Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume19

Illustrations

These are illustrations that were included in volume 19.

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  Cover Page

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Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume19 Prologue

Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume19 Chapter1

Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume19 Chapter1.5

Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume19 Chapter2

Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume19 Chapter2.5

Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume19 Chapter3

Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume19 Chapter3.2

Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume19 Chapter3.3

Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume19 Chapter3.4

Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume19 Chapter3.5

In Library IV

"Ogasawara Sachiko-san? Yeah, she returned the book a long time ago."

Down another branch of the forked road, behind the Loan Counter of the Library's reading room, she laughed.

"Ah. Thirty minutes ago huh ... Sorry, I don't remember exactly how long."

Which one was which she did not know. One of the two was the "Secretly saw another person's Onee-sama girl" , and the other was the "Threw the Rosary back girl". Even when the two were in front of her, she could not believe that they had had such violent pasts.

"When was the book returned?"

Minako-sama bent down onto the counter and asked once more.

"Because there was a bit of confusion, I couldn't deal with it right after it was dropped off. But the book was handed in, and I sorted it all out and input it into the computer soon after."

The Library staffer looked over her shoulder. While at her work post, behind a pile of books, she had fortuitously spied the back cover of the book that Sachiko-sama had been reading.

"... Well, she came."

Onee-sama doggedly fulfilled her first objective. Now she was expected to return to the Rose Mansion.

"Did you see Sachiko-san leave the reading room?"

She shook her head and said "No".

"Oh yes. You were confused. So you couldn't have noticed every person who had come and gone, right?"

"Probably. After that, she did not come back to borrow a book."

Thank you, Minako-sama said, and bowed towards the counter. Then she turned towards Yumi.

"Sachiko-san had come only to return the book."

"Huh."

Yumi nodded without much thought. Doing so at this point made Yumi look suspicious. What with her having said "I'm off to the library!".

"Because she came quite a while ago, it has probably been reshelved but, let's at least try to look for it in the reading room."

After hearing Minako-sama's plan, the two split up and would meet again in the middle of the room. It would be a good use of time while searching the wide reading room.

"The building will close in ten minutes."

After hearing the Library Staffer's announcement, Yumi checked her watch, and began walking along the wall. As she was walking, she began diligently inspecting the cracks between the books on the various bookshelves.

After an unknown time had passed, Yumi discovered those two again in an unsuspecting corner of the room.

Hugging the side of a bookshelf, Yumi saw the cuddled two reading a pamphlet with one picture spanning the current two pages. If things would have been different, Yumi would have wanted to watch from a distance but, now was not the time for that sort of thing. Yumi mentally apologized to them as she silently crept up behind the two Rosa Gigantea sisters and began to bother them.

"Excuse me, Shimako-san."

"Oh, Yumi-san."

"I apologize in advance, Yumi-sama."

"Ah, no no, thank you."

When Noriko had dipped her head towards Yumi, she dipped it down in return at Noriko. Dozing was a problem when the library was about to close.

"By the way, how long have you two been in here?"

"We came here right after we left the Rose Mansion. About how long it's been, it's been an hour it seems."

Shimako-san made a shocked face as she looked at her watch. It's as if the book had been some entrancing ghost.

Well anyway, they had been in the library for a long time, so maybe they knew in what direction Sachiko-sama had gone. As soon as it seemed that Yumi had started to talk, Shimako-san looked as if she were expecting a depressing question.

"Were you together with Sachiko-sama?"

"Uh...."

In her mad hope, Yumi had crumpled her skirt. Shimako-san quickly helped her fix it, so she would not have to put her butt on the floor.

"W... what's wrong? Did I say something wrong?"

"No. Nothing wrong."

Much time had passed from when she had dropped Sachiko-sama's letter to the time that Sachiko-sama had come to return the book, so she explained her look of worry.

"Could it have been Touko?"

Noriko who had been silent and had only been listening up to now, quietly spoke.

"Earlier, I unexpectedly met up with Touko at the entrance to the reading room, and I told her that you were still in class after school. After that, she started exiting the room and looked back at me when she ran into Rosa Chinensis. They had gone on together into the Milk Hall. It could have been Touko."

"No, that's not what happened."

At that time, rather than drinking strawberry milk with Sachiko-sama in the Milk Hall, Touko-chan had drunk black tea with Yumi at the Rose Mansion.

"Let's search together."

Shimako closed the pamphlet, and Noriko-chan nodded.

"Well, it's not that big of a thing."

"But the truth is, you don't know where she went?"

No, it wasn't that Yumi did not know where Sachiko-sama had gone, but it was that something had not been found.

"Perhaps she had unexpectedly returned to the Rosa Mansion."

"Wouldn't that have been nice."

"But, you two had, with the book --"

"We had been reading books for a while, but we had seen Sachiko-sama before we started reading."

What could she do? Making a big deal about being able to find Sachiko-sama, it would be best to just fix up the situation.

"Noriko, would you return that pamphlet please."

"Sure."

When Noriko returned the pamphlet into the bookshelf, Yumi suddenly spied the title.

"Sakura Folk Tales?"

