Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume22 Chapter3.6

Part 6.

Without anyone noticing, Kanako-chan had quietly disappeared.

Some time after everyone had finished their cake, the seats all got mixed up, and in the middle of recreation time no-one knew where the other person exactly was. There was no bathroom in the Rose Mansion unless someone decided to go back to the school. So when one or two people had gone to the bathroom, and it had long been time for them to come back, they were nowhere to be found, and no-one said a thing.

After all, Yumi had only noticed her by sheer coincidence.

She lost early on in a big tournament, and had nothing much to do, so she went to get her cup thinking she would wash it and drink some more, when she found that there was one cup that hadn't been put to wash. The cup from seat 6 was there, the person who had sat down first, Kanako-chan.

For that matter, where had Kanako-chan gone? Yumi looked around her, but still could not see Kanako-chan.

The large pile of everyone's belongings that was in the corner seemed oddly enough a little less pronounced. No, the carefully arranged pile of coats and handbags seem to have been purposefully tampered with. That's why it now looked like a landslide.

Perhaps Sachiko-sama had noticed that Yumi was seeking out Kanako-chan, when she came close to Yumi and whispered into her ear "She went home".

"She had things to do at home. She said she was making her mom wait for her. She told me that she had not wanted to disrupt the happy atmosphere of the party, so she just slunk away. Kanako-chan had let me know about all of this from the very beginning. Just when she slipped away even I don't know."

Sachiko-sama quickly rearranged the collapsed pile of belongings. To obscure the fact that Kanako-chan's things were not here anymore, she made it into a small mountain.

"Disrupting the atmosphere ... ? No, maybe it was because Touko-chan would have ... "

Yumi turned away from Sachiko-sama. Touko-chan was carefully removing a Jenga piece, and was concentrating so hard that she hardly darted an eyelid toward them.

"Maybe."

Sachiko-sama nodded.

"If Kanako-chan had let everyone know that she was going home, then Touko-chan would have wanted to go along with her. Because Kanako-chan forced Touko-chan to come to the party."

"Hm."

Kanako-chan wanted Touko-chan to stay at the party.

When Touko-chan had first been invited to the party, she said that she had had other plans, but perhaps Kanako-chan knew that Touko-chan was just lying to get herself out of the party. So Kanako-chan didn't want Touko-chan to have to leave the party ... or at least, that's what could have happened.

For that matter, why hadn't Touko-chan been happy in the first place?

Now Touko-chan was laughing. The Jenga tower had collapsed, but she was still laughing.

How long had it been since Touko-chan had stopped scowling?

Actually, when Touko-chan had been introducing herself, Yumi didn't really think that Touko-chan had been very happy. While she had been playing the sailor, she had been smiling, but as soon as the part ended, she put a sour look on her face and said "Is this enough?"

So then had it been while they were eating the cake?

The only thing she could remember of Touko-chan then was that she had been talking with Shimako-san. It had been a very long conversation, that only they were participating in. That was when her mood had changed from one of gravity to levity.

Just what had they been talking about?

"Don't make such strained faces. It's a party, right?"

Sachiko-sama lightly patted Yumi's shoulder, and returned to the game.

"So, let's have a final round between Noriko-chan and Yoshino-chan then."

Everyone was excited, because prizes were going to be handed out based on the conclusion of the tournament, and so Yoshino-san and Noriko-chan began their battle.

As soon as the Jenga had fallen apart, a haphazard Twister game had been laid out on the spot. The officiator of the game had four dining hall meal tickets, and was going to hand them out as prizes.

Last school year around March, when the Yamayurikai had been cleaning up the first floor, they had found some things in the shelf of a rarely used desk. Just which sempai had owned it at one time nobody knew, but they had kept it because they felt it may be useful.

Yoshino-san and Noriko-chan grappled heartily, knowing that prizes lay on the line.

Things really were heating up, Yumi thought, when she spotted something a slight distance away from the Twister mat.

"Ah."

A Jenga piece had fallen from the collapsed tower, and had managed to find itself here. The small wooden piece could easily become lost if someone accidentally kicked it.

Yumi bent down to pick up the piece, and a slipper crossed her view. She looked up and found Shimako-san.

"Going to the bathroom?"

Right in front of Shimako-san was the exit, otherwise known as the Biscuit Door, so Yumi had asked.

"Yup."

Shimako-san too had lost quite early on.

"Wait. I'll come too."

Yumi put the piece on top of the table, brought over her bag. There was no way that Yumi was going to forget who the present was for. But until she actually delivered it to Sachiko-sama, Yumi had promised herself that she would not let go of the bag.

"What's wrong?"

Shimako-san was waiting on the stairs, and smiled as Yumi darted out of the room. Even though there was no hurry, she was still running.

"... What happened hmm..."

Yumi normally went to the bathroom by herself. Plus, she didn't really *have* to go right now.

She was just using the situation. Because Shimako-san was the one going to the bathroom.

That's right. Yumi just wanted to talk with Shimako-san.

"I'm sorry, what is it now?"

But Yumi couldn't think of juts what to say.

Creak creak. Creak creak. The old wooden stairs let out a sharp creak. Creak creak. Creak creak. While she was looking for what to ask, she reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Are you wondering about Touko-chan?"

Shimako-san asked.

"Huh?"

Yumi seemed surprised, so Shimako-san said.

"Oh, I'm wrong? Sorry."

Because Yumi had pulled ahead, Shimako-san closed the door behind her. While she was doing that, Yumi suddenly realized what Shimako-san had said.

"No, no. You're right."

