Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume25 Chapter3 3

Arriving With a ProposalPart 3

"Well then, I'd like to return to our discussion about the plans for this year's Valentine's Day event – is that okay with everyone?"

Mami-san resumed her presentation. The approximately ten minute long derailment was now over.

"Please take a look at the prepared documents."

Hearing this, Yoshino swapped the location of her cup of cooled tea and the printout. She flipped past the front cover which read, "Valentine's Day Event Proposal." The proposal was bound together by a staple in the top left hand corner, and the heading at the top of the second page was:

""Treasure Hunt: Where are the Bouton's Cards!?" Hold on, Mami-san. Isn't this last year's event?"

For a moment she thought that Mami-san may have inadvertently brought last year's document. But Mami-san nonchalantly said:

"Exactly. Last year's event had unprecedented popularity. Of course, we'll draw on our experience of last year to improve certain areas, and incorporate some feedback from the students that participated, so even though it's the same proposal this year's event will be bigger and better … "

In other words, they couldn't think of anything that would top last year's event.

"I'll answer all your questions and concerns at the end."

Mami-san started her explanation. The meat of the event was the treasure hunt. A lot of the details were the same as last year, but there were a number of modifications.

"Last time, Rosa Chinensis' red card was the only one that wasn't found within the time limit."

Mami-san looked to Sachiko-sama, as though for confirmation.

"Yes."

Then Sachiko-sama looked at Yumi-san, seated beside her. In turn, Yumi should have looked at someone else, but it stopped there, with her looking back at Sachiko-sama.

There was a reason behind this relay of meaningful glances.

During last year's event, only Rei-chan's yellow card and Shimako-san's white card were located – nobody found the red card. But, when they went to check, they were met with the mystery of the card being found in a location that Yumi-san had searched in vain during the event. At that point, there was a dispute between the Red Rose soeurs as to the depth at which the card was buried. Incidentally, it was buried in the old greenhouse, next to the Rosa Chinensis plant.

But, naturally, the point of Mami-san's question wasn't about the mystery of whether the card was buried or not. It was that the card hadn't been found.

"It's such a shocking waste to go to all the effort of hiding the card, only to have it go undiscovered. We expected there would be three winners last time, but there were only two. If we went by the same rules as last year, then what if – what if – none of the three cards were found, then we'd have no winners at all. Now, the chance of that dreadful outcome happening is low, but we have to take some measures to avoid it altogether."

The newspaper club's plan was to have something like a repechage round, so that the card would definitely end up in someone's hands.

"Hmm."

In that case, Yoshino's plan of avoiding going on a date with someone she didn't know by hiding the card in a location no-one would find was probably futile.

"What are the specifics of this repechage round?"

Sachiko-sama inquired. Yoshino was idly expecting it would be scissors-paper-rock, but it looked like Mami-san had a different idea.

"This year, I was thinking we should give those students that can't take part on the day a chance too."

"The people who can't participate? That sounds like a good idea."

Rei-chan's eyes sparkled. Obviously pleased that she'd be able to participate in the treasure hunt in some small way, even if she couldn't make it to the event because of her exams.

Enough, enough. Can't she have even just a semblance of a poker face? Yoshino looked away. Rei-chan was currently wagging her tail like a dog about to be fed. And it's like she wasn't even embarrassed by it.

"Yoshino-chan, you seem pleased by that."

Sachiko-sama looked straight at her.

"No way."

Damn it. It looked like she'd caught the giggles just by looking at Rei-chan's face.

Incidentally, Mami-san had said "repechage." On the third page of the proposal was the heading "Absentee's Chance" – which looked to be it.

"Since it's held after a regular school day, I'm sure there will be people who want to participate but won't be able to due to their own individual circumstances. Let's call this a lifeline for them."

So that's it – it was like the absentee ballots for an election that they occasionally talked about on the news. Mami-san had apparently taken a hint from that sort of thing.

"We'll set up a post box, where they can "post" a form saying where they think a card will be hidden, up until the day before the event – or whatever time limit we decide. Of course, the box won't be opened until after the event, so the boutons can't change their hiding position after looking at the predictions."

"I see. Then if the card isn't found during the event, it will go to whoever submitted an entry with the correct location?"

"Exactly. That way, if all the cards are found on the day, the second-chance entries instantly become void, regardless of how many had the correct location."

"What will you do if a card isn't found on the day, but there are multiple entries in the box with the correct location?"

"It'll be sorted out by scissors-paper-rock the following day, in front of the newspaper club and the person who hid the card."

"And if there isn't a correct entry in the box?"