"Yeah. If you read Sakuratei, you would find it real interesting. Because the two are part of the same story, this pamphlet isn't very long. I had heard about it from someone in second-year Sakura class, and so I asked her about how she had gotten the book. She told me that she had won it as a gift in a lottery, but that, if I wanted to read it, I could probably find it at the library. So then I and Noriko came here to try to find it."

Because Yumi had looked over Sakuratei once before, she understood. It resembled that book, but it was different.

"Oh yeah. That book is from this year, isn't it?"

Shimako stroked the bookshelf that the pamphlet had been returned to while laughing. The books arranged on the shelf sometimes differed in size or the depth of color on them, but all of them were pamphlets with pink back covers.

"All of these books were written about the 'Sakura class's history?" Yumi was quite interested.

Yes, probably.

"Which page?"

Cherry Blossom Folk Tales

Cherry Blossom Classroom was the last building on the second floor of the Lillian Girls' Academy school building.

The door was made of wood, but was so darkened that nobody knew what sort of wood it was. But the students who used the classroom knew that it was actually made from the cherry blossom tree, they had kept the secret alive by passing it from sempai to kouhai.

If one looked inside through the gap in the door, one would see that it was now homeroom for Second Year Cherry Blossom Class.

On the blackboard, the words "Think about Sakuratei" were written in large letters. The School Festival Action Committee was in a heated meeting.

"Well then, after considering countless proposals, it has been decided to hold this year's Sakuratei as a café.

Sakuratei.

The name of a shop in the School Festival that Cherry Blossom Class viciously protects every year. It was a program that changed every year, but whose name was kept as Sakuratei. Last year, Sakuratei was a curry shop. Years before, it's been a soba store, a sweets shop, and years ago it had even been a small drama theater. This year's cafe would be like all the Sakuratei that came before it, well-established and popular, and would never be Sakuratei again for several years.

The decision had been a peaceful one, so the matter at hand was resolved ... or so I thought. Actually, the real issue was about to start.

"How about a music cafe? We could listen to a musical performance while sipping tea" The students of the Folk Song Club proposed.

"We agree" The Chorus and Ballad Club's leaders raised their hands.

"Um, we could decide on a showtime to catch, and some dance will probably be in the performance." The Dance Club leader added on untimidly.

"Isn't a music club a little too much? If we want to display our originality, maybe we should get rid of music altogether" The new voice to the discussion was the leader of the Go Club.

"To get rid of music is a bit over the top, is it not? Don't tell me you want to put down a Go board and start a Go match?"

"That's exactly what I was thinking."

And then the Shougi Club's leader added her thoughts in. "Maybe adding a Shougi Board wouldn't be too bad of an idea either."

The winner for the Cherry Blossom was the café. New ideas had been proposed, but … "Please stop this side talk. Until there is a clear winner, please do not leave your seats. It has been decided that the guests must stay in place"

"But music is the same thing."

It seemed like everyone wanted to win with their own idea. From the beginning, students who did not have a very concrete idea of what was going on in the meeting took up heated positions. Because they continued to stir up conflict with each other, the room was descending into confusion.

A picture café (Proposed by the Arts Club), a Manga café (Proposed by the Manga Investigation Club), A Café with Flowers (Proposed by the Flower Arrangement Club), and on, and on. A Ping Pong Café (Proposed by the Ping Pong Club), a Sewing Café (Proposed by the Handicrafts Club), and all sorts of café ideas were popping up. Even the chairman of the meeting had to take a long sigh.

"I understand the meaning behind everyone's requests. However, if each club continues to promote only its own opinion, we cannot reach consensus. How about this. Today's meeting shall come to a close, and from tomorrow onward, please meet with your representative, and appeal with them to present the idea. The School Festival Action Committee will probably settle the location at a café."

It was a wise decision. Everyone had become very heated in their discussions, so a temporary cooling off would do us well. Plus there was always the possibility that after a good night's sleep, people would wonder why they had proposed such absurd ideas. On the other hand, if they felt that their ideas had merit, sleep would only increase the idea's appeal.

"I wonder if that's a good idea." The leader of the Literature Club who had held her patience and kept silent the whole time raised her hand. "If that's the case, then hear my proposal out too."

"A literature café Sakuratei?" Said someone, in a somewhat mocking tone.

"Yes. But I do not want this to be a place where only I can show off my club's wares."

"Then what do you mean?"

"I was thinking everyone could make things they could not have made were they not in Cherry Blossom-class, and then sell those in a store. That was all."

The Literature Club President looked around at her classmates. "We'll make presents ahead of time, and then everyone can make stories, songs, or essays about the Cherry Blossom-class Folk Tales, and collect them all together."

"Cherry Blossom-class Folk Tales?"

"Yes. In the entire set of high school classes, there are six different classes. Why must there only exist a Cherry Blossom-class for second years? Or, looking at it the other way, why must the Plum Class found in the first and third year classes not also found in the second year classes?

Everyone should think about this." As soon as she finished her answer, the room became noisy.

"Because this classroom's door is the only door which uses Cherry Blossom trees for material?"

"Isn't it because of the famous class teacher Sakura-Sensei?" People began voicing their thoughts from different corners of the room.

"Look now. Everyone knows one or two different folk tales right? Write words about it. Put your tales into writing."

