Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume37 Chapter11

Farewell Bouquet VI

All up, the procrastinating first-year had provided them with five different types of cookies.

The olive brown one was chocolate + mint.

The one with traces of pink was rose hip + hibiscus.

The light brown one was cinnamon + cloves.

The last one was the darkest cookie, and it was something of a conundrum. They'd determined that it was thyme plus some other hidden flavor, but they couldn't pin down what that flavor was. Even with the six ladies' combined senses of smell and taste, it eluded them.

Well then, back to the group of petite soeurs that had just heard about Katori-sensei's leave of absence.

"Is it maternity leave?"

Leading with this question was Noriko-chan. Her mother was a teacher, although not at Lillian, so she'd probably heard this sort of thing being discussed. Something like, "We had a celebration for X-sensei before her time off."

"That's right."

Katori-sensei nodded her head. It was simple enough to substitute "Katori" for "X."

"In that case, congratulations are in order … huh?"

Nana-chan looked confused. Then Touko followed with, "That's right."

"In that case, the third-year pine class students should have seen it as a blessing, right? Why would she panic and flee the classroom, like – "

The question had been directed at Yumi and Yoshino-san, who shrugged, "Who knows?" They honestly didn't know, even though they'd been there. They could swear to Maria-sama that not a single student in the class had been mean to Katori-sensei. They'd simply been surprised for a couple of seconds. So they couldn't understand why Katori-sensei had left in such a hurry that she'd forgotten the class roll. So to answer this, they had to go straight to the source herself.

"Because."

Katori-sensei started to talk, and everyone listened with bated breath to hear her explanation.

"When I got married, I didn't resign, instead I boasted that I'd see you all off in March next year. But then, to throw it all away only four months later, doesn't it feel like a complete betrayal? There was an article planned to go into the Lillian Kawaraban on the day of the closing ceremony, but it was based on an interview that took place before I knew I was pregnant, so the situation has already changed. You girls sent flowers and cards to my wedding, that you paid for yourselves, right? If I had resigned when I got married, I'm sure you would have supported me in that too, but what if you hated me for it? But more than that, I wanted to see my students' faces, and didn't want to leave, so I – "

It seemed like she'd fled because she didn't know what to do. While they couldn't really understand all that was going through her mind, it was an easy to understand reason.

After this rapid-fire burst from Katori-sensei, she covered her face with her hands, then peeked out between the gap in her fingers at the two third-year pine class members.

"Is everyone mad at me?"

The response was immediate.

"There's no way anyone's mad at you."

It was a joyous announcement. It's just that everyone was taken aback.

"I see. You're probably right. I was just panicking over nothing."

It may have been because she had calmed down while drinking the herbal tea, but either way, it looked like she was far more calm and composed than when she'd rushed out of the classroom.

"When is your baby due?"

Noriko-chan asked.

"February."

"In that case, you could still come to the graduation ceremony, if you feel up to it."

"Ah, that's true."

Katori-sensei's eyes sparkled, realizing that she didn't have to throw it all away. With things how they were, Yumi thought she should deliver some more good news.

"Sensei. We're mature enough to realize that you don't necessarily like it when we make a big deal about your personal celebrations."

"Huh?"

Yumi's circuitous phrasing meant that Katori-sensei didn't immediately comprehend, and sat there looking dumbfounded. It would be rude to leave her like that for too long, so Yumi quickly got to the point.

"Of course we'd still like to give a form to our congratulations, so we talked about it and decided that this time we should give you a bouquet of words instead of a bouquet of flowers."

"A bouquet of words?"

Katori-sensei looked at Yoshino-san, still not understanding. Exasperated, Yoshino-san provided the answer.

"We'll each write out a brief message on a colored piece of paper. If we do that, will you accept it?"

Finally understanding, Katori-sensei nodded meekly.

"… Yes. I'll gladly accept it."

With that, they'd remove most of the causes that led to Katori-sensei's panic attack. Since the feeling of not wanting to part was mutual, the only outstanding item was –

"So I guess that only leaves the article in the Lillian Kawaraban."

There was no time left. The post-exam break started tomorrow. The post-exam break finished on the day of the term ending ceremony, which was when it was due to be published. Katori-sensei understood this well.

"First of all, I have to catch Yamaguchi-san. She's probably in the clubhouse. It might be impossible to rewrite the article, but I have to let her know the current state of affairs so she can decide what to do about their next issue."

Katori-sensei jumped to her feet, but Yumi quickly stopped her.

"In that case, why don't we make use of this place? Someone can go and fetch Mami-san, while you wait here for her."

Even if she started by looking in the clubhouse, their classroom, and the staff room, it wasn't obvious where she would find her. Knowing Mami-san, she definitely wouldn't go home until after Katori-sensei had left.

