Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume13 Chapter3 1

OK, Let's Do It.Part 1.

Her younger brother's friend grumbled that the word "man" wasn't just a synonym for "bad-guy."

"You say it's "man-hatred," but every person is different, so we probably have to analyze the cause of those feelings. But let's set that aside for now. Basically, we've got this problem because she's arrived at the formula "man equals hated.""

"The formula?"

Yumi asked for clarification.

"Well, it could be a symbol or a diagram, however you want to put it. Basically, it's a convention. As an example – Yumi-san."

"Yes."

"Two by two."

"Four."

"Nine by seven."

"Sixty-three."

"Right?"

"Huh?"

She had no idea how being asked to do multiplication problems followed by the comment, "Right?" was supposed to explain anything.

"Two by two is four. You said it immediately. You didn't have to think about it, or count 2 twice, right?"

"Yeah, that's true."

It was more obvious for 9x7 than 2x2. She hadn't summed 9 together 7 times. She just used the answer she'd memorized from the multiplication table back in elementary school.

"It's like that."

He cracked his knuckles.

"I don't know specifically what caused Yumi-san's onee-sama, Sachiko-sama, to feel this way, but we can deduce that it came about after a number of instances of hating specific men. Assuming it's not an allergy she was born with."

"Yeah."

The young Sachiko-sama's heart had been wounded by her grandfather and father keeping numerous mistresses.

Her cousin and arranged fiance was kind and neat, but despite the expectations she had of him, one day he suddenly announced to her that he was homosexual.

"Ah, so that's it. Just hearing the word "man" is enough to light up the "hate" sign inside Sachiko-sama. Is that what you're saying?"

"Exactly. Even though there are all different types of men in the world. Ah, there's a wide variety at Hanadera, so if it would be of help to you Yumi-san, please come and have a look. We'd really like it if you came to visit."

Then Yuuki entered the room carrying a tray of barley tea and cleared his throat.

"Hey, Kobayashi. Quit hitting on my sister."

"Ooh, have you got a thing for your sister, Yukichi?"

"– As if. If you've got free time to waste chatting with her, then go back to my room and do some English study. Or, what? Have you finished it already? In that case, hurry up and go home. I don't really remember inviting you here anyway."

"Don't say such cruel things, Yukichi. This room is heaven, that one is hell. I was getting dizzy, so it's only natural she'd invite me in."

Kobayashi-kun snuggled into Yuuki. He'd shown up at the Fukuzawa house today without calling ahead, so hadn't known that the air-con in his friend's room wasn't working, making him a truly idiotic, or unfortunate, visitor.

Even with the window open and an electric fan blowing, it could only be a mid-summer afternoon.

"I don't mind, Yuuki. Why not take a break and cool off in here? Kobayashi-kun and I were in the middle of a really interesting discussion."

"Ah, you're so kind, Yumi-san. I wish I was born as Yumi-san's brother."

Kobayashi-kun smiled happily and crossed his arms across his chest, like he was making a pose from the children's song, "Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree." Even though he was the same age as her younger brother, the real one.

"He'll take advantage of you if you spoil him, Yumi."

"But if he does, you'll stop him even if it means coming to blows, right Yuuki?"

"If I have to."

Quite the authoritative attitude from Yuuki. He seemed pleased as he plopped himself down, probably happy to be relied upon. Plus he'd chosen a spot directly in line with the air-con. He was like a cat, the way he expertly found the coolest spot.

"So, getting back to what we were talking about."

After downing roughly half his barley tea in a single gulp, Kobayashi-kun resumed their earlier conversation.

"I think the fact that Sachiko-sama's fine with Yukichi is a really positive sign for her."

"How so?"

"He's an unrelated young man. For a man-hater, he should be one of the things she hates most of all. But Sachiko-sama's got to the point where she's fine with him, even if he does benefit from being your brother, and having an identical face to yours. Her formula that "man equals hated" is already starting to fall down. This gives us a chance. Let's bring it down in one fell swoop, like the Berlin wall. From the Lillian's side and the Hanadera side."

"Kobayashi-kun … you may be on to something."

"Thank-you. I'm so happy."