From the way the participants began talking, the air of the room seemed to project the idea as "Seems Interesting". No matter how you looked at it, the young girls of the room liked this topic of conversation.

The Chairman looked down at her clock for time confirmation. "If anyone else has any other ideas, please express them now."

When she took a survey glance around the room, she found no such people. "So then, this time next week, shall we decide to hold presentations?"

After confirming that everyone raised their hand in agreement to the idea, the chairman of the School Festival Action Committee turned back to us.

"That's all teacher. Please return to homeroom instruction now."

-- Magic Among the Cherry Blossom --

Everywhere you looked, the mirrors opposed each other. A part of my shared heart called out to another. Because the cherry blossoms sway, and the flower petals fall. Had I recognized the signs sooner, I would have come even earlier.

"Shirayuki-san?"

Wondering what had happened, the students turned and looked back.

"No, it's nothing. Sorry, let's just go on ahead."

Shirayuki-san had been tying her sailor collar as she stepped on the cherry blossom petals and followed the small group of students. Some time along the way, a ten-meter gap had opened up between them.

"Did something catch your eye?"

"Nope" she replied to her classmates, when they turned their heads around to listen to her answer. Something had interested her, but she had no idea how to talk about it. So she had tried to go back there, even though she knew she probably wouldn't find an answer. As she was returning from morning prayer, just as she was exiting the church, it had felt like she was being called by someone, and she had stopped. That was all. But when she began looking around, she could not see anyone. There was only a cherry tree with a branch barely supporting a proudly growing cherry blossom.

"Shirayuki-san, again?"

"I wonder if she became intoxicated by the cherry blossoms?"

As the girls began shrilly laughing, Shirayuki-san laughed softly as well. Entranced by the cherry blossoms, huh. When she thought about it, it strangely fit her situation very well.

After she had returned to the second-year Plum Class classroom, Shirayuki couldn't help but think about the voice that had called out at her. As the day wore on, the tale that she had kept in her heart began to grow, until by the time it had become 4th period, she neither took notes nor opened her textbook, but simply thought about that voice. Had she been intoxicated, it would have worn off by now.

At lunch, Shirayuki bounced back to the place, moving as if she were in a hurry. Without confirming whether she had been invited by something or not, she could not go on any longer.

"Who are you?"

Shirayuki asked, as she came to the place where she had been called in the morning, and called back. And then.

"Who are you?"

As if there were an echo from the tree, a voice rang back. Shirayuki became dreamy and then began calling back.

"Where are you?"

"I am here?"

After the voice had whispered "Here", she began looking around but, she found someone else. On the fat branch above her, she could see the face of a single girl, sitting. She was wearing a Lillian Uniform, but somewhere, it was different from Shirayuki's.

"Who are you?"

This time, it was the other girl who asked.

".... Shirayuki"

When their eyes met, she could not bring herself to stay silent.

"I see. I'm Shirotae."

Shirotae laughed happily. Her brown, straight hair was as long as the branch she sat upon. The color of her skin was so light, that it seemed as if the colors of her surroundings would bleed into her. No, it didn't just seem as if the colors bled in, they actually did. --- Magic. Instantly, Shirayuki knew. That girl was not something of this world. Because a normal human would not let the color of the Cherry Blossoms bleed into their skin. Shirayuki began to run.

"Ah, Shirayuki?"

From behind her, Shirayuki heard Shirotae's voice clearly. Maybe Shirotae herself didn't know what she was? If people had paid attention, no one would have known where she had come from or why she had come in, but they would have noticed her enter the classroom.

"But why?"

Perhaps in response to a feeling she had felt, a classmate of Shirayuki's closed the box of her lunchbox and ran to Shirayuki's side.

"You don't look well"

It was Momoyo-san. She always was very well versed in occult stuff like this.

"Right now, I, just uh, saw a ghost."

"A ghost?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe it was some magic."

Because she had said it so plainly, it sounded as if it could not be believed, but still Momoya-san listened from beginning to end to the tale without laughing. "Hm. I see." She said, as she made sounds indicating that she was following the conversation. As I continued telling the tale, my heart slowly began returning to its normal pace.

"It's not as stupid as you think it is," said Shirayuki while looking at Momoyo-san, after having related the whole tale.

"Leaving an opening for a human. Weird"

But as always Shirayuki's occult-loving friend did not laugh.

"Do you think it's weird because you saw something like this before?"

"But."

"Shirayuki-san."

Another friend prompted, Shirayuki-san nodded and said "Yes".

"Do you really believe what I'm saying?"

"If I thought you were lying, I wouldn't have had any interest."

The friend answered with a somber face.

"You know, in the morning, all of us were in that spot, but only Shirayuki-san noticed it. Also, she went back a second time, and this time she herself was called out for? That's not a very good sign."

"Not a very good sign?"

"Whether it was magic or whether it was a ghost, whether it was just a specter, or whether it was a demon, it wasn't something natural, and associating with such things is always a danger. If you had mistaken her for someone in the crowd, wouldn't you have remembered her face? Or if you had just bumped into someone, you would at least remember whether she spilled ice cream or something else on your clothes."

"And then, wouldn't that person say, "I'm sorry, here, let me give you something to help you clean the uniform" and then present you some compensation from her purse?"

"I wouldn't take it."

