Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume13 Chapter3 6

OK, Let's Do It. Part 6.

The school gates were open from 9am - 5pm during the summer holidays so that students could make use of the facilities for club activities.

The Yamayurikai meetings had been scheduled to take into account the members' other plans.

For example, they were meeting at 1pm today because Noriko-chan had swimming lessons in the morning. On top of that there was obviously class activities, and the schedule could be modified to take into account other personal commitments, provided they were known about ahead of time.

There was no reason that they all had to be present, but if they hadn't made that stipulation then it seemed possible that some members really would have spent every day working non-stop from nine to five. Since it was expected that they all took their roles seriously.

When they met in the afternoon, they'd usually stay at school until just before the main gate was closed. So, basically, they'd leave just before 5pm.

But since there was always a chance that something could change that, Yuuki and the rest of the Hanadera student council would be on stand-by from four.

The atmosphere in the Rose Mansion when they all assembled at 1pm seemed a bit different to usual.

Rei-sama repeatedly checked her watch.

"Do you have some other plans, Rei?"

Sachiko-sama inquired impassively, knowing full well the reason behind this.

"No, not really."

Yoshino-san kept fiddling with her fringe.

Even though Shimako-san looked calm at a glance, she was making mistakes with simple addition, having to redo the same calculation over and over.

Noriko-chan was the same as ever. Whatever was going on in her mind, it didn't seem to show in her face or behavior.

However.

"… Is this how you drink it at home, Noriko-chan?"

She must have been quite distressed to serve a pot of cream with the water-based barley tea.

3:50pm rolled around.

"I know it's a bit early, but why don't we call it a day?"

Sachiko-sama stood upright.

"Huh, already?"

Everyone except Sachiko-sama checked the time. Then the four co-conspirators looked worriedly at Yumi. Their eyes questioning whether it would be alright to leave ahead of schedule.

It would probably take them about five minutes to tidy up and get ready to leave, followed by a leisurely walk from the Rose Mansion to the main gate, so they probably wouldn't arrive at the main gate until just after 4pm.

"We could do that. I've just reached a good point to stop with my work too."

Yumi agreed. Sachiko-sama probably felt sorry for Yuuki and the others having to wait for an hour under the blazing sun, so was calling their meeting to a close early.

Her nonchalant consideration was so cool. Yumi looked on in adoration.

"Wait for me, onee-sama."

Yumi ran down the shaking stairs, to catch up to Sachiko-sama who'd left the room first.

She felt sorry for Yoshino-san and the others, but this was pretty fun.

Because, as inconsequential as it was, it was a secret shared by just her and her onee-sama.

* * *

"… It's hot."

"Keep it up."

Kobayashi handed him a cold can of cola.

"Supplies. On the seniors."

"And the seniors?"

Yuuki started by holding it against his cheek, savoring the meager cooling effect.

"They're already cooling themselves at the cafe. I'm supposed to signal them as soon as I see the ladies approaching. Comprende, Yukichi-kun?"

Kobayashi said, grabbing hold of Yuuki's chambray shirt's chest pocket.

Yuuki had asked that they all wear collared shirts, in order to avoid distressing the ladies, but Kobayashi didn't seem to have grasped the intent behind this request as he had appeared wearing a Hawaiian shirt. Then one of the seniors made him do up the top button on his collar, turning it into a pretty ridiculous look.

"But still."

As he grumbled, Yuuki stuck his finger into the pull-tab and opened it in one motion. Damn it, that bastard had shaken it up before handing it over. Usually Yuuki would be on the lookout for this sort of thing, but he'd momentarily lost his focus in the heat. Foam from the can trickled down his left hand.

"Why am I the only one that has to wait out here in the sun?"

He was ticked off, but pretended to remain calm as he kept the conversation going.

"That's because you've got the first line in the script."

The author of the makeshift script pompously thrust his chest out.

"Ah, right. Well why don't we swap places then?"

"No can do. You can't change my masterpiece."

"What masterpiece? Yumi said it was terrible."

"Wasn't that just a problem with your acting? Aren't they doing a stage play for the Lillian's school festival? I can't wait to see that."

"I won't necessarily be in it."

"Of course you will. After all, you're – "

"Ah, here they come."

