Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume13 Chapter1

Offer and Plot

Part 1.

"What? My archaic dictionary?"

She turned around, feeling his gaze.

"Ah, yeah … no."

His inarticulate response matched the tedious expression on his face.

"Which is it?"

"Yeah" and "No" were complete opposites, like plus and minus. Well, it could make sense if the "no" was a correction of the earlier "yeah." Realizing this, Yumi reached for the archaic dictionary that he'd removed from between the bookends on her desk, but contrary to her expectations, Yuuki said, "Thank-you," and turned around. So then where was he going with that "no" at the end of his sentence?

"Yuuki."

Yumi called out to the figure in the white athletic singlet that was walking away. Having just returned from summer camp, her younger brother's skin was bronzed like he'd been to the beach. Supposedly, the camp was to prepare for their school festival, but it looked as though he'd had plenty of time to run around.

"Was there anything else you wanted to borrow?"

"No."

Well geez. Here's another "no." But why was he acting so indecisive? So Yumi waited for what he was about to say next, and, after his eyes seemed to swim for a while he said:

"Um, can I turn down the temperature on the air-con?"

"No way."

Naturally, Yumi rejected this instantly.

"The room's too hot."

"It's perfect. It's not good for you to have the temperature too low."

Men are typically said to be more sensitive to heat, and this statistic applied exactly to the Fukuzawa household. Her father and Yuuki were both sensitive to the heat and suffered in summer. Her mother and Yumi were both sensitive to the cold, so winter was harsh for them.

"So being too hot's good for the body then?"

Not giving up, Yuuki grabbed the front of his athletic singlet and fanned himself with it.

"I didn't say that. But if you lowered the temperature, then I'd be cold."

"Couldn't you put something on?"

"This is my room. Why don't you take something off?"

"What else could I take off?"

"…"

Indeed.

Short running pants. He was already bordering on being an intrusion in a young lady's room. Well, since he was already wearing so little, taking something off probably wouldn't cool him down all that much.

"You could go back to your own room."

Yumi said, a bit cruelly.

"I'm not leaving. My room's unbelievably bad."

"A burning hell?"

"Yeah. I'd get heatstroke in 15 minutes."

So he meekly lowered his head, imploring her to let him stay. Yumi agreed, saying, "There there." Then, for her cute little brother's sake, she lowered the temperature on the air-con by one degree. A warrior's compassion.

Beep.

The truth was that the air-con in her brother's room was currently broken.

No-one knew how long it had been playing up. But apparently it had been making strange noises for a while now. Then, last night when he got back from camp and switched it on, it made a single loud noise and wouldn't start, no matter what he tried.

According to Yuuki, "That was probably the air-con's death rattle." But it wasn't necessarily dead yet. There was a chance it could be repaired.

They'd called an electrician to repair it, but he seemed quite busy and couldn't come until the day after tomorrow. So Yuuki had been borrowing a corner of Yumi's room since this morning, doing his summer homework. He could go to the library if he wanted somewhere more comfortable, but so far it hadn't come to that.

He apparently preferred the shame of intruding in his older sister's room to going out on his bicycle in this heat.

(Huh? But.)

After Yumi swung her chair back to her desk, she suddenly realized that it shouldn't have been that hard for him to ask her to lower the air-con temperature.

What just happened … right, it was like there was something he had to say, but he thought the time wasn't right, which was what the "no" was referring to.

Spin, spin, spin.

She thought as her chair swung.

She left it alone for a while, but it nagged at her, so she turned to her younger brother who was leafing through the dictionary at her low, glass-topped table and called to him.

" … Yuuki?"

Then Yuuki raised his head and said loudly:

"Say, Yumi!"

"Wh-what?"

They weren't bloodshot, but there was strength in his eyes. Seeing his resolve, Yumi immediately put herself on guard.

"Well."

"Y-yes?"

She didn't know what he was going to say, but she would listen with dignity and maturity. Their age difference may be less than a year, but that didn't change the fact that she was the older sister.

"Will the Lillian's student council help out at the Hanadera school festival again this year?"

" … That's all you wanted to ask?"

So apparently the school festival was the topic for the conversation. But she still couldn't see the root of the problem.

"The second semester's almost here and we haven't had a planning meeting yet."

"Oh, really?"

