Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume14 Chapter3

Setting Aside the "Bread Incident"

Part 1

Lunchtime.

As she was hurrying to Milk Hall to buy a pastry, Yumi spotted someone she knew from behind and instinctively called out to her.

"Touko-cha~n."

With her characteristic hairstyle, two ringlets – one on the left and one on the right, there was no mistaking her for someone else. As expected, when her name was called she slowed down and turned around.

"… Yumi-sama."

"Are you by yourself?"

Yumi jogged through the crowd of people to stand beside her. The somewhat stubborn girl, one grade below her.

"Is there something wrong with being by myself? But since you mentioned it, Yumi-sama, you don't seem to have any companions with you either."

Prickly Touko-chan.

Yumi hadn't been trying to say that there was anything wrong with being alone, but … well, Touko-chan usually had a sharp tongue.

Still, Yumi thought that she was inoculated against it now, as opposed to when they'd first met. Maybe she was used to it, or maybe she just thought Touko-chan was cute, like a menacing kitten.

"Well, today, my mom forgot to set the timer for the rice cooker and we didn't have any rice. So I have to buy something from Milk Hall, since all I've got in my lunchbox is side dishes."

Yumi held out the bag holding the small plastic container.

"I didn't really need to hear about that."

"Really? You mean you weren't thinking, "Yumi-sama always brings a lunchbox, so why's she going to Milk Hall?""

"How conceited. The world doesn't revolve around you, Yumi-sama."

"Oh, really?"

"Yes, really. Well then, goodbye."

Intending those as parting words, Touko-chan hurried off. Yumi hurried after her, having more or less anticipated that reaction.

This path led to various other places, like the school store and the chapel, but at this time of day she was probably heading to Milk Hall too. Yumi didn't really want to walk the rest of the way to their destination looking at Touko-chan's back.

"Touko-chan's being so cold. Makes Yumi so lone~ly."

Clinging on to Touko-chan.

"Please stop."

Touko-chan took half a step sideways to put some space between them. But that was all she did, perhaps having lost her earlier desire to shake off Yumi. Maybe she'd given up, seeing that running away was pointless.

"How come you haven't visited the Rose Mansion recently?"

Yumi asked as they walked side-by-side.

"I've been busy with club activities. Besides."

Touko-chan looked down.

"It's filled with an evil presence."

"An evil presence?"

Yumi asked and Touko-chan raised her head, surprised.

"Please ignore that last part. It's my problem to deal with."

Ignore it or not, it was a cryptic remark. Without clarification, Yumi had no idea what it meant.

"Are things like evil presences popular at the moment?"

"What do you mean, popular?"

This time it was Touko-chan asking for clarification.

"There was something I heard from my brother."

"Your brother? – Ah."

"Oh, that's right, you've met my brother."

Boy meets girl at Kashiwagi Suguru-san's mansion. Well, let's just set that aside for now.

"The other day, one of my brother's friends was walking down the road when he got this really bad feeling. Like he was being haunted by something."

"In that case, couldn't he just pray or have an exorcism? That's a different sort of evil presence to mine."

"That's like what my brother's friend said."

"But just now you said it was like he was being haunted by something."

"That's what I said, but."

Yumi agreed. It was like he was being haunted by something but not by an actual ghost.

"They have a strong sense for the supernatural, so they knew it wasn't a spirit. It was something more troublesome than that, a live human being."

Touko-chan listened silently, then after a little while mumbled something that seemed to indicate she understood.

"More troublesome because it's a human … it really is like that."

Maybe something came to mind for her too.

"You should come and visit us every so often. Sachiko-sama would be happy to see you too. If I make things too gloomy, you can pick a time when I'm not there."

Touko-chan made no response to this comment.

Arriving at Milk Hall, it was as packed full of middle and high school students as she'd expected it to be.

Touko-chan bought a strawberry milk from the vending machine by the door, then spoke to Yumi who was waiting by her side.

"Aren't you misunderstanding something?"

