Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume27 Chapter2 1

The "Absentee's Chance" Girl. Part 1

The following day.

Yumi went to school with a slight stomach ache and muscular pains, which she believed to be due to the tension of sitting on that chair the previous day. The lively nature of the high-school area made the melancholic feelings about the remains of the warriors dreams that she'd felt while all alone in the Rose Mansion at twilight after the event seem like a lie.

"We've heard, Yumi-san."

"Huh?"

Upon entering the classroom, she was pounced on by four, no, five of her classmates without even a "Gokigenyou."

"Matsudaira Touko-san, and how she nominated herself."

"Oh."

Yumi went to hang her bag on the hook at the side of her desk but missed, accidentally dropping it on the floor.

"Umm?"

What to do, what do do? As she picked her bag up off the ground, Yumi looked confused.

"There's no point playing dumb. Everyone knows. "Yumi-sama, won't you take me as your petit soeur?" – she said."

"Ah."

Yumi had completely forgotten. Well, she most definitely had not forgotten that Touko-chan had asked to be her petit soeur. What she had forgotten was that the confession had taken place in front of a large audience.

There was no zipper on people's mouths. Especially when the subject was as fresh and juicy as this, so it was only human nature that those in the know would pass that knowledge on to everyone else.

"That's not exactly right."

Rather than being a self-nomination, it had all started when Yumi initially asked Touko-chan to be her petit soeur. Well, at that time she'd been rejected, so this was something akin to a settling of the score.

Because of that, and other things, from Yumi's point of view it was seen more as a response to her previously expressed feelings than a self-nomination. But for those people who had no knowledge of those other events, the request must have seemed like it came from out of the blue. A while back, there had been that rumor about Touko-chan being a candidate for Yumi's petit soeur, but she hadn't called on the Rose Mansion in a while, plus she'd nominated herself in the election for the school council which had taken place last month, so to people watching on the likelihood of that had dropped dramatically.

"And?"

"And, what?"

When Yumi asked this, they all closed in on her, eyes sparkling.

"Have you answered her yet?"

"Huhh!?"

"Is she your petit soeur? Or not?"

"Ah, umm … "

"If she wants to be your petit soeur, that means she likes you, right Yumi-san? So why has Matsudaira Touko-san been acting so rebelliously up until now?"

"Well, that's … "

That was asking a question that Yumi didn't know the answer to, so she was stumped.

"I wonder if it's that sort of thing after all. They bicker and fight then they love each other."

"Oooh, how romantic!"

"Like the way young boys will bully the girls they like?"

"Oooh, how adorable!"

Yumi just let them continue talking as much as they wanted. That way, it wouldn't matter whether the subject of the rumors was present or not. Then she could just quietly slip away – although, since she was surrounded, quietly slipping away would be quite tricky.

(Ahh, what was it?)

A long time ago, Sachiko-sama had taught her a way to deal with this type of situation. When there's something you want to say, wait until the conditions around you are ripe for listening, then say it once, clearly. While everything around you is noisy, be like the willow in the breeze.

So, while they continued to chatter on seemingly endlessly, Yumi listened intently.

"Touko-san's in the drama club, isn't she? Up until now, they've only done performances with the whole club!"

"Ohh, so this is a supporting actress role!"

"Don't you mean lead role?"

"Wouldn't that be Yumi-san?"

"No way!"

( …It's hopeless. I can't use onee-sama's trick this time around.)

Not only were the conditions around her never going to be ripe for listening, but, more importantly, Yumi had absolutely no idea what she should say to them.

"Even still, the current first-years are pretty audacious."

"Approaching an older girl and putting their name forward? Maybe they just know no fear?"

"Yeah, that's something we never would have even thought about doing."

They grumbled, like old people complaining about kids these days.

"So, what about me?"

A familiar voice called out from behind them. Stung by these sharp words, everyone turned to look, and standing there, in an imposing stance, was Yoshino-san.

"Umm."

One of her classmates opened their mouth, to try and clear the misunderstanding.

"What we were saying … was about Matsudaira Touko-san."

She stalled and avoided saying, "Has nothing to do with you, Yoshino-san."

That was correct.

"Approaching an older student, nominating yourself."

The events of one year prior needed no introduction. Yoshino-san, as a first-year, had been the one to nominate herself. Not only that, she'd previously taken the outlandish step of handing her rosary back to her onee-sama. It was known as the "Yellow Rose Revolution."

So, rather than being something, "we never would have thought about doing," it was actually ground that Yoshino-san had already covered. Not only that, but it was a path that countless girls followed her down, although those memories seemed to have been covered in weeds and slipped from mind completely just recently.

