Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume26 Chapter5

The Blank Map's Valley

Part 1

Rewinding time a little bit.

Rei walked down the ginkgo-tree-lined path with a spring in her step.

Earlier, she'd taken the entrance exam for her first choice university. The results wouldn't be known for some time, but her reaction had been positive — she was certain she'd be studying at that university in spring.

(Let's do this.)

She caught glimpses of high-school students off to the left of the path. Since they were holding what appeared to be maps, it seemed likely that they were participating in the treasure hunt (if they weren't, then it was a bit scary that they'd be loitering around on such a cold and gloomy day).

She'd counted seven or eight people so far, and if there were that many students all the way out here then there were bound to be a lot more closer to the school buildings. It looked like the event was a huge success.

(Excellent, excellent.)

She checked her watch, despite having done this when she got off the bus. 4:15 p.m. It was a bit of a tricky time, with the event being about half over.

Because she had taken unfamiliar public transport, the transfer hadn't gone all that smoothly and she'd wasted some time, making her later than she'd have liked. If she'd made the earlier train, she would have arrived at M Station ten minutes earlier, allowing her to get on the earlier bus, and if that had happened then there was a chance she could have been in the courtyard for the 3:45 p.m. kick-off. There must have been some traffic congestion somewhere, because she had to wait about twenty minutes for the next bus to arrive after just missing one.

But even if she had made it in time for the start, Rei wasn't qualified to take part in the treasure hunt. Since she hadn't known whether or not she'd be able to get here in time after her exam, she'd put an entry in the second-chance draw.

So, in order for Rei to be saved, she'd have to go back in time to before she put her entry in the second-chance draw, convince herself that she'd be able to make it in time, study the train timetables carefully, and then pray to God for there to be no traffic congestion on the day of her exam. Basically, it was too late to do anything about it now.

4:15 p.m. 25 minutes until it was over.

(Someone might have already found Yoshino's card by now.)

Thinking this, she wished she had the ability to freely manipulate time. Even if she couldn't rewind time, just being able to fast-forward would be good. It would be easier to accept defeat if it was all over.

The ideal situation for Rei would be for Yoshino's card to remain hidden until time ran out. In that case, she'd suddenly be in with a chance.

(Right, it's probably hidden over there.)

Rei had complete faith that she would emerge victorious if the yellow card wasn't found in regular time and went to the second-chance draw. She should understand Yoshino the best, so who else could possibly guess the location?

(Ah, but, be that as it may....)

That couldn't come to pass while the treasure hunt was still live, so all she could do was wait until the time limit was reached, leaving her in limbo for another twenty minutes.

The spring in her step that she had when she entered through the school gates had left her.

Rei put her hand into her right coat pocket. Inside the pocket, her numb fingers rubbed against a folded piece of paper, making a muffled sound.

(Yoshino....)

Rei looked up to the heavens, in prayer. She let out a sigh and then returned her gaze to normal.

(— Huh?)

When she moved her head down, she'd caught a brief glimpse of something that gave her an uncomfortable feeling, so she took another look at that area. The so-called "second-look."

Then, what she saw was:

"That's...."

She muttered as she stared at the external wall of the school building.

What she was seeing definitely looked like "that." But would "that" really be in such a location? She couldn't completely rule out the possibility that it was a figment of her imagination, brought about by her desire to see Yoshino.

She tried to test this theory by rubbing her eyes, but the scene remained the same. This was an unprecedented situation.

The yellow card.

It was clinging to the wall of the school building.

That wasn't quite right. It wasn't clinging to the building — it was stuck there. It was at the same height as one of the windows on the second-floor and affixed to the building with masking tape.

(Is the tape directly on the card?)

No, they wouldn't have done something that silly. Rei couldn't see it out from her position, but she assumed they must have put the card in a plastic bag or something similar. Either way.

Hiding it in a place like that.

Although, since it was right out in the open, could it even be called hiding?

It was too audacious. Was she a dummy?

First of all, had they even said that that spot was in-bounds?

Rei took her copy of the map out of her bag. It had come with the "second-chance draw" entry form.

She unfolded the piece of paper and checked. Was the wall of the school building that she could see from her current position inside the dotted-lines, or not?

She soon had her answer.

"I see."

If the inside of the school building was out-of-bounds, then that would make the outside in-bounds. What was up with that? It was like a zen riddle.

If it had been at ground level, then everyone would probably agree that it was in-bounds. But seeing it in that unreachable position, she'd automatically assumed it would be excluded, without checking whether or not it was.

But it was inside the allowed area, and was undoubtedly the yellow card.