Like the sounds the coins made as they dropped into the change slot, she spoke in a way that seemed to say, "You'd better not forget this."

"Misunderstanding?"

"You're not the one I can't stand, Yumi-sama."

"Oh, then who?"

As she asked this, Yumi thought, "Darn it."

She'd be better off not poking her nose into matters of "Who likes who" or "Who hates who." With those sorts of interpersonal problems, if she knew both of the people, she'd be reminded of it every time she saw one of them.

"Um, Touko-chan."

Yumi thought she should take back her earlier remark, or Touko-chan could help her out by hesitating to speak.

However, Touko-chan immediately opened her mouth.

"Hosokawa Kanako."

She spoke clearly, so there was no chance of mishearing her. As expected of the self-proclaimed actress. Displaying the results of her daily vocal training.

"I cannot bring myself to like her."

Touko-chan didn't just blurt out her name, but also added, "I cannot bring myself to like her," to be doubly sure. She'd heard them described as natural enemies but it was still a bit confronting to hear this first-hand. Since Yumi considered both Touko-chan and Kanako-chan to be cute juniors.

"Still, I'm not going to stop you from being her friend, nor will I criticize you for this, Yumi-sama. It's just – "

At this point, Touko-chan swallowed her words.

"It's just?"

Yumi was pressing her to continue, but Touko-chan glanced at the pastry counter and smirked.

"You should watch out, Yumi-sama. If you don't hurry, they'll be sold out."

"Ahh."

People that had arrived after her had passed Yumi and were swarming around the counter. There was already a pile of empty plastic containers behind the counter.

"You should have put in an order with whoever was on duty."

Judging by her leisurely smile, Touko-chan had only come to Milk Hall to buy a strawberry milk.

"I completely forgot about that, since I usually bring my lunch."

Apparently her mother's careless mistake was contagious.

"See you later, Touko-chan."

Yumi threw herself into the crowd of students, in order to buy a bread roll.

"Best of luck."

Touko-chan waved and smiled.

Part 2

The people swarming around the bread counter were more fierce than she expected. No, let's rephrase that as "full of energy."

This was Lillian's Girls Academy. There were only dignified young ladies here.

"Well, this looks tough."

There were a number of people selling the pastries so even if they were to form something like a line, it wouldn't just be one line, and the lines would just collapse when the person up front looked at what was available on the table and made their decision, and on top of that, the next person in line would just order while the head of the line was making up their mind, which would lead to a sense of, "What's the point in having a line if no-one knows where the head is."

To make matters worse, for someone who wasn't used to it, moving through the crowd was surprisingly difficult. Yumi probably wasn't just imagining that she hadn't progressed forwards in quite some time.

While she was in that situation:

Tap tap.

In the confusing crush of people, someone casually strolled up behind Yumi and tapped her on the shoulder.

Wondering who on earth it was, Yumi turned around and saw a tall girl smiling at her.

"… Kanako-chan."

"What's going on here? You always bring your lunch and eat it at the Rose Mansion, so why are you in this crowd of people buying food, Yumi-sama? At first I thought I'd mistaken someone else for you."

"Well, we didn't have rice this morning."

As Touko-chan had said, no-one would be interested in the details surrounding the Fukuzawa family's rice situation. But since she'd asked, it was fine to answer.

"My, that's quite a bother. What sort of pastries do you like, Yumi-sama?"

"Well, anything really."

The pastries for sale at Milk Hall during lunch time were whatever was left over after the orders for each class had been fulfilled. Since she didn't know what they'd have on offer, she'd come here without thinking about what she wanted to get. And in amongst this chaos it was impossible to say what type of bread she liked. Anything would do. As long as she could get one, she'd be most satisfied.

"Then I'll buy you something suitable."

After informing Yumi of this, and without any sort of go-ahead, Kanako-chan turned to the right and entered the fray of people looking to buy pastries.

"Ah, Kanako-chan."

"Just wait over to the side there, Yumi-sama."

With her height, she stood out among the crowd. She moved forwards, not so much slipping through the crowd as surging through it.

