Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume6 Chapter3 8

Main. Part 8.

'Is it really here?' Yumi wondered as she timidly opened the door and found out that 'it' was definitely 'here.'

"Welcome"

A middle-aged lady wearing an apron over her kimono greeted Yumi's party of three.

"Is it okay if you're seated with other customers at the large table? Apart from that, the only available seats are at the counter."

The lady looked over her shoulder. The unoccupied seats at the counter weren't all in a row.

"The shared table will be fine."

Seeing that the vast majority of the patrons were young women, Sachiko-sama chose the shared table. It probably wasn't always the case, but it seemed the café was quite busy on a Sunday.

They were led to a large oval table where two women were already seated.

"Excuse me."

They acknowledged the existing customers and sat down. – Simultaneously, the two over there and the three over here cried out in surprise.

"Sachiko-sama, Yumi-san, and Yoshino-san too! … Ahh, such bad luck"

Looking regretful, Tsutako-san posed her hands as though holding a camera and pressing the shutter button over and over again. Accompanying her was Minako-sama from the newspaper club.

"Yoshino-san, I'm glad to see you were able to meet up."

Minako-sama's words were rather cryptic.

"Much appreciated."

Yoshino-san was cryptic in her reply also.

"Three cake sets."

Not knowing what was going on, Yumi spoke to the woman that had come around to take their order. There were three types of cake to choose from, so the three of them would each have something different. An authentic cheesecake for Yoshino-san, a chestnut tart for Sachiko-sama and a chocolate chiffon cake for Yumi. They came with a type of tea that was selected to match the cake. Alternatively, you could choose what type of tea you wanted and have a cake that matched that.

"By the way, Tsutako-san, what happened to your camera today?"

Sachiko-sama asked, appearing curious. Not just Sachiko-sama, Yumi and probably Yoshino-san too were interested in hearing about that. – That for today of all days, Tsutako-san was without a camera.

(No, wait)

When they met this morning, she had a camera. She had it then, but not now. That's why she said 'such bad luck.' Sachiko-sama and Yoshino-san had appeared and she had no camera to take a picture with.

"'Scoop! What happened to Takeshima Tsutako?'"

Yoshino-san said, poking fun at Minako-sama who was sitting right in front of her.

"It's not that big a deal. Sorry to disappoint you."

"What do you mean?"

"When we came in, I was asked by the staff not to take photos inside the café."

So her camera was simply in her bag. Because Tsutako-san wanted to be ready to take a photo at any time, she usually carried her camera where it was easily spotted.

"Ahh, and the only photo I've wanted to take since entering the café and putting away my camera was a shot of the three of you."

"How uncivilized."

Sachiko-sama smiled as she sipped her black tea. Certainly, the click of a shutter and the strobe of a flash going off would be completely out of place in this café that was a slightly remodeled western style house. Tsutako-san should take some time to relax with both hands free every once in a while, although that was probably impossible. Looking closely, her right hand seemed to move on it's own, trying to find the shutter.

Even still, that evening's impromptu tea party was fun.

Minako-sama didn't take a single note to use for a newspaper story, Tsutako-san didn't take her camera out a single time and Yoshino-san didn't utter a single 'Rei-chan.'

Without their school uniform on, everything seemed fresh and the tea and cakes were delicious. Surprisingly, the conversation flowed too.

It was an indulgent time, that they wouldn't have been able to savor if they were at school.

It's times like these that make you glad to have girlfriends.

* * *

Yumi thought they had only been there for about an hour, but when she looked at the clock she saw that they had already spent over two hours in the café. Consequently, she went home in a bit of a rush and completely forgot to buy the sun-dried cod that her mother had asked for.