Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume5 Chapter3 1

Outsider. Part 1.

"So, how'd it go?"

Tsutako-san leaned in, brimming with curiosity.

It was lunch break a few days after the "special meeting." Yumi was eating lunch with Katsura-san's group, but her hand that was holding her chopsticks was frozen.

"How'd it go? I'm sure you can tell just by looking at me."

Because she'd been eating lunch in the classroom for three straight days.

"My, my, Yumi-san, whose most notable feature is her vigor, is sighing. Which means the little sisters aren't particularly amused by all this."

"Pretty much."

It wasn't like they were expelled from the Rose Mansion, but it didn't feel comfortable sitting there. Because even if they were eating lunch together, the boutons would gather and discuss things amongst themselves. And when that happened, the "outsiders" would feel obliged to remain "outsiders" and scoot themselves to a corner, so they wouldn't hear.

Then, it would be better if they weren't there to begin with. So after discussing it with Yoshino-san, they decided not to frequent the Rose Mansion for the time being. If something were to happen, Shimako-san would notify them, anyways.

The boutons were all in different classes, and Rei-sama had club activities after school, to Yumi understood they didn't have much time to discuss things together. So when they did manage to gather in one place at once, it would be better to let them be.

"Tsutako-san, would you like to sit here?"

Katsura-san said as she stood, and offered her seat.

"Oh, don't worry about me, I'm fine."

"No, no. We finished eating, and we're going, now."

The five had pushed their tables together for lunch, and other than Yumi, everyone had stood up. Her four classmates neatly packed up their lunches and placed them in their bags.

"Everyone?"

Tsutako-san put a finger to the bridge of her frameless glasses and raised them.

"Yes. We invited Yumi-san, but she doesn't seem interested. But it would probably be lonesome eating lunch alone, so please, Tsutako-san."

Katsura-san quickly explained, before she hurried to catch up to the classmates whom were waiting by the door, and then they all skipped along to their destination.

"… What was that?"

Now that only Yumi could hear her, Tsutako-san let her guard down and muttered.

"They're going to the library to look up chocolate recipes."

Apparently one of them had found a wonderful recipe book at a bookstore, but it was extraordinarily expensive, so she couldn't afford it with her allowance. Well, she could, but then she'd be short on ingredients for the chocolate itself, or something. Anyways, someone else pointed out that she thinks she saw that book in the library, so they all decided, "let's look for that wonderful book!" and that was that.

And on a side note, the speed at which they ate lunch after deciding to go was incredible. Katsura-san had taught Yumi that it was better for one's health if one deliberately chewed and ate their food, but that same Katsura-san was swallowing down food after four or five bites.

"I see. A wonderful chocolate book. That would be fascinating, indeed. Why didn't you go with them, Yumi-san?"

Tsutako-san stretched back to her seat and grabbed her milk box, then sat down on Katsura-san's seat, which had been warmed like a zabuton.

"Sachiko-sama seems to hate chocolate."

Yumi meekly replied. She didn't want to talk about this.

"You jest. Sachiko-sama was eating Rosa Foetida en bouton's handmade Bûche de Noël on Christmas."

That was delicious, said Tsutako-san as she stared off into space. It wasn't really handmade, as she'd simply touched up a marketplace good, but Tsutako-san didn't really see it being made, so she didn't know about that.

"… That's right."

The Bûche de Noël is in fact filled with chocolate cream. Yumi saw Sachiko-sama eating it, too, and it was not like she was eating something she disliked out of courtesy.

Sachiko-sama was extremely picky with food. They'd only known each other for four months, but Yumi had completely grasped Sachiko-sama's expression when she found something she disliked. Someone who would look that disgusted by something wouldn't be able to completely hide that fact.

"Then I wonder if she's just against the act of giving chocolate on Valentine's Day? It's all the same to me, though."

"You lost the joy of giving chocolate on your anticipated Valentine's Day, is it?"

Even though you went through such lengths to do research, remarked Tsutako-san. Her milk box made a hissing sound as she drained the rest of it. She might have been being compassionate, but that spontaneous noise was intrusive, and so if she was being cordial, it ruined the feeling.

"Well that's indeed harsh. You've basically been kicked out of the Rose Mansion, but the classroom is filled with Valentine's Day talk."

Tsutako-san glanced around the lunch-time first-year peach-class.

Exactly.