They were walking in a group down the path lined with ginkgo trees towards him. As they'd arranged, Yumi was walking in front. He recognized the beautiful lady walking beside her as Sachiko-san. It was just past four o'clock according to his watch. Almost an hour earlier than planned, they must be in a heck of a hurry. But, thanks to that, he wouldn't dry out completely in the sun.

"Listen, follow the script word for word. That's your job for today."

"No way. Yumi and I decided to change it to a back-and-forth exchange between us."

"Then just reel it off and don't give Yumi-chan a chance to speak. Alright, I'm going to give the seniors the sign."

Having said what he wanted to say, Kobayashi sprinted off. At some point, he'd gone from saying "your sister" to "Yumi-san," but now it was "Yumi-chan"?

"Seriously, that guy."

Yuuki pulled a bit of paper out of his back jeans pocket and read over it again.

""Yo, Sachiko-san. Fancy meeting you here. If you'd like, why don't we have some tea? What luck, all our student council members are here too.""

That line really wasn't something that anyone would ever say in a normal conversation. First of all, who would greet someone with "Yo" these days? But just as he was thinking this, he pictured the face of a guy who would start a conversation like that and suddenly felt exhausted. Had Kobayashi been picturing that person when he wrote the script?

""Yo, Sachiko-san." "Yo, Sachiko-san." … "

He kept repeating the opening line under his breath. All the while, Yumi's group kept getting closer and closer and closer. But it was strange, because in amongst that group of Lillian's students, his sister looked like a proper lady too.

Meeting them right at the gate like this was bound to look forced, after all. But it would be even stupider to try and change the location at this point. Since he could see them, obviously they'd be able to see him too.

He quickly glanced back. Kobayashi was walking the seniors over, and they were approaching at just the right speed.

Returning his gaze to the front, Yumi's group had drawn up to within three metres. Sachiko-san noticed him and smiled.

It was time.

Yuuki took a deep breath and raised his hand.

("Yo, Sachiko-san.")

However.

"Oh my, Yuuki-san."

Just as he was about to start, Sachiko-san called out to him first. What are you going to do, Yuuki? Calm down, you can still salvage it if you move onto the next line straight away.

"Ah, um."

But his mind had gone completely blank and he couldn't remember what it was. The line was written on the piece of paper in his pocket. But there was no way he could pull that out and cheat off it.

"Fancy meeting you here."

"Uh, yeah."

Right, that's what it was, hey, wait.

As Sachiko-sama kept saying the lines that were supposed to be his, Yuuki eventually realized why this was so.

"Oh right, if you'd like, why don't we have some tea? What luck, all our student council members are here too. I could keep going, but what do you think?"

Sachiko-sama asked, seemingly enjoying herself, but Yuuki demurred with, "No, that's enough."

He'd been had.

The people who thought they'd been playing the trick had at some point turned into the victims of the trick. In addition to that, he'd been betrayed by his own sister.

"That's horrible, Yumi-san. You told Sachiko-sama, but you kept it from us."

The girl with the braids who was loudly protesting was probably Yoshino-san.

"But see, if you want to fool your enemy, start with your allies. Isn't that what they say?"

He was going to joke, "When did your darling little brother become your enemy?" but wasn't sure that it was the right time.

"You did good, Yumi."

Yuuki looked at her, and she said, "Yep" and gave him a thumbs-up. So in the end he thought, "Well, whatever." Because Yumi seemed satisfied.

"Do you give up, Yuuki-san?"

Sachiko-san smiled in delight, outshining Yumi.

"Yes. A complete defeat."

He happily bowed his head, and just at that moment.

"Hello. We're from Hanadera."

His seniors arrived and issued their greeting simultaneously.

A small sound escaped from Sachiko-san's mouth.

– Retract those previous remarks. Today's bout with Sachiko-sama was a tie.

Why?

Because when Sachiko-san saw all those different types of guys together in a group – the jock, the girly-boy, the hoodlum, and the nerd – she was on the verge of fainting.

"Ah, onee-sama, pull yourself together."

As he listened to his sister's voice, Yuuki thought, "It looks like the epic campaign to subjugate Sachiko-san's man-hatred still has a long way to go."