Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume27 Chapter5 2

"Why?" Part 2

"You really have no idea what people find insulting, do you?"

Yoshino grumbled, their lunch spread out in front of them in the park.

"Huh?"

Chisato-san asked, as she wiped the tears away from her eyes. On the lake, a couple were riding in a boat. With that kind of backdrop, sitting together at a bench, Chisato-san just had to crack up at the lunch that she'd brought along, didn't she.

"Exactly my point. I shouldn't have to tell you that it's rude to laugh like that when you see someone's lunch."

"Ah, you're right. It was rude. However."

Having momentarily composed herself, Chisato-san broke into laughter again, like the aftershocks of an earthquake.

"It really is completely different to Rei-sama."

It was hopeless. This girl obviously didn't know the meaning of the word 'introspection.'

"Could you not compare it to Rei-chan's cooking?"

"Ah, you're right. I'm sorry. Rei-sama's fried food was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, like a professional's. Obviously, it'd be wrong to compare you to a pro."

"Hmmph."

Even though she said that, Chisato-san was probably thinking that it was pretty laughable when compared to an amateur's too. Yoshino herself was well aware of that. The exterior was black and the inside was half-cooked, so rather than looking like something deep fried it more closely resembled a botamochi completely covered in sesame seeds. Incidentally, her wieners weren't too badly burnt, but the ones that were supposed to resemble crabs looked more like sooty bamboo mats, while the ones that were supposed to resemble octopuses looked more like silver-grass with heads. And as for the fried egg – well, better not to say anything more about that.

When Chisato-san first said that they'd bring their lunch, Yoshino naturally assumed her mother would make it for her, but then she'd added, "Of course, you have to make it yourself," and so, reluctantly, Yoshino had picked up the frying pan. Rei-chan would usually prepare lunch for them whenever they had picnics like this, so it wasn't something Yoshino had had to do before. It's never going to end well when you're suddenly asked to perform at something that you don't do normally. That's the kind of thing that's obvious without needing to test it.

"Well, even if the meat is rare, it doesn't look like there's anything that would be inedible."

Apparently all that laughing had made her hungry. Chisato-san wolfed down one of the brown 'silver-grass' pieces, and some of the fried egg that looked like a scrambled egg with another egg poured on top of it and then frozen.

And in exchange.

"Have some of mine."

Chisato-san's lunch was lovely. She had norimaki with various fillings (salmon, cucumber, and fried egg), and they looked like a colorful flower bed when they were all lined up. She also had bell pepper, octopus, and broccoli pieces that had been coated in batter and lightly fried, and given the different ingredients and requirements in cooking time this obviously would have been quite a handful.

Sadly, Yoshino couldn't stop herself from a spot of light teasing.

"A while back, I heard on TV that the color red is supposed to increase your appetite. But after seeing that movie, the red bell peppers are just reminding me of all that blood."

"Sop it."

Having just put one of the bell pepper pieces into her mouth, Chisato-san's voice came out sounding rather strange. She probably meant to say, "Stop it."

"Just don't think about it. That eerie, gloomy shrine in the estate, and the drip-drip-drip onto the Buddha statue … Eeeek"

"Eeeek."

Even though she brought up the subject, Yoshino still squealed when she remembered the scene from "The Tale of the Blood-stained Mansion" that they'd just seen. Was this sadism, or masochism? The couple on the boat looked at them in surprise.

"You put on a brave face, pretending you weren't scared. But I knew you were frightened, Yoshino-san."

Chisato-san chortled.

"You can talk. The movie had barely started and you were shaking in your seat, grabbing hold of my arm tightly."

Yoshino shot back.

"I'm fairly sure you grabbed on to me first."

"No, that was you. First to grab, and first to scream."

"That wasn't a scream, it was a laugh!"

In the end, although they had sat through the horror film, they hadn't been able to quietly endure it and had clutched each other by the arms and screamed over and over again. Since neither of them were enjoying it, they would have been better off leaving – but the first one to make such a proposal would have been branded a coward, so neither of them wanted to say anything. It would also have been a waste of the ticket money too, but that wasn't the main reason. And so, they watched to the end. All the way to the ending credits.

Right, right. The five seconds after the final, "The End," were the most frightening of all. As they watched the couple they'd seen earlier running to the movie theater, and had been sitting a short distance away, get up and leave as soon as the ending credit music started. Geeze, whether they were coming or going, they were always in such a hurry.

"I can't remember when,"

While chewing on one of the norimaki, Yoshino questioned Chisato-san.

"But didn't you say you weren't any good at cooking, or something?"

The saltiness of the salmon came through nicely. It wasn't obvious at first glance, but there were sesame seeds mixed in with the white rice.

"Yeah. But seeing Rei-sama's lunch last year really kindled my interest in it. I've spent the last year training myself because I wanted to be like that, and it's at least looking good, don't you think?"

"Mmm."

It must have been a lot of work. Speaking of which, Chisato-san's image had changed a lot in the past year. She'd cut her hair, joined the kendo club, and apparently started cooking … perhaps she'd changed even more in other ways that Yoshino didn't know about. As annoying as it was, she'd become a much better woman than before.

"So, you know, my earlier laughter wasn't because I was making fun of your lunch."

One of Yoshino's malformed onigiri disappeared into Chisato-san's mouth.

"Then what?"

"I saw myself from a year ago in that, and it took me back."

"…"

Sneaky. Was she trying to make a favorable impression by saying that kind of thing?

To Yoshino, "Tanuma Chisato" had to be someone she disliked. She'd sought out Rei-chan's love, she found Rei-chan's card, she went on a date with Rei-chan, and she made sure she was seen arm-in-arm with Rei-chan by Yoshino –

"Hey,"

Yoshino inquired.

"Why are we following the same route that you took last year on your date with Rei-chan?"

To which Chisato-san responded by mumbling to herself, "Why indeed?" as she sipped tea from the cap of her thermos.