Rei felt a little bit dizzy.

That was probably because she'd been staring upwards all this time. Although, a certain percentage of that could also be due to the shock of seeing the yellow card.

Ever since she'd heard that the treasure hunt was happening again this year, she'd spent her breaks from studying idly speculating about where Yoshino would hide her card. And the location she'd finally decided on had been way off target.

She hadn't even considered that Yoshino would hide it in this spot.

That Yoshino would hide her card in a place that Rei hadn't even thought of came as quite a shock.

And, to make matters worse, why on Earth did she have to discover it herself?

Sensing people approaching from the library, Rei hastily lowered her gaze and folded her map.

Two girls, that looked to be first-years, chatted as they walked towards her. Naturally, they were holding that item indispensable for participants — a map.

"Ah, Rosa Foetida. Gokigenyou."

When they noticed Rei, the girls greeted her cheerfully.

"Gokigenyou. The treasure hunt seems to be going well."

"Yeah. Although I've heard the yellow card hasn't been found yet. We're heading over to the martial arts building, to see if we can find it there."

"I see."

Those girls must be fans of Yoshino. They didn't know that if they angled their faces upwards, they'd find the card they were searching for.

"Good luck."

But Rei couldn't tell them. There was value in finding it for themselves.

She let the two first-years pass then resumed walking once more. She'd be too conspicuous if she just kept standing in that spot. She thought it'd be better if she headed to the Rose Mansion and announced to Yoshino and everyone else that she'd found the yellow card.

(… Am I a masochist?)

Just then.

"Rei-sama —"

The voice came from overhead.

"Have you finished your exams for today?"

She looked up and saw a girl leaning out of a window, cheerfully brandishing a map rolled up into a bullhorn.

"—"

It was her junior in the Kendo Club, Tanuma Chisato-chan.

(Good heavens.)

The window she was leaning out of was right next to where the yellow card was stuck to the outside wall of the school building.

If Chisato-chan turned to her right, she'd undoubtedly see the card. Not just see it, she'd be able to reach out and take it.

Rei waved weakly then walked off towards the entrance.

All the while wishing she could have simply enjoyed the game like the rest of the girls.

* * *

On a related topic.

The oft-called "idiot" Rei-chan had, by this point, completely forgotten that Tanuma Chisato had won last year's treasure hunt.

Part 2

Touko wondered just what it was that she was doing.

Sitting alone at her desk, the first-year Camellia classroom seemed several times larger than usual.

Goaded into action by Sachiko-onee-sama, she'd entered the treasure hunt. On her desk was the mark of a participant — the map showing the bounds of the event.

But, right at this moment, it was nothing more than a bit of scrap paper to Touko. It had no practical use to someone that had secluded themselves in an out-of-bounds classroom.

The sounds of happy voices reached her from the hallway, but it felt like they were on a different planet. Maybe it was because the lights weren't on despite the gloom. Even so, Touko wasn't thinking about brightening the classroom.

She wasn't necessarily opposed to having the lights on in the room. It would be a simple matter to stand up and walk over to the entry, allowing her to flick the light switch. But she had no idea what she should do after that, so she didn't move.

Flicking the switch would turn on the lights and accomplish this simple goal, thereby removing this reason for staying in the room. Stepping away from the switch would open up a world of possibilities.

She could return to her seat. Or, instead of turning the lights on, she could leave the classroom.

Touko hadn't moved from her seat because once she stood up, she'd have to make that sort of decision.

If she returned to her seat after turning on the lights, what would she do then? Continue to futilely waste time in the now well-lit classroom?

If she left the classroom, what would she do then? There's no way she'd be able to innocently enjoy the treasure hunt like the owners of those happy voices.

What if she moved to a different spot, without leaving the classroom?

Like the lockers in the back of the room, for example. She could open her locker and organize the contents. Or she could take out her coat and start getting ready to go home.

Indeed, she'd be better off heading home early. Then she could stop worrying about it all.

However.

(Are you running away?)

Sachiko-onee-sama's words stopped her. If she went home now, she would undoubtedly be running away. She was participating in the treasure hunt because she didn't want to run away, wasn't she?

She had no idea what to do.

Goaded on by Sachiko-onee-sama, she'd resolved to participate in the treasure hunt and had, initially, intended to search diligently. But her resolve had quickly withered as she looked over the other participants in the courtyard.

Listening to them chatting happily amongst themselves, and hearing their shrill cries when the future Roses appeared, Touko felt she was somehow different to them. No, not "different." It was just that it was out of character for her to be there.

