Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume32 Chapter3

Me and the Interviewer

Part 1.

For some reason, she had a bad feeling about things.

It's not something that could be put into words, but for the last two or three days she hadn't been able to calm down.

It was as though someone was watching her, or following her – that kind of sensation.

It could just be her imagination. Or maybe an evil spirit had attached itself to her. If it kept going for too long she'd have to have an exorcism performed, something that would make it leave.

"Mami, you can't sense anything?"

Tsukiyama Minako asked her petit soeur, who she had unexpectedly encountered in the hallway.

"Nope?"

Mami had a quick look around the area, then shrugged her shoulders.

"If you're talking about signs of life, then there's a lot of high school students scattered around all over the place – "

"That's not what I was talking about."

It wasn't long ago that the morning classes and home room had been completed. The halls of the high school buildings were filled with students going here and there.

"Are you sure you haven't caught a cold?"

Mami asked, putting her hand to Minako's forehead. Minako shook her off, saying 'Quit it.'

"Tomorrow's the graduation ceremony, you know. Why don't you go home and get some rest? Or maybe have a lie down in the infirmary?"

"Don't treat me like I'm some sick person. I will not be going home now, nor will I go to the infirmary."

"Oh? You have business to attend to?"

"… Pretty much."

During that pause, Minako thought she was being set-up for a one-liner from Mami, but nothing came. Instead she got:

"Well then, I'll give you this."

"A bread roll?"

What she was offered was a single bread roll in a thin paper bag.

"We were planning on having an editorial meeting this afternoon in the clubroom, right? So I bought you a bread roll from Milk Hall. Since the meeting was canceled, please go ahead and eat it. Or if you brought a lunch-box, I could go and fetch it for you."

"I didn't bring one. Anyway, why was the meeting canceled?"

"Hidemi had a sudden toothache."

"What a spoiled child. She's your petit soeur. It's just a toothache. If she had any willpower, she'd still be able to attend a meeting."

"Well, that's true."

Mami kept holding the paper bag by it's opening with her right hand, and folded her arms across her chest.

"If it was just Hidemi, then I'd be saying the same thing. But two others left with a stomachache and a headache, so I didn't press the matter."

Two others?

"They're not faking it?"

"Geeze, onee-sama. Don't you think you're being paranoid?"

"… I guess."

This is Lillian's Girls Academy. We are all children of our mother in heaven, Maria-sama. There would be no-one here who would feign an illness, or doubt people without any proof – Well, let's just set that aside for now.

But if that was true, then the newspaper club was full of sick people. More than Minako, it was her juniors that needed the school infirmary.

"They've all gone home to rest up, but I expect they will all be perfect for tomorrow's graduation ceremony. All of us are the Lillian's Girls Academy Newspaper Club and – "

"Yeah, yeah. I get it."

Mami usually offered up a good argument, but Minako wasn't in the mood to hear it, so she took the bread roll she had been offered. When she went to take out her purse, she was told 'It's a graduation gift.'

"Thank-you."

After saying this, Minako turned away from her petit soeur. Her graduation present was a single bread roll. More surprisingly, it was enough to bring tears to her eyes.

Part 2.

And, as usual, the bread roll that Mami had given her was hot enough to bring tears to her eyes as well.

A spicy potato-salad sandwich.

Such an intense and unique item would never gain widespread popularity, but it always had a number of incredibly obsessive fans which meant its name had remained in the list of breads on sale for a very long time. They didn't keep a lot in stock, so it was rare to be able to buy one over the counter at Milk Hall. It was probably because they hadn't taken orders from the various classes today.

There were no classes this afternoon because of preparations that were being made for the graduation ceremony. About half of her classmates had gone home, and of the remainder about two-thirds had gone off somewhere leaving only a few people remaining in the classroom. Two of the groups had taken in people from other classes and were having a small party.

Seeing Minako eating her lunch alone, they had invited her to join them but she politely declined. She appreciated their kindness. But being the outsider in a group of close friends having a farewell party, she would either have been an intrusion or they would have gone out of their way to make her feel included. It was better that she remained by herself.

These … the previous Rosa Gigantea, Satou Sei, used to like these. Minako reminisced as she bit into the spicy potato salad sandwich.

Really, what had she become.

Keeping data on someone who had graduated a year ago. She should have erased that from her brain.

Minako didn't know what she would do with all the information she had gathered up to this point, like student's home phone numbers.

Certain student's blood types.

Birthdays.

Characteristics of how their school tie was knotted.

Minako had a mountain of this data that she would have no use for after she had graduated.

"Business to attend to, huh."

Mami had said this to her, but if she really did have something definite to attend to then she wouldn't have just been sitting around like she was.

And yet, somehow.

