Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume8 Chapter4 2

Eriko, Sei, Youko. Part 2

Satou Sei.

The wisteria class homeroom teacher called out the name. Her dear friend named Satou Sei walked onstage, bowed and received her graduation certificate.

– Satou-san.

Youko remembered their first exchange, and those were the first words she said.

"Satou-san, wait up."

It wasn't long after entering into Lillian's middle-school that, for some reason or other, Youko had called out to Sei. From memory, it was when they were supposed to be going in groups to check out the various clubs, and Sei had wandered off on her own – or something like that.

"…"

Sei had turned around and looked coldly at Youko. Unlike now, Sei's gaze used to be quite cutting. She had a difficult atmosphere up close, but she wasn't particularly scary.

"You're in the same group as us, Satou-san, so why don't we all stick together?"

Hearing Youko's words, Sei's face had suddenly changed to a smiling one. In truth, Youko had been astonished. It was the first time she had ever seen her cold classmate smile.

"The entrance exam group?"

Sei muttered, her lips more sarcastic than jovial.

"What do you mean? I said that during the self-introduction, right?"

Youko said, a bit sullenly, feeling like she was being taken for a fool.

Those who had come through from Lillian's elementary-school, and those who had taken the entrance exam to get in. They didn't have to split along those lines, but since they'd just entered into middle-school, their groups tended to be of people in similar circumstances.

"Sorry. I must have missed that part."

Rather than missing that part, she hadn't been listening at all. Sei had been gazing out the window all through her classmates' self-introductions. When her turn came around, she'd stood up, said her name and attendance number, then sat back down, displaying no social graces whatsoever.

But it was probably that which had made Youko interested in Sei. If she'd said everything, then the desire to know more about her would never have been born.

"And? Does that have anything to do with whether or not we can go and inspect the clubs together?"

Youko felt her tone of voice steadily growing stronger. She'd definitely been annoyed by Sei's attitude. But, more than that, excited. Talking with Sei was, in some respects, stimulating. Although they were the same age, she couldn't predict what Sei was going to say next.

"Not really."

Sei said, relaxing her expression slightly.

"It's been a long time since anyone in the same grade has called me Satou-san. It's a fresh feeling, Youko-san."

Youko-san. That had been pronounced quite clearly.

This was the first time that Youko had been made aware of it. That, at Lillian's, it was typical to call people by their first name.

Sure, the classroom had been filled with a chorus of first names. But she'd put that down to old friends becoming new classmates, or gatherings of overly familiar students.

It was four days after the entrance ceremony. There were so many things that were natural to those who had come up through Lillian's elementary-school, so no-one explained each and every little thing. Youko had read the student notebook from cover to cover but it hadn't touched on this topic.

"Thank-you for teaching me this, Sei-san."

"Not at all. My pleasure."

After exchanging forced smiles, Youko's group went around to check out the club activities, as though nothing had happened. Sei silently followed them, staying at the back.

Youko felt relieved.

Back when she'd gone to a public elementary school, there had always been one rebellious boy in any group – but Sei didn't seem to be that type of person. As she observed Sei, Youko gradually came to understand that the reason she didn't listen to what other people were saying, and slipped out of group activities, was simply because she found them tiresome.

"Sei-san, are you going to join a sports club? Or a cultural club?"

In Youko's eyes, Sei had become an incredibly interesting person. So she asked her about various things. The girls who had been in a class with Sei during elementary school probably thought Youko was acting unconcerned about the scary stories about her, but that was of no concern.

"Cultural club."

Sei responded lethargically when spoken to directly. Or she'd ignore the question, or, very rarely, answer energetically.

"But you look like you'd be good at athletics."

"I don't care, I just want a club that's as easy as possible."

In middle-school, one hour per week was set aside for all students to participate in compulsory school club activities. So they had to join a club, even if they didn't want to. In the end, Sei chose the reading club, and was able to productively spend her club time engrossed in her own private world.

As expected, Sei completely ignored all after-school club activities. Despite this, due to her athletic ability, she was often asked to join sports clubs, like the softball club and the volleyball club. Youko wanted to tell the girls that came around to scout her that Sei wouldn't participate in organized competition, but she held her tongue.

(Because, that would be needless meddling.)

But despite being cautious about this, she was still called a "meddler" and a "busybody." Mainly by Sei.

She interjected whenever something bothered her, which had led to countless arguments so far.

Youko, being who she was, knew the truth. If she'd just stayed silent, she and Sei could have lived out their school lives in peace and harmony.

But if people could change their personality that easily, no-one would ever suffer.