Right after the start, Touko noticed that a couple of girls were following her. She smirked, remembering how Yumi-sama had also been followed a year earlier. Apparently they still considered Touko to be "someone close to Yumi-sama."

They obviously didn't know that Touko had refused Yumi-sama's rosary when she offered it at Christmas, or the abuse Touko had hurled at Yumi-sama when they had parted company last Saturday. So they were still operating with the misconception that Touko and Yumi-sama had a close relationship.

(Misconception?)

Touko clenched her hands together above the map.

Right, that had been a misconception. Yumi-sama hadn't known anything about Touko's familial situation. So her rosary had not been offered out of pity.

(So why?)

It wasn't out of pity, so why had Yumi-sama chosen a fool like her?

"'A fool'?"

After saying this out loud, Touko let slip a smile.

Yumi-sama had told her to stop demeaning herself like that; to stop devaluing the person she wanted as her petite sœur.

But, after all, Touko didn't think she had that much value to begin with.

Even now, she didn't know whether she should believe Yumi-sama when she had said, "I'll be happy as long as Touko-chan is Touko-chan."

(I wonder if that still holds, after I said all those horrible things to her.)

Touko wanted to know what Yumi-sama's feelings were currently.

Thinking this, she stood up, unaware that she was doing so. The desire to track down Yumi-sama's hidden card welled up within her.

Of course, she knew that "card" did not equal "heart." Even so, Touko's thoughts were racing frantically. Where could the card be?

If it were her, where would she hide the card?

Touko drew an X on the map.

If it were her.

(There.)

Clutching the map, she flew out of the classroom.

Because she knew she'd definitely want Yumi-sama to find it.

Part 3

Touko had arrived in front of the social studies prep room.

She checked the map, just in case. It was inside the treasure hunt area.

The door wasn't locked. Touko didn't know if anyone was already in there, but she opened the door without knocking anyway.

The room was not particularly large. Despite the poor light it was plain to see that no one else was inside.

The light switch was right by the door. She didn't have to look for it, it was right in the spot she expected when she reached out her hand. Touko walked to the center of the now bright room.

Standing right in the middle, she surveyed the room. This place stored the various teaching aids used in the different social studies classes — Japanese History, World History, geography, civics, and economics.

Her gaze was immediately attracted to a large globe. It didn't look to be all that new, as it had stickers with hand-written names attached to some countries that had recently changed name. There was also rolled-up wall scrolls and old textbooks.

Touko let her gaze pass over these as she slowly walked forward, before coming to a stop in front of a set of shelves enclosed by a glass door.

There was a stack of thin booklets of varying sizes next to the atlases. It was hard to make out the lettering along their spines because they were so thin, but if she strained she could see they all had the same words written on them:

– Blank Maps

She opened the glass door and took out one of those books.

In a sense, these were forms, but none of them were filled out. They may have been made long ago, and some of the pages had brown stains, but they were all brand new as they rested here.

Touko took the next book off the shelf. After flipping through all the pages, she moved on to the next one.

Her heart was thumping. Her hope of finding the card in there was fighting with her uncertainty about what to do if it wasn't.

She ordered herself to calm down, but her fingers kept flipping through the pages of their own accord. Instead of slowing down, they sped up.

"I hate to break it to you, but it's not in here."

These words reached her just as she finished flipping through the last book.

"So it seems."

Touko returned the books to the cupboard, closed the door, and turned around. She'd known it was Noriko standing there from the first word she spoke.

"What's with the blank maps?"

Noriko asked. From Noriko's position, she'd only be able to see Touko's back, so the blank maps must have been a good guess. It didn't seem like she had a good understanding of where everything was in here because there was something special stored here.

It wasn't here. Since Noriko had said that, it was pretty certain that the red card was hidden in a different location.

So why had Noriko appeared? It was hard to imagine her tailing Touko here from the classroom. By all rights, she should be in the Rose Mansion.

"Was there something between you and Yumi-sama related to blank maps?"

Noriko questioned her again.

"—"

Touko didn't mind if Noriko knew about this, but she didn't know how to explain it.

Noriko may have interpreted her silence as a desire to not discuss this, as she changed tack with her next question.

"Do you think Yumi-sama hid her card where she did because she wanted you to find it? Is that why you're here?"

That was exactly right. As expected of Noriko. Even though she didn't know the significance of the blank maps, she'd deduced the reason that Touko had come to the social studies prep room.

"Are you here to laugh at my conceit?"

Touko fired back and Noriko looked completely serious as she denied this.

"Not at all. If you think that Yumi-sama hid her card here so that you could find it, then there's something I have to tell you."