Right, somehow she found it hard to go home, so she stayed at school.

She didn't have anything she wanted to do. She just wanted to be here.

Even if Minako stayed back late, she couldn't work on the Lillian Kawaraban anymore. Despite this, without noticing it, she was still seeking out conversations that could be turned into articles. Thinking of eyeball-grabbing headlines. Her fingers were itching to be tapping away on the keyboard.

Having been so engrossed in the creation of the school newspaper, this must be the fade-out now that she was at the end. Tomorrow was the graduation ceremony, and there was no way one of the graduating students would be able to report on it for the graduation commemorative edition.

Even so, just being here like this wasn't too bad. Minako smiled wanly then stuffed her mouth with the remainder of the bread roll.

(Nevertheless)

That Mami was so thoughtless. She could have at least brought a milk coffee with the bread roll.

"… That's fine."

The taste definitely grew on you.

Of those spicy potato-salad sandwiches.

Part 3.

"Minako-san."

When she went out for a settling walk after lunch, there was Ogasawara Sachiko-san.

Looking just as beautiful as ever. Her long, silky, black hair. The tasteful, shapely parts all exquisitely arranged on her face. Everything about her just seemed to ooze grace. A beautiful voice that you listened to in rapture.

"I'd like to talk with you, is that okay?"

"Huh? What's this about?"

Even as Minako maintained an outward calm, her voice rose with excitement.

Her heart beat in anticipation. Since she was standing out here, it must have meant that Sachiko-san had come here especially to see her.

The newspaper club always wanted to hear her conversations. And they were always following her around. Surely Sachiko-san must have tired of their habitual and aggressive actions by now.

So then, why was she here? Sachiko-san had approached her, saying she wanted to talk. What on earth could have happened?

(Something happened…?)

Yes, undoubtedly something had happened.

"Here's not really a good place. How about we go somewhere where there's fewer people – "

(Something she can't talk about!?)

Sachiko-san didn't usually pay any attention to whether or not people were watching her, so this must be some top-secret information.

Certainly, something like this had happened before. About a year and a half ago, when the newspaper club had been chasing after Fukuzawa Yumi-san who was rumored to be a potential petit soeur for Sachiko-san.

(Well...)

Minako glanced sideways at Sachiko-san. Back then they had been quite forceful in the way they went about gathering data. According to what she heard afterwards, Yumi-san was quite troubled by it because she wasn't used to being the center of attention. Apparently unable to stand idly by, one day Sachiko-san had shown up at the newspaper club and dazzled them with an offer to provide information about it, on the condition that they promise to stop chasing after Yumi-san. Naturally, the interview with Sachiko-san that ran in the following day's paper was wildly popular with the readers.

This pattern of events was just like what had happened back then. Just like before, a huge story seemed to have dropped into her lap.

And because Sachiko-san had approached her about it first, there should be no problem in using their conversation as part of an article for the Lillian Kawaraban. It wasn't just that she wanted to write an article, but if things went well this would be a nice parting gift to her juniors.

(All right!)

When Minako clenched her fist in front of her chest, Sachiko-san looked at her doubtfully and asked 'Minako-san?'

"Oh, excuse me."

Danger, danger. By letting loose in front of her guest, Minako was letting them in on her world.

"I was thinking we should go somewhere quiet with no-one around to have our talk. Minako-san, do you know of anywhere we could use?"

"Let me think..."

Minako looked back at the classroom. At this time of day, all the third year classrooms were probably in a similar state to hers. So they were out.

Looking out the hallway window into the courtyard, there were fewer students but still some scattered around the courtyard, so that was no good either.

The library would be quiet, but it would probably be too quiet and their conversation would leak to others.

And because they were just two students talking, they wouldn't be able to borrow the guidance counselor's room.

Sachiko-san's stronghold, the Rose Mansion, usually had people in it after school. And she might even want to keep this a secret from her friends.

There conversation had reached an impasse after Sachiko-san had posed the question of 'where?'

Where else is there? – thinking this, Minako had a flash of inspiration.

"How about the newspaper club's clubroom?"

"The newspaper club's clubroom?"

Sachiko-san asked to confirm.

"But, won't all your club members be there?"

"Don't worry about that."

Mami had spoken to her earlier. The scheduled editorial meeting was canceled. The girls with toothache and headaches had already left, and even those members that were healthy would have gone home since the meeting was canceled.

"It'll be a bit cramped compared to the Rose Mansion, though."

"Not at all, I apologize for intruding."

With Sachiko-san's consent, the two of them headed towards the clubhouse.

Part 4.

"How did it come to this?"

Sitting on a chair in the clubroom, Minako looked at the two people in front of her.

"What do you mean, this?"

One of the two was Sachiko-san, who had accompanied her here.

