Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume7 Chapter1 1

The Beginning. Part 1

The girls had gathered after school in their room of the clubhouse building.

"So, both Rosa Foetida and Rosa Chinensis scored high in their exams."

Tsukiyama Minako, head of the newspaper club, put tick marks against some notes in her notebook then raised her head. She was talking softly, but she wasn't doing anything wrong.

It was simply a habit of hers. Call it an occupational hazard.

It goes without saying, but the newspaper club produced the school newspaper.

Stories leaking before they were published was a life-and-death matter. Newspapers dealt with the "new." If all they served up was stale old gossip, it couldn't be called a newspaper. It would be brand-new day-old news. Call it an oldspaper – and who wants that.

At any rate, for Tsukiyama Minako (17 years old) who lived and died by the scoop, it wasn't an exaggeration to say that the only time she spoke loudly in the clubroom was when the printer was running at full bore. Comparatively, the number of times she actually had a scoop were quite low. But that was something that was better not discussed.

"I imagine it was only a one-in-a-million shot that they'd fail, but I regret to inform you that they passed the entrance exams for the universities they applied to."

Minako's sœur, Yamaguchi Mami, said briskly. What was with her deadpan tone? She'd been getting excited about their conversation, but just like that, her spirits had dropped.

"All three of them turned down the priority placement system, electing to sit exams. I suppose it shows their determination and sense of purpose ... Although that's probably related to their likelihood of success."

As she'd expected from the results, there didn't seem to be much of interest there. Minako participated in the conversation in a half-hearted manner, as she sorted through her "Lillian Kawaraban" file. In terms of popularity, the Valentines special edition was right at the top.

"So then, which universities are they going to?"

One of the other first-years asked, intensely curious. Yes, that was the right response. A demand for information.

"Don't know yet."

Minako answered, shaking her head.

"I've been trying all my sources, but with no success. Either they're not talking, or they really don't know."

"Ah, your sources ... "

The non-Mami first-years (there were three of them, so call them Club Member A, B and C for convenience. Naturally, Minako knew the name of her club members, but it's not relevant to the main story) had knowing and dubious expressions as they repeated this back.

Her sources.

Speaking plainly, it was everyone close to the Rose Mansion. While she would have liked to charge straight at the Roses themselves, pretty much all of the third-year classes were just self-study at this point and the classrooms were practically deserted during breaks, so her chances of meeting the people she wanted to was low.

So she'd changed her sights to the Roses' petite sœurs, and their petite sœurs, but that was proving equally tough.

Even if the boutons were keeping quiet, it looked like their petite sœurs really didn't know.

Rosa Foetida en bouton's petite sœur, Shimazu Yoshino, was more devious than her looks suggested, but she wasn't as interested in her Rosa Foetida as she was in "Rei-chan," so she ended their conversation by saying, "I don't know."

Rosa Chinensis en bouton's petite sœur, Fukuzawa Yumi, was the type of person whose face showed when they were lying. Based on her reaction, she definitely didn't know.

"But anyway."

Club Member A let out a sigh.

"Why do you think the Roses sat entrance exams?"

Club Members B and C both agreed with her, saying, "Right, right."

Students who had boarded the Lillian's escalator very rarely went down.

The environment was good and the campus was spacious.

Due to its history there was a well stocked library, as well as the latest equipment. Studying wasn't done for an exam, but for the pure pursuit of knowledge. Those immersed in this pressure-free school lifestyle rarely wanted to rush out into the outside world.

On the flip side, it didn't instill the attitude needed for exams. And without that attitude, very few students sat entrance exams for other schools. A chicken-and-egg situation.

"Maybe it's simply that Lillian's University doesn't offer the courses they want to do."

Minako voiced her deduction.

Right.

Those who where aiming high would strive for their goals, regardless of something like a test-taking attitude.

"Or perhaps they'd like to further their studies alongside boys."

Kyaa. Club Members A, B and C's shoulders all jumped up and down in excitement.

First-years were so simple-minded. – Except for one.

"That line of thinking wouldn't apply to Rosa Gigantea, though."

Murmured the one non-cute first-year, Mami.

"Why's that?"

"It's just that, it was getting towards the end of the year when she suddenly started thinking about continuing her education."

"Mmm."

Maybe she had heard something like that somewhere. Minako wordlessly agreed. That Mami, had she been digging up dirt on her own?

"And by that time, it seems like all the priority placement slots were filled – so, in a rush, she joined the examination group."

Why the change of heart? Still, it was quite impressive that Rosa Gigantea was sitting entrance exams after studying for only one or two months. She didn't look like the honors student type, but she could perform when she had to.

"Rosa Chinensis doesn't seem to be the kind of person to leave for that sort of reason either."

That sort of reason.

Going to a co-ed university because she wanted to get closer to boys. Umm, the exquisite Rosa Chinensis is. – Indeed, that wasn't the case. Minako agreed with this.

"But Rosa Foetida, on the other hand. She has an urge to go wherever it looks like she'll experience something interesting."

How did she know that? Minako felt a little bit envious that Mami could talk so dispassionately about a subject that Minako was so fascinated by. She should have been happy to see her cute junior maturing, but Minako was a human and not a saint, so she couldn't just accept it.

