Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume28 Chapter10 2

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Two days later, I heard Mickey's name spoken by someone completely unexpected.

"Hiromi-san. Ahh, about that first-year student you're often with."

Toudou Shimako-san called out to me just as I was about to head home for the day.

"You mean Mickey?"

"Mickey … ? Ahh, yes. Her name is indeed Miike-san. Is she your petit soeur?"

"We're not soeurs."

I mentally added, "For now, anyway," then challenged Shimako-san.

"Why do you ask?"

Petit soeur.

The question itself wasn't that unusual.

Whenever I'd walk alongside Mickey, my classmates would innocently pepper us with that question.

And every time we were asked, I'd deny it by saying, "We're not soeurs," just like I had done with Shimako-san. I felt that we would become soeurs at some point, but I hadn't yet presented her with a rosary.

It had only been a month since the school opening ceremony. There was no rush. That's what I thought.

The reason I followed up the, "We're not soeurs," response with a, "Why?" was probably because Shimako-san had been the one asking.

Shimako-san came across as fairly aloof, someone who wasn't interested in the high-school equivalent of celebrity gossip – which two students had become soeurs, or which soeurs were currently quarreling, that kind of thing.

"There's something I'm a bit worried about. Although I don't mean to intrude."

Shimako-san said, haltingly. She prefaced what came next by saying this was something she'd heard from a first-year whose acquaintance she'd recently made.

"Two days ago, Miike Sayuri-san ate lunch outside accompanied by an older student. Were you the one who invited her, Hiromi-san?"

"Huh? Yeah."

"After that … Sayuri-san was late for her fifth-period class. Were you aware of that?"

"Huh?"

I couldn't believe my ears.

"That's not true. I walked her back to her classroom. Then I made it back to class before the bell rang for the start of lesson."

I smiled, rebuffing the foolish accusation. But Shimako-san silenced me with a glance.

"The class she was late for was PE."

"Huh?"

"So even if she was back at her classroom before the bell rang, she may not have made it to class on time."

"No way."

I felt my legs starting to give way and reached out for the nearest desk. I couldn't say whether all the blood rushed to my head, or I'd gone pale. My mind went completely blank.

"Why didn't she tell me?"

I mumbled. The question wasn't aimed at anyone in particular, but from beside me Shimako-san provided an honest answer.

"Perhaps she couldn't tell you."

"She couldn't tell me?"

This time around I was questioning Shimako-san.

"So you see."

Shimako-san didn't come out and say it directly, but her eyes said, "That's the problem."

The problem was that Mickey couldn't clearly convey her thoughts to me. And that I hadn't recognized this.

Which was why Shimako-san had involved herself, conveying Mickey's thoughts to me. I needed to start focusing on that problem more.

That was probably true. However.

"Thanks for the advice."

I forced a smile then added one more thing.

"But, Shimako-san. Wouldn't it be better to think about yourself before worrying about other people?"

In truth, I didn't want to say this. I was truly grateful for what Shimako-san had done. But I didn't like to show my weaknesses to anyone. That barb was said out of self-defense more than anything else.

"… I suppose."

Shimako-san nodded slightly, then left the classroom. I waited until she was out of sight before I too left.

Why hadn't Mickey told me?

That question filled my thoughts as I walked down the hallway.

She could have simply forgotten that her fifth-period class was PE. She could be a bit absentminded from time to time. It could have just slipped her mind while she was enjoying herself.

But then why hadn't she told me that she'd been late. I'd seen her a couple of times after that. But she hadn't said a word about it, neither yesterday nor this morning.

Was she acting reserved? I considered this, but quickly discarded it.

Given our relationship, why would she be reserved? It was unthinkable.

But.

What if a distance of four years resulted in a corresponding distance between two people's hearts.

I walked aimlessly. I thought better when my body was moving than when it's sitting still.

I reached the end of the hallway and walked out the entrance.

As I walked alongside the school building, I thought, "Even so."

Even so. Lillian's school traditions fostered a strict seniority based system. Since Mickey was younger than me, perhaps she thought that she couldn't talk to me about being late to class.

That couldn't be it. Like the Yellow Rose sisters, Hasekura Rei-sama and Shimazu Yoshino-san, there was no barrier of seniority between us.

Or take the Red Rose sisters. Hadn't Fukuzawa Yumi-san disagreed with her onee-sama about the location of the red card in the greenhouse?

Wasn't that the kind of relationship we had? Or was there something different between them and us?

Was it because we weren't soeurs?

Mickey appeared in front of me just as that question popped into my mind.

"Gokigenyou. Is something the matter?"

Mickey placed the empty trash bin she was carrying on the ground and looked curiously at me. The location I had arrived at was the school's bin site, an unnatural place to be when empty-handed.

"I was just thinking about things, and before I knew it I was here."

I couldn't come up with a better explanation quickly, so spoke the truth.

"Thinking about things?"

"Yeah."

Mickey didn't ask what I'd been thinking about. If she had asked, I probably would have told her everything.

"Hiromi-sama?"

But since I hadn't been given that opening, there was no way I could release those withheld feelings.

Even without an opening, you're better off saying what you want to say. In my head, I knew that. Still –

There were matters of tactfulness and restraint to consider too.

So then, how should I remove this barrier that existed between us?

"Mickey."

I untied one of the ribbons that hung down beneath Mickey's ears.

"Can I have this?"

"Huh?"

"Please. It's important."

I tied the ribbon around my own hair, which was just barely long enough.

"And can you make time for me tomorrow afternoon, after school?"

"Oh?"

"There's something I want to talk to you about."

"… Okay."

"Alright, I'll come by your classroom once I've finished cleaning."

I broke into a run on the way back.

The ribbon, my good luck charm, fluttered in the breeze.

Previously, I'd seen Sachiko-sama take one of Yumi's ribbons and tie it in her own hair.

Perhaps I wanted the ribbon to lend me some of that courage.