Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume34 Chapter3
Little Horrors II
"Yoshino-san? As you can see, she's not here."
Said the person that came to meet Nana and Noriko-sama when they inquired at the third-year pine group classroom.
" … So it seems."
"You can come in and have a look around if you want, but – "
It was a generous offer, but there was no need whatsoever. The only person in the classroom was the girl standing in front of them – the newspaper club's Yamaguchi Mami-sama.
"Do you have any idea of where she may have gone?"
Noriko-sama asked. Mami-sama had handed over the club presidency to her petite soeur, Takachi Hidemi-sama, but she still retained the position of editor-in-chief of the "Lillian Kawaraban." It wasn't much of an exaggeration to say that she was the most well-informed student in high-school.
"Sorry. We're in different cleaning groups, so I haven't seen her since homeroom … Hold on, wasn't there supposed to be a kendo club meeting in the chrysanthemum classroom today?"
Mami-sama said, her gaze shifting back and forth between Noriko-sama and Nana.
"Yeah. But she didn't show up."
"Hoho, now I see, that's why you're looking for her. The Rose Mansion – obviously, you checked that before you came here."
"Yes."
They were supposed to be the ones asking questions, but now it felt like their positions had flipped and they were being used to gather information. Although, this was such a minor event that it wouldn't warrant a news article, so they didn't have to be too careful.
"She's skipped out on club activities, right? Wouldn't she go home? Her bag's not here."
"But this morning she told me she was going to the Rose Mansion after the kendo club meeting."
"Ah, then she probably hasn't gone home."
Mami-sama said, sounding disappointed. She silently started preparing to leave, probably unable to think of any other locations.
"By the way, have you heard anything about Rosa Chinensis?"
Nana asked, and Mami-sama raised her head.
"Rosa Chinensis? What, has Yumi-san gone missing too?"
"Yeah. Although I'm not sure if they're together or not."
Nana wasn't expecting much, but since she was here, she might as well ask. But Mami-sama's reaction was a bit different this time.
"Yumi-san left in a hurry after cleaning was over."
"Oh."
Nana's eyes sparkled and she instinctively grabbed Noriko-sama's hand.
"Do you, perhaps, know where she was going?"
"Yeah, I know."
"Wh-where was she going?"
It felt slow, even though she was the one asking the questions. If they could find Yumi-sama, then they might be able to move on to Yoshino-sama after that.
"She was going – "
Mami-sama answered.
"To the Rose Mansion."
"Ah – "
Needless to say, Nana's exuberance plummeted immediately. They'd circled around to the start.
"Sorry I couldn't be of any help."
Mami-sama said, patting the obviously dejected Nana on the shoulder.
"Don't worry about it."
It was her own fault for getting her hopes up too high.
"I know it doesn't make up for it, but I can let you in on Touko-chan's whereabouts."
"Touko-sama?"
"Not that long ago, when I was coming back from seeing Hidemi, I was passing by the second-year cherry group classroom and happened to catch a glimpse of Touko-chan inside."
"The second-year cherry group classroom?"
Nana tilted her head in confusion. Touko-sama was in the second-year pine group, and the drama club didn't usually use the second-year cherry group classroom when they had club activities. More than that, today wasn't one of the days when the drama club met.
"Yeah. That's why I was like, "Huh?" Well, it's not much, I know."
"No, that's really helpful."
Nana shook her head. Matsudaira Touko-sama was Rosa Chinensis en bouton. As Yumi-sama's petite soeur, she may know Yumi-sama's whereabouts. Then, if they found Yumi-sama, they'd have a good shot at finding the next one in line.
"At any rate, I'm out of time. I've got to go to the dentist. If anything happens, let me know tomorrow."
Mami-sama said, then hurried off down the hallway. They watched her until she was out of sight, then Nana asked Noriko-sama:
"Wasn't Touko-sama at the Rose Mansion either?"
"Uh, no. Didn't I tell you that?"
"Hmm."
So that meant it had only been the White Rose soeurs in the Rose Mansion back then. Nana hadn't opened the biscuit door and entered into the second-floor room to confirm it, but since Touko-sama's name hadn't come up when they'd talked about Yoshino-sama and Yumi-sama being absent, she had naturally assumed that Touko-sama was present.
Yoshino-sama, Yumi-sama, and now Touko-sama – none of them had gone to the Rose Mansion. Was this all just a big coincidence?
"Shall we go and check it out?"
Nana said, turning to face Noriko-sama, standing beside her.
"Huh?"
"The second-year cherry group classroom."
The hard-won report they had received from Mami-sama. Setting aside whether or not Touko-sama knew the Roses' whereabouts, it seemed like there was still value in following up on it. Mami-sama had said it was "not that long ago" so if they went now she might still be there. If they hesitated, they might lose sight of Touko-sama.
Nana thought they'd head there together, but Noriko-sama reined her in.
"I'll go and check that out, why don't you have a look at the shoe boxes, Nana-chan?"
"The shoe boxes?"
"I don't think she'll have gone home yet, but we should still check."
"Ah, I see."
It wasn't completely out of the question that Touko-sama could have left school to deal with some urgent business. If so, searching the school grounds for her would be a futile effort. They could resume their search once they'd determined that her outdoor shoes were still present. And, to save time, they could split up here. Quite impressive, as one would expect from the experienced Rosa Gigantea en bouton, Noriko-sama. Very skillful.
"You should check on Rosa Foetida and Rosa Chinensis' shoes too."
"Understood."
"Then we'll meet back here afterward. Okay?"
"Alright."
Nana headed towards the third-year shoe boxes, as instructed. On the way, she passed by the third-year chrysanthemum group classroom, where the kendo club was holding its meeting. She peeked inside but, as expected, Yoshino-sama was nowhere to be seen.
