Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume11 Chapter6 3

Visitor. Part 3

"I've been awaiting your arrival, Cinderella."

Kashiwagi-san was posed exactly as Katsura-san had described, leaning against a red car.

Although there was some distance to the road, he was right in front of the school gate. Since this coincided with going home time, he and his beloved car stood out like a sore thumb.

"Quit messing around."

Yumi said somewhat coldly as Kashiwagi-san reverentially opened the rear door for her. Based on what Youko-sama had been saying, Yumi could tell that Sachiko-sama was in serious trouble, yet he still acted like it was a game. On top of that, Yumi wasn't Cinderella. She was Cinderella's mean Older Sister B.

"Uh-oh. Don't look so angry. For today I'm just a pitiful coach-driver mouse."

"You don't seem to know your part very well."

Youko-sama cynically raised an eyebrow. Kashiwagi-san raised both hands to shoulder level, in an "I surrender" pose.

"And your role today seems to be less the queen and more the witch. I couldn't possibly defy you."

"Why thank-you. Shall we go, Yumi-chan?"

Youko-sama smoothly rebuffed him and settled into one of the rear seats. Sadly, the coach-driver mouse holding the door open didn't receive a single word of gratitude.

"Umm. Are we going to be driving along mountain roads, by any chance?"

Yumi asked, just in case, before she got in the car.

"No, we're staying in the city. Why do you ask?"

"I've been told your driving makes people ill."

Touko-chan's advice. Yumi thought she'd never get to use it in her entire life, but the opportunity had come surprisingly quickly.

"Ahh, you're talking about that one time with Sacchan? Come to think of it, that was the day you rang, wasn't it?"

Kashiwagi-san had called Sachiko-sama, "Sacchan." Yumi really didn't like him addressing her like that.

"Hey, what are you two talking about? You could do that while we're driving, right?"

At Youko-sama's urging, Yumi hastily got into the car. A small cheer went up from the onlookers.

Kashiwagi-san also hurried into the driver's seat, then said to Youko-sama by way of explanation:

"I drove Sacchan up to the hospital once. That's what you were talking about, right Yumi-chan?"

He turned the key and the engine started.

"Sacchan got terrible car-sickness and swore she'd never ride with me again."

That hadn't really been what Yumi had been talking about, but there was no need to bring Touko-chan into the conversation, so she didn't say anything. More importantly, something he'd said had caught her attention.

"The hospital?"

The car took off smoothly. Indicating right, it entered traffic.

"Ah, the hospital with her grandmother, of course."

Kashiwagi-san said, shifting up a gear. Oh, the car wasn't an automatic.

"That day, I offered to take her because none of the Ogasawara cars were available, but Touko-chan pleaded with me to let her come too."

" … So that's what happened."

Sachiko-sama was visiting her grandmother in hospital that day. But Kashiwagi-san had said they went for a drive, so Yumi had been convinced that Sachiko-sama, Kashiwagi-san and Touko-chan had been out having fun together.

In that case, Sachiko-sama should have just told her from the start. That she couldn't go to the amusement park because her grandmother was in hospital. Yumi wouldn't have objected at all. And she wouldn't have foolishly become jealous of Touko-chan.

"It's Touko's grandfather's hospital."

"Ah – "

At the foot of a mountain, where the air is clear, like an old-fashioned hospital.

"Oh, you didn't know, Yumi-chan? Her grandmother was at that hospital for the last year or so. Sacchan would visit her about once a month. Although it looks like she's been visiting more frequently this last month. While her condition was a bit more precarious… Uh-oh."

Kashiwagi-san slammed on the brakes as he said this. The car in front had stopped for a red light, but he hadn't noticed until quite late.

"Excuse me, driver, please keep your eyes on the road at all times."

Youko-sama leaned forwards and scolded him.

"You know, in general, you talk too much."

"Huh?"

Kashiwagi-san turned to look back at them, but Youko-sama's glare said, "Don't look this way," which pushed his gaze reluctantly forwards. The lights went green and the car took off again. Next to Yumi, Youko-sama sighed.

"Sachiko told me not to say anything about her grandmother."

"Really? But she didn't tell me, so it shouldn't matter if I say something, right?"

"So naïve. Sachiko didn't say anything to you because she couldn't have imagined you coming into contact with Yumi-chan."

They turned a corner. They'd now entered a part of the city that was foreign to Yumi.

"But your grandmother – "

Yumi mumbled.

"Ah, grandmother Ogasawara died a long time ago. This is Sayako-sama's mother. It's not that strange that you wouldn't know her, since they didn't live together."