Yumi didn't really know the details, but Rei-sama was supposed to be their primary contact.

"And so, while we're just talking, would it be possible to have an introductory meeting beforehand … that sort of thing."

"Wha – !?"

Yumi's voice instinctively rose when she heard this unexpected request. Yuuki responded by hastily waving both his hands and saying:

"No, it's not like that. It's just that there are some things we have to prepare, and if we had the meeting a bit earlier than that would be a huge help to us … that's all I meant."

Mumbling unintelligibly.

"Frankly, to finalize our planning, we need to know how far the Lillian's assistants are prepared to go, you know … something like that."

"…"

She'd been listening silently, and Yuuki looked at her with upturned eyes and said, "So it's no good after all." So then, hmm, that was it then, he'd said it expecting to be turned down.

"Is that all?"

Yumi asked, arms folded.

"What do you mean, "Is that all?""

"You're not having any impure thoughts about it?"

"I-impure !? What's impure?"

This time his eyes looked down. Yumi stuck her index finger up and said:

"For example, say you wanted to kneel at the feet of the true princess Sachiko-sama. Or you wanted to get closer to the charming Shimako-san. Or perhaps you wanted to cross swords with the Takazura top-talent Rei-sama."

Yumi enthusiastically described the three beautiful Roses of Lillian's Girls Academy. But Yuuki suppressed a laugh, poking fun at his older sister's speech.

"Setting aside the first two, I wonder about that third one."

"Those are just examples. I told you that."

"Well, if it's an example."

With that confirmed, Yuuki's serious expression returned.

"I'm not going to say those sort of feelings don't exist. The Lillian's girls are an unknown world to the boys, so of course they're going to be interested … but I'll tell you right now no-one's going to confess their love or anything."

An unknown world. The boys. Interested. Just hearing it was enough to make her dizzy. These were the sort of phrases that must never be spoken in front of the man-hating Sachiko-sama.

"You're asking an awful lot, you know."

"Yeah. You're right. Sorry."

Yuuki looked a bit despondent. Poor boy. He was stuck between a rock and a hard place, between his school friends and his older sister.

"So you're the gofer for your seniors? Just what kind of person is this year's Hanadera student council president?"

"You'll find out soon enough."

"I guess."

No matter who it was, Yumi thought he had to be better than the Yuuki-ogling Kashiwagi-san. But if they were rude and worked him relentlessly, then that would also be a problem.

"You know, Yumi, this isn't an official request, so you can say no."

Yuuki was still acting so indecisive.

"Yeah."

Even as she was nodding, Yumi wondered whether it would be okay to deny the request based on her own judgment.

Certainly, it wasn't an official offer.

She'd only heard it because she and her brother lived under the same roof and both happened to have been thrust into their respective school's student councils.

But, what was that? For some reason, she put the brakes on before turning him down completely, as though something were telling her to hold on a minute.

Telling her to wait a minute and think about it.

"Hmm."

"Thinking about it, the only way to have it during summer vacation is as a voluntary meeting. It was asking too much, right from the start."

"Be quiet for a while, Yuuki."

Scolding her grumbling younger brother. Older sister needs to run her generally under-utilized gray matter at full speed for a while, so she can do without the interruption.

(If we do that, it'll turn out like so. But if we use this well, then maybe – )

Yuuki was watching her expression, but she ignored that and clapped her hands.

"Okay, I've got it!"

"Um … Yumi?"

"Let's put this on hold for now."

"Huh?"

"Can't you hear? Put it on hold. I'll have to consult with the other members."

"Huh!?"

For something that really wasn't all that shocking, Yuuki was completely taken aback, and came over as though to hug her.

"Yu-yu-yu-yumi. When did you become such a power player?"

"Don't be silly. I told you, I have to consult with them. At any rate, I can't say anything until I've talked to Rosa Foetida, Rei-sama."

Strike while the iron is hot. Yumi retrieved her student notebook from the drawer and checked the phone number.

"Rei-sama? Oh, not Sachiko-san?"

Yuuki looked confused as he fetched the phone handset for her, and Yumi nodded.

"Yeah. Well."

There was no way she could discuss what to do about Sachiko-sama with Sachiko-sama herself, was there?

Part 2.

" – Well, I suppose."

Yumi sipped her lemonade through the straw and sighed.

