mami-san scribbled letters and diagrams on her report pad. All this was focused on the unknown parts, Yumi herself remained largely unchanged.

However.

During her conversation with Mami-san, there had definitely been moments when it felt like some kind of hint was coming into view, and then going back into hiding.