Kashiwagi-san joined in the conversation even when he was turning the steering wheel. They were still in the city, so he wasn't making any sudden speed changes or any rash overtaking maneuvers. For the time being, he was trying to drive safely. Even so, it was occasionally terrifying.

"So how is her grandmother now … ?"

Yumi inquired, and Youko-sama instantly sunk into silence. Even Kashiwagi-san, who had been so talkative up until this point, looked as though he was searching for what to say as he gripped the steering wheel.

From that, Yumi could more or less infer what had happened.

The two silent people were both wearing similar dark outfits. On closer inspection, their clothes weren't made out of characteristic mourning dress textiles, but seeing them together they looked like a young couple on their way home from a funeral. On his own, Kashiwagi-san just looked unmistakeably like a night worker though.

"They had a private funeral today. Her wishes were for it to be family only. So neither I nor Kashiwagi-san attended. I went and offered my condolences to Sachiko and her parents this morning."

Kashiwagi-san was the son of Sachiko-sama's father's sister, so while he was Sachiko-sama's cousin, he wasn't related to Sayako-sama.

"If they hadn't shut out everyone but immediate family, it almost certainly would have turned into a major spectacle due to the Ogasawara group connections."

"Yeah, that's probably true."

Unusually, Youko-sama agreed with Kashiwagi-san's opinion. But when Kashiwagi-san happily smiled at her, he once again earned Youko-sama's scorn.

"I told you before, don't look this way!"

Up until March he had spearheaded Hanadera Academy's student council, but he certainly didn't look that way when matched against Youko-sama.

"You know, you Yamayurikai executive members are all such strong women. Intense, I guess you could say … Never kind to men."

"That's just because they're dealing with you."

" – So Youko-san says, but what on earth could she mean, Yumi-chan?"

"I think it's because even if they're hostile to you, you're not hurt or irritated by it."

Because he called upon her by name, Yumi said what she'd been thinking. But even though she thought she was sticking up for Kashiwagi-san, he seemed sincerely crestfallen, and not acting at all, as he slumped his shoulders.

"Is that because they don't look at me as a man?"

"Yeah."

"Say it clearly."

Yumi thought that way too. Because, honestly, even if they were hostile to him, he wasn't hurt or irritated by it.

"I thought you weren't particularly interested in girls, Kashiwagi-san?"

Despite being engaged to Sachiko-sama, he had sought same-sex romantic interests.

"No, I like girls."

Through the rear-view mirror, Kashiwagi-san smiled brilliantly at her. Maybe he didn't know that it wouldn't work.

"But you like boys better, right?"

"Ha ha ha. I'm no match for you, Yumi-chan."

Youko-sama listened to their conversation with her arms crossed. She seemed completely uninterested in what they were talking about, but it wasn't making her uncomfortable. Maybe she was using it to pass the time, like listening to the car radio.

Yumi wasn't bothered by it either. She had no interest whatsoever in Kashiwagi-san himself. If he started talking about resolving his engagement to Sachiko-sama, then she'd probably listen more intently. As long as Sachiko-sama wasn't involved, then he could get with whichever guys or girls he wanted to.

(Ah.)

No, there was one other thing that bothered her, so she decided to fire a warning shot, just in case.

"Don't you lay a finger on my little brother."

"…"

What was up with that silence?

"Don't tell me you've already done something!?"

Yumi leaned forwards from the back seat and shook Kashiwagi-san's shoulder. And when his shoulder shook, the hand on the wheel shook. Ruining Kashiwagi-san's driving ability.

"I haven't, I haven't. Just some light skinship."

"Light skinship … ?"

Well then, that was a dilemma. She didn't know how far Kashiwagi-san's definition of 'light' extended. But she wasn't inclined to dig any deeper. While they were siblings, there was still the issue of intruding on Yuuki's privacy. Or, more accurately, she just didn't want to imagine it. A love scene between Kashiwagi-san and Yuuki.

"Don't worry, it's alright. He's normal."

Yumi let go of his shoulder and Kashiwagi-san breathed a sigh of relief. Youko-sama, who had been silent up until then, threw in her two cents worth.

"But don't you try to draw the normal into your abnormal world?"

"That sort of thing is amusing. But I just like seeing Yuuki when he's hostile."

Kashiwagi-san played the pervert spectacularly.

"What on earth could you possibly see in Yuuki?"

Yumi asked, and as he indicated right Kashiwagi-san said, "Let's see." Then, as though speaking to himself, he said:

"The Ogasawara bloodline probably has a latent weakness for the Fukuzawa-siblings type."