Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume33 Chapter4 4

The Problem of Adding "-San". Part 4.

"Sei."

The 'big-headed' girl waved to the 'American' girl as she approached the statue of Maria-sama, which was located at the fork in the path lined with ginkgo trees.

"Ahh, Eriko."

Youko, who had noticed her first, waved back. Sei took a quick glance in her direction, then her shoulders started to shake as she frantically tried to keep herself from laughing, leaving her unable to return the greeting.

"What's this about?"

Eriko asked, pointing at the strange figure that was hunched over and gently oscillating. Youko shrugged, seemingly uninterested.

"Who knows?"

"Huh? You were with her, right?"

Eriko asked, after first praying at the statue of Maria-sama. She had nothing to pray for, it was purely for form's sake.

"I was with her. But then she suddenly started smiling. I have no idea why."

Youko looked at Sei coldly.

"Just out of the blue? Well that's strange."

Eriko glanced at Sei, who was making a spluttering sound as though her throat had gone into convulsions. Finally, she burst into laugher, clutching her stomach and with tears streaming down her face.

"Before I arrived, she didn't happen to eat some mushrooms from the side of the road? Some magic mushrooms?"

"It's scary to think what she'd be like if she did."

The two friends folded their arms and said, 'Hmmm.' Why on earth did the younger girls think this was a 'good student' back when they were still at school. It was a mystery.

Eventually, Sei's waves of laughter subsided and she called out to Eriko and Youko, who were still standing back and watching her from a distance.

"Come, come, gather around fair maidens."

"Huh?"

"And I'll regale you with a comedic tale."

A comedic tale? What's she blathering on about, oblivious to the performance she just put on.

"Like I was saying before, you're being quite strange. What was so funny?"

"Sorry, sorry. I was just laughing at something I remembered."

In that case it must have been something incredibly hilarious. Normally you'd just snicker at a memory. Eriko looked doubtfully at Sei, who managed to suppress her laughter as she looked back this time.

"So what was it?"

Sei was really starting to grate on Eriko's nerves. Well, they had quarreled with each other from the start. Mainly that was because they both wanted different things.

"Your petit soeur."

Sei said.

"Rei? What happened to her?"

"The misunderstanding that led to her addressing Sachiko without an honorific… heheheh."

"What are you talking about?"

Eriko grabbed Sei by the collar and said, 'Speak clearly.' Sei was smiling as she continued.

"I dunno when it was, but you and Sachiko and someone else, well, anyway, do you remember chatting in the Rose Mansion about something."

"How am I supposed to remember anything based on such a vague description?"

Eriko was still gritting her teeth, but the corners of her lips turned upwards as she spoke.

She couldn't remember when, couldn't remember who and to top it all off they were at the Rose Mansion, chatting. That left nothing to search on. There were probably a few hundred separate occasions that matched those criteria.

"It wasn't long after Rei and Sachiko started coming to the Rose Mansion. Right, right, you were trying to solve some problem. I think it came from a magazine – they were a bit of a fad within our grade – solve the puzzle and you'd win a prize."

"Ahh."

Eriko let go of Sei's collar as she remembered that something of that sort had happened. Although she was talking about something that happened a long time ago.

"So what does that have to do with our petit soeurs?"

This time it was Youko asking, somewhat forcibly. That was to be expected. It was different when it was just Rei, but now that Sachiko's name had been mentioned there was no way she would stay quiet. Sei continued, after giving a knowing smile.

"I wasn't there at the start, so I don't know all the details, but it looked like you were getting Sachiko to do one of those problems. Because the magazine was open on the table. And then Sachiko got all agitated about it, right?"

"Sachiko was agitated… "

Eriko could feel the memory creeping back, bit by bit. She definitely remembered that the seemingly quiet Sachiko had been saying exactly what she had been thinking for the puzzle, so she had been deliberately saying the opposite in order to provoke a reaction from Sachiko. Although, unfortunately, Eriko couldn't recall how it had ended.

"And there was some argument about how to solve it."

"There probably was. Although I can't remember it."

Maybe if it was something said during a meeting, but Eriko didn't keep minutes or a record of everything that was said when she was just chatting.

"And Rei heard Sachiko talking about this, and thought she was talking about her."

"Huh?"

"She misheard something like, 'The way you're doing this is wrong,' for 'Rei's doing something wrong.' It was brilliant. See, she was under the impression that Sachiko was calling her just by her name. So she should do the same."

"Say what?"

"Sachiko must have been surprised. That Rei was suddenly calling her without an honorific. Although she recovered pretty quickly, and they've been like that ever since. Pretty funny, don't you think?"

Sei laughed, and it appeared as though she would succumb to the waves of hysteria once more. As for the onee-samas of the two people involved, they looked at each other with expressions of disbelief.

"And you didn't think to inform Rei of this when you realized it?"

Youko asked.

"What would I tell her? The funny story?"

Sei responded, poker-faced.

"I see. You egged Rei on, didn't you. Telling her to call Sachiko, 'Sachiko.'"

"Would I do that?"

Looking at Sei's smiling face, Eriko started to doubt her own beliefs. About what type of senior Sei had been. Although it was too shocking to put into words.

No, it was Youko that spoke next.

"...Yes. That's exactly what you'd do."

She said.