Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume22 Chapter4.1

Part 1.

Twister was a way to gauge a person's athletic ability, their decisive ability, their endurance, and their body's flexibility.

(Yoshino had a bit of the first, but she knew she had close to none of the others.)

When Yoshino had learned that the final round of the tournament was going to be Twister, she knew that there was a 97% chance that she would lose.

It wasn't quite that Yoshino lacked confidence, but that until the winter of her Freshman year of high school, Yoshino had never done anything resembling a sport. Yoshino knew that the only physical ability she had, had been slowly accumulated over the past year after she had become healthy. Her flexibility had developed much the same.

(And cool, composed Noriko-chan had a lot of the first.)

And it was obvious to everyone that Noriko-chan's physical ability and flexibility had developed as a natural part of education standards leading up to middle school. Without taking any natural athletic ability into consideration, Yoshino knew that Noriko-chan would be better than Yoshino's awkward self.

And Noriko was athleticism itself. She had sculpted herself as if she were a gift from the gods, and her fame preceded her.

(Please Heavenly Mother Maria-sama, lend me your strength.)

And then, what was the prize of this grand struggle? A free meal ticket in the noodle cafeteria.

But Yoshino wanted to win at all costs, and not because ramen was Yoshino-san's favorite food. She simply hated to lose.

The hastily made imitation Twister that they played had card suits on the mat, instead of the conventional colored circles. The four suits: Hearts, Diamonds, Clovers, and Spades.

This wasn't roulette, so as soon as a single card was drawn from a deck, one was bound by the rules to place one's hands or one's feet on the marking which corresponded to the card drawn. Odd numbers corresponded to the left, even numbers corresponded to the right. Ace through six meant that the hands had to move, and seven through King meant that the legs had to move. So if one draws a four of Hearts, then one must place one's right hand on the Heart marking on the mat.

"So Yoshino, how many cards from the top should I draw the next card?"

Rather than using their twisted arms and legs to draw cards, Sachiko-sama the exhibitioner would draw cards.

"The t... tenth."

"One, two, three, four..., the tenth card is the Five of Spades. Please place your left hand on the Spade."

"Ah, but that's."

If she were to move to the nearest Spade, then she would have to move her right hand to reach the spade.

Yoshino puffed out her chest, and pushed her left hand to land onto the left Spade. But Yoshino was pushing against her limit.

"Five from the top, please."

Noriko-chan intoned confidently. Would this girl ever tire? Or was this what being young actually meant?

"The Eight of Hearts. Noriko-chan, please place your right leg on the Heart."

"Sure."

Noriko-chan wriggled her right leg, as Yoshino jealously watched. Suddenly, Yoshino screamed uselessly, and her shoulders began buckling.

(This is the end for me.)

As Yoshino fell to the ground, she could hear an "Ah" and a tired thud next to her.

"No way..."

Yoshino-san saw Noriko-chan's body greeting the floor.

Because Noriko had so suddenly given way, Yoshino originally thought that Noriko-chan had lost on purpose. But this wasn't the sort of game that one let one's Sempai win on purpose, and Noriko-chan had a very bitter look on her face, so Yoshino knew that wasn't it.

When Noriko-chan noticed Yoshino's searching glance, she huffed a bit and turned her body such that Yoshino wouldn't be able to see Noriko-chan's face.

(I see.)

Noriko-chan hates showing weakness, so until the very end she parades an image of calm.

"Both of you fell at the same time. It'll be hard to choose a winner."

The onlookers to the event, Sachiko-sama, Rei-chan, Tsutako-san, Touko-chan, and Nana, formed a circle and began talking. They looked like professional Sumo wrestlers.

Eventually, the group seemed to come to a conclusion, and Sachiko-sama came to notify the two of it.

"A rematch is necessary."

"No way!"

Yoshino-chan chimed, as Noriko-chan raised her hand. To repeat such a backbreaking experience just for some ramen is unthinkable.

"-- Which is what we knew your reactions would be. So we've decided that the two of you would be declared champions."

Two ramen meal tickets would be handed out to the winners.

Noriko-chan and Yoshino wished each other the sportsman's "good game", and shook stiff hands. Yoshino hadn't lost, so her spirits were high.

Yoshino quickly set the whole thing aside, and suddenly switched to "Nana and Rei-chan need to be introduced to each other" mode.

"Rei-chan, Rei-chan"."

Yoshino gripped Nana's hand as she walked toward Rei-chan.