"You don't have to overdo it. Um, I brought some side dishes, so just one would be fine."

Yumi called out to Kanako-chan, unsure of whether or not she was heard.

Kanako-chan seemed to overtake some people that had arrived much earlier, leading Yumi to wonder if she was being a bother to those around her. She couldn't just dismiss it as someone else's problem, because Kanako-chan was acting as a stand-in for herself.

"Sorry for keeping you waiting."

Kanako-chan returned in no time at all, carrying three pastries.

"Ah, you bought three."

"Yes."

"Were you having any of these?"

"No, I brought my lunch."

It looked as though her earlier shout hadn't reached Kanako-chan's ears.

"That was pretty quick … "

"Yeah."

"You didn't cut in line or anything did you?"

"Well, I was just recovering the spot that you had at the start. I don't think anyone has the right to complain about that."

"…"

Something there was not quite right. It wasn't quite right, but Yumi didn't think she'd be able to explain how in a way that Kanako-chan would understand.

Yumi wanted to lecture her about the virtues of waiting patiently in line but that wouldn't have gone over well.

"Anyway, which one did you want? I couldn't narrow it down to just one, so I bought the three I was considering."

– So it looked as though she had heard after all. Even so, Kanako-chan still bought three.

"How much were they?"

Yumi opened her purse.

"Um. For this jam bun?"

"No, how much for all of them?"

"Huh?"

There was no way Yumi could eat all three, but they'd all been bought for her and it wasn't as though she could return the other two.

"You weren't buying any for your own lunch, right Kanako-chan? So I'll pay for all of them."

"But."

"Don't worry about it, how much?"

"– No."

Kanako-chan said, looking down.

"I bought these of my own accord. You shouldn't have to pay because of that. These are all a gift. Please eat them with the rest of the Yamayurikai."

"Kanako-chan."

What should she do? Now she wasn't even accepting payment for one of them, let alone all three.

"I can't let you do that."

Yumi quickly calculated the cost of the three pastries in the bag. Then she took the exact amount from her purse and placed it in Kanako-chan's hand. However.

"I told you I won't take your money."

There was no way she was going to quietly accept the coins.

"And I told you I can't let you do that."

It was turning into a scene from a cafe with two old ladies bickering over who should pay – "I'll get it," "No, let me," – and they were making no progress at all. In the end, those old ladies must settle it somehow. If only there was some way she could consult them right now. There was no way they'd keep going until the store closed, so it seemed to Yumi as though they'd have to find some common ground and settle it.

"Stop."

Suddenly there was a flash of light.

"Yumi-san, and you over there. Why don't you calm down a bit and take a look around you?"

As expected, standing there was the self-proclaimed ace of the photography club, and Yumi's friend, Takeshima Tsutako-san. She lowered her camera and calmly stepped towards them.

"Around us … ?"

Yumi took a look around as she was saying this and saw there was a ring of people surrounding her and Kanako-chan.

She didn't think they'd been talking that loudly, but she may have have grown more and more boisterous without realizing it.

Even thought it hadn't yet reached the level of an argument, an onlooker would probably see they were having a disagreement.

"Aha … "

Yumi tried laughing to smooth things over but it was a waste of effort.

But, having taken Tsutako-san's advice to calm down and look around, how on earth was she supposed to regain control over the disturbance she'd caused? Kanako-chan looked down but didn't move either.

"First of all, Yumi-san will take the pastries. Then, you'll take the money that Yumi-san gives you. Okay?"

Tsutako-san briskly ordered them, taking over from the two people at the center of attention who were standing stock still and at their wits end. But still Kanako-chan stubbornly refused to accept the money.

"You may not like it, but just quietly do as you're told. Otherwise, the situation here won't be resolved."

"But."

"If she's willing to pay, you should let her. If you turn it into a big deal, it's going to get out of control. Or are you trying to make things worse for Yumi-san?"

Tsutako-san quietly reprimanded Kanako-chan, who eventually unclenched her right fist to accept the coins.