"What—"

"You're taking Yumi-sama far too lightly."

Those words pierced Touko's heart. Sachiko-onee-sama had said something similar the other day, so maybe it was just that she couldn't block it out any more.

She'd been acting high and mighty, looking down on Yumi-sama.

"Yumi-sama cherishes you, but she's not the sort of person to hide her card somewhere where only you could find it."

She was Rosa Chinensis en bouton; she would soon be Rosa Chinensis — Noriko's eyes were saying this.

"I get it, truly. You're here in this small room because you're searching for Yumi-sama. But no matter how you look, Yumi-sama isn't in here. Yumi-sama's bigger than you imagine. So big that she can't fit in this room. That's why you can't see her, Touko."

Noriko sniffled.

"You don't understand Yumi-sama's heart."

Noriko might have been crying. But why would she be crying?

"You like Yumi-sama, right Touko? She's the only one you rely on. Why can't you trust your own instincts? You have to face her head on."

Noriko grabbed Touko's hands and squeezed them tight, like Touko had done in the courtyard after school last Saturday.

"Back then, I thought you wanted to escape from this situation. Was I wrong?"

"—"

"But if you keep yourself hidden away in this small room, you won't reach Yumi-sama's heart. If you remain how you are, you're never going to find Yumi-sama's card."

Noriko freed her hands from Touko's and wiped the back of her hand in a line across her own cheek. Then, apparently satisfied with what she'd conveyed, she walked off towards the door.

Noriko looked like she was going to leave it at that, so Touko called out to her friend's back.

"Aren't you just saying what you want to say?"

Then Noriko stopped, turned around, and said:

"I'm your friend, so I'd have to say something even if I didn't want to."

After Noriko had left, Touko looked up at the ceiling and let out a sigh.

"Good grief."

Only Noriko and her meddling could have left her feeling unsatisfied about staying in this room. Smiling slightly to herself, Touko left the social studies prep room.

There was no point stopping here, since no one she cared about what was in the room.

(What should I do when I leave?)

She'd made up her mind.

She'd go and see her.

Part 4

The second floor of the Rose Mansion was a lot more lively than when Noriko had left.

"I'm back."

The waves of people entering and exiting were pretty large. It wasn't just students that had found hints for the white card, some also stopped by to hear any news about whether or not the cards had been found.

But, judging by the state of the room, none of the cards had been found so far.

"Welcome back."

Noriko thought her return may have gone unnoticed in the hubbub of the room, but Shimako-san slipped through the crowd of guests and walked over to the door to greet her.

"Were you cold? Your nose is red."

As she said this, Shimako-san placed her hands on Noriko's cheeks. A momentary look of confusion passed across Shimako-san's face, probably because those cheeks weren't as cold as she was expecting.

"I took care of some other matters while I was out."

"I see."

That was all she had to say for Shimako-san to understand everything.

Yumi-sama was still in the same spot and chatting with the first-years that surrounded her, as though no time had passed at all. She probably still had the same amount of tea in her cup as before too. Noticing Noriko, she gave a small wave and smile.

Yoshino-sama was also looking in her direction, but she seemed to be preoccupied with the sounds of someone thumping up the stairs. Noriko too found herself instinctively looking towards the door.

It wasn't just Noriko — Shimako-san, the two boutons, Mami-sama, and all the other guests turned their attention to the door.

(Someone's finally found a card, huh?)

It was about the time when they would expect a card to be found. But it was more than just that ... those footsteps seemed far too bold, as though they didn't contain even a hint of doubt. The reaction in the room was completely different to when Noriko had entered barely a minute earlier.

"Yoshino!"

The door opened and the figure they saw was Rosa Foetida, Hasekura Rei-sama.

The girls that had been waiting in anticipation slumped down, while the girls that had resigned themselves to being beaten to a card perked up. The Rosa Foetida fans were simply surprised and excited, and over by the kettle Yoshino-sama flinched, overwhelmed by the force of Rei-sama's initial shout.

"W-what is it, Rei-chan?"

Ignoring everyone's gaze on her, Rosa Foetida strode over to Yoshino-sama. No one else called out to her, although there were plenty of conversational openers they could have used, like "Gokigenyou," or, "Have you finished your exams?"

"Here, Yoshino."

When she'd arrived in front of Yoshino-sama, Rei-sama reached into her coat pocket and pulled something out. What she placed in Yoshino-sama's palm was a piece of cardboard, folded in half.

"Huh?"

It was yellow.

"Huuuuuuuuuh!?"

The silence in the Rose Mansion was shattered and the room was awash with shouting.

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