"Exactly. Then she would say 'Take it' and you would probably say 'I can't'. Well anyway, whichever you pick, either way, you could tell that this person wasn't someone you had seen earlier in the city."

After Momoya-san pointed this out, Shirayuki's back went cold.

"I wonder what she had wanted to say?"

"Will she remember that she had been talking to you?"

"If she does remember, what will you say?"

"Since I don't know what she is, or what she wants, so I have no idea what I'd do. But I know I'd be careful."

"Why?"

"I wouldn't go back there. From what you told me, the girl had been sitting on the cherry branch, right? Maybe it was a personified spirit of the cherry blossom, or some sort of trapped soul in the tree, or something like that. If that had happened to me, I wouldn't have been able to move. If I were you, I'd stay away from the place, and end this now."

"But it's within school grounds. There's no way I can avoid her forever."

"But it's only while the cherry blossoms are blooming."

"I wonder if I can do it...."

"You can. And if the girl calls out to you again, do not answer her. If she calls out several times and you ignore her, maybe she will think she mistook you for another person, and she won't bother you again. It's difficult but, I think it's the best way to protect yourself."

"I'll try my best."

When Shirayuki nodded, she thought that she really would follow Momoya-san's advice. But after lunch, as fifth period and sixth period went by, she began to feel suffocated.

She could see the cherry blossom trees from the classroom window. It wasn't the same tree from earlier, but different trees. As the wind blew into the branches, the petals fell with an audible sigh of "Shirayuki."

Shirotae was calling her. The smile from when Shirotae had spoken her name aloud would not leave Shirayuki's mind.

"Because we still have to decide on what to use for the School Festival, we shall meet again in the classroom after after-school cleaning is finished."

The School Festival Action Committee raised their voices aloud. Because a decision had not been reached, no one was even allowed to go to their club activities, even though the festival was still half a year away. To outdo the other classes, this elite class would release a questionnaire of proposals for ideas for the festival.

As soon as the "yes" and "no"s stopped, each of the students went on to do their share of the cleaning. Shirayuki also left the classroom, with the wave of students leaving to clean. She had forgotten about her cleaning duty. Even then, her feet began moving on their own. She did not need to ask herself where she was going, because she knew there could be no other place but that one.

"Shirotae, did you call me?" As she stood in front of the cherry blossom tree and called out, the figure of Shirotae floated out from the tree's branch.

"I didn't. You were the one who called me, right Shirayuki?"

Shirotae replied strangely.

"While you were in class, you shook the branches and called me. Shirotae, Shirotae. So I came out here."

"Class? Did I leave class?"

"Yes. Because this isn't a school."

"-- I see."

Whether the apparition had taken away the school or not, Shirayuki had no idea. She could only laugh.

"I apologize. What are you laughing for?"

Because Shirayuki was so happy, she continued talking some more.

"So, which year and which class are you from, Shirotae?"

"Second year, Cherry Blossom Class."

The magic that lived in the cherry blossom was called Cherry Blossom Class. Very cool.

"And you, Shirayuki?"

"I'm from second-year Plum Class."

"In my school, there is no Plum Class."

In her school, Shirotae began relating, there were Cherry Blossom Class, Wisteria Class, Chrysanthemum Class, Peach Class, Pine Class, and Camellia Class.

5 out of the 6 classes were the same each year, but for some reason, one of the classes was different. For some reason, Plum and Cherry Blossom had been switched.

"Second-year Plum class Shirayuki-san. You are not of this world. That's why you look transparent."

"You're the transparent one."

"Well then, our versions of 'my world' seem to be different then."

"So is this cherry tree the limit then?"

Shirotae-san asked jokingly, but Shirayuki replied with a thoughtful "Maybe it is".

If one thought about reality realistically, it was a perfectly nice thing to say. If one believes that there is but one world, and that one exists in it, then it's not very sensible to think about other worlds.

It was simply a lie meant to confuse her. It was an easy conclusion, but.

"You aren't magic?"

"I'm magic even though I'm holding a Rosary?"

Shirotae placed her hands on her collar and lifted the rosary off her neck. She put it in plain view in her hands, then presented it to Shirayuki.

Fleeting.

"Ahh!"

Both cried out at the same time.

It felt as if her whole body had been rammed with pain. A feverish pain came over her and paralyzed her, while at the same time, her mind went white. And for a moment, time stopped. In the next moment, a new shock came over her.

"Bump"

"Ouch...."

She realized that the sound she had heard was the sound of her body falling to the floor. The impact felt a bit weak, however, as she was soon able to figure out why. The cherry blossoms, which had fallen to the floor had acted as a cushion. She was covered in cherry blossom petals and dust, but she ignored them to look at her watch.

"Oh no, I'll be late for the school festival." As she began running, her indoor shoes hit something on the floor. It was the rosary, which had fallen earlier.

"Oh yeah."

This was the rosary, which had fallen from the branch, she remembered. But she completely forgot about the other girl who had also been there. When she returned, Momoya-san stood angrily to greet her.

"You skipped cleaning duties huh? Where did you go? No, you couldn't have ..."

"I didn't. I was feeling a bit bad, so I rested in the toilet."

"Ah, that's good. You shouldn't go back to that cherry tree again."