"Now that's done, I'm going to buy two of those pastries from Yumi-san. And with that, the case is closed. Sorry for the disturbance, everyone. It was just an exchange of pastries. Please continue to have a wonderful lunch break. See you."

Tsutako-san put an arm around Yumi and Kanako-chan's shoulders and walked off. They left Milk Hall like this, walking alongside each other. Yumi wasn't really sure what this would look like to the spectators, but she wasn't too concerned about that. She was still a bit surprised about the incident herself.

The only thing Yumi did know was that Tsutako-san had saved her. Who could tell how it would have ended if things had kept on with neither of them backing down in front of that crowd of people? She shivered just thinking about it.

After they'd walked a short distance from Milk Hall, Kanako-chan stopped and turned to Tsutako-san.

"Thank-you for resolving the situation. However, I bought all three of those pastries for Yumi-san."

"I know that. So does Yumi-san. Right?"

Yumi nodded at Tsutako-san's question. Yeah, she knew that alright. But there were things she could accept and things she couldn't accept.

Kanako-chan quickly bowed, then ran off in the direction of the school building.

As they watched her leave, Tsutako-san muttered:

"I wonder what she was doing at Milk Hall in the first place."

"Ah, now that you mention it."

All she'd had on her was her purse, so she hadn't brought a lunchbox, but despite this she hadn't bought a pastry for herself either.

"Maybe she was buying a drink or something."

Like Touko-chan earlier. There were some students like that.

"In that case, she wouldn't have gone to the pastry counter, right?"

"I guess."

The drink vending machines were concentrated around the entrance to Milk Hall, while the pastry counter was a fair way inside.

Well, people have all sorts of motives. And if motives is too grandiose a word, change it to reasons.

Because there was no point in worrying about each and every little detail. She was better off thinking about what she had to do right now.

"Tsutako-san."

Yumi stopped walking.

"What?"

"Thanks, you saved me."

Yumi felt she had to properly convey her gratitude. While they knew each other well enough that Tsutako-san knew this even if she didn't say anything, since she had the opportunity, she was better off putting it into words instead of being lazy.

Because even if she focused all her energy on beaming it telepathically, it might not reach the target's receiver. Alternatively, if her transmitter was broken, then it wouldn't get through even though she thought she'd sent it.

That's why analogue was best. Since you could tell almost instantaneously whether it had reached the target or not.

"Nah, it was nothing. I was just feeling a bit peckish, so I thought I'd get something to eat. When I got to Milk Hall, there was some kind of disturbance, so I thought I'd stick my nose in to it. By intervening, I was able to get my hands on some pastries easily. I got something good out of it too, so don't mind me."

"A bit peckish … ah, you ate your lunch earlier in the day, didn't you?"

"Ha ha ha."

Tsutako-san laughed to hide her embarrassment, then as they were standing on the door mat at the school building entrance she made a proposal.

"Are you busy, Yumi-san? Could you accompany me for a little while?"

"I don't mind. I was going to eat in the Rose Mansion, but they knew I had to go to Milk Hall, so they're not waiting on me for anything."

Hearing this, Tsutako-san said, "Done," and snapped her fingers.

"Well then, let's get this pastry there right away."

"The pastry?"

Yumi was asking why and Tsutako-san grinned.

"Obviously, we're going to use it as a bribe."

Part 3

Even though they were standing on the mat, they didn't complete the task of wiping clean their indoor shoes. That was because they weren't going into the school building.

"The clubhouse … "

Yumi mumbled, looking up at the two-story building behind the school block.

"Yeah. She's probably there."

Tsutako-san answered, full of confidence.

"You mean Mami-san?"

"Indeed. She said the manuscript for tomorrow's Lillian Kawaraban wasn't quite finished yet, so she'll probably be in the club room staring down the word processor. Her hair in a mess."

The clubhouse.