"Didn't Sachiko tell you? That we wanted to speak to you?"

The other one you could call Sachiko-san's partner in crime, Hasekura Rei-san. Rosa Foetida.

The Red and Yellow Roses were seated on the other side of the desk to Minako, and looking at her with composed expressions. Usually, the innermost chair was the seat of honor, but her two guests stubbornly refused to move from their positions. Encamped by the door, they probably intended to block any attempt Minako might make to flee.

"Well, she definitely said that. Although I didn't hear anything about you lying in wait for me, Rei-san."

"Oh, I must have forgotten to mention that Rei had gone on ahead of me. We thought you might be suspicious if we both showed up, so we thought one of us should go and bring you here. That's all."

"Go and bring me here?"

So their target was the newspaper club's clubroom from the outset, and their prior conversation had just been to draw her here.

They'd caught her unprepared.

Minako had been completely taken in by Sachiko-san's meek appearance. Ahh, she'd been completely blinded by her desire for a scoop, and was now left looking foolish.

But, still, who could have imagined that Rei-san was lurking in the locked clubroom, or that both her arms would be seized the moment she stepped inside?

"Mami. You're there, aren't you? You're their accomplice in this, I'll bet."

Venting her frustration, Minako looked at the door between Sachiko-san and Rei-san and called out, loudly.

It would have been impossible for Rei-san to go into the staff room and nonchalantly retrieve the key for the newspaper club's clubroom. Which naturally led to the idea that there was someone helping her. Someone for whom retrieving the key wouldn't be out of the ordinary. And someone who could innocently return the key after Rei-sama was inside. In short, it had to be someone in the newspaper club.

"I'm sorry, onee-sama. But I was helpless when faced with the awesome power of Rosa Chinensis and Rosa Foetida."

Just as Minako had expected.

The feminine voice answered her from the other side of the door. The answer, and the way it was said, made it sound like something from a cheap drama. Minako was definitely not amused.

Upon reflection, the newspaper clubroom was a little, no make that a lot, cleaner than normal. The usual clutter of papers were stacked neatly on the shelves, and the computer and printer had been shifted slightly. As though an infrequent clean-up had just recently been completed.

And thinking back on it, her conversation with Mami in the hallway had probably been to plant the idea of coming to the newspaper club's clubroom in her head. This wasn't some spur of the moment deal, but a meticulously planned and rehearsed operation. The toothache, headache and stomachache were probably a pack of lies too. Oh Maria-sama, please forgive this naïve fool.

"Oh, by the way, Hidemi really did have to leave to see the dentist."

Sensing what she was thinking, Mami's voice came through the doorway.

"Hmm, now you tell me."

Was that supposed to make it any better, having a single truth mixed up in all of this?

It seemed as though she had no choice but to accept the situation. Minako settled back in her chair and turned defiant.

"And so? What is this? Have you come to settle some old scores?"

Thinking about it, it was completely out of character for Sachiko-san to approach the newspaper club to discuss something. Let alone divulge her years of memories on the eve of graduation.

"A settling of scores, you say?"

Sachiko-san smiled. Then she produced a small note-taker from somewhere and pressed the record button.

"I will now begin our exclusive interview with Tsukiyama Minako-san."

"Huh!?"

Their rationale was as follows:

For the past three years, Tsukiyama Minako had been single-minded and, at times, quite aggressive in how she went about gathering information. If things continued like this until graduation, there could be no closure. So it would do her good to have the tables turned on her just once.

"Wait, hold on just a moment."

"We will not wait."

Quite right. If her opponent asked her to wait, there's no way she would hold back.

"As this is the first interview, we've been checking up on you for the last couple of days."

"What do you mean?"

A glance at the scattered papers that Rei-san spread out over the desk revealed that they contained detailed notes about her actions during the last few days at school.

Her school arrival and departure times, how she spent her lunch break (where she was, who she was with and what she ate), who she talked to that wasn't in her class – .

"I get it. You've been following me."

"It was surprisingly easy to follow you. You didn't notice a thing."

"I noticed. I had a bad feeling."

"Even so, you didn't work out that it was us, did you Minako-san?"

"When you swept your gaze around, you were never able to pick us out of the swarm of people in the same school uniform, right?"

In other words, when she had discreetly looked around Sachiko-san or Rei-san had been amongst the crowd of students. That was somewhat vexing.

"Tsukiyama Minako-san, what's your most profound memory of your three years in high school?"

"Huh?"

That's a fairly abrupt change of topic, Sachiko-san.

"Hmm, let me see – "

"Please tell us about what you plan to do after graduation. Share all of your thoughts about the future."

As soon as she had finished answering the first question, Rei-san asked her another one.

"What's your favorite phrase?"