"I know. I took Momoya-san's advice to heart."

"To heart --- ?"

Momoya-san began asking her again because Shirayuki's words felt suspicious, but then the School Festival Action Committee's announcements began booming over their speech.

"Oh, Shirotae-san, you're back? Now that everyone's here, let the meeting begin."

Second-year Cherry Blossom Class's Entry.

"But, this used to be Plum class."

Her classmates, thinking she referred to First Year Plum Class, began coldly laughing at her.

"For that matter, why is Cherry Blossom class only in the second year? Do you know?"

Shirayuki asked her neighboring classmate softly.

"Oh?"

Shirotae bent her head in question as she laughed. With her finger, she picked up a cherry blossom petal that had fallen on her shoulder.

In the middle of the second-year Cherry Blossom Classroom.

-- The Door of Cherry Wood --

"Kasumi-saaan!"

After pushing back the bad door and hearing it's screeching, the students entered the classroom.

"If you're looking for Kasumi-san, she isn't here."

"Do you not know where she could be? Others had told me that they had wanted to talk to her about the daily log ... And she had just come through this door too."

Opening it had been fine, but this time, it would not close. The aged tree used for the door had even had wax applied on the bottom to help it open.

"It seems like the inside has rotted, huh. Maybe it's time to change the door."

Declaring "Together", the three girls closed the door. It had been only two weeks since they began studying here, but already they had become used to it.

"Well, about Kasumi-san. She had left without saying anything, so perhaps she went over there."

"Ah, over there --"

Just as the students expected, she punched her fist into her other palm. That Kasumi-san would quickly leave during her free time was something everyone else had also gotten used to.

"I want to go meet her but, if I'm hesitating because I might bother her."

"You'll think of yourself as the "Meddler of Lovers" eh?"

"Well, different people like different things. Anyway --"

The students nodded in approval, and began looking out the windows.

"A lover's meet amongst the plants. Sounds like fun, eh."

***

The way my classmates and I looked at Kasumi-san, she was a little different.

If you looked at her, you wouldn't find anything different. She looked like your average woman, and perhaps even a little cute. Her grades were good. Her social skills weren't bad either. She was friendly with her classmates, and wasn't ignored or hated by her classmates at all. But Kasumi-san had a very unordinary interest.

Kasumi-san loved a single cherry blossom tree that grew on the school grounds. You couldn't really call that normal.

Every morning, if she had time, Kasumi-san would go up to the tree, stroke its bark, talk to it, and lean closely against it. At first, when we watched her do this, we were suspicious, but now that a year had passed, we simply look at her and say "Oh, she's doing it again?". Every day, unfailingly, unless it was the part of spring where the cherry blossoms bloomed, she would go to the tree and come close to it in the same way. There was nothing else to it, really.

Last year, when caterpillars would come out onto the leaves, she would go home to her mansion, bring along specially groomed shrubs, and around the area of the tree, she would spray pesticide. Because she hated using chemicals, she would only bring natural chemicals with her, perhaps because the cherry blossom itself had said this. Students began spreading around exotic rumors. Anyway, to Kasumi-san, that cherry blossom tree was equal to a human; perhaps it received even more love than a human. So that Kasumi-san would stay happy, we would warmly watch over her.

But that one day, everything had changed.

That day, Kasumi-san had departed during lunch as always, but after one hour, she hadn't come back. We became worried, so we asked the teacher for permission to go look for her. This way, we wouldn't be marked as late for class.

We had a bad feeling about Kasumi-san. Then we discovered that next to the roots of the cherry blossom tree, Kasumi-san had fainted.

Kasumi-san was rushed to a hospital, but she continued to sleep. She had no outside damage, but there was no mistaking that she was ill. With what, though, we did not know.

In those days, when Kasumi-san's father was still doing well, he began calling famous Japanese doctors to see Kasumi-san. But one by one, none of the doctors was able to determine the cause of her slumber.

When even the doctors had run out, this time Kasumi-san's father began calling fortune tellers and witch doctors.

This time, unlike the doctors, they quickly found the cause, and would perform a ceremony if paid. However, these ceremonies seemed to have little effect. But following the theory, Kasumi-san would sleep together with snakes, foxes, and cats.

Eventually, a thinner Kasumi-san's father could do nothing but cry. Then one day, a very old priestess came for a visit.

"I had heard about the lady's illness."

Kasumi-san's father thought someone who could do nothing, like before, had come again to ask for his money, light a candle next to the sofa, and apologize as she wrote odd markings on Kasumi-san's body.

But the priestess took no money, and without touching Kasumi-san even once, began talking about the cure. Kasumi-san's father, of course, listened to the story.

The priestess' advice was simple. It was to kill her lover, basically, to cut down that cherry blossom tree.

Kasumi-san's father wanted to try this. He thought that cutting this tree down couldn't hurt Kasumi-san's condition much.

But there was an issue. Because that cherry blossom tree grew on school grounds, he couldn't simply cut it down himself.

It seems like Kasumi-san's father visited the school's principal, bent down on one knee, and begged her to cut down the tree. Because he wanted the whole thing removed, he came up to the principal and let loose all that was in his heart, without holding anything back.

