Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume26 Chapter6 3

The Red Card's Outlook. Part 3

". . . Um, Rosa Chinensis?"

Haltingly, a group of first-years approached her.

"You still haven't moved yet?"

The time had just passed 4:30 p.m., but Rosa Chinensis still hadn't left the Rose Mansion. There were only ten minutes left in the game.

"Yes."

Sachiko-sama smiled, then sipped on her third cup of tea. Then she repeated the sentence she'd said countless times before.

"But you don't have to worry about me. You can go off and search on your own if you want."

There had been a bit of a commotion when Yoshino-san's card was found, but things had mostly settled down since then. Participants were still coming and going from the Rose Mansion, but the number of people present had definitely risen. The five first-years that had been stuck to Sachiko-sama like suckerfish since the beginning of the event were all still there, but they seemed to be holding their breath as they tried to sound out Rosa Chinensis.

Since the yellow card had already been found, Yoshino-san's fans had no reason to go outside and search, but the last few hectic minutes with the one-sided quarrel between the Yellow Rose sœurs and the announcement of the discovery of the yellow card had left them exhausted. Perhaps that was the reason why it was so quiet.

Eventually they ran out of teacups, and newly arrived guests were now being served tea in disposable cups. There weren't enough chairs to go around either, so they were standing like at a cocktail party.

Sachiko-sama drank the last of her tea then slowly stood up. The first-years surrounding her hurriedly stood up too since it looked like she was finally making her move. Except . . .

"You girls can have these seats if you'd like."

She didn't leave the room. She instead called out to a group of girls over by the window and offered them the seats. The six seats around Yumi that had been vacated were now filled with a new cast of characters.

"Yumi-sama, do you think your red card will be found?"

Yumi smiled as she answered that question.

"Well, I'm not sure."

She'd been asked the same question numerous times since the treasure hunt started. But to everyone that asked, it was their first time asking.

"But you must be hoping that your onee-sama, Rosa Chinensis, finds it, right?"

"Not at all, I'm just waiting in anticipation to see if anyone finds it."

As she spoke, Yumi glanced at her onee-sama. Sachiko-sama was standing not that far away from Yumi, still surrounded by those first-years. If things kept going like this, they'd reach the time limit without her going out searching. Feeling conflicted, Yumi looked at her and Sachiko-sama met her gaze.

Sachiko-sama grinned. Yumi quickly looked away.

Sachiko-sama probably wouldn't be able to read anything from her eyes . . . but just in case. The eyes couldn't say as much as the mouth, but in Yumi's case, even if she didn't say anything aloud it was possible her eye movements or comically expressive face could let a hint or two slip.

"What? Is that really true?"

The first-years around Sachiko-sama were raising their voices in excitement. All the girls within about 1.5 meters of her were expressing their disbelief.

"It's true. I haven't pinpointed it precisely, but I know the general area where the card is hidden."

Yumi caught the key words, "I know . . . where . . . card is hidden," and her heart pounded in her chest.

(Calm down, calm down.)

While taking care not to let her agitation show, Yumi peeked over at Sachiko-sama. It was possible she was looking to see how Yumi reacted to that statement. If she hadn't thought of a location with only ten minutes left, then it was entirely possible that she'd adopt a strategy of doing whatever it took.

"How could you know where it is when you haven't gone anywhere?"

The obvious question was thrown at Sachiko-sama.

"Hints."

"Hints?"

(Huh?)

Yumi had the same look of confusion as the first-years a short distance away.

"You didn't have to go out and search. Just by being in this room the hints came to you, right?"

After listening to this much of the conversation, Yumi realized that she had been mistaken.

Sachiko-sama must have said that she knew where Shimako-san's card was.

"By hints, you mean those cards with 'Ku' and 'No' written on them?"

"Exactly."

"Although it wasn't just letters, there was also the drawing of a rabbit."

Then Sachiko-sama smiled and said, "See? You were able to gain information even though you didn't leave the room." It looked as though Sachiko-sama had managed to infer the location of the white card by piecing together the words from the hints.

"Still, it's amazing that you could memorize all those hints in amongst all this noise and confusion."

"Not at all," Sachiko-sama opened up her student notebook. "I wrote them down. There's only been six so far, but I think I've probably got it figured out."

"Huh, so, where is it?"

Naturally, even the girl that asked the question wasn't expecting it to be answered — it was just for form's sake.

"Sachiko-sama's incredible."

Yoshino-san had made her way over to Yumi's side and whispered this in her ear.