After checking those two particular shoe boxes in the third-year pine group, Nana made her way back to their designated meeting point, the corridor outside the third-year pine group classroom.
"Ah."
There was someone else there in addition to Noriko-sama. Even from a distance, Nana could tell who it was. The eye-catching hairstyle, large ringlets hanging down by her ears, meant that it was unmistakably Rosa Chinensis en bouton.
"Gokigenyou, Touko-sama."
"Gokigenyou, Nana-chan."
They both bowed and greeted each other politely, even though they'd briefly met in the hallway this morning.
"Touko doesn't seem to know where Yumi-sama is either."
Noriko-sama answered Nana's question before she had a chance to ask it. Apparently they'd discussed this on their walk here. Touko-sama confirmed this, nodding her head and saying, "Yes."
"There were some things I had to discuss with my friend in the cherry group, so I paid a visit to her classroom. I've got no idea what's going on with this other matter."
When Touko-sama smiled, Nana caught the faint scent of something nice. Although it could have just been her imagination.
"Touko-sama, are you wearing some perfume?"
"Huh? No."
"I see."
Maybe her nose was playing up today – the same thing had happened earlier with Shimako-sama.
"Why, do I smell?"
Touko-sama sniffed her own armpits. Noriko-sama joined in, saying, "Let me see," then noisily sniffing close to Touko-sama's face.
"Sorry, I just thought I caught the scent of flowers."
"Flowers?"
Touko-sama and Noriko-sama looked at each other in surprise. As though she'd struck upon something.
"What – "
"The flower arranging club was using the second-year cherry classroom."
A lingering scent, then. But would the smell of flowers really cling to someone that didn't come into contact with them, and was just in the same classroom? Nana wasn't all that well acquainted with flower arranging, so she didn't really know.
"By the way, what about the shoe boxes? You went and checked them, right?"
Noriko-sama returned the conversation to its original topic, apparently not that interested in the flower discussion.
"Ah. They're both currently wearing their indoor shoes."
Yoshino-sama and Yumi-sama's shoe boxes both contained their black, leather, ballet-style outdoor shoes, arranged neatly together.
"So that means they're still somewhere at school."
Touko-sama said, folding her arms. That would be the natural conclusion, since they wouldn't go home in their indoor shoes. However, they weren't in the most likely place, the Rose Mansion, or the other plausible location, their classroom. They could have gone to the bathroom … but this would be taking a bit too long. To begin with, neither Yoshino-sama nor Yumi-sama were the type of girls to go to the bathroom with their friends and then stand around in front of the mirror preening themselves and gossiping.
"I think I'll go back to the Rose Mansion for now."
When Nana said this, Noriko-sama and Touko-sama simultaneously responded with, "Huh?"
"It's possible our onee-samas may have already made their way there."
Setting aside the matter of her playing hooky, Yoshino-sama had told Nana to come to the Rose Mansion after the club meeting. If they set a net outside the Rose Mansion, they were assured of catching them, even if it took some time.
"You're right."
"Shall we go then?"
The two second-year boutons concurred.
"Ah, you don't have to accompany me."
Nana said, but even as she said it she realized her mistake. This had all started because she was looking for her onee-sama. If that hadn't happened, Noriko-sama would be relaxing in the Rose Mansion with Shimako-sama, and Touko-sama would be heading to the Rose Mansion, having completed her errand.
The Rose Mansion didn't have a sign-in sheet or anything similar at the entry, so they couldn't immediately tell whether or not Yoshino-sama and Yumi-sama had arrived when they opened the door. Nothing much seemed to have changed in the entrance hall since Nana had left about ten minutes ago.
"At any rate, we should check the second floor."
Nana had one foot on the staircase when Noriko-sama said, "Hold on a minute," and stopped her.
"What's that sound?"
"What sound?"
Nana turned around and followed Noriko-sama's gaze, which was focused on a door. It was the room on the ground floor that they rarely used, which had been converted into a storage room.
"Was the sound coming from that room?"
"I'm not sure, but – "
Noriko-sama moved towards the door. Touko-sama followed behind her, so Nana stepped down off the staircase and joined them.
Nana hadn't heard the sound that Noriko-sama had mentioned. But it didn't matter if they took a short detour to open the door and look inside before going up to the second floor. Naturally, she was worried about Yoshino-sama's whereabouts, but if she ignored the sound to keep searching for her, she'd probably start to worry about the sound, so it was much the same either way.
"I'm going to open the door."
Noriko-sama put her hand on the doorknob. She turned the knob slowly so it wouldn't make a sound. It may not have been strictly necessary, but the mood seemed to call for it. Nana understood that sentiment.
The door creaked open.
"…"
With no light source, it was hard to make out the cardboard boxes and other obstacles piled up around the gloomy room.
"I'll get the lights."
Entering the room, Nana searched for the light switch and flipped it on. However.
"Wh-what's that?"
"There."
"Ahhh."
The three boutons looked up at the ceiling and cried out individually. The light that should have been illuminating the room was instead flickering on and off, emitting an ominous bluish-white light. No, that wasn't quite right. It was in the unenviable position where it didn't have the strength remaining to turn on fully. The fluorescent light had reached the end of its lifespan.
"Turn that light off, it's really annoying."
A voice called out from deeper inside the room.
"Huh?"
The trio moved further into the room. The spectacle that greeted them was:
"O-onee-sama?"
In the corner of the room, two Roses seemed to be squatting down like they were exhausted.
"What on earth are you doing?"
The pair appeared to be carefully gripping something wrapped in a handkerchief.
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