Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume27 Chapter1 3

Warrior Demands a Response. Part 3

It was only after they'd gone out the main entrance that she realized they should have left the chocolate basket behind.

"Onee-sama."

Noriko quickly closed the distance to Shimako-san, walking in front, and clasped her hand over Shimako-san's where she held the basket, allowing it to be passed to her. It had been prepared with a slightly larger number of chocolates than the others, so there was still about twenty remaining.

"Ah."

Shimako-san reacted by smiling. As Noriko expected, she too had apparently forgotten about the basket until just then.

"Thank-you."

"Don't mention it."

Shimako-san's smile was a high quality energy source for Noriko to run on. Yoshino-sama and Yumi-sama may scoff, but Noriko had no thoughts of cooling her love for her onee-sama.

So, when Mami-sama asked her, "What will you do?" naturally she answered with, "I'll go with you." She absolutely wanted to be there when the trick behind Shimako-san's hidden white card was revealed to everyone.

Of course, it would be a lie to say she wasn't interested in seeing Yumi-sama's response to Touko's confession, but that was no reason to be impatient. Let nature take its course, and since they'd reached that point it would probably end peacefully. Trying to rush things would just cause problems.

After taking possession of the basket, Noriko stood still for a while, allowing the group of white-card-seekers to catch up and overtake her, before continuing again. Having a petit soeur buzzing around the leading lady Shimako-san would be an eyesore for the participants, and Noriko didn't want that.

"Log skewered rabbit."

Noriko caught part of the conversation between the students walking ahead of her.

(Log skewered rabbit?)

What the heck. Just as she was thinking that, the image of a rabbit being spit roasted on a thick log forced its way into her head.

Log skewered rabbit. Was that the signature dish of some famous chef?

But, sticking a spit thick enough to be called a log through a rabbit, seriously –. She'd seen a TV show on this topic a while back, and the largest rabbits used for food were about the size of a medium dog.

"Enjoyable rabbit circle."

That was the next sentence she heard.

(Enjoyable rabbit circle?)

Or maybe it was, "Enjoyable rabbit check." Either way, it painted a happy picture. Rabbits dancing under a full moon.

"Shine rabbit soup."

Back on the signature dishes, then. Almost like what happened in the legend, 'The Hare of Inaba.' –

After thinking that, Noriko had a moment of realization. They still hadn't given up on trying to deduce the location of Shimako-san's white card. When the time limit was reached, it was obvious from Rosa Chinensis' testimony that six out of the seven hints had been brought to the Rose Mansion, but now the girls who had been out running around and searching had linked up, they had the full set. So they were shuffling the characters and picture around, trying to come up with the answer.

Such a shame, but neither "Log skewered rabbit" nor "Enjoyable rabbit circle" were correct. As for "Shine rabbit soup," that's not even a proper sentence. But most of all, if that was the hint, where would you search? It's not as though there's a rabbit warren anywhere on campus.

"That picture, should it really be rabbit? Or is there some better way of describing it?"

Noriko silently agreed with that statement.

(Exactly. You'll never solve the riddle if you think that's just an ordinary rabbit. Sorry that it's such a bad picture. Actually, I was the one that drew it.)

In truth, she had intended to spend some time practicing and draw a better one, but Yoshino-sama had said, "You don't want to make it too easy to understand, because then people will find the card right away." So instead Noriko submitted the initial drawing that she'd done solely from memory. If the main reason that Shimako-san's card had not been found was because of that drawing, then that was most regrettable.

Taking the path leading past the library, they came to the path lined with ginkgo trees.

Setting aside the "drawing of a rabbit that can't be called a rabbit," there were six characters.

Ku, shi, ta, no, ma, ru (in syllabic order)

As expected, no one thought that the 'ma' was the 'ma' from Maria-sama's statue, so even as they drew close they all kept walking at pace.

As they continued to walk, they slowly drew closer to the goal. And as they walked and shuffled the cards, there was a certain synergy that led to a connection, with sporadic cries of, "Ah," and, "Could it be," filling the air.

(Yes, that's correct.)