"We could go with whoever got closest … although, if it comes to that, we could draw it like a lottery, or pick whoever wrote the funniest answer – I don't think it really matters. For the minor details, I want to hear your opinion, but I don't want to get bogged down in them just now, okay?"

Everyone nodded, there was no objection.

"Will the entries have to have the color of the card as well as the location?"

Rei-chan asked, raising her hand. She was all eager and full of questions now that she thought there was a chance she could take part.

"No, just where it's hidden. Don't you think it's better if it operates under the same rules as the treasure hunt itself?"

For the people who were searching on the day, even if they had a card they were aiming for, they didn't have to declare that in order to participate. As a result, if they chanced upon some other card, there was no disputing their ownership of it.

But still, that Rei-chan. Even though she'd just been told that they didn't want to get bogged down in minor details. Mami-san forced a smile.

"Were there any other questions?"

"Yes."

As Yoshino shot her hand up, so too did Yumi-san and Noriko-chan – in short, all the boutons raised their hand. As the ones with the leading role in this event, it was something that affected them directly, so they were all taking it seriously.

It was something she could have let go without comment, but then it would have remained unresolved.

"Well then, we'll start with Yoshino-san."

Mami-san asked her first, since she had been the one to raise her hand with the most force, after all. Yoshino cleared her throat and said, "Okay then," before continuing.

"I had a question about the "Project Aims" section."

Then the other two nodded and said, "Yeah." It looked like they all had questions about the same thing.

"It says, "To promote interaction between regular students and the boutons who will become Roses next school year." … "

After reading that far, Mami-san finally noticed and let out a little, "Ah."

"Drat. I forgot to fix that part."

No matter how many times Mami-san drew her finger across that section of the document, it was too late now. To make it worse, now that this had been pointed out her tongue was tied.

"I see."

"I read that but it went straight past me."

Rei-chan and Sachiko-sama looked at the boutons in admiration.

"… I messed up."

Mami-san lowered her head, crestfallen. Since the event was largely the same as last year, she'd probably followed the same format as last year's proposal. Only modifying the year, and the parts of the event she wanted changed. However, last year the "boutons" had been the "next year's Roses," but they couldn't say that this year.

That's right – the White Rose soeurs.

The "next year's Rose" was Shimako-san, but the "bouton" was Noriko-chan. Those tangled circumstances came about because Shimako-san was going to be a Rose for two years running.

As a result, obviously she'd be interested.

"Who will it be?"

Somebody asked.

"It'll be … "

Shimako-san and Noriko-chan looked at each other then said:

"Noriko."

"Onee-sama."

Usually the White Rose soeurs got along preposterously well, hardly ever fighting or having a clash of opinions. But this time around their opinions were wildly divergent.

"Huh – "

The pair looked at each other in surprise. Apparently they'd both thought that the other was naturally going to do it. Would that be optimism, or over-estimation of the other? If it had been the Yellow Rose soeurs, then they still would have tried to pin it on the other, but they wouldn't have been surprised that their opinions differed.

"It says "bouton" and that's you, Noriko."

"But the "next year's Rose" is you, isn't it onee-sama?"

The one point they agreed on was that the other should do it. But that was no good.

(Hmm.)

Yoshino analyzed the situation.

Shimako-san had probably thought that Noriko-chan was going to do it, right from the start. Because the proposal's title said "Bouton" while Shimako-san was a "Rose."

But what about Noriko-chan? Since they'd been saying "bouton this" and "bouton that," she'd probably resigned herself to the task. But now that the situation had been muddied due to Mami-san's innocent mistake, she was probably looking to escape.

(Well then.)

In the end, it looked like Noriko-chan didn't want to do it if she didn't have to. But despite that, she had insulted her senior by calling her "childish."

At any rate, this was the White Rose soeurs' crisis. That was fitting, since the petit soeur was trying to push work onto the grande soeur. Had the usually peaceful White Rose soeurs stumbled upon their White Rose Revolution?

"My apologies. It was my mistake to think that bouton was a synonym for future Rose."

Mami-san said, looking meek. Her posture was similar to earlier, when she'd appealed for Yoshino to co-operate, but her demeanor was completely different. Well, the earlier one was nothing but an act.

"That's right – which one did you mean, Mami-san?"

Naturally, the ball was now in the court of the person who had come to them with the proposal.

"Um, as the cause of all this chaos it may be a bit irresponsible for me to say this but, I'm sorry, I don't have a definitive answer. I don't mind who it is, as long as one of you does it. So with that, I'd like to hear everyone's thoughts."