"Torii Eriko."

Hearing that very familiar name, she was suddenly brought back to reality.

Youko looked up, just in time to see Eriko receive her diploma.

Time had flown past while she'd been deep in thought. They were already half way through chrysanthemum class. The speed was especially impressive considering the diplomas were being presented to everyone in the class, and not just a few representatives.

(Eriko … what was it?)

Youko furrowed her brow, trying to reel in the memory. Then she remembered. In first-year, Eriko joined the Go club, in second-year the calligraphy club, and in third-year the table tennis club – changing clubs each year of middle-school. The reason was obvious.

The story goes that she'd lose interest whenever she found someone who was better than her. Incidentally, the reason for her losing interest in the calligraphy club was none other than Youko's petit soeur, Ogasawara Sachiko. She'd heard this from Eriko herself, so there was no doubting its veracity.

At their first club meeting, the calligraphy teacher / faculty advisor had asked the students to write some calligraphy of their own choosing, in order to assess their skills. Eriko lost all interest the moment she saw Sachiko's completed work. Her work was of such a high standard that there was no point comparing it to anyone else's.

Given that level of skill existed, having a discerning eye was unfortunate. For Eriko, one year of boredom was a long time indeed.

There was no way she could compete with Sachiko, who had been studying calligraphy since a young age. But being forced to settle for second place, when she was accustomed to effortlessly reaching the top, must have had a huge impact on her identity.

The prototype for the current Eriko had probably emerged during that time. Unknown students from other schools had arrived at the start of middle-school. Like the place where streams converge, the waters were muddied and the current grew tempestuous.

(Good grief.)

Youko stood from her folding chair. While she'd been replaying those memories, the camellia class's turn to receive their diplomas had arrived.

"Mizuno Youko."

"Yes."

Responding to her homeroom teacher's announcement, she took the stage, turned and bowed to the principal. Then she took a step forward and waited.

"Mizuno Youko, as announced."

The principal said softly, presenting the certificate. Youko reached out first with her left, then with her right hand, accepting the diploma, then bowed once more and turned away – and then the next student's name was called.

Too quick. That was the impression she had.

Upon descending from the stage, the certificate was temporarily collected again. Their homeroom teacher had explained this, and said to silently accept the offered certificate even if it had the wrong name written on it, but the certificate she'd received did indeed bear the name "Mizuno Youko."

(Youko-san, huh.)

Thinking back on it now, it was a miracle that Sei had been able to remember her name when they'd gone to inspect the clubs. It had been something of an everyday occurrence for Sei to forget not only people's names, but also their faces. Given that Youko was able to match faces and names for all her classmates within three days of the entrance ceremony, she couldn't help but marvel at how Sei lived her school life.

Recently, that had become a topic of conversation between the two of them.

"Say, Youko. You said the character 'you' was from 'fuyou.' Back in your self-introduction."

Sei asked.

"The 'you' from 'fuyou?' Ah, the character (蓉) from cotton rose (芙蓉)."

That was Youko's typical answer when asked about the characters used in her name.

"At the time, the first thing that came to mind was the character (養) from dependents (扶養家族)."

"Dependents?"

That was completely wrong. But at least she hadn't immediately thought of the words useless (不用) and floating (浮揚), which were also pronounced as "fuyou."

"Well, you can have a dependent child, which is the character (養) from dependents, plus the character for child (子) – which can be pronounced as 'ko'. So I thought that you were saying your name was written with those two characters (養子). "

Sei squinted, sun streaming through the window she was leaning next to, on the second-floor of the Rose Mansion. Trying to use the sun's rays to thaw out.

"Even though it was completely wrong."

"That's why I only paid attention to your intro."

"Hmm."

Was she telling the truth or not? Youko shrugged, choosing to believe what Sei said.

"From now on, I'll make sure I say it's the flower."

"You could just say it's the 'you' from subject (内容) with the grass radical."

Sei probably didn't understand the desire to convey as pretty an image as possible. Or perhaps she was embarrassed to use examples to adorn her name.

"Sei's a good name. There's Sei (聖) in Saint Maria (聖マリア), Sei in Christmas Eve (聖夜), Sei in hymn (聖歌) Sei in saint (聖人) – "

"Quit it. Ear (耳), mouth (口), king (王) is more than good enough."

And that, Youko thought, was because of what she didn't want to convey.

On her way back to her seat, after handing over her graduation certificate, Youko snuck a glance at the third-year wisteria class seating area. Seeing Sei obviously zoned out with a faraway look on her face was a let down.