" … Sorry. My mistake."

Any criticism of Touko-chan was the same as criticizing the pioneer of that move, Yoshino-san. Having recognized that, her classmate meekly apologized. But if that's what they really thought, then there was no need to apologize – except it would be more trouble than it was worth. Yoshino-san could be persistent and annoying.

"Don't worry about it. Just so long as you realize that what Touko-chan did is no big deal."

She smiled sweetly. That, in itself, was scary.

"Yeah … of course."

The ring of people around Yumi loosened, as one by one her classmates stepped back.

"Well then, I'll have to borrow Yumi-san for a little while. We've got a review meeting in the Rose Mansion."

Yoshino-san thrust her hand into the ring of people and grabbed Yumi's arm. Then, while Yumi was still confused, marched her out of the classroom.

"Review meeting?"

Wasn't that supposed to be during lunch? When Yumi asked this, Yoshino-san responded with, "Stupid."

"That was a ruse. If I hadn't said that, I wouldn't have been able to get you out of there."

"Ah, I see."

She'd noticed that Yumi had been in trouble, and come to rescue her. Sharp.

"Thank-you."

"You're welcome."

Setting aside the review meeting, Yumi had been thinking about going to the Rose Mansion this morning anyway, since they'd only half-finished the cleaning yesterday. She was still wearing her coat when she'd been dragged out of the classroom, but Yumi figured, "Ahh, whatever," and walked alongside Yoshino-san.

"So anyway, what happened?"

"What do you mean?"

"With Touko-chan. Although I know I'm doing the same thing as those other girls. But it's okay, you can tell me."

Well, that was fine.

"Nothing, so far."

They hadn't met after that. So Yumi had no juicy information to report.

"You didn't call her? – Although, that's probably not right."

"Feels wrong somehow, doesn't it?"

Although, after returning home yesterday, Yumi caught herself looking at the telephone and almost standing up a couple of times. But in the end she hesitated, as though the proposal had been made over the telephone and she was sending her response as a text. It would be different if they were in a long-distance relationship, but they went to the same school, so she felt like they should meet properly, face-to-face. Of course, there were plenty of people who wouldn't care about that sort of thing.

"Hold on, I'll just run down to first-year camellia class and get Touko-chan."

As soon as she said this, Yoshino-san spun around and headed for the first-year classrooms.

"Wai … no, stop."

Yumi frantically grabbed Yoshino-san's arm and pulled her back.

"See, she threw the ball to you, now it's your turn. What do you think would have happened if she came to our classroom to hear your response? The reaction. Even for someone who knows no fear, like Touko-chan."

" … Yeah. I guess."

That much was true.

"But, because of the reaction, you shouldn't go."

If Yumi was peppered with questions by her classmates because Touko-chan asked to be her petit soeur, think of how much worse it must be for Touko-chan herself. Add more fuel on to that fire, and who knows what you'd get.

"I see. If I act, things will just get more out of control."

Yoshino-san concluded, and stopped. Once more she changed direction, and they headed towards the Rose Mansion.

"Sorry. I know you were just looking out for me."

"It's fine. But if there's anything you want me to do, just let me know."

"Okay."

Take this, as an example. With just one or two sentences, another ten or twenty could be implied. Yumi felt that these instances highlighted the evolution of their friendship.

When they arrived at the Rose Mansion, the White Rose sisters and Mami-san were already there.

Even though the review meeting was scheduled for lunch, they'd probably all assembled for the same reason. Given the number of people that had passed through the Rose Mansion yesterday, a haphazard cleanup would not suffice.

"So, Yumi-san?"

Shimako-san asked, hesitantly. – The implication being, "What happened afterward?"

It was only natural that those who had witnessed it all unfold were interested in how it ended.

While Yumi apologetically thought about how she made them all worry, she also knew that that didn't necessarily entitle them to know all the gory details, so she made a similar report to what she'd told Yoshino-san earlier, plus what had happened on their way over here. Mami-san from the newspaper club was there, but that didn't bother her. Mami-san probably wouldn't go off and use it in an article.

"Right."

Shimako-san nodded. That nod implied, "Settling things in a reasonable manner is fine."

"As for Touko."

Noriko-chan spoke.

"It seems that she's come to school, but she hasn't been to our classroom. Yumi-sama, Yoshino-sama, you made the right choice in not coming to our class. It was in uproar. They were even thronging around me."

Just as Yumi had expected, it was hardest on Touko-chan.

Nobody said anything, but perhaps the sooner Yumi gave Touko-chan the rosary and officially made her her petit soeur, the better.