Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume27 Chapter2 3

The "Absentee's Chance" Girl. Part 3

"Is Igawa Ami-san available?"

Standing at the entrance to the first-year peach classroom, Shimako asked the closest member of that class.

Calling upon a stranger was a little bit nerve-wracking. However, Shimako felt that the reason her heart was beating slightly faster was probably due to the nostalgia she felt for the classroom that she'd been studying in last year.

"Yeah."

As soon as the student saw Shimako's face, she stiffened and said, "Wait here," then ran off into the classroom. 'Fleeing' would probably be the best way to describe her appearance.

Even though it hadn't been Shimako's intention to cause a commotion. But, that was probably the terrifying life of the older student.

(I suppose I should have expected it.)

Back when Shimako had been a member of this class, from time to time her onee-sama or Sachiko-sama would come to visit her, and her classmates would walk like a robot over to her and speak in a monotone as they announced her visitor's presence.

Coming here alone had probably been for the best, after all.

The initial plan had been to have Mami-san and the first-year Noriko-chan accompany her. However, since the announcement hadn't been made in the Lillian Kawaraban yet, they wanted to keep it as quiet as possible, so Shimako had offered to perform the task alone. None of the people in the Rose Mansion at lunch time knew the girl's name or face, so it was a good idea to meet the winner of the half-day date and have a chat with her.

The afternoon classes had finished, and it was about the time when the cleaning duties were drawing to a close. Since the student she'd talked to hadn't returned immediately, it probably meant Igawa Ami-san was somewhere in the room. Glancing around inside, Shimako saw the student from before talking to another student over by the window.

(Could it be her … ?)

It was hard to see her face because of the distance, and the obscuring effect of the shoulder-length hair that fell past her ears. After a further exchange, the second girl turned and walked towards Shimako.

"I'm Igawa Ami."

Was she imagining things? For a moment, Shimako felt like she'd met this girl somewhere before.

"Gokigenyou."

"Why did you want to see me?"

"You entered into the absentee's draw, right? It's about that."

After Shimako said this, Ami-san said, "If you don't mind?" and walked out into the hallway.

"Huh?"

Shimako didn't know what was going on, but she turned to follow the person she had to talk to and chased after her. Since Ami-san was going quite fast, it made it look like they were two people walking down the corridor on their own separate tasks.

"I'm sorry. I wanted to go somewhere private."

The place they'd arrived at, after going out the emergency exit, was a stairwell landing. Indeed, in this chilly season, there was no one around to overhear them, no matter where the wind blew their words.

"You have a lot of fans in my class. If they found out I won the absentee's chance draw, they would all resent me."

"It looks like you already know that you're the winner."

Shimako probed as she folded her arms. It was cold outside, after all.

"Yeah. Well, more or less."

Rather than being disinterested, she was just being blunt. Wouldn't someone whose guess turned out to be correct be more surprised?

"I heard a rumor from my classmates this morning that the white card had been hidden in the car park. So you see."

Shimako hadn't been expecting a fawning attitude, but these curt responses made even someone as usually trusting as her start to get suspicious. That perhaps the girl was answering this way because it was a bother to her.

Thinking about it, the absentee's draw required the participants to predict where the cards were hidden, but there was no line on the entry form saying whose card it was. Maybe when Igawa Ami-san had written, "Under a car in the staff parking lot," she had been thinking of the yellow card, or maybe even the red card.

"So then … the white card and the ticket for the half-day date – "

Just in case, Shimako decided to confirm it. If the girl refused, she'd have to check with Mami-san about what to do, but it made sense that it would go to the next closest entrant. However.

"Of course I'll take it."

Ami-san answered.

"Oh, ah, right."

So apparently she would exercise her right. This constant stream of unexpected responses left Shimako feeling dizzy.

"May, ahh, may I see your student notebook? It's just a formality."

She'd been told to confirm that she had the right person before handing the card over. They had already confirmed that there wasn't an entry form with Igawa Ami's name on it for participating in yesterday's main event. As soon as this girl could prove that she was Igawa Ami-san, she would be officially recognized as the holder of the white card. In other words, she would occupy the same position as Tanuma Chisato-san regarding the yellow card and Matsudaira Touko-chan regarding the red card.

"Here."

Ami-san took her student notebook from her pocket and held it out to Shimako.

Inside the front cover, "First-year peach class, student number two, Igawa Ami," was clearly written.

"Splendid. Thank-you."

Nodding, Ami-san closed her notebook.

"That's all for now, but I'll be in touch later."

When she heard this, Ami-san said, "About that," and then stopped.

"Huh?"

" … About that, I have a favor to ask."

Shimako asked what it was.

"If you could – "

Once more, a completely unexpected statement made its way to Shimako's ears.