Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume12 Chapter5 6

Searching in the Mist. Part 6

Their fun time together seemed to fly by.

When the clock struck four, their visitors said, "We should get going soon," and started preparing to leave.

"You could stay the night if you liked."

Sachiko-sama seemed reluctant to let them leave, but the four guests had to get home, and already had their train tickets, so they couldn't accept her offer.

"You'd be better off coming back with us."

Yoshino-san retorted, as they stood in front of the white nameplate.

"That would be good too."

But Sachiko-sama simply laughed it off, and did not return inside to pack.

"Well then, see you at school."

"Yes, we'll all meet again soon."

Surrounded by Sachiko-sama's beloved greenery, the friends waved goodbye and parted company.

Yumi and Sachiko-sama watched them leave, until their four visitors seemed to disappear into the grove of trees, then silently turned and started walking back to the villa.

"Yumi."

Sachiko-sama said. For some reason, Yumi knew exactly what her onee-sama was trying to say from just this.

"Yes."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course."

If that was what her onee-sama had decided, there was nothing more to say. Yumi was in total agreement.

"I'll accompany you to Saionji-sama's villa."

* * *

As an aside:

They may have slipped from mind, but let's turn our attention to hair-part and glasses – Miss Yamaguchi Mami and Miss Takeshima Tsutako.

At this time, they were in the same general area as the Yamayurikai council members. Although, the council members were unaware of this.

"At any rate, I never thought I'd run into you out here."

"Yeah, I got quite the shock when I saw you too."

The standard sort of conversation followed, but that's of no particular importance. The pair were delighted to run into each other at this place that seemed both close and far away.

Larch, red pine, Judas tree.

The tall trees formed a natural curtain. Just one step into the woods was enough to feel the temperature drop, like stepping into a cold storage room.

"By the way, Mami-san, didn't you say you were chasing after the White Rose soeurs?"

Tsutako asked.

"Yeah, I was."

Mami's expression soured as she answered.

"But I lost sight of them."

"How did that happen?"

"At a transfer, I missed the bus they got on."

"Aha."

Tsutako nodded. It was easy to imagine the difficulty of covertly following someone when they got on a bus. She'd be running the risk of getting spotted if she got on the bus, but she couldn't exactly follow them if she didn't. And as a high-school student, she could hardly hail a cab and follow after them that way.

"Based on the bus route, I took a guess at which temple they were going to, but..."

Mami shrugged.

"They weren't there."

"Exactly. Imagine my embarrassment."

Mami didn't know if they'd left before she arrived, or if they hadn't been heading to that temple to begin with. She hadn't caught sight of the White Rose soeurs from that point on.

"How about you, Tsutako-san? From memory, you were full of enthusiasm to film the Yellow Rose soeurs' ascent of Mt Fuji."

Mami asked, defensively. Tsutako looked sullen as she answered.

"Well, I had no interest in climbing Mt Fuji myself, so I decided to wait at the bottom of the mountain and film their descent. I'd found out where they were starting their ascent, and where they were staying overnight."

"That's quite the thorough preparation."

"It wasn't nearly good enough. It all came to naught in the end."

"How so?"

"The ascent and descent took different routes. So in all that time waiting, I didn't see them come down the mountain."

"That is most unfortunate."

"I was just reaping what I'd sowed, since I'd gone there based on my own investigation."

Tsutako let out a dry laugh, which lured Mami into laughing too.

After laughing for a little while, they stopped almost simultaneously and asked the other:

"So what are you doing here?"

The base of Mt Fuji and a suburban temple. They'd both lost their targets at different locations, so why were they now both standing in the same woods? That was quite the strange story.

" – I guess we both had the same thought."

"In the end, neither of us could give up on the Red Rose soeurs."

So they'd taken the opportunity to stretch their legs a little and headed here, to the summer vacation spot where the Ogasawara family's villa was located.

If they got lucky, they might run into the Red Rose soeurs. It was a slim chance, but they could still dream.

Despite their different starting points, they'd both arrived at the same location, so they decided to join forces as they tried to deduce the location of the Ogasawara holiday house.

"It's strange, isn't it? There's none of the mansions I was expecting around here."

The type surrounded by high walls, with flawless security systems. They'd been looking for something like Sleeping Beauty's castle – a thorny mansion that repelled outsiders.

"It's the holiday house for the global head of the Ogasawara Group. I thought it'd be easy to find once we got here."

"At the very least, it'd help if the nameplates were a bit more informative."

Mami flicked the white nameplate, which was pretty much the same as every other villa's. A lot of them just had the street number, with no name, or the writing was faded and impossible to read.

"What do you think SAWA means? Is it just Sawa-san? Or is it for Sawada, or Sawamura? Although it could also be Nakazawa or Shiozawa."

"But when the Sawa kanji comes second, it'd be Zawa, not Sawa, wouldn't it?"

"Ah, you're right, that happens a lot."

They moved on as they continued to chat. Preconceived notions are dreadful indeed.

"Thinking about it, there was that one place with tall walls that we passed on the way here. It seemed kind of out of place."

Most of the buildings were cozy, nestled in among the trees, and with low walls.

"So you think that was the Ogasawara's villa?"

"The nameplate clearly had "Kyogoku" written on it."

"Kyogoku isn't Ogasawara."

"Indeed."

The pair said, "Hmm," and pondered for a moment.

If things kept going this way, it felt like they wouldn't find the Red Rose soeurs even if they continued searching until the sun went down. On the other hand, they couldn't exactly knock on every door and say, "Is this the Ogasawara's villa?" either.

"I think we've just about hit our time limit, don't you?"

Tsutako said, looking at her watch.

"Yeah. Such a pity though."

Mami concurred.

They may have been mature beyond their years, but they were still actually just second-year high-school students. They had curfews, and going out without permission was preposterous.

With great reluctance, they headed towards the train station and encountered a phantom.

"Over there … it's the Yellow Rose soeurs."

"Yeah, right."

"No, look."

"Ah, you're right. There's the White Rose soeurs too."

Two famous fairy-tales immediately sprang to mind.

That happy scene that the "Little Match Girl" saw in the flame she lit with her frozen hands.

The painting by Rubens that Nello from "A Dog of Flanders" got to see in his final moments.

Oddly, they were both sad stories set during midwinter.

"What if it's winter, and we're about to freeze to death, having this happy dream of summer as the snow falls around us?"

As a newspaper reporter, Mami usually stuck to the facts, but from this remark it was clear that she hadn't completely denied fantasy.

"If it's a dream then so be it. I'll keep pressing the shutter in that dream until the end."

The camera-geek Tsutako broke into a run – whether it was a dream or reality, she was happy as long as she was taking good photographs.

"You're right. Even if it is a dream, there's nothing to lose by chasing after them. Indeed, a daring assault could net me an interview."

Mami chased after them too.

Although, thinking that this situation could be expanded into a feature article for Lillian Kawaraban's bumper back-to-school / summer vacation edition was counting her chickens before they'd hatched.

So, would she be able to get some good material for an article?

Now was her chance to showcase her skills.