Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume27 Chapter3 3

Unexpected Words. Part 3

"Shimako-sama."

Shimako was standing in front of the shelf of dictionaries in the library when a voice called to her from behind. She was about to turn around until she heard a whispered, "Stay like that."

"Won't you take a seat at that table?"

The location she was pointed to was a simple table divided into three sections, each with its own light and chair. It was more suited to solitary study than a group discussion. At present, the right-hand section was being used by another student, but the middle and left-hand sections were free.

"Very well."

Shimako nodded, and walked over to the table. She debated for a while about which chair to take, before deciding on the middle one.

"Pardon me."

She excused herself to the student already seated at the table, then took her chair. When she did, the girl on the right's shoulders seemed to flinch. Perhaps it was because she'd done something unexpected, like sitting across two seats on a train that was going to get crowded.

Even though Shimako had taken her seat, there was no indication that the left seat would be filled. After about a minute, as Shimako was starting to look around, wondering what happened, Igawa Ami-san sat down beside her. If another student hadn't come around looking for a free seat, perhaps she would have been made to wait another two or three minutes.

"Gokigenyou."

Although Shimako thought it unlikely that people would connect them even without the delay between taking their seats, Ami-san undoubtedly considered it a necessary precaution.

"I apologize for the trouble I'm putting you through."

The same blunt manner as always. The difference was she was being more polite.

"Here. This is from the head of the newspaper club – it's the documentation regarding our date."

Underneath the table, Shimako held out the printout so that her neighbor could take it.

"Ah. It's 4,000 yen this year."

Ami-san muttered, quickly scanning the paper.

"You know about last year?"

Shimako asked.

"Yeah. I looked it up, for reference. It was in one of the back issues of the Lillian Kawaraban."

"I see."

They were whispering, but since they were right next to each other their voices carried far enough. Because of the separation, from a distance it would look like they were each working on different things. Ami-san had a book open and was pretending to read, such was the extent she was going to.

"Most things are about the same as last year. That's good."

"It is?"

"Yeah, actually."

This time Ami-san passed a piece of paper to Shimako under the table, apparently she'd already worked out a plan. It was written in pencil on a piece of lined paper.

"This is … "

When Shimako saw the densely packed schedule that covered every place and time, from their meeting to their parting, she was lost for words. Shimako didn't know much about this girl, so she hadn't really been expecting anything, and this was definitely 'nothing.'

"Ah, you know, Ami-san."

"Yes?"

"The date is a reward for the winner, so we can go wherever you would like to go. That's what we were meeting here to discuss, right?"

Shimako said, still unsure of how best to convey this. Had Ami-san come up with this plan, thinking it was for the best?

"Yeah. Of course I know that."

The response seemed to say, "Why are you saying this now?"

" … So you see."

It looked like she'd studied last year's Lillian Kawaraban in quite some detail. How to approach this, so that her feelings weren't hurt.

"If you're using last year as a guide, the winner, Kanina Shizuka-sama, let her classmates plan out their date, and I just went along with it."

Not everything that happened during last year's date was included in the Lillian Kawaraban article. And, of course, the events that happened after Shizuka-sama had gone home (including the appearance of Satou Sei-sama) were not recorded either. Despite that, when reading the article it probably looked as though that date had been planned for Shimako. Although what Ami-san hoped to achieve by taking her on a date she'd already experienced, Shimako didn't really know.

"Is that right?"

Ami-san murmured. Then, while it seemed that she understood, she followed that up immediately with, "Might as well make the most of it." It looked like she had no intention of withdrawing the piece of paper that Shimako held in her hand.

"I think the location's fine. Or do you dislike it? Would it make you uncomfortable?"

She wasn't willing to give an inch, as though it were her last line of defense. It may just have been Ami-san's natural voice, but the way she spoke now seemed to be more pressing.

"Not at all. If that's what you want Ami-san, then I have no objection."

"That's good. Then I'll go home and rework this, expect something even better."

Their conversation had barely concluded and Ami-san was already standing up.

"But, why here?"

Shimako asked, as she held the piece of paper out for Ami-san.

"Because,"

The next moment, Ami-san said something completely unexpected.

"I'm a fan of Rosa Gigantea."

Once more, Shimako was left worrying incessantly.