"Nana-chan wants to, you know, face off with you some day."

Rei-chan turned toward them and replied curiously quickly.

"That's fine. In Kendo?"

How did she know?

Just as she did when she talked about knitting, baking cakes, or reading Cosmos stories, Rei-chan was explaining, not answering questions.

"You can come to my house any time this winter. We have a dojo, though it is a bit small."

Why was Rei-chan being so hospitable to a girl she had just met?

"Uh, um, Rei-chan? You don't have to be that open..."

Yoshino had said "some day", and she had meant "some day" Rei-chan. Even if she hadn't been so strict with her definition of "some day", she still didn't want it to go that quickly.

"Nana gets really busy around New Year's, so there's no way you can come, right Nana? When the new year starts, the club work becomes very hectic though."

"But even though we want a private match, we can still use the school's martial arts equipment."

This year was Rei-chan's last year as President of the Kendo club. And Nana hadn't even become a member yet.

That was why Rei-chan called it a private match. Rei-chan didn't have to be so strict with her words. But then, that was Rei-chan.

"Then, how about during spring, after Nana enters high school? Like, Rei-chan could come in her free time from college to check up on her high school kouhai!"

Yoshino really thought it was a good idea. That way Rei-chan and Nana could just meet briefly and then fade off in each other's lives.

One spring came around, Nana would probably be Yoshino's soeur. From there, Rei-chan and Nana's relationship would have to be a slow work-in-progress.

But.

"Check up on Kouhai? After graduating? .... No, I don't intend to do anything like that."

Rei-chan declared bluntly.

"Why? Are you mad?"

"No, I'm not mad. The real problem is, there's no way I could do that. I might be able to, if I end up going to a school near Lillian, like Lillian University."

"...... What?"

Yoshino didn't understand what Rei-chan was saying. Why would a person going to Lillian Girls' University say "like Lillian University"?

"But Rei-chan, you've always..."

She had always planned to go to Lillian Girls' University. That way, she could be near Yoshino. That's what she had always been saying.

Thump. Thump. Yoshino could hear her heart beat in her ears.

"I didn't fill out the escalator application."

"W, Wait!"

What was going on? Yoshino couldn't get the thoughts in her own head straight.

Yoshino had to calm down. If she calmed down, she knew she'd be able to pick out the right words.

(R.. Rei-chan said she didn't fill out the escalator application?)

But that's ... but that's ... why didn't she?

"I won't be going to Lillian University."

Rei-chan spelled out, slowly but seriously.

"No!"

"Yes."

If she looked at the situation objectively, every word that Rei-chan was saying made perfect, logical sense.

But only if she used her third-level logic faculties.

To be considered for preferential admission into Lillian Girl's University, one had to fill out the escalator application. That Rei-chan didn't fill out the escalator application meant that she had no intention of going to Lillian University.

"Hey, wait."

But this was a matter for Rei-chan to decide. If Yoshino looked objectively at the whole thing, Yoshino had no right to decide such things for Rei-chan.

"Sachiko-sama! Rei-chan's ...!"

Yoshino ran over to Sachiko-sama, and clung to her. Rei-chan was saying weird things. If she didn't have some sort of external anchor, Yoshino knew she'd think she was going crazy.

"Yoshino-chan, calm down."

"Calm down, how can I ...."

There was no way Yoshino could do that, not in the state she was in. But Sachiko-sama was calm.

No! NO!

"Sachiko-sama, you *knew*!"

"Yes, I did."

With a completely cool facade mixed with pity, Sachiko-sama nodded.

Yoshino stepped away from Sachiko-sama. Just what was going on here. Yoshino didn't know.

It's as if the world had broken.

Words weren't coming out of her mouth. Had Rei-chan and Sachiko-sama been taken over by aliens?

There was no other explanation Yoshino could think of.

How could Sachiko-sama know something that I didn't?

Something about Rei-chan!

Something about Rei-chan!!

"Yoshino-sama, you ..."

Yoshino heard Nana's voice from behind.

"You didn't know?"

"... *What* ?"

Yoshino slowly turned around to face Nana. This couldn't be happening. Nana, too, had been taken over by aliens.

"Well."

Now Noriko-chan turned to look at Yoshino. So, Noriko-chan had known about it too?

The look in Noriko-chan's face confirmed it. Yoshino's surprise jumped into anger.

How could this happen?

"What the heck is ...."

Yoshino yelled.

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