"I should have known that Yoshino-san would also come if I called Rei-sama."

"What's this? You make it sound like I'm a hanger-on, like goldfish droppings."

Yoshino-san pouted as she poked her straw at the vanilla ice-cream in her tea-flavored ice-cream float. Sitting next to her, Rei-sama stirred her strawberry shake, smiled wryly and declared:

"Huh? It doesn't just "sound like" it, it's exactly what you are, Yoshino. When you saw me getting ready to go out, you badgered me with questions like "Where are you going?" and "Who are you meeting?" When you found out I was seeing Yumi-chan, you stuck to me as though it were completely natural."

"Hmph. It's not like I wanted to go somewhere with you, Rei-chan. I just wanted to see Yumi-san."

Her sulking figure looked more like a puffer-fish than a goldfish. Yoshino-san didn't find it funny that her "beloved Rei-chan" had hit the nail on the head.

"Alright, alright. If that's what you say it is."

"Such an insufferable tone of voice."

Yoshino-san thumped against Rei-sama's sturdy upper arm. Um, please don't take this sort of lovers' quarrel outside of your house. Especially not now, when all of Japan is sweltering.

"If Yoshino-sama is goldfish droppings, just what kind of droppings does that make me?"

Noriko-chan mumbled, having silently watched their back-and-forth argument.

In a bad mood, Yoshino-san's response was somewhat prickly.

"At best, maybe rice fish droppings?"

"Ah, so then I'm the rice fish?"

Shimako-san asked, with an expression that was part annoyed but still part pleased. If Noriko-chan was rice fish droppings, then Shimako-san was automatically rice fish.

"Hey, hey, do the droppings cling to rice fish when they swim too?"

"Ah."

Everyone's face froze when Yumi asked this. She didn't think she'd misspoken, but wasn't completely sure, and it was Rei-sama that came to her senses first.

" … How about we get to the main topic?"

She suggested, choking on her shake a little bit.

Yumi had thought it would be a simple matter to get Rei-sama's opinion, but it had turned into a major production. Five of the six Yamayurikai members, basically everyone except Sachiko-sama, had assembled.

She'd phoned Rei-sama this morning, saying there was something she wanted to discuss. Then Rei-sama had done the helpful thing and invited Shimako-san. And it just so happened that Noriko-chan had been at Shimako-san's house, or rather at their temple, and those two had come together.

Despite being a weekday, it was summer vacation, so the cafe a short distance from K station was bustling. Or perhaps it was because it was 3 o'clock, the perfect time for afternoon tea. Rei-sama and Yoshino-san had arrived early and waited in line, so they got a table right at the appointed time and the entire group of five didn't have to wait in the blazing sun.

" – Basically, Yumi-chan wants to accept her brother's offer. For Sachiko's sake."

Rei-sama briefly summarized the contents of their earlier phone conversation.

"It's not that I actively want to accept their offer, it's more that I'm wondering what everyone else thinks about accepting."

Yumi answered, a bit indecisively. She was an official Yamayurikai representative, but just a bouton after all. It was a position where she could suggest things, but not force anyone to do anything.

"Yeah, you're right. I was just thinking that I should start coming up with some counter-strategies too."

Shimako-san and Yoshino-san nodded in agreement with Rei-sama's words. – But there was one person looking confused.

"Um, pardon me. I'm new here, so I don't really understand what you're talking about."

Noriko asked, having raised her hand to speak. Since she'd only joined Lillian's Girls Academy this year, it was only natural that she didn't grasp the situation.

"Frankly, Sachiko-sama hates men."

Yoshino-san said coldly.

"Rosa Chinensis … ah, so that's it."

"You don't seem that surprised."

Rei-sama prodded. Noriko-chan gave a small shake of her head.

"No, I'm surprised. I was just thinking that there probably were students at an all-girls school that couldn't get along with men, but not about Rosa Chinensis specifically. Ah, I see. Hanadera Academy's a boys school, so it'll be difficult for a man-hater to help out at their school festival."

That's exactly what it was.

"It's good that you're so smart, Noriko-chan."

"Really?"

It was indeed so. She had a composure that belied her young age. Enviably so.

Noriko-chan was cool. Which meant that coolness wasn't necessarily something that came with age. Thinking this, Yumi suffered a bit of a shock. Because it meant there was a possibility that she'd be just the same as she was now when she was a third-year.

