Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume33 Chapter4 3

The Problem of Adding "-San". Part 3.

Having received her graduation certificate and resumed her seat amongst the third year chrysanthemum class, Rei thought:

That was fast.

The graduation certificates they were given on stage were collected again as they stepped off the stage, leaving her hands currently empty. It was reminiscent of the hollow feeling she had.

Actually, her onee-sama had said a similar thing about her own graduation ceremony. That she had felt hollow, couldn't concentrate, worried about other things and remembered all kinds of events during the ceremony – as though the actual graduation was happening to someone else.

It was exactly like she had said. And so, for those graduating students who had received their diploma and had no further role to play in the ceremony, 95% of them looked at peace.

"Third year pine group."

It was Sachiko's class's turn.

Because Ogasawara started with an 'O', Sachiko would be called fairly early.

"Ogasawara Sachiko."

Well, there you go. It was her turn already.

There were a lot of things that were done in alphabetical order at school, and Rei usually thought it must be tough getting called early as you wouldn't have time to prepare yourself.

In that regard, 'Hasekura' was closer to the end than the middle, so she was called earlier when they did things in reverse alphabetical order, but she was in the fortunate position of always being able to watch what the front-runners did and copy them. Although it did mean she usually had to wait a while, which could get boring.

As Sachiko strode onto the stage, scattered sighs of admiration could be heard throughout the gymnasium.

Sachiko was beautiful even without the rose-tinted glasses that accompanied their close friendship. Her natural figure shone with the light of the proud and intelligent soul it housed. Recently, this had been joined by a kindness and tenderness that polished her beauty even further. This was probably Yumi-chan's influence. No matter who's eyes you were watching it through, Sachiko was the epitome of an onee-sama at Lillian's Girls Academy.

Sachiko received her graduation certificate and stepped down from the stage. Once more, the sighs rang out. As though show-time was over. It was a bit unfortunate for the next student.

They had both been at Lillian's since kindergarten, but Rei had no recollection of talking privately with Sachiko prior to high school. Ever since kindergarten, Sachiko had an aura about her that was different to the other students – it was as though she was already a lady. Back then, Rei hadn't known what it meant to be a lady and instead thought of Sachiko as the school's sole princess. The polar opposite of herself, who had brandished the shinai ever since she became aware of it. Sachiko moved with an elegant grace that was attributed to her ballet lessons.

An incredibly pretty little girl.

Rei was intrigued by Sachiko, but didn't know how to go about becoming friends with her. The other kindergarteners probably felt the same way too – turned away by the atmosphere surrounding Sachiko that made her hard to know, they either kept their distance and merely watched, or spread malicious rumors about her because they didn't know how else to cope. As a result, Sachiko was often alone. The current Rei would have called out to Sachiko and played with her, but the Rei back then hadn't been as mature and had revered the solitary Sachiko as an 'independent woman.' Of course, Rei only learned this phrase much later.

During elementary school and middle school they had been in the same class numerous times, but Sachiko still remained a 'pretty princess' to Rei. Eventually, Rei learned that Sachiko was the daughter of the president of a huge corporation, and realized that Sachiko really was a princess.

And a princess doesn't laugh out loud, or assemble cliques. It wasn't because Sachiko was being disagreeable, but because this was what she was earnestly striving for.

(Which reminds me.)

There was something that Yoshino had asked her a while ago. 'When did you start addressing Sachiko-sama without an honorific? She's a princess, so she wouldn't think of addressing you like that, right?"

Certainly, it had taken a lot of courage to first call her 'Sachiko.' After all, you were talking to a 'princess.'

"That's harsh. I started because that's how she was addressing me. When we were both bouton's petit soeurs I was still calling her Sachiko-san."

That was how she had answered, but it wasn't the truth. Well, she was the first to be addressed without an honorific, but it wasn't really said to her face.

– In other words, it was… one of those things.

* * *

Rei could clearly remember the day she went from watching Sachiko from a distance to being much closer to her.

It was May and the welcoming ceremony organized by the Yamayurikai had just finished. Rei was in her classroom, that of the first year chrysanthemum group, when her onee-sama-to-be, Torii Eriko-sama, approached her out of the blue, and said:

"Will you be my petit soeur?"

Since she was being asked by Rosa Foetida en bouton, Rei probably would have refused if she was allowed to sleep on it. Instead, she was pressed for an immediate answer and responded in the affirmative. Over-thinking tended to dull her animal instincts. Rei's intuition told her that it would be fun to be with Eriko-sama, and on this account it wasn't wrong.

Rei was dragged out of the classroom and told that she was going to be introduced to Eriko-sama's companions before the presentation of the rosary. As they walked through the corridors holding hands, Rei became hesitant when she realized who Eriko-sama's companions were, and where she was being taken.