His daughter was cute. If she died like this, it would be horrible. To save his daughter, even if he had to throw away everything he owned, he would have no regrets. Even if he had to give his own life up instead of Kasumi-san's.

When the school administrators were hit directly on by this show of parental affection, they allowed the cherry blossom tree to be cut down, knowing fully well that the person who had recommended it was a pagan priestess. But not because they thought Kasumi-san would be saved, but because they couldn't let Kasumi-san die without trying to help her.

But when the tree was about to be cut down, Kasumi-san opened her eyes.

Kasumi-san's father was ecstatic, and wanted to give a gift to the priestess. But, it seemed like the priestess had gone somewhere where he could not find.

Having recovered, Kasumi-san came back to school a month later, but remembered nothing odd about that cherry blossom tree.

The felled cherry blossom tree was then revived as the door for the Second Year Plum class.

When Kasumi-san would find the time, she would lean against the door.

-- The Burial Among Cherry Blossoms --

Under the moonlight, the cherry blossom tree's roots were being dug. Just one person, silently. It would have been better if the hole had been bigger. But nobody knew for how long the small potting shovel that was in her hand would dig. In the middle of the night, this school was the end of the world. Like powdered snow, the petals fell. When she rested her hands and looked up, the cherry tree sported a bursting, proud sort of bloom.

***

It was one of those rare mornings when Yae-san came late. As she looked at the cherry trees out the window, she could see that they had not quite reached full bloom yet. Perhaps seven or eight flowers had bloomed.

"The wheels of the car caught into the ditch, and things became difficult."

Explained Yae-san who had come to first period over thirty minutes late, to the classmates who had gathered around her desk.

"That's horrible."

"Were you hurt anywhere?"

The whole air of the classroom was saturated with a feeling of pity. Fujiko-san, however, with a different attitude, was the only person who viewed the real person in the middle of that circle.

"Did I look happy? Did you just ask whether I looked happy? Me?"

When at lunch, the two were alone together, and she said as much, and opened her eyes in surprise. So then Fujiko-san asked "Really?" and laughed. Fujiko-san couldn't be beat. After eating lunch, they took a stroll towards the Church, and it came that time on their schedules to talk about secrets.

"Yes. It really was horrible, but a bit wonderful at the same time." Yae-san confessed.

"Wonderful?"

"The kindness of the act of saving us by lifting our car out of the ditch."

It was a guy. Fujiko felt the vibe immediately.

"Was he old?"

"I don't know how old he really was. But, ... yeah, I wonder if he was past twenty. He had this air about him as if he was a housekeeper of some mansion."

"And then?"

"Nothing."

Yae-san shrugged her shoulders.

"Because the wheels were out of the ditch, the car could move. So I had to hurry on to school."

"You had to, huh?"

Of course "Nothing" really had happened, but Yae-san thought of that boy fondly. But it wasn't that Fujiko didn't understand Yae-san's feelings. When one is in trouble, and is lent a helping hand by someone else, they appear several times better than they actually are.

"Some day I'll apologize, I thought. What his name was, what his address was, I thought I'd ask. Because he didn't say anything and simply disappeared."

"Did he look like a nice guy? A cool guy? Which one?

"Hm."

Yae-san laughed, took her comb out of her sailor uniform, and combed Fujiko's hair. That was as far as this talk was going to get. In Yae-san's eyes, she was viewing him as a sort of "heartthrob".

Everyone at school was a high-class lady, so everyone had mansions, and when at school, used private cars. People of the opposite sex from out of the household came either from servants, old teachers, or your father's friends. Excluding things such as car accidents, it is quite impossible to think of a guy as a heartthrob.

Eventually, marrying the person your parents chose for you was your fate. Because you could not wish for love like you found in books, you were cursed to not even once feel the warmth of that light upon your heart.

On the other hand, both Fujiko and Yae-san had long hair. Dark black, and straight. The kind of hair that justified the head it was on. While running the comb through Fujiko's hair, a prank of the wind blew in cherry blossoms, and a small ring of cherry blossoms while being woven together fell to the ground.

After this, Yae-san would occasionally fall silent. Fujiko was worried about just what had happened, but she herself would not ask. If the time came when Yae-san wanted to talk about it, she would. She had heard that Yae-san's father had fallen from his former glory, but other than that, she had heard nothing.

"Fujiko-san, what should I do?"

Yae-san asked reluctantly on a road they often walk together on.

"It seems like I've fallen in love."

"Fallen in love?!"

She had thought that whatever Yae-san was brooding about that it was about her family, but she never thought to wonder how Fujiko-san's heart was feeling.

"It's the man who helped lift my car out of the ditch. As I was heading to sewing class, I met him all of a sudden. And then."

The way Yae-san had talked, it sounded as if she met with the man every day. Using excuses such as flower practice or tea practice, she would go to see the young servant boy each day, and stop to talk with him.

"What should you do? There's nothing to do."

The moment Yae-san had said the word "love", she felt uneasy. Without knowing why, Fujiko herself had become inflamed. So the words she finally found and offered to Yae-san were forced and unnatural.

"Yae-san. Don't you have a fiancé? Have you decided what to do with him, once you finish high school?"

"He's just the person my parents picked."

"So Yae-san, if you understand this, would you be willing to exchange engagement gifts with him?"