"Oh, so then what happened last year? Rosa Chinensis would have been Rosa Chinensis en bouton at the time, right?"

Noriko-chan seemed confused.

"Last year, and the year before, she gave everyone the run-around and avoided going to the Hanadera school festival completely. Well, it was allowed because she was just a bouton."

"But this year."

"Exactly. She's Rosa Chinensis, so she has to be there. That's what Yumi-chan was thinking."

Rei-sama turned to her and said, "Go ahead." Yumi stood up and adopted an inspiring pose, her left hand on her hip and her right hand pointing up at the ceiling.

"I call it, "The epic campaign to subjugate man-hatred through gradual acclimatization because the shock of suddenly being thrown into a boys school would be too much.""

"Don't you think that campaign name's a bit too long?"

" … Ah, right. There's probably scope to change it."

Oh, she really was cool. That Noriko-chan.

"So you were planning on getting her accustomed to the Hanadera student council during the summer vacation?"

Shimako-san inquired.

"Right."

Yumi agreed, after sitting down.

"Sachiko-sama's fine with my younger brother for some reason. So I think her problem's a prejudice she can overcome with time. The previous Roses said that her man-hating wasn't something she was born with."

"So we take it slowly then?"

"I think Sachiko-sama will be fine if my brother's there, giving off "these people are safe" vibes."

"I see. That makes sense. Like how you don't jump into a hot bath, instead starting with a lukewarm one and steadily adding hot water until it heats up."

Yoshino-san murmured. Although her analogy was easy to understand, pairing Sachiko-sama's man-hatred with taking a bath seemed somehow wrong.

"I get what you're saying. So, what next? Where, and how, best to meet them? Yumi-chan, do you have any ideas on this?"

"Well, on that."

Yumi placed her index finger lightly on her cheek.

"I couldn't really think of a good place to meet."

The Yamayurikai would be meeting frequently throughout the second-half of the holidays to start preparing for the school festival. But, having said that, they'd have to get permission from the school to invite the boys of Hanadera onto their campus. Yuuki had said that they had a classroom they could use at Hanadera, but they'd have to use some kind of black magic to get the man-hating Sachiko-sama to go there.

"Before we get to that, what are the odds of Sachiko-sama attending such a get together?"

"Ooh."

That Yoshino-san had hit on a sore spot. Indeed, if Sachiko-sama was willing to participate, then they'd have no need for the event they were planning.

"I wonder what we can do to ensure she's there."

"Ensure … "

Rei-sama and the three second-years immediately thought of the one person who held Sachiko-sama in the palm of her hand, and could "ensure" that she would do something.

"Basically, what you're saying is, what would Youko-sama do?"

Then, the conclusion that everyone arrived at was:

"She'd order her."

"– Right."

She wouldn't use any underhanded tricks. Just a single sentence. "Sachiko. Be there." – Like that.

"But could anyone here order Rosa Chinensis to attend?"

Noriko-chan said, and everyone exchanged glances.

"I couldn't order her. Sachiko wouldn't listen to a word I said if she found it disagreeable. What do you think, Rosa Gigantea?"

Rei-sama said to Shimako-san.

"Of course I wouldn't be able to. While we are both Roses, I'm a grade below her. I couldn't order her."

Shimako-san shook her head too. Then everyone's gaze seemed to spontaneously turn to Yumi.

"Hold on a minute. I'm her petit soeur, there's no way I could order my onee-sama around."

What had they been expecting? That should have been obvious from a moment's thought.

" … I guess you're right. Even though Sachiko is completely smitten with Yumi-chan, their relationship is completely different to her one with Youko-sama."

Having concluded that not a single person there could imitate Youko-sama, they decided to explore alternate paths.

"Then what would Sei-sama or Eriko-sama do?"

"… Trick her?"

"That sounds about right."

Of course, Youko-sama could do that as well. Since they were the ones that had kept it a secret from Sachiko-sama that Kashiwagi-san was cast to play the prince in last year's school festival production of "Cinderella."

"Wait, let's not be hasty."

Shimako-san frowned when she heard, "Trick her." But Yoshino-san didn't back down.

"We'll hear no more from the White Rose pair. Your current happiness is proof that such drastic measures work."