Eriko-sama's onee-sama, Rosa Foetida, would be waiting. Not only her, but Rosa Gigantea and Rosa Chinensis would probably be there as well.

Until then, Rei had only looked up at the Roses as they stood atop the summit of the high school student council and aspired to be like them. She hadn't yet had time to prepare herself. Even her feelings about becoming Rosa Foetida en bouton's petit soeur seemed to have been left behind in the corridor outside her classroom and replaced with anticipation.

"Oh."

Eriko-sama came to a halt. They were in front of the Rose Mansion.

"What's this, I wonder."

That came from Rosa Chinensis en bouton, Mizuno Youko-sama.

There was nothing out of the ordinary about Rosa Chinensis en bouton being near the Rose Mansion. The same could be said for Eriko-sama, since she was Rosa Foetida en bouton. So the reason the two boutons were looking at each other with expressions of surprise was due to the inclusion of some additional factor. Rei got it. Youko-sama was surprised because she was looking at Rei, standing beside Eriko-sama. And Eriko-sama was –

She recognized the first year student that was standing behind Youko-sama. It was Ogasawara Sachiko.

Eriko-sama was looking at Sachiko, who was staring back at her. Sachiko's gaze then shifted to Rei, who was still holding hands with Eriko-sama.

Their eyes met.

"Huh."

The small sound came out of Sachiko's mouth for an instant. Then she started to smile, like a flower blossoming.

When she thought about it, Rei supposed that it was probably a forced smile, but even so it had impressed her greatly at the time. That was because Rei could only stand there with her mouth agape, lacking the composure to smile. But you'd expect that behavior from a princess.

At any rate, they both became the petit soeur of a bouton at roughly the same time.

The introduction to Eriko-sama's companions wasn't as nerve wracking as Rei had expected. Because there were two of them, the amount of attention they each received was halved. It wasn't as though her teeth were chattering together. But with Sachiko beside her, Rei was able to stand tall.

It wasn't that Rei was concerned about a comparison between the two of them. Instead, she felt a joy at being able to stand next to Sachiko, rather than just watching her from afar. Standing next to Sachiko, it was as though they both wanted to see themselves reflected in each others eyes.

That was probably a premonition.

Rei seemed to sense, with something other than the five usual senses, a vision of their future selves, and their invaluable friendship.

On that day, the five existing inhabitants of the Rose Mansion welcomed the two new arrivals with a toast of strawberry milk. From memory, Rosa Gigantea en bouton, Satou Sei-sama, had grumbled about being made to go and buy the milk. Why was she, as a second year student, being penalized with these menial tasks now that they had some first year students.

Thinking back on it, that was probably the penalty that Sei had earned by coming last in the race to find a petit soeur.

Well, that was how Rei's life as the petit soeur of a bouton started, but it didn't mean that she became close friends with Sachiko straight away.

At first Sachiko naturally used the honorific '-san' when addressing her, saying things like, 'Rei-san, can you pass me that,' or 'Rei-san, this happened while you were at your club.' Sachiko may have been a princess, but she went to great efforts to be a good petit soeur for Rosa Chinensis en bouton. Completing her chores without complaining. Never unwilling to participate in cleaning. Instead, she would actively participate. And the quality of her work was outstanding.

Compared to Rei, who would occasionally skip going to the Rose Mansion due to club activities, Sachiko worked harder. And silently, as though she were in serious training.

Then one day, Rei's kendo practice ended early because the martial arts building that they usually used for training was unavailable due to repair work. So she cheerfully headed off to the Rose Mansion. Today she'd be able to do all of the chores she usually missed. And appearing on a day when she normally had club activities would probably make her onee-sama happy too.

Opening the 'biscuit door' to the second floor clubroom, Rei saw Sachiko, Eriko-sama and Rosa Gigantea. The three of them were so engrossed in their conversation that they didn't notice Rei. She should have walked in and greeted them all with a 'Gokigenyou.' In fact, she started to do just that. But she was stopped when she heard the words that Sachiko spoke next:

"I don't think Rei's doing anything wrong."

(I'm doing something wrong?)

No, that wasn't it. Sachiko had stood up for her, denying that she was doing anything wrong.

"Then what could the problem be? Our pigheadedness?"

"I wouldn't say that. Certainly, there's a slight problem with Rei, but it's such a trivial matter. That's what I was saying."

(Problem? Am I failing in my duties as a bouton's petit soeur because of my club activities? But my onee-sama said it was fine if I just did what I could for the Yamayurikai – )

That was certainly playing on Rei's mind, but there was another matter that had captured her attention.

(Did she just call me 'Rei,' without an honorific?)