It wasn't just Katsura-san and others. Two-third, maybe even three-quarters, whatever the number, the majority of the students were thinking almost entirely of Valentine's Day, so outside of class, conversations naturally drifted in that direction.

How to give the chocolate, which chocolate stores are good, I saw a chocolate recipe on TV, that sort of thing. The ones that were truly excited to the point of intending to present handmade knitting were even knitting at every non-class opportunity.

For the teachers that put up with us every day, for that senpai we admire, for that boy from another school that we have a one-sided love for, everyone had different people they wanted to gift, but everyone was thinking along the same lines.

It was just a week until Valentine's Day.

"So, what are you going to do?"

What is she going to do? She was gloomy because she didn't know what she was going to do.

"If this is how it'd be, I should have stayed an insider. Even if I become an outsider, it's not like I'm confident I can find Sachiko-sama's card."

Hearing Yumi's complaint, Tsutako-san mischievously prodded back.

"Mmm. So you don't care if someone else dates Sachiko-sama." "Of course not."

Absolutely positively not.

"Then there's nothing else you can do. I mean, you stepped out knowing it would be a long shot to begin with. What an ungallant way of thinking."

She knew that almost as much as she knew it would be a long shot.

That's why Yoshino-san was gallant. Because she knew it would be a long shot, but she stepped on that plane without any hesitation, and on top of that, she was proactively trying to figure out where Rei-sama would hide it. She only has one body, after all, so she was already planning out where she'd start looking, and so even though she wasn't with Rei-sama, her days were always busy. Plus, Yoshino-san still had the joy of giving Valentine's Day chocolate, on a completely different note from the date.

"I wanted to give Sachiko-sama chocolate, too."

Said Yumi, as she somberly looked up at the dreary sky.

"Then, why don't you make it and forcibly give it to her?"

Gosh, Tsutako-san, she even clapped her hands, as if she'd come up with a stroke of genius. Furthermore, Yumi could do it like how Yoshino-san returned Rei-sama's rosary, but calling Sachiko-sama to the Maria-sama statue. Tsutako-san was definitely aiming to grab a photo.

"Do you think I could do it? Me?"

After all, her onee-sama was her onee-sama. Yumi didn't think she could even call Sachiko-sama out anywhere.

"That's true, it might be impossible for Yumi-san. More befitting might be an image of you holding back tears while despondently making chocolate, and those tears drip into the mix, knowing that this chocolate would never be eaten. And the chocolate that should be sweet ends up being a bit salty."

Tsutako-san acted out a melancholic face and balled her hands, but all Yumi could do was sigh.

"… That's just enka[1]."

Plus, how do held-back tears drip? She wished Tsutako-san wouldn't make fun of it just because it was someone else's problem.

"But Yumi-san, thinking is 'free.' If you want to give her chocolate, think of it from the perspective of giving, okay? If on the fourteenth of February Sachiko-sama suddenly wants chocolate, how would you feel if you weren't prepared? You would regret it forever. So you should start off by making chocolate, and if she wouldn't accept it after all, then you can call me and we can eat it together in the classroom."

I'll even treat you to canned coffee then, she concluded. Because after all, friends exist to be there for you. And Yumi began to feel better.

Tsutako-san then finished things off by adding that, if possible, she'd like to be present (if hidden) during the chocolate presentation, but Yumi graciously declined. It wasn't a documentary, and she wouldn't be able to speak with seriousness to Sachiko-sama when knowing there was a camera somewhere. If she wanted a perfect shot that badly, Tsutako-san could try to track them down. Her very own treasure hunt.

"Well then, good luck!"

While they were conversing, the early bell for the afternoon classes rang. After seeing Tsutako-san back to her seat, Yumi wrapped her empty lunchbox with a bandana.

Katsura-san and friends came back from the library filled with excitement. And the knitting students seemed to intend to keep knitting until the late bell.

-Which is when Tsutako-san came back, apparently remembering something.

"I forgot to tell you. This treasure hunt, actually the photography club is going to get a bite of the pie, too. But we're more like assistants rather than cooperatives, so we won't be told who hid what where, but the photography club is in charge of the photographs for the 'Lillian Kawaraban.'"

That's all, said Tsutako-san as she walked back in good humor.

And from that, Yumi guessed Tsutako-san didn't intend to give anyone chocolate this Valentine's Day. The camera and photo-loving photography club ace was going to chase young ladies this year, without any holidays, again.

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