As the name suggested, the building was comprised of club rooms. But that didn't mean that every club had a room in this building. Various clubs used something other than a club room, for instance, the sports clubs used the gymnasium or martial arts building or sports fields as appropriate, the arts club used the arts room, the calligraphy club used the calligraphy room, the chemistry and science clubs used the science rooms, and the handicrafts club used the sewing room. So the clubs that lived here were those whose activities didn't require a special classroom, such as the Go club, the literary club, the manga research club, the photography club that Tsutako-san belonged to, and the newspaper club, which published the school's newspaper, "Lillian Kawaraban."

That said, the club rooms weren't particularly large, so a lot of clubs used a classroom for their after-school activities and the club room was just used as a storage area. The newspaper club, however, made maximum use of their club room for their club activities.

Now then, into the building and up to the second-floor.

Even without looking at the name plates, she could tell which room was the newspaper club's, because of the sound of someone furiously tapping away on a keyboard leaking out into the hallway.

Tsutako-san knocked, then opened the door before the reply came from inside.

"Gokigenyou, Mami-san."

"… Tsutako-san."

Mami-san was alone in the club room. Her hair wasn't disheveled, but that's because she was wearing a headband, and she looked at them with a ferocious expression.

"And Yumi-san who hardly ever comes to the clubhouse … what led to this curious turn of events? What are you scheming?"

Mami-san looked appropriately fatigued.

"We've brought supplies to show our support. You start craving sweets when you're thinking hard, right?"

Perhaps used to seeing her classmate like this, Tsutako-san steadily advanced into the club room. Not wanting to be left standing outside in the corridor alone, Yumi said, "Pardon my intrusion," and stepped inside.

"A jam bun?"

Mami-san's expression softened slightly when she saw what was being offered.

"Or there's a choc cornet and an almond danish. Take whichever one you'd prefer."

Tsutako-san was acting as though they were all hers as she encouraged Mami-san to take one, but Mami-san looked at Yumi suspiciously and quietly asked:

"But thankfully they're all sweets. Were these Yumi-san's request?"

"That's about right."

They were all Kanako-chan's selection.

"So what did you want me to do?"

Mami-san asked as she reached out for the jam bun, which looked the sweetest. So she hadn't believed they were just showing their support after all. Although since they'd brought these as bribes, her impression wasn't exactly wrong.

"Yumi-san was involved in a bit of a mix-up just now."

Tsutako-san sat down and spoke in a bored tone of voice as she opened the wrapping of the almond danish. She glanced at Yumi as though to say, "Just watch," so Yumi silently watched on and let Tsutako-san handle it. With that, she pulled over a chair and sat down.

"It was a bit conspicuous, so I'm sure you'll hear about it, but we came here to discuss if you could not write about it in the Lillian Kawaraban."

"What kind of mix-up?"

Mami-san raised her eyebrows.

"It was no big deal. A discussion about the price of something, whether it was a gift or not, that sort of thing."

"Hmm."

Mami-san didn't show much interest, apparently deciding that it was indeed no big deal. Thinking about it, the Lillian Kawaraban probably wouldn't run something like that anyway.

"I don't mind."

Negotiations complete. With that, Mami-san started eating the jam bun to give her tired brain some energy.

Yumi opened her small Tupperware container, in a hurry to start her lunch too. Unfortunately, the choc cornet didn't go particularly well with her side dishes of seaweed seasoned fried egg and tempura eggplant.

"Yumi-san. This isn't intended as a bargaining point, but is there anything happening with the Yamyurikai that we could write about?"

"Nope."

The immediate response.

"Weren't you typing away at something earlier, Mami-san?"

"I was just writing out a boring article for my own peace of mind. I don't want to write about something like a teacher's favorite saying."

Mami-san squeezed hard on her half-eaten jam bun. Hello, are you okay with the jam flying out of the bun?

"At least give me a hint about the Yamayurikai play."

"No can do."

If she'd said she didn't know what it was going to be, the Lillian Kawaraban probably would have run an article about that, that's how starved for material they looked. So she had to be careful not to let anything slip.

"Fair enough. Then, Yumi-san, do you have any plans to take a petit soeur anytime soon?"

"No, I don't."

"You're kidding, right?"