"Our thoughts … "

First of all, the reason why it had been the boutons last year was because the Roses were all third-years and about to graduate – and on top of that, they'd all been taking entrance exams, so they wouldn't have had much spare time. With that in mind, there was no reason Shimako-san couldn't do it this year.

"But I did it last year."

Shimako-san mumbled. Then Sachiko-sama quickly rejected that.

"We can't accept that reason. If we accept it now, from you, then Noriko-chan would be able to make the same excuse."

Exactly. If they decided that Noriko-chan had to do it because Shimako-san had already done it once, then there would be nobody to do it next year. In this situation, either Noriko-chan or Shimako-san would have to do it twice.

However.

"But, depending on the results of next year's election, Noriko won't necessarily become Rosa Gigantea."

Huh?

Shimako-san chipped in with an amazing opinion. But Noriko-chan wasn't about to be defeated.

"You're talking about what would happen if I lose next year's election and don't become Rosa Gigantea? Well, since you've brought it up, wouldn't it be strange for someone like that to be one of the drawcards in this year's event? If I hid the card this year, then went on a date with someone, but didn't become a student council leader and was just an ordinary student – it'd be a joke."

That was a reasonable opinion. Now Shimako-san was at a disadvantage. It was too late for her to say, "Don't worry, Noriko will definitely be the next Rosa Gigantea so she should do it," because it wouldn't completely remove the inconsistency.

"Shimako. Why don't you accept this and step up?"

"You'll be fine doing it two years in a row – you have plenty of fans out there."

Sachiko-sama and Rei-chan were both leaning towards the idea that Shimako-san should do it.

Yoshino too looked straight into Shimako-san's eyes and said:

"Let's do it."

It was meant as payback for earlier. Of course, Yoshino knew her smile was nowhere near as angelic as Shimako-san's.

But Shimako-san didn't agree immediately. She lowered her gaze, as though unsure of what to do.

"… What should I do?"

She'd said that she'd been glad she did it last year. So she should be fine doing it again this year. So why wasn't she?

Normally, Shimako-san wouldn't be so insistent about it. She'd smile, nod her head, and say, "If that's what everyone thinks, then I suppose I'll have to give it a go."

"What is it?"

Because of her unusual behavior, everyone was starting to feel nervous. Shimako-san was fired up.

"I."

Eventually, Shimako-san meekly started to speak.

"I don't hate the idea of hiding a card."

"Okay."

Everybody earnestly agreed with Shimako-san. Then they all held their breath in anticipation for what she was about to say next.

"It's just, I wanted to search for the card that Noriko had hidden."

… Huh?

What did she just say?

It's – just, – I – wanted – to – search – for – the – card – that – Noriko – had – hidden.

"Huh!?"

Everybody was taken aback by that explanation. Well, it wasn't as though the desire to find her petit soeur's card was wrong. On the contrary, it was fine. Having no other reason than that even added to it's persuasiveness.

Still, for someone as selfless as Shimako-san to want to get out of work for her own personal desires – it wasn't quite self-indulgence, but it was certainly something. They'd all been surprised by that discrepancy.

Still, Yoshino thought that in some way that was fine. Because the usual Shimako-san was far too much of a goody-goody.

"Me too."

Noriko-chan admitted.

"I heard about last year's event from my classmates, Atsuko-san and Miyuki-san, and I thought about how nice it would be to search for your card."

Her face blushing, desperately trying to get her feelings across.

"But I'd given up on that because I was a bouton this year so it wouldn't happen, but then when they started talking about whether it was the boutons or the next Roses, I thought there was a chance."

"Noriko … "

The White Rose soeurs gazed into each others eyes.

"I'm sorry."

"Me too."

What was up with this pleasant mood? Where the heck had Noriko-chan's rebellion and Shimako-san's dictatorship disappeared to?

Sachiko-sama forced her way between them.

"Shimako, are you worried about the Rosa Gigantea that will succeed you?"

"No. I believe Noriko will be able to take over from me splendidly."

Shimako-san said clearly.

"In that case, you should co-operate with the newspaper club again this year. Let your petit soeur see your hardworking side. That way, Noriko-chan will know what to do next year."

Since she'd been told it was for Noriko-chan's sake, Shimako-san couldn't say, "Even so." Rei-chan added in her attempt at persuasion.

"Besides, in a year's time you'll be able to participate unreservedly. If this year's event is popular, they'll have it next year too. Right, Mami-san?"

"Of course. We'll be doing our best to make this event something the younger students will enjoy and want to do again."

With this assurance from the head of the newspaper club, Shimako-san smiled, raised her head and said, "In that case."

Despite all that had happened, in the end the pressure from the seniors had counted for everything. There had been opposition, but perhaps that was the fate of today's meeting.