"That's..." Yae-san exclaimed breathlessly. "You just don't understand what it means to be in love. If you did, you could." In the middle of her friend, Yae-san found herself meeting the face a girl she did not know. She shivered.

"Well Yae-san, what sort of answer are you looking for from me then? Do you want me to tell you to break you current plans and go your new way just to be happy? Would you feel satisfied if I said that?"

"Don't talk like that. It's just, I, don't know what to do. I don't know, so I wanted to ask."

Yae-san squatted in place and covered her face. While standing, Fujiko found fallen cherry blossom petals on her friend's hair.

"If I go now, you can still make it on time. No-one will notice, right?"

So please, don't get involved with that guy.

That advice was the only thing this person who did not know what love really is could say.

"I see."

Yae-san said and rose, then began walking slowly.

Yae-san had said, "I see". For some reason, Fujiko couldn't get herself to ask more about it.

That night. A phone call came from Yae-san's mother. In the evening, Yae-san had run away from home, going in an unknown direction. If Yae-san came to visit, Fujiko was instructed to keep her there and to contact her mother. That was all. She quickly closed the conversation. Perhaps, she'd be talking with another classmate next time.

If this was something big, then Yae-san would have known about something funny from school, Fujiko thought as she placed down the phone receiver. Then, Fujiko remembered. It was something she couldn't help but notice about Yae-san at school. Perhaps the situation was more pressing than she had thought it to be then.

So would Yae-san finally end up running away to the house of a classmate who rejected her parents?

No. If Yae-san were feeling just as she was from the afternoon, she wouldn't come to rely on me. When Fujiko returned to her room for lessons, she opened her textbook, but she couldn't let her thoughts of Yae-san go. The faces she had made to Yae-san during lunch made her clench her fist tightly.

But now, what in the world could anyone do for her? The fact that she had taken this path filled her with regret. Even if Fujiko could not cheer her on, there were other paths for Yae-san.

"Thunk"

From the window, a small sound rang out.

"Yae-san?!"

Fujiko-san came up to the window. So as to not alert anyone else in the house, she opened the window slightly, and finally, the figure of Yae-san's body resolved itself.

"Thank god Fujiko-san's room is on the first floor."

Because Fujiko's house was close to school, Yae-san had come here countless times to play.

"Well, earlier, your house..."

"Yeah"

Yae-san had cut her long hair, making her seem like a boy. No, not just her hair. Even the clothes she wore were mens'. This way, if anyone ran into Yae-san, they wouldn't be able to recognize her. She really looked like a boy.

"What I said during lunch....?"

Fujiko-san said, to which Yae-san shook her head with a "No" in response.

"It's not because of Fujiko-san. My dad found out. That's all."

"Your dad...."

That was the worst possible situation. But perhaps she could use that as some unexpected leverage.

"If your father found out, how about you explain to him why? Perhaps if you make him feel as if things became so unbearable that you had no choice but to leave, then your father would do something."

But Yae-san replied "That won't work."

"At home, see. My dad has been having a hard time at work, and he's incurred a lot of debt. So he thought, perhaps he could speed up my wedding."

The family of Yae-san's fiancé were managers for a bank and a convenience store. It was said that they were working together with Yae-san's father's company to build up assets again.

"So then, for the company, Yae-san would have to....."

"I wonder if I would be able to help out any of his employees if I marry, was the only thing I could think about."

But she could not.

"Is it because he knew of your love?"

Fujiko asked. Yae-san opened her eyes in slight surprise, and laughed back "Yes, that's why."

"I love that man enough to abandon my parents. He too is willing to throw everything and run away with me."

It was the oft-heard clichéd line. But to think she'd hear it uttered in real life by Yae-san was something else.

"But didn't you come to me to get rescued?"

"I came to say goodbye."

"Yae-san came, huh? So like a tale I could talk about when I became an adult?"

"Exactly."

Yae-san laughed a little.

"Yes that. Fujiko-san will probably think of me and talk about me all the time. But I wouldn't be able to come to see you. Because we can't meet again."

When she whispered this, tears began coming out of Fujiko's eyes.

"Don't cry."

Yae-san said, and placed her wooden comb in the palm of Fujiko-san's hand.

"I give this to you then. Because my hair has become short."

It felt like receiving a souvenir.

"No, I can't. That's."

Fujiko hugged her friend across the window.

"Don't go."

Because it was immoral, or perhaps because she was shirking her duty. Maybe using those reasons, Fujiko could get Yae-san to stay. They could not meet each other again. The person she treasured so much would disappear from her life. It was an unbearable thing to ask.

"Thank you"

Yae-san patted Fujiko's back, as if to soothe her.

"Please. Don't go. Stay here, with me."

But she knew she could not change Yae-san's feelings. Fujiko of all people knew this well.

What should she do. At this rate, Yae-san would leave.

Should she wrap herself around Yae-san's neck and constrict her breath? Then Yae-san couldn't go anywhere. If she couldn't meet her again then. How would it be different from dying?

"Yae-san."

Fujiko-san folded her arms and huddled around Yae-san. While they were embracing each other, Yae-san could not even begin to think that her friend had thought something like this.

The next day, the school was in uproar.