"Which subjects do you like?"

"Sum up your thoughts about Lillian's Girls Academy in one sentence."

The two of them took turns bombarding Minako with prepared questions. They were all quite banal. Uninteresting details. This was probably just another part of their harassment.

"Hey."

Minako opened her mouth.

"This is kind of boring, isn't it? Asking me these kinds of questions."

"You're right."

Sachiko-san agreed, and pressed the stop button on the recorder.

"Huh?"

Not actually expecting them to stop, Minako was dumbfounded.

"So, are we done?"

"The interview was just a pretense."

Rei-san smiled.

"A pretense …"

"If we hadn't done that, we wouldn't be able to have a nice, long chat with you."

As she said this, Rei-san leaned over and took something out of her bag. After Sachiko-san had cleared away the note-taker, Rei-san placed three containers of milk coffee on the desk.

"We'll only need until we've finished these, for our friendly chat."

"I don't understand."

A friendly chat. Why a friendly chat here? Why did these people want to have a friendly chat with her? Inside Minako's head, these questions were swirling around in confusion. Watching this spectacle, Sachiko-san smiled.

"I'm not sure when, but you spoke with Yumi. Some time when you weren't collecting data or preparing a story. She said it went well."

"Well?"

Yet another thing that Minako didn't understand.

"I don't know the details, but apparently she learned a lot from it."

"No way."

"Come now, my petit soeur is not one to lie."

Sachiko-san smiled. Was that a joke? No, probably not. Sachiko-san was always deadly serious.

Just when did she become the sort of person that could so openly praise their petit soeur like that? At the very least, when they had started high school she was a grumpy, hard to please person who seldom smiled. Quite the changed person.

"I don't think I explicitly taught her anything, more that your petit soeur was able to derive a lesson from a meaningless conversation."

After putting down money for the milk coffee, Minako took one of the packs, inserted a straw and gulped it down. If the two Roses wanted to continue to chat, she wasn't going to allow them to hold this over her.

"Once more, you're not making yourself very endearing."

"Well, that's just Minako-san's way, isn't it?"

Rei-san and Sachiko-san both took their milk coffees.

"Speaking of petit soeurs,"

Minako suddenly thought of something, and changed the topic.

"Yumi-san, Yoshino-san and Shimako-san all made something cute for the White Day return gifts, didn't they?"

If they were just having a chat, any topic should be fine.

"As usual, you have keen hearing."

Well, that's true. Even though she had retired from making the newspaper, her intelligence gathering antennae had not grown dull.

"Those girls, they couldn't wait for White Day and so they made and distributed their gifts the following day."

"Their reasoning was that things would be in chaos because of the approaching graduation ceremony, and they might not have a chance to see each other because of class scheduling."

"Purses, weren't they? After they'd finished they had to hand them over right away."

The older sisters shared a glance as they spoke.

"Still, I can understand how they felt."

Minako murmured. Sometimes she'd be gathering information for a story to put in the Lillian Kawaraban two editions later, but when she finished the article sooner than expected she would want to put it in the next edition. It was the same thing.

"So it's not that they didn't wait for White Day, it's that they couldn't wait."

The three of them laughed.

"And how about you two? Did you also get the handmade purses?"

The response of 'We didn't' was instantaneous from the two of them.

"I see. How did that make you feel?"

She felt like delving into this a bit deeper. She thought it was a long shot from the start, but surprisingly they answered in a carefree manner.

"Part of me was disappointed, but part of me was okay with it. It was a complicated feeling."

"If it had been something that Yoshino had worked her heart out to make then I would have wanted it, but because she made it with the others I didn't. Oh, Minako-san, why are you smiling?"

"Huh?"

Minako hadn't realized that she was as she listened to them talk. But she definitely did seem to be smiling. Listening to Rei-san and Sachiko-san speak when they weren't on guard, being able to see them as they really were, made her feel happy.

"I was just thinking that friendly chats are surprisingly good."

If she was to put what she heard here into the Lillian Kawaraban, it would probably make her readers very happy. But, bad luck. This was a friendly chat. It would be uncouth of her to turn this unguarded conversation between friends into an article.

After about thirty minutes of chatting in the clubroom, the pair of Roses left.

"This was fun."

"Later"

Those words stuck with her.

As she saw them off, Minako pondered the question she had thought of a while back, but hadn't voiced.

(Hey. Why did you choose the newspaper club's clubroom as the location for our friendly chat?)

She didn't ask, but she had a rough idea of the answer.

Those two had been checking up on her movements. So they must have known how many times a day she would walk to the front of the club house, but then return without going inside.

Sachiko-san and Rei-san understood Minako's feelings.

What that pair knew, Minako too knew.

And some things are better left unsaid.

This is what they call empathy.

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