"You're not going in?"

Right at that moment, someone called out to her from behind.

"Uwaah."

"What a strange greeting, from the giant pipsqueak."

Rei turned around, and standing there was Satou Sei-sama. But what kind of a name was 'giant pipsqueak?'

"Oh, Rei. You're here?"

Eriko-sama turned around. She was quite composed given that the person they had just been gossiping about had suddenly appeared. In comparison, Rei was considerably more flustered.

"Ah, yeah."

Sachiko and Rosa Gigantea were much the same as Eriko-sama.

"Gokigenyou, Rei-san."

"...Gokigenyou."

"Come inside, Rei-chan. And while you're at it, bring the person behind you in too..... Heheh, I see you've finally made it here, Sei."

"You'd sue me for breach of contract if I didn't show my face around here from time to time."

Sei-sama grinned as she made her way past Rei, who was still holding the door knob, to Rosa Gigantea's side. The usually grumpy person seemed to be in a good mood today.

Sachiko was clearing some documents off the table so Rei put her bags down and went to prepare the tea. The electric kettle was making that swishing sound that indicated it was ready.

As Rei was adding the tea leaves to the tea pot, she was thinking back to what Sachiko had just said.

Maybe she had misheard it.

"Hey, Rei-chan."

"Uwaah."

When she turned around, Satou Sei-sama was there once more.

"The greeting doesn't change, huh."

"I'm sorry."

The junior wondered what they were apologizing for as they offered up the words of excuse. Please forgive me, excuse me, I'm sorry, pardon me, etc. etc.

"You noticed it, just before, right?"

"What do you mean?"

Rei tried to temporize, but it was probably futile. Sei-sama had been right behind her at the biscuit door. It wasn't that she had heard anything Rei hadn't, but that she had seen how Rei had been too shocked to enter the room.

"The lack of honorifics."

"Huh?"

"That were used. By prinny-pipsqueak."

Sei-sama turned around. Sachiko was standing with her back to them, talking to Rosa Chinensis, who had just arrived.

"Are you talking about Sachiko-san?"

Sei-sama was just making up names, like giant pipsqueak and prinny pipsqueak, so it was hard to follow what she was saying. The convention at Lillian's Girls Academy was to append '-sama' to the name of girls in higher grades and '-san' to the name of girls in the same grade. Girls in a lower grade were usually addressed with '-san' or '-chan,' although if you were especially close you could use no honorific.

"Ohhh? The giant pipsqueak is sticking with 'Sachiko-san'."

"Can you please stop calling me 'giant pipsqueak.'"

"In that case, I think I'll call you 'Rei' without an honorific. If it's good enough for prinny-pipsqueak, it's good enough for me, don't you think?"

"...Do as you please."

When she was in a bad mood, Satou Sei-sama was eerily scary. Although Rei didn't want to get much closer to her now that she was in a good mood either. Rei thought the 'stay away glare' that the foul tempered Sei-sama menaced people with was actually a form of kindness.

"But, ya know, there's a bit of a disparity."

Rei was in the middle of pouring a cup of tea when Sei-sama said this. It seemed their conversation wasn't over just yet.

"You're both in the same year and both petit soeurs of a bouton. Yet one of you uses an honorific and the other doesn't. You'd just want to make sure it doesn't have an impact on your standing, and who has the power in the relationship."

Rei was reeling slightly from that suggestion. The Yamayurikai was about the three colored Roses joining together to lead the students, so there shouldn't be any power struggles, right?

"Pardon me. Rei-san, I'll help out."

Sachiko called out and made her way over to them.

"Ahh, it's okay. You usually have to do everything, Sachiko-san, so while I'm here I should do this. Although it probably won't taste as good as yours."

After Rei turned to face Sachiko and replied, Sei-sama chimed in from beside her.

"Don't worry, I'm supervising so it'll turn out okay."

"I wasn't worried at all."

Sachiko turned her back, apparently offended.

"She used '-san'."

While Rei resumed pouring the tea into the cups, Sei waggled the index finger of her left hand back and forth and said, 'No no no.'

"That's because it's hard to say it to someone's face. But don't you think she really wants you two to address each other in that way?"

"She wants to?"

"See Rei, about Sachiko. Even though she wants to, her pride keeps her from saying it. You get it?"

Is that so?

Rei looked at Sachiko's back once more. Sachiko didn't notice, she was talking to Youko-sama now.

In that case.

Maybe Rei should try calling her 'Sachiko' from now on.

It wouldn't be possible today, so tomorrow.

It was a fairly high hurdle, but if she could clear it then maybe they could have a relationship more like their onee-samas.

'Youko' 'Eriko' 'Sei'.

It was wonderful how they called each other by just their given name.