"I was watching her from behind and when she said, 'I think I've figured it out,' she was tapping her pen on a spot on the map. That spot was, you know —"

"The hiding place?" Yumi asked for confirmation and Yoshino-san nodded.

"Near there. I don't think she would have been tapping on that spot just by chance, or as a guess."

Near there was good enough. If she knew the approximate location, then it wouldn't take her long to find it if she actually went out there.

"Then shouldn't you hurry? There's not much time left."

The first-years surrounding Sachiko-sama tried to lead her over to the door like ushers. With the time limit approaching, the entire mood of the room had shifted to impatience. These girls were getting excited; if they couldn't find a card, then they at least wanted to be present when one was found.

"I suppose I could, but. . . ."

Sachiko-sama didn't end up moving after all.

"It's not the red card?" Shimako-san smiled.

"Right. No offense to you, Shimako, but I've been aiming for Yumi's card from the beginning. If I went out and got your card now, the game would be over for me when I returned."

If she did this she'd have to give up on Yumi's card. Sachiko-sama was saying that even though there was only a little time remaining, she wanted to spend that on the red card.

"Onee-sama . . ."

It was a killer line and a clarion call. Yumi felt compelled to run over to Sachiko-sama and embrace her tightly, but forced herself to refrain. Sachiko-sama gazed intently at her. It may have been Yumi's imagination, but she looked slightly confused.

(Don't tell me she suspects. . . ?)

It would all be over if she dove into her onee-sama's chest. She had to ensure she didn't undo all the meticulous care she'd taken up until this point.

"But you still don't know where the red card is, right?"

Sachiko-sama shifted her gaze away from Yumi when a first-year asked her this.

"Or do you already know where it is and you're planning on making a mad dash for it right at the end?"

As she listened, Yumi thought, "There's no way that's true." But even so, Sachiko-sama's reaction was unexpected.

"Hehehe."

("Hehehe"?)

Why had she laughed so knowingly? Yumi instinctively made eye contact with Mami-san. There's no way. There's no way — 

"Ohh, I see. So you know where the red card is too?"

The first-years were getting excited. In contrast, Sachiko-sama smiled serenely, like a calm ocean. "More or less. I have an idea of the general location of it."

"No way . . ." Yumi blurted out without thinking, although she didn't think her onee-sama was just making it all up. But she couldn't see what mistake she'd made. She hadn't let any hints slip from her mouth, nor had she looked in the direction of the card's hiding place. But for her onee-sama's expression to be so full of confidence. . . . 

"I said it before, didn't I? By watching what happens around her, eventually Rosa Chinensis en bouton would reveal her faults." If this were a manga, the word "Foresight" would be written in the background behind Sachiko-sama in bold letters. "Staying here was the right decision."

Now the background had changed to "Sticking to her Principles." It would then undoubtedly shift to "Following Through on her Word," or "Majestic," before eventually ending at "Outstanding Beauty." Basically, Yumi was flustered and seeking refuge in these illusions.

Sachiko-sama probably did know where the card was. In that case, it wouldn't be long before the red card ended up in her hand.

"So why aren't you going to get the card?"

That was the obvious next question after hearing that she knew where the card was hidden.

"I've decided that, as a handicap, I won't make my move until the last five minutes."

Sachiko-sama looked at the clock. Everyone instinctively followed her gaze. The last five minutes was only three minutes away.

"Umm, why. . . ?"

"Because being Yumi's onee-sama gives me numerous advantages over everyone else."

That's why she imposed this handicap of waiting until the last five minutes on herself. Even though she'd already seen out the handicap of starting five minutes later than everyone else.

"But what if someone finds it before then. . . ?"

"Naturally, I'll graciously concede defeat."

"Really?"

On hearing that, Sachiko-sama's retinue were split into two different groups.

"Okay, so the hiding place must be within a five-minute round trip from here."

One group came to the conclusion that even though they didn't know where it was, it must be close, so they started looking. Some flew out of the room while others stayed and looked around inside — under the table, inside the containers by the sink, and so on.

As for the other group, "The last five minutes. . . ."

Those that didn't care about leftovers and just wanted to see that moment come quickly gathered closer around Sachiko-sama. For now, the participants that weren't aiming for the red card watched the hands on the clock move. Only two minutes until 4:35 p.m. What would be the state of play in two minutes' time? Would someone find the card in those two minutes, beating out Sachiko-sama? Or would Sachiko-sama swing into action because nobody had found the card? Yumi wasn't sure if she could actually hear it or not, but she sensed the soft ticking of the second hand as it moved around the clock.

