Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume7 Chapter9 3

Friday. Part 3

Rosa Gigantea escorted me all the way to bus stop at the south gate of M station, where I transfer to my second bus. I stubbornly refused her offer to escort me home.

They'd find out sooner or later, but for now I wanted to keep the fact that I collapsed during class and left school early a secret from my family. Things were a bit down at school, and I didn't want to drag that feeling into my home.

"Alright."

Rosa Gigantea relented, sensing my reluctance. If I'd been staggering she probably would have insisted on accompanying me, but I was walking fine and the color had returned to my face, so she probably judged that I was okay.

"Sachiko won't be angry."

As we parted, Rosa Gigantea slipped something into my handbag.

"Drink this, you'll feel better, and tomorrow you'll be right as rain."

On the bus, I took it out to have a look, and it was some kind of energy supplement drink.

When I got home, I had some of the energy drink to see what it was like. It tasted a bit like kid's cough syrup. A warmth spread throughout my body, but even after I drank it all, there wasn't really much other effect. Maybe that meant that my body was already back to normal. Assuming my body was still in a bad state, the only evidence of that now was my aching limbs.

"What's that?"

Dad asked, looking on in surprise, when I went to throw the empty bottle in the kitchen bin just before dinner.

"One of the seniors gave it to me."

"Don't you go to an all-girls school?"

"Yep."

"I guess there's old geezer high-school girls out there."

That was exactly how she was, so I couldn't offer a defense of Rosa Gigantea. But my mom was nearby and I didn't want to shatter her illusions, so I made absolutely sure not to mention the name "Satou Sei."

I phoned Sachiko-sama just after 8:30, to apologize for what happened.

The feeling of tension I had about calling my onee-sama hadn't really changed from before. But this time around, I wasn't as nervous about what I would do if one of her family members answered the phone, instead that nervousness was targeted at my onee-sama.

I clung to Rosa Gigantea's statement that Sachiko-sama wouldn't be angry, and rushed into the real thing, without doing a rehearsal.

Ring-ring, ring-ring, ring-ring … After ringing five times, Sachiko-sama herself picked up the phone.

"Hello."

"Yumi?"

Surprisingly, my onee-sama said my name before I could.

"Are you feeling better now?"

"Yes. I'm sorry I worried you."

"You really did."

Harsh words, but her voice was light. Conceitedly, I thought this was because she was relieved to hear my voice.

"I took some time to reflect. That it may have been because I put too much of a burden on you."

"No."

I wholeheartedly rejected that notion. The collapse was solely due to my own ineptitude, and my onee-sama was in no way responsible for it.

"I missed breakfast, and I haven't been getting enough sleep, and I had motion sickness on the bus. It was all of those things added together."

" – You haven't been getting enough sleep?"

"It's because I've been practicing my party performance."

"Party performance – ?"

Then I remembered that we'd been keeping the party performances a secret and thought I'd blown it, but Sachiko-sama didn't question me further.

"So tomorrow – "

Before Sachiko-sama could finish her question, I answered forcefully.

"I'll be there, definitely. I'm going to get a good night's sleep tonight, then eat all my breakfast and head to school."

I rattled off like a machine-gun, before Sachiko-sama could say, "will you come to school?"

"I see."

Sachiko-sama said, after a bit of a pause.

Make sure you do. – I could tell she was smiling wryly.