"No, it's true."

" … Well, okay. Let's put that to one side for now. What about Yoshino-san?"

"I haven't heard anything."

Yumi expected Mami-san to respond with, "You haven't heard anything because there's no plans?" but she didn't venture to ask this.

"Shimako-san … ah, she's already got Noriko-chan as her petit soeur, hasn't she?"

Having finished eating, Mami-san crumpled up the bun's plastic wrapper and slumped over the keyboard. She'd apparently been craving material so badly that she'd forgotten the basic composition of the Rose families.

"Actually, about Noriko-chan."

Mami-san abruptly raised her head.

"Hm?"

"Yumi-san, do you know Takuya-kun?"

"He's Noriko-chan's friend, right? Another Buddhist statue admirer."

She'd never inquired into him but his name would occasionally pop up when Shimako-san and Noriko-chan were talking to each other.

"The meeting – "

"Meeting? With who? Takuya-kun?"

"Ah, forget it."

Mami-san gave a small shake of her head and aborted the conversation, but it seemed like she was thinking about something else. So, in contrast to the question, Yumi decided to give a proper response.

"I haven't met him, but I think Shimako-san has. I heard that Takuya-kun used to visit Shimako-san's house before he met Noriko-chan."

Shimako-san's household included a temple that was passed down through the generations. She'd heard that they also possessed an ancient statue of Buddha, so it was easy to imagine him becoming acquainted with Shimako-san's father in order to view it.

"But why do you ask?"

"No real reason. I was just wondering what sort of person he was."

Although it hadn't felt like she'd been asking for no real reason. It felt like there'd been something more meaningful behind it, as though she were looking for something.

"I didn't think the Lillian Kawaraban wrote about outsiders all that much."

"That's not what I had in mind… not now."

What had she meant by "not now?" It could mean it was something she was going to do in the future, or it could be something she'd thought about in the past but decided against. The meaning changed completely depending on whether it was the former or the latter.

"If you're interested, why don't you talk to Noriko-chan or Shimako-san directly? I heard them talking about inviting him to our school festival. As long as they agree, you should be fine writing an article about it."

"I told you, I've decided not to write about him now, alright."

"Ah, right."

So apparently it was the latter. But why did she get so agitated about it?

"But … okay. So Takuya-kun might be coming to the school festival."

Mami-san muttered with a far-away look in her eyes. Yumi thought that perhaps Mami-san also knew Takuya-kun, but she didn't venture to ask. She got the feeling that Mami-san would just deny it.

Just then, Yumi heard the sound of footsteps echoing along the second-floor club house corridor.

The footsteps stopped in front of the newspaper club's clubroom and the door was flung open.

"Mami-san! Huge scoop! Rosa Chinensis en bouton had a massive fight with a first-year petit soeur candidate in Milk Hall!"

The second-year newspaper club member that had rushed into the room got that far before she finally noticed Yumi and her eyes went wide in shock. But she'd probably rehearsed this countless times in order to convey the information as quickly as possible, and having said that much, she couldn't stop half-way through.

"They were stopped by the photography club's Takeshima Tsu…ta… "

"Yes, gokigenyou, I'm the photography club's Takeshima Tsutako."

Seeing not just Yumi but also Tsutako-san there, the newspaper club member trailed off and fell to her knees in the doorway, saying, "No way."

"The mix-up was with Hosokawa Kanako – "

Mami-san fixed her gaze on Tsutako-san. Since she already knew Kanako-chan's full name, it appeared they'd already marked her.

"Yep. The pastries were the cause. But you've already eaten yours Mami-san. You can't write a story about it any more."

"You tricked me."

"I did no such thing. I did what was in the best interests of the newspaper club."

Tsutako-san answered aloofly.

"In what way?"

Mami-san seemed to be annoyed by Tsutako-san's feigned innocence.

"If you fanned the flames saying she was a petit soeur candidate and it turned out to be wrong, it'd be a major embarrassment, wouldn't it?"

"You're saying it's wrong?"