Now she'd said it. There was no way that Shimako-san or Noriko-chan could respond. Because they were living proof, realizing a good outcome after being tricked by the other members of the Yamayurikai.

"If we pretend it's an accident, and run into them, then she won't be able to run away."

Rei-sama explained, moving water glasses around to represent Sachiko-sama and the Hanadera students. But then the waitress misinterpreted this as a request for refills, and poured ice water into the five glasses.

"But where? If it's in the street, she'll be able to run away. Besides, would we be able to manufacture a convenient accident? Sachiko-sama will find out if it's too unnatural, and that will just aggravate her further."

Yoshino-san rested her chin on her fingers and said, "Right."

"What about a cafe like this?"

Yumi suggested, not considering it too deeply. However.

"Wouldn't it be weird to call her out somewhere when we'll be constantly meeting each other at school anyway? And then the Hanadera boys just happen to be here? You don't have to be Sachiko-sama to see through that."

Immediately rejected.

"You're right. No matter how you look at it, it can't be somewhere unnatural. But does such a place exist?"

Noriko-chan, who had been abiding by the order for "silence," chose this moment to interject.

"What about Yumi-sama's house?"

"My house?"

"Well, it wouldn't be unnatural for your brother's friends to visit the Fukuzawa house, and it wouldn't seem odd if we met there either."

Indeed. It wouldn't seem strange that that the son's and daughter's friends just happened to be visiting on the same day. It wouldn't be strange, but –

" … My house? I don't mind, but it's a bit small."

Yumi quickly did the math.

Six people from the Yamayurikai, probably about the same from the Hanadera school council. Obviously, the ten or so people wouldn't be staying the night, but it was cramped when she pictured it.

"Then what about our dojo? It's fine as long as we pick a day when it's not being used."

"But Rei-chan, why would the Hanadera boys just happen to be there too?"

"Ah, you're right."

Rei-sama dropped the idea after Yoshino-san pointed this out. The seemingly simple task of choosing a location was turning out to be quite difficult.

"Wouldn't it be better if we all went to Sachiko's place?"

"Why would the Hanadera boys go there?"

"We could use Kashiwagi-san."

"Ah, I see."

At this point, Noriko-chan raised her hand to ask another question.

"Um, who's this Kashiwagi-san?"

"Ah, he's Sachiko's cousin and fiance. He's the former president of the Hanadera school council, and there's unconfirmed rumors that he's gay."

Rei-sama explained briefly, but thinking about it, it seems like a pretty difficult position for Sachiko-sama, doesn't it?

"So we make it seem like Kashiwagi-san's providing his juniors with a spacious meeting spot. Kashiwagi-san's mother's a member of the Ogasawara family, and his grandfather lives there too. I've heard he visits from time to time."

"Right."

Yumi agreed.

"That's the impression I got."

During their New Year's visit, it had seemed like Kashiwagi-san was infuriatingly familiar with the Ogasawara household.

"But will this Kashiwagi-san be willing to help us?"

Yoshino-san hadn't seen him since the school festival, so apparently she still thought of Kashiwagi-san as the wretched prince who reeked of ginkgo nuts. However.

"If I had to say, I think he'd help us … but."

Yumi muttered.

"Why?"

Yoshino-san asked.

"Ah, well, no reason. To help out his juniors as a graduate of Hanadera. And because we're doing it for Sachiko-sama."

This wasn't good.

She'd almost let slip the words she remembered Kashiwagi-san saying – "Anytime you need help, Yumi-chan."

It wasn't like she was trying to hide it, but it was better to stay silent and avoid any strange misunderstandings. To begin with, Kashiwagi-san saw "Yumi-chan" as "Yukichi's older sister," so someone was bound to get the wrong idea.

Although Yumi was starting to get flustered, Yoshino-san didn't pursue that line of questioning any further. Nobody really seemed that interested in Kashiwagi-san.

"Oh, that's right. Sachiko knows your younger brother because Kashiwagi-san brought him along to New Year's at Sachiko's house, didn't he?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Well, that won't seem too out of the ordinary then."

There was unanimous agreement that they should follow that thread.

However.

Just before the meeting adjourned, Yumi was given some difficult homework by Rei-sama.

"Yumi-chan, we'll leave it to you to talk to Kashiwagi-san."

– How cruel.

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