Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume4 Chapter5 2

A modest secret. Part 2.

The voices of the students felt far away.

Could the Maria-sama statue hear them, too, surrounded by her little forest? In the midst of the green, she silently clasped her hands together.

"Sorry to keep you waiting."

Rosa Gigantea said to the person in front of the Maria-sama statue.

"No problem."

I wasn't waiting that long anyways, that person replied. But no one knows how long she actually waited.

"I thought I would definitely get here earlier. … So I'm actually more than a bit surprised?"

"I'm the one who requested this."

Rosa Canina smiled.

"Regardless of whether you win or lose the election-. You did say that on Wednesday, but I didn't think you meant it this much."

Rosa Gigantea looked at the election results and hurried here. So if Rosa Canina had come here even earlier, it meant there was no way she'd seen the results.

"I could always ask Rosa Gigantea about the results, if I wished."

"Wanna hear?"

No, Rosa Canina shook her head.

"It's that important? The reason why you called me here."

"Yes. To me, more than anything else."

Looked at with serious eyes, for just a moment, the smile vanished from Rosa Gigantea's face.

And then silence.

Rosa Gigantea flipped her hair, exhaled, and then began speaking again.

"Can I ask one thing? Was the election just a lead-in?"

"In the beginning. But then I began thinking it wouldn't be such a bad thing to do Yamayurikai work, either."

"Why?"

"I don't know… Maybe it was because I became a bit close to Yumi-san, and it became oddly fun. Plus, I was able to become engrossed in something together with my classmates. I'd actually never taken part in an uproar like this. My life has always been about singing, and so I placed a great deal of effort into my club activities during the school festival, too. So I'm happy I was able to take part in regular school life, completely unrelated to singing."

"I don't think the student president election is really 'regular school life,' though, don't you think?"

"Oh, my, that's true."

"Right?"

Rosa Canina giggled at Rosa Gigantea's remark, and Rosa Gigantea was also lead to laugh.

"… I think there are many paths toward the future. So, maybe I could live a completely different life by taking a rounded path. For a moment, I thought, maybe that could be nice."

"No matter how many paths there are, you can only walk one."

Rosa Gigantea pointed out. Rosa Canina seemed to understand everything, though, as she simply said, "Yes," smiled, and nodded.

"Testing my luck, I suppose? I believe Sachiko-san took part in a gamble during the school festival, correct? I simply mimicked it. I didn't want to leave without doing anything."

After a breath, Rosa Canina said:

"I'm going to Italy."

"Italy?"

The topic suddenly went overseas. Even Rosa Gigantea had to struggle to keep up. But Rosa Canina's tone wasn't that of a "quick overseas trip."

"To study music. In truth, I was supposed to fly there the moment I finished middle school… but I delayed it by two years."

"Why?"

"Because you were here."

Rosa Gigantea's eyes opened at Rosa Canina's immediate response.

With completely different expressions, they stood, looking at each other.

"I'm so happy… Rosa Gigantea, just for a moment, I wanted to see my reflection in your eyes, like this."

"What…"

"Because you never did notice me. I even grew my hair because your hair was always long."

Her hand, hovering near her shoulder, motioned nostalgically about her old hair length. She probably didn't cut her hair a year ago, at the same time as Rosa Gigantea, out of obstinacy. Because her hair was unrelated to Shiori-san.

"I'm sorry, I never noticed. Your hair was long?"

Rosa Canina crumpled with laughter at Rosa Gigantea's blunt words.

"I loved even that part of you."

She looked at the white sky, above the gingko trees.

If you focused enough, you could see the thick, heavy clouds slowly but certainly drifting.

"If you won, what were you going to do?"

Rosa Gigantea asked.

"Of course, I intended to remain. It would just be delaying my departure by a year. … But let's stop with the "if," please? Toudou Shimako-san will be a wonderful Rosa Gigantea."

One step.

Rosa Gigantea closed the distance between them.

"You're fascinating, Rosa Canina. If we'd met earlier, we may have become good friends."

"But you wouldn't have made me your sister?"

"Did you want to?"

But Rosa Canina clearly shook her head.

"I'm not Shimako-san."

"… Rosa Canina."

Another step.

They were close enough that their breaths landed on each other.

"Will you call me Shizuka?"

"Shizuka."

Rosa Gigantea lifted Shizuka-sama's chin with her hand and kissed her cheek. Extremely close to the lips. In front of Maria-sama.

"A farewell gift."

Leaving those words, Rosa Gigantea walked away. Shizuka-sama, left alone, was looking the other way, so she didn't know what sort of expression she had, but even Yumi could hear her soft whisper, "Thank you."

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