"I don't know, why ask me?"

With that, Mami-san's gaze immediately slid from Tsutako-san to Yumi.

"Yumi-san."

"I haven't decided anything yet."

Yumi had already told her that she had no plans, but Mami-san must have forgotten that with all the confusion.

"Is she going to be your petit soeur or not?"

"Calm down, Mami-san."

A voice came to Yumi's aid as Mami-san towered over her.

It was neither Tsutako-san, nor Mami-san, nor even the newspaper club member that had arrived earlier. It was the voice of a fifth person.

"It seems Kanako-san won't be Rosa Chinensis en bouton's petit soeur."

The girl pushed past the exhausted looking club member by the doorway and moved to the center of the room.

"How do you know?"

Mami-san asked. Since she hadn't asked the girl who she was, she was probably another newspaper club member.

"I asked her myself."

"You asked her? You asked Hosokawa Kanako herself?"

"Yes."

Questioning revealed that the new arrival was a motivated rookie who'd joined the newspaper club because she admired the president, Tsukiyama Minako-sama, and the current chief editor, Yamaguchi Mami-san. Consequently, she spent a lot of her time gathering information so that she could run down a scoop and make it her own.

"I hit her with it directly, "Are you going to be Rosa Chinensis en bouton's petit soeur?""

"And, and?"

Mami-san urged her to continue but the rookie smiled indifferently.

"She tried to hide behind a smile. Like this."

"Wh-why'd she do that?"

"She said, "I don't have any such pedestrian ambition.""

"Pedestrian ambition?"

Mami-san was dumbfounded and Tsutako-san let out a whistle.

"So then I asked her, "What if Yumi-sama begged you to be her soeur?""

The rookie seemed to be holding back as she looked at Yumi. But when she was urged on with, "How did she respond to that?" her attitude reversed completely and she answered without restraint.

"She said she'd refuse."

"… She'd refuse."

Yumi repeated those unexpected words. Refusing meant that she didn't want to be her petit soeur.

Why'd she do that?

Even though they seemed to get along well. She had no plans to become her petit soeur.

For Kanako-chan, becoming Yumi's petit soeur was a pedestrian ambition. So much so that a conversation about it would only make her laugh.

"On top of that, when she found out I was a member of the newspaper club, she said I couldn't put that in an article."

The rookie reported in a business-like manner.

"She said you couldn't put it in an article?"

"Well, that was the gist of it. Her actual words were a bit more pointed."

It was apparently harsh enough that she was unwilling to repeat it. The image that Yumi held of Kanako-chan was rocked even more.

"How are you feeling? Shocked?"

Hearing Tsutako-san call out to her, Yumi raised her head.

"Shocked … ? No, I'm not really sure. I was just wondering, "What on earth is she thinking?""

"You're wondering what Miss Hosokawa Kanako is thinking?"

"Yeah."

Putting her thoughts into words.

"I wish I knew more about her."

Like what was Kanako-chan feeling?

What was she looking for from the person Fukuzawa Yumi?

Since she'd declared the soeur system to be "pedestrian," what then did she value? Those were the sort of questions Yumi wanted to ask her.

Even though she knew there were all sorts of people in the world and they all had their own points of view. It was hard to see those differing points of view from the outside.

"Hold on, Yumi-san."

Mami-san said, taking off her headband.

"How about you set aside the first-year who apparently doesn't want to be your soeur and think more about your poor classmate."

"Even if I did, it wouldn't help."

Unfortunately, Yumi had no material she could offer. Although she sympathized completely with the teary-eyed and shoulder-slumped Mami-san.

"Not much you can do about it, Yumi-san. But since Mami-san's at her wit's end and calling herself "your poor classmate," don't you think you should pitch in and help?"

Tsutako-san pulled out her camera and turned to Yumi.

"Pitch in?"

"Of course, it won't be for free, Mami-san. How about the cost of those three pastries we just ate?"

At first glance Tsutako-san looked like a meddler, but she also seemed to be taking a little, no, a lot of enjoyment out of this situation.

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