Shimako-san's hunch had hit the mark.

From the moment she had heard the word "Touko-chan", she had no hesitation in recognizing what she wanted to talk about.

Yumi looked up from the garden to the sky, and found it a pale gray. Was it simply a cloudy sky, or was night quickly falling?

As the two turned toward the school, Yumi asked.

"Earlier, Shimako-san and Touko-chan had exchanged words over some very serious glances, right? I was just wondering what you guys might have been talking about."

"Wow, did we really look that serious?"

Shimako-san laughed. If Shimako-herself didn't feel that the conversation was very serious, then had it really been? But they really didn't look as if they were enjoying flowers bloom while making light conversation.

"If I'm interfering in something, or it's some secret between the two of you, you don't have to tell me, but ..."

Yumi didn't want anyone think as if she were making them confess. But Shimako-san clearly shook her head.

"Touko-chan simply asked me some questions about myself, and I gave my own personal answers. There was nothing there that could have violated Touko-chan's privacy. So I don't think there'll be any problem if we talk about it."

"But, what about Shimako-san's privacy?"

Shimako-san laughed at Yumi's question.

"It's okay. There's nothing there that I'd really want to hide from you, Yumi-san."

Shimako-san said, as she entered the school, and sought the walls.

"Touko-chan had asked whether I was in the family business."

"Family business?"

"What we do, you know, the temple."

Shimako-san was the daughter of a priest. Judging by what Noriko-chan said, theirs was a very large, and old temple.

"Well, do you Shimako-san?"

"I answered, I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"Yup. And that's the real truth."

Shimako-san really didn't know. It was Shimako-san's real answer, and she wasn't running away from anything, but that was the simple truth of the matter. Rather than needlessly trying to come up with an answer and presenting some false, fleeting truth, Shimako-san was being honest.

"After that, Touko-chan began piling on questions. If I didn't take over the temple, then what would happen to it, and such."

"Well ... what would happen?"

Yumi really knew nothing about temple matters. Buddhist temples involved patron families, and other difficult things. If Shimako-san didn't accept the temple, then would a temple which had been passed on for years generation-by-generation have to be given to someone else? Those were the sort of questions that came up in such a decision.

"Hmmm. What should I do."

"Are you okay being like that?"

At first Yumi had thought Shimako-san's answer was a truthful one, but now it began feeling like the product of an unsure mind. Shimako-san had made a very conflicted face when Yumi had asked her what would happen. Was everything going alright with Shimako-san?

"It's something I eventually have to reach a firm decision on, but right now, I haven't come up with an answer."

Ah, she felt that she would eventually have to answer the question.

"At least, if I decide to take over the temple, then it isn't really feasible for me to do other things, is it? I'll also have to marry into a family that follows the same Buddhist sect that we do. From an objective perspective, it's a very hard choice to make."

"And if the wife of the temple's head monk were to be a Catholic..."

"Right, that's there too. Just because my parents have been easy with me, they've allowed me to stay a Catholic while being the daughter of a Buddhist monk. If the wife of a monk were to believe in something different than he, it would be a bit weird, wouldn't it?"

"---"

Everyone is free to practice their own religion. But despite this fundamental freedom, that sort of a relationship was a tense one. Anywhere from a little to a lot."

"It would have been so much easier had my brother inherited. He hated the burden so much that he ran away."

"Huh?! Shimako-san has a brother?!"

Yumi's eyes bulged, and Shimako-san laughed.

"I didn't tell you either, Yumi-chan? When I told Noriko about it yesterday, she was also surprised."

"... I didn't know. I thought you were an only child all along."

"He's not at home most of the time, so I don't really talk about him. But he's there, and he's the only one. Touko-chan seemed a bit deflated when I told her. I wasn't an only child, so she couldn't ask me for advice."

Advice, huh. For that matter, just what would make Touko-chan try to find someone and place herself in their shoes?

"Did something happen to Touko-chan at home?"

"Maybe. But I didn't ask her."

Because Shimako-san didn't fall into the sample set of only children, she was crossed off the advice-giver list.

"I see. Then I obviously can't ask about what's going on."

Yumi had a younger brother, and her dad's custom home business wasn't so big that it involved big shots.

If Touko-chan were instead sitting next to Rei-chan, she would undoubtedly have asked Rei-sama whether she would continue the dojo or not. Then again, it was obvious that Rei-sama was going to, so maybe Touko-chan wouldn't ask Rei-chan that.

Yoshino-sama was also an only child, but her parents didn't do anything that needed to be passed down.

Sachiko-sama is a relative of Touko-chan, and so she is too close to fall into the appropriate sample set to ask questions. But even if she were to cross Sachiko-sama off the list at first glance, Touko-chan could easily pull another Ogasawara family member in her place -- Kashiwagi-san.

"She might not be able to ask you for advice, but maybe she would just talk to you about it? Especially since you're Yumi-san."

Shimako-san said.

"What should I do..."

Did Yumi really want to talk to Touko-chan about it though? Also, was there a simple way to only talk about it and not offer advice?

"You shouldn't rush such things, Yumi-san."

"You're right."

Yumi nodded to Shimako-san's statement, and walked out.

The corridor extended in wan darkness, without sunlight or artificial light.

As she was walking, Yumi felt as if something in the darkness breathed deeply.

After the two finished their bathroom session and returned, Yumi and Shimako-san found the Rose Mansion in uproar.

They opened the second floor's biscuit-like door, when.

"How could I be the only one who didn't know something that important about Rei-chan?!"

Yoshino-san's wailing voice carried onto the stairs.