(When I was a first-year, I was a more obedient, innocent child.)

Hey now, hey now. That was getting off the point at hand.

While she may be in a bit of a slump at the moment, Tsukiyama Minako, head of the newspaper club, could still land a huge scoop unattainable to the likes of Mami, if she felt like it.

Right. The sœur relationship was akin to master and apprentice. Eternal competitors.

"Rosa Foetida … "

Club Member A muttered, just as Minako was burning with competitiveness.

"What?"

Minako bit into the tempting morsel, setting aside the matter of her petite sœur for now. While Rosa Foetida herself tended to pursue whatever she found interesting, Minako's favorite food was the interesting things that other people did.

"Nothing. It's just, I saw her the other day … that's all."

"Where?"

"At the amusement park. Last Saturday evening."

"The amusement park?"

The truth was Club Member A was considered something of an amusement park fanatic by those in the know. On a related note, the way she had her hair in buns on either side of her head resembled a certain amusement park mouse.

"Who was she with?"

Thinking that perhaps it was the whole Yellow Rose family, Minako rued her missed opportunity. Lots of sœurs would go places together before graduation, to make some memories. If she had known, she would have been compelled to give it in-depth coverage.

"Onee-sama. Please think things through further."

Mami interjected, amazed.

"I haven't said anything yet."

"Even though you haven't said anything, I can tell what you're thinking."

Mami was probably on the money, so Minako fell silent. From time to time she'd shiver from the way it seemed like Mami could read her mind completely. In reality, Mami wasn't psychic, but Minako hadn't realized how incredibly straightforward and easy to grasp her own personality was.

"Since she went to that amusement park in the afternoon, it's natural to assume she stayed overnight."

"Well, I guess."

A day trip wasn't impossible, but the amusement park was outside the capital. If she wanted to return the same day, the typical thing to do would be to choose a day when she could go in the morning.

"But the following Sunday was which day?"

"The following Sunday? Sunday, Sunday, … ahh, the day of the Valentine's gifts."

Minako stood, intentionally using ambiguous words, just in case some unknown person was listening.

"Correct. Please sit down."

Mami coldly ordered. Was she a game-show host?

"More accurately, it was the day of the half-day dates that were prizes for the winners of the Valentine's Day Treasure Hunt event."

"… Pedant."

"Thank-you."

Her parted forelocks were secured tightly with a hair-clip, so simply moving her head didn't dishevel her hairdo. The underlying concept behind Mami's hairstyle may well have been "rock-solid."

"I don't think Rei-sama would be going away on an overnight trip when her half-day date was the following day."

Just like that, the Yellow Rose family memory-making connection was cut. While Club Member A had returned the following morning and gone to work for the newspaper club (covering the dates), it was unthinkable that the leading lady, Hasekura Rei-sama, would walk such a tightrope. Plus her petite sœur, Shimazu Yoshino, had shown up at the K station bookstore as though she'd just gone out shopping.

"Umm … "

Now that the sœur dialogue had ended, Club Member A resumed her interrupted story.

"Rosa Foetida was with a guy, though."

"A guy!?"

Everyone, apart from Club Member A, including Minako and the usually cool Mami, bit at the word "guy." There had never even been a hint of a man around the three Roses. If, prior to graduation, a boyfriend came to light, then it would be an unprecedented scandal. No doubt, it would be quite the scoop.

"A twenty … no, twenty-five or six year old gentleman was walking with her, arm-in-arm, so when I first saw them I thought I might have been mistaken."

"Arm-in-arm!"

As expected, this was much more interesting than her choice of university. While they attended a school for young ladies, the students were all flesh-and-blood teenage girls. They probably wouldn't mind a love story. It would probably be very well received, in fact.

"We have to print this."

At that moment, Minako was wondering if it was alright to bump the commemorative graduation edition they were planning to publish in two weeks time. If necessary, they could always print a special edition.

However.

"This man, was he tall and lanky with silver glasses?"

Club Member B asked Club Member A an unusual question.

"No? He was well built, like an athlete."

"Oh my. Was he tall, and kind of high strung?"

Even Club Member C. Listing quite specific traits, like she knew something.

"What is this?"

Minako and Mami both asked at about the same time. They were partners in being left behind by the conversation, well, that's sœurs for you. They looked at each other grumpily.

"I saw her too. Friday last week, from memory. Holding hands in an art gallery."

That was Club Member B. Similarly for Club Member C:

"A restaurant. Sunday evening. His arm around her shoulder as they left – "

…

Silence descended upon the newspaper club's clubroom.

Rosa Foetida went out every day, from Friday through Saturday.

Well, that sort of thing happened. – For the time being, they tried to come up with an innocent explanation for it.

But, going out with a different man each time, and acting intimately with each of them? Since three of the five people present had witnessed such an event, if they went out and gathered more information, perhaps they'd find out about a lot more such occurrences.

"We've never even heard about Rosa Foetida and a guy until now … "

But no matter how much feelings strayed, there were some things that weren't possible.

Using just this information, it was asking too much of any newspaper club member to arrive at a truth that their readers would accept.