A student ran off with a boy. But not just that. This boy could control people's thoughts by meeting their eyes. The girl's fiancé had put a price on the runaway couple's head. As the story went around, it was exaggerated further with homemade additions, until it had become a tremendous rumor.

That day, Fujiko did not go to school. She realized that there would be a big fuss at school, but her body felt heavy, and she didn't feel like moving.

Knowing about Yae-san's disappearance, Fujiko's parents thought that she had received a big shock, and they let her stay at home. Around town, probably because a servant had seen her return with dirty clothes, her mother called up relatives and asked them to send over a psychiatrist.

In the middle of the night, the only reason Fujiko had gone to school was to dig a hole. But who would believe that. Why did Fujiko do this, she did not know. She had no words to express how she felt at the time. It was just that, she could do nothing else at the time. She could not let go of that last memento of Yae-san from her hands for even a second. So she decided to nullify it. That was all.

But later, she would feel a ripple of regret course through her. At school, in order to soften and fertilize the earth around the roots of the cherry blossom trees, a teacher one day decided to dig. There, the teacher found the comb. It was confirmed. Because it was the comb that Yae-san would use commonly, the school once again fell onto the topic of Yae-san. It was said that Yae-san was eaten up by the cherry blossoms. Because the rumor was as beautiful as a phantom, it was treasured and passed around by everyone.

For a cherry blossom to grow so beautifully, just what was buried in its roots? Whatever it was, nobody knew.

"Hey, do you think Yae-san was really eaten by the cherry blossoms?"

Occasionally, Fujiko's classmates would remember about Yae-san, and ask.

"Who knows."

From the branch of the cherry blossom tree where the leaves would scatter, Fujiko would look up at the blue sky. Not being able to see her because she was dead, or not being able to see her in spite of her being alive, both were two very different things. But Fujiko believed that, right now, Yae-san too was looking up at the same sky.

Cherry Blossom Folk Tales - Epilogue

"'Cherry Blossom Folk Tales'? What's this? When is this from?"

Asked Katori-sensei as she lifted the cover with its pink-tinted cherry blossom print.

"It's from this year. Whether you go to a cafe or not, this is interesting."

Answered Yamamura-sensei.

It was lunch, in the Lillian Girls' Academy Staff Room.

Yotsuya-sensei, who had been sitting in the seat behind, came up next to them and laughed.

"The stories were written in about four to five weeks, right? For them to come up with such skillful stories, in such a short time...."

"It's as if they were preparing for the Olympics once every leap year. But why?"

While sitting in his chair, Yamamura-sensei began madly spinning his chair towards a spot two meters up from the floor, where there was a file cabinet with piles of books. He stuck his hand inside. Each of the books were of various length and thickness, but each piled volume had a pink outer cover. He pulled out the one at the very top of the pile, and whispered "Ah, so the last one really was four years ago."

"This was a pile of work from every hard-working former Cherry Blossom class student and current Cherry Blossom class students. I believe these all original works made by the students themselves."

Yotsuya-sensei shook her shoulders happily.

"Ah, of course."

"How about Katori-sensei's time?"

Yamamura-sensei turned towards Katori-sensei and asked. Both of Katori-sensei and Yotsura-sensei had been former Lillian Academy students. He didn't mean to create any strife between them as friends, but, as a male teacher, Yamamura-sensei had no point of reference in this conversation.

"I wonder how it would have felt. There was no Cherry Blossom Class back then, so I have no memories of anything like this."

"Actually, it's the same for me."

Both of the former Lillian students whispered "Darn it" to themselves. It seemed as if, inside, both of them were jealous of Cherry Blossom Class.

"Really now, why is there only a second-year Cherry Blossom Class? Does someone know the answer to this?"

Yamamura-sensei asked.

"Isn't it because the door is made from the wood of a Cherry Blossom tree?"

Said Katori-sensei. But if one were to go along with her theory, then a class with a door made of cedar would be Cedar Class. If the door was made of cypress, it would be Cypress Class, but there was no Cypress Class.

"Isn't it because something had happened during the War?"

"You mean the saying, 'The students would hid underneath the cherry blossom trees during the air raids, so they would not get hit by stray bullets.' ? But the war never was that violent, so weren't the students simply evacuated?"

Even though Yotsuya-sensei did not know the real answer, she laughed. While she was laughing, another teacher came over and asked, "What happened? Huh? Huh?"

"I've also heard a rumor saying that one of the school festivals had a play dealing with cherry blossoms and that was the reason for the class name. But wasn't that the Washington Story?" Said Atsumi-sensei.

"You mean, the Tale of Fujiwara Noyoriyuji?" Corrected Sakamoto-sensei.

"The spirit who lived in that classroom was a house god called Cherry Blossom." Explained Hoshina-sensei.

"I had heard that the words 'Cherry Blossom Class' had been written on the class's nameplate by accident ..." Explained Kurata-sensei.

And so raged back and forth the argument, until it finally drew to a close.

It seemed as if no teacher in the Staff Room knew the actual reason for the name.

My my.

Yamamura-sensei placed this year's "Cherry Blossom Folk Tales" on the highest position on the shelf.

The tradition continues, and the number of folk tales continues to grow.

Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume19 Chapter5

Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume19 Chapter5.5

Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume19 Chapter6

Translator's Notes

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