Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume37 Chapter9

Farewell Bouquet V

"Ah."

Yoshino-san, Rosa Foetida, froze immediately after opening the door.

"Uwah."

Katori-sensei stopped what she was doing too.

There was no way it could have been otherwise.

Yoshino-san was a member of the third-year Pine class, so to Katori-sensei she was someone that was "it" in their game of hide-and-seek. But, unlike Yumi, she didn't know she was "it," so naturally there was no declaration of, "I've found you." So then, what was she going to say instead?

"Hey, teacher, you left the class roll out on your desk."

–That.

"Uh."

"I took it back to the staff room, but. . . ."

". . . Oops." Katori-sensei made a face like she'd just been pinched. Basically, she looked pained.

Yumi thought back to when she left the classroom to do her cleaning duty and remembered that there had been some fuss at the front blackboard, with the girl on classroom duty and the girl in charge of the cleaning log huddled together. They were probably discussing what to do about the class roll.

"'Oops?' Oh, so you only just remembered? Sitting there, enjoying your tea break, blissfully unaware." Yoshino-san only came to her senses after she'd said that much, and continued, "—isn't the sort of thing you'd do. If I had to guess, I'd say you flew out of homeroom in a panic, then wandered the school grounds not sure of what to do when you ran into Yumi-san, who'd finished cleaning, and she brought you here. Am I right?"

"Spot on."

Katori-sensei raised her index finger like a quiz show host, when a voice called out from behind Yoshino-san.

"Um. Did something happen in the third-year Pine class?"

It was Arima Nana-chan. The Yellow Rose sœurs had only just arrived because they'd stopped in at the Kendo club on their way here. A first-year that was brimming with curiosity, she'd badgered the second-years, Nana-chan and Touko, asking, "What's this? What's that?" when she first joined. Those two must have thought, "It's strange for a teacher to be here," but then weighed up whether or not they should inquire as to the reason.

"Not really," Yoshino-san said to her juniors, then looked at Katori-sensei with a sad expression.

"Teacher, there were a lot of stunning revelations today. You should have waited while we were all surprised, but instead you disappeared on your own."

Yumi knew what Yoshino-san meant by the "stunning revelations," but it must have been complete gibberish to the other three.

"So what happened already?" Nana-chan asked again, impatiently.

For a first-year addressing a third-year, and a petite sœur to her onee-sama, her manner of speaking was a bit too forceful. But this was a rather normal state of affairs for the Yellow Rose sœurs.

"Well, you see, Katori-sensei . . ." Yoshino-san began, paused briefly, then finally put it into words. "Is taking a leave of absence from the second term."

This had only been announced during their afternoon homeroom, so it was still piping-hot fresh news.

"Huh?"

Noriko-chan, Touko, and Nana-chan simultaneously turned to look at Katori-sensei.

". . . From the second term."

". . . A leave of absence."

It was the first time those outside the third-year Pine class were hearing this, so they couldn't hide their surprise.

"Yes, that's right." Katori-sensei nodded and confirmed this, then with a faraway look, she added, "Although I really wanted to be here until Fukuzawa-san and Shimazu-san graduated."

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