She tried to recall how fast a second was. It felt like it should have been a bit faster, but on the other hand she wasn't sure that it should be that fast either. She hadn't had much experience of waiting like this, where she was conscious of every second ticking down.

It was so quiet that she could hear the sound of someone gulping. Even the girls that had been searching around the room had stopped with about a minute to go, and instead were looking back and forth between Sachiko-sama and a clock. Those that didn't wear a watch, and those that habitually had their watch set a few minutes fast, were looking at the watches of their neighbors. The Rose Mansion had a wall-mounted clock, but for some reason everyone wanted to check the time on the nearest device.

"There's five minutes remaining," Mami-san quietly informed Sachiko-sama.

The start and end time for today's event was based solely on Mami-san's watch. Because of this, she had called the official time service and set her watch to the correct time, down to the second, this morning. So when Mami-san's watch read five minutes to go, it meant there was only five minutes left in the event.

"I see," Sachiko-sama nodded.

Everyone watched on, wondering what she was going to do. Most of the participants were looking somewhere between Sachiko-sama and the door. But Yumi knew that Sachiko-sama would absolutely not be walking in that direction.

"Yumi."

Her name was called.

"Ah, yes?"

Was this the feeling of a frog being watched by a snake? At any rate, while she did manage to respond, her body had stiffened and she couldn't move at all.

Sachiko-sama slowly walked towards her.

Yumi's stiffness had faded, but now she was trembling. Her arms and legs were shivering, and her heart was pounding, causing the blood to race around her body. What was with this reaction?

Sachiko-sama drew closer, cutting through the murmuring onlookers. She was full of intensity, to the point of being overbearing. The first-years that had been seated on either side of Yumi left their seats, probably scared off.

But Yumi couldn't run away. She had to stay put and judge Sachiko-sama's guess on the card's whereabouts.

Sachiko-sama finally arrived right beside Yumi and grinned. It was the smile of someone who'd already won.

"Yumi," Sachiko-sama called her name once more before issuing the following order.

"Stand up."

". . . Huh?"

"Come on, stand up, off your seat."

There was nothing more she could do. Game, set, match. Still seated, Yumi moved her chair back from the table.

But then, right at that moment, sound and vibrations flooded into the room from outside. It wasn't a cute little clattering or creaking, but a loud thumping.

"What's going on?"

Sachiko-sama turned towards the door. It was obvious someone was pounding up the old stairs.

But what was with that sound? Their visitor was either in a real hurry, or panicked.

"Don't tell me the white card's been found. . . ?"

All the people that had been watching the Red Rose sœurs turned their gaze to the door. Yumi's rear had been hovering over the chair, but she sat back down.

Bang!

The door was flung open with the same force that the stairs had been climbed.

"Yumi-sama!"

Someone completely unexpected had appeared.

– Matsudaira Touko.

"Touko-cha—"

Touko-chan's breathing was ragged, like she'd just killed a bear or some other large animal, and she looked at Yumi with something akin to a scowl. Her trademark ringlets were a shadow of their usual glory. It may have been Yumi's eyes playing tricks on her, but in this cold February weather, it looked like there was steam rising from Touko-chan's uniform.

If Sachiko-sama had been as scary as a snake earlier, then Touko-chan was a demon.

Touko-chan seemed to be ignoring everyone else in the room besides Yumi. She looked straight ahead as she strode forwards. The floor wasn't as worn out as the staircase, but the wooden boards still made a decent sound.

Clomp, clomp.

(Didn't she pride herself on her ability to walk silently?)

It was strange how Yumi thought of something so trivial at that moment. The typical thoughts of, "Why is Touko-chan here?" or, "Why does she look so angry?" didn't cross her mind at all.

Clomp, clomp.

(That's an incredible sound for someone so light.)

Under Touko-chan's ferocious advance, Sachiko-sama took a step back from her position beside Yumi. Touko-chan came to a stop in that opening and quickly bowed.

"Yumi-sama. Please forgive my rudeness up to now."

"Huh!?"

Hang on, what was happening here? There had been some thumping and then some clomping. But how was that related to asking for forgiveness?

"In addition . . ." Touko-chan temporarily raised her head from her deep bow.

"Yumi-sama, won't you take me as your petite sœur?"

Yumi had absolutely no idea what was going on.

". . . Huh?"

But she had had been so surprised that she'd instinctively stood up.

"Ah!"

Where had that last exclamation come from?

Just as the red card made its appearance atop the chair cushion that Yumi had been sitting on, the alarm on Mami-san's watch went off, informing everyone that the game had ended.