"In that case, we'll go."

Just as their dependable petite soeurs stood up to go in place of Katori-sensei, the biscuit door opened.

"Sorry I'm late."

Rosa Gigantea, Toudou Shimako-san, entered. She was the last member of the Rose families to arrive because of her Environmental Care Committee work, but there was someone else hanging back behind her.

"Pardon my intrusion … uh, ah, teacher!"

This "it" acted the most like "it" was supposed to. She didn't say, "Found you," but her index finger was pointed straight at Katori-sensei.

"Oh, good timing. We were just about to go looking for you, Mami-san."

Yumi started by lowering Yamaguchi Mami-san's outstretched arm, then took her by the shoulders and walked her into the room. It looked like Mami-san had come here not expecting to find the person she was looking for, so when she saw Katori-sensei she'd reacted immediately, but then not known what to do next.

"Really? Then I'm glad I invited her."

Shimako-san said, as she smiled and pulled out a chair for Mami-san.

Apparently, Shimako-san had been on her way to the Rose Mansion after her Environmental Care Committee work when she spotted Mami-san and called out to her. She'd told Mami-san about how they were going to split up the herbs that had multiplied out of control, and that she should come along if she wanted some.

As for Mami-san, she'd been waiting outside the staff room for Katori-sensei, but when she hadn't shown up after a while, Mami-san left a note on Katori-sensei's desk and was heading back to their classroom when she ran into Shimako-san.

"Mami-san. Katori-sensei's worried about the Lillian Kawaraban that's due to be published on the day of the closing ceremony. I'm sure you have some ideas about how best to proceed, but why don't we discuss it here?"

Yumi poured some herbal tea into a cup and placed it before Mami-san. Whether it was redoing the article, or adding a comment, or even postponing the issue, it seemed like it should be possible for Katori-sensei to get some sense of closure by hearing the newspaper club's ideas.

However.

"Discuss it? Here?"

It seemed like Mami-san didn't fully grasp the situation, since she'd just arrived at the Rose Mansion. Why was Katori-sensei in the Rose Mansion, why was everyone concerned about an article in the Lillian Kawaraban, why was there herbal tea in front of her, was it alright to have one of those cookies sitting on that tissue that looked like they'd go well with the tea? In confusion, her eyes darted back and forth between Katori-sensei, the table, and the various members of the Rose families.

"We'll be over here in the corner, splitting up the herbs, so we don't get in your way. So, please, take your time."

With that, the Rose family members stood up and moved away. Really, they probably should have left the room, but that looked like it would have made Katori-sensei and Mami-san even more nervous, so they stopped after putting a bit of a gap between them.

"Ah, before that."

Nana-chan spoke to Mami-san and Shimako-san.

"Would you please try these cookies?"

She said, offering them the darkest colored ones.

"We're trying to work out what's in them. We know one of the flavors, but the other is a bit … "

"Hmm, I wonder if I'll be able to figure it out."

Shimako-san said, taking a cookie.

"I don't really know that much about herbs."

Mami-san said, as she reached out for one too.

"What do you think?"

It wasn't just Nana-chan that watched on with bated breath, it was all the ladies that had participated in the earlier tasting.

"Sorry, I could only make out the one flavor."

Mami-san said, shaking her head.

"Same here."

After chewing for a little while, Shimako-san gave up too.

"Oh well, I guess that was to be expected."

Yoshino-san laughed. Since six people hadn't been able to identify it, the ingredient wasn't going to be found that easily.

"No, it's definitely some flavor that I know well – it's the smell, or the aftertaste at the back of my tongue, something like that."

Touko brought her hand up to her throat, even though the cookie was long gone.

"These green bits would be thyme, so it seems like the culprit is probably something that doesn't have much coloring."

When Nana-chan said this, Mami-san and Shimako-san cocked their heads in confusion and said, "Huh?"

"The flavor that everyone identified was thyme?"

Looking around at the people nodding in response to Shimako-san's question, apparently Mami-san hadn't identified thyme either.

"Then what flavor did you two identify?"

Noriko-chan asked cautiously. Shimako-san and Mami-san didn't try to co-ordinate, but they both said the same thing at the same time.

"Cheese."

And the reaction of the six people listening:

"That's it!"

Knee-slapping all around.

"Huh, but cheese isn't a herb."

"Well, it's not like they're marked as herb cookies."

"Let me have another one, I want to confirm it."

"Ah, hang on, we'll run out of them, so split them in half."

"I really have to find that first-year and get a copy of the recipe."

Everyone was chatting noisily off to the side, while Katori-sensei quietly sipped her tea and uttered a single sentence:

"It really is wonderful when something unexpected happens."

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