Inside the school gates, just beside the security guard's post was the car park.

The white-card-recovery-squad watched a blue car come out of the car park, then went in.

"You were looking to make a big splash, huh Shimako-san."

Mami-san muttered when they saw the car park.

"… Indeed."

Following their gaze, the students all dashed off in search of the answer. Noriko too sprinted away, flustered. The basket was a bit of a nuisance, but Noriko ran with one hand over the top of it to keep the chocolates from spilling out.

"Such high spirits."

Shimako-san smiled at Mami-sama, as neither gave chase. They both continued to walk calmly. Of course, Noriko already knew where the card was hidden, so she hadn't had to wait until now to get the answer. But she did want to find out what state it was in currently.

At that moment, there were hardly any cars in the car park. They continued further in, to the spaces near the wall that were reserved for the teaching staff.

"…"

When they reached the destination, the students stood there, dumbstruck.

(Victory to Shimako-san.)

In her mind, Noriko assumed a triumphant pose.

In the parking area reserved for teachers, in a single parking space, a transparent plastic sleeve was stuck to the ground with masking tape. Despite the plastic, there was no mistaking it. Inside was –

"The white card … "

Someone said.

"But, I had a look around this area earlier, and it wasn't like this."

Someone else said, dumbfounded.

"The cars that were parked here during the treasure hunt have since left."

The girls turned around to look at the voice that called out from behind them, and there was Mami-sama, who had finally arrived. Shimako-san was standing beside her.

"Which should lead you to the answer."

" … Under the car."

"That's about 80% right."

It wasn't clear what she was basing that grade on, but Mami-sama peeled the tape off the ground and picked up the plastic sleeve containing the card.

"As expected from a pro driver like Aota-sensei, there's no tyre tracks over it at all."

"Aota … ah, Miffy-chan!"

"Yep. Miffy-chan, so the correct answer was under Aota-sensei's car."

Mami-sama pointed at the concrete bumper, and everyone saw that it had "Aota" written on it in white paint.

Aota-sensei's nickname was Miffy-chan. Aota-sensei was a middle-school teacher, and since Noriko only entered Lillian's Girls Academy at the start of high-school, she didn't know the reason behind the nickname, or even what Aota-sensei looked like.

They'd discussed this in an earlier meeting, and to avoid certain students have an unfair advantage, the Lillian Kawaraban had printed an article about Aota-sensei as part of their "Teach us! OO-sensei" series. This article, in the second edition of the paper for the year, contained the nickname "Miffy-chan" as part of the profile, so the plan was a go.

Incidentally, Aota-sensei was unaware of the plan. While Mami-sama had been explaining the rules of the contest, a first-year from the newspaper club had run to the car park and stuck the card underneath the car. At any rate, it was just as well they didn't go home while the event was taking place, or it wouldn't be "Under Aota-sensei's car," but, "On the ground where Aota-sensei's car is usually parked."

"Aota-sensei wouldn't go home while the event was happening, to make sure the middle-schoolers weren't breaking the rules. Only after it had been brought to a successful conclusion would they go."

Anticipating this, Shimako-san had selected Aota-sensei's car. A big splash indeed. Like the ebb and flow of the tides, the look of the hiding place changed over time.

"Ah – "

One of the students cried out, suddenly.

"That blue car from before!"

"You're right! That was Miffy-chan driving it!"

A number of other cries rang out, "What a shame," being one of them, but all the girls that spoke out had a touch of pleasant surprise mixed in their voice.

– I want fun.

That had been Shimako-san's theme. On that account, you could call it a huge success.

(Now I understand.)

The visage of Aota-sensei.

"He really does look just like Dick Bruna."

While Noriko was remembering the face of the middle-aged man in the car that had left the car park just before, and admiring Shimako-san's work, Shimako-san drew alongside her and gently took her hand.

(Ah.)

She didn't put it into words, but, "Thanks for your co-operation," came through loud and clear.

Shimako-san's hand was warm and soft, and Noriko wanted to remain joined like that forever.

(Oh no.)

The chocolates inside the basket would all melt away.