"Yumi, don't be mistaken. All he can do is math. Basically, he loves equations."

"Ah, is that it."

From today, she knew that he was no good at English at least. Because if he was, he wouldn't have gone to the expense of visiting his friend's house to look at their vocabulary book.

"But how do we break them down? Sachiko-sama's walls are tall and strong, like a castle."

"Getting it down in one go might be tough, but if we keep attacking I'm sure it will work out well."

"Keep on attacking …"

"We just keep piling up the accomplishments. Even if they're individually quite small. For example."

Kobayashi-san spoke cheerfully.

"We don't just have gays at our school, we also have traps."

"–"

He could even state that clearly and openly. So then, it sounded like there were a number of homosexuals scattered throughout Hanadera. Yumi hadn't really believed that the school her younger brother attended was like that. She wanted to cover her ears and block it out.

Kobayashi-kun had completely forgotten that in front of him was a young lady who had been raised in a sheltered greenhouse, and also missed that Yumi had taken a step backwards, as he kept pushing, pushing, pushing onwards.

"With the body of a man, but the heart of a woman. About average in terms of cuteness, but in plain clothes they look like female high school students. What do you think about that?"

"What do I think?"

How could she possibly comment on that?

"Do you think Sachiko-sama would be able to converse normally with someone that's not a manly-man?"

"We-ll."

Seeing that Yumi was in trouble, Yuuki jumped in to the conversation.

"But still, Kobayashi. Even if Sachiko-san's not aware they they're male, she might just reject them outright anyway."

"Huh, but that's just discrimination."

"Before we get into discrimination, if she rejects them on instinct then it's not something we can do much about, is it?"

"Well, that's true."

The heart of a girl, in girls clothes, but with the body, and of course birth-certificate, of a boy?

What about that?

Yumi wasn't that opposed to it. There were all types of people in the world. But it would be more complicated for Sachiko-sama, since it would be affected by her man-hatred.

"Then how about this ace I've been keeping up my sleeve?"

"What ace?"

"The plan goes like this: Kobayashi-kun wants to be friends with Sachiko-sama. But Sachiko-sama won't talk to him, because she's afraid of him just because he's a man. So then Kobayashi-kun talks to his friend. His friend advises him, saying, "I'll be the bad-guy and start a fight with Sachiko-sama, then you come and rescue her." Kobayashi-kun rescues Sachiko-sama from the scary man, and Sachiko-sama's so grateful she invites him to have tea with her, and that's the start of their relationship."

As they listened to Kobayashi-kun speak, Yumi and Yuuki looked at each other. Because.

"That's just the story of "The Red Ogre Who Cried," isn't it?"

"Oh, you know it?"

Well, it is a really famous children's book, isn't it? There should still be a copy in the Fukuzawa household from when they were kids. If they looked, they'd probably find it somewhere. Since it was one of their mother's favorite stories.

"That's way too lame. For one thing, who's going to play the bad-guy blue ogre? You stuff that up and she'll call the cops."

"Ah, right."

When Yuuki pressed him, saying, "Will you do it?," Kobayashi-kun immediately withdrew the plan. For someone with an ace up their sleeve, he sure folded quickly.

"I guess we should go with accidentally meeting somewhere. Yumi-san, are there plans for your student council members to meet any time soon?"

"Well."

From tomorrow, they planned to meet every day, but they were meeting at school.

They could always run into each other near the train station and then segue into one of the fast-food places or restaurants, but in that case they'd have to go without Rei-sama and Yoshino-san, since those two walked home.

But it would be tough to do it without Rei-sama there to talk to Sachiko-sama as an equal. Because if the Hanadera student council invited them to have tea, then Sachiko-sama would likely use her position as the only Lillian's third-year to unilaterally decline their offer. But if Rei-sama was there, and they discussed it between the two of them, then their chances of getting Sachiko-sama to agree would likely improve.

"I understand. Then how about this?"

After listening to her explanation, Kobayashi-kun clapped his hands together.

"We'll wait outside Lillian's front gate, then we'll call out to the Yamayurikai members when they appear. If Sachiko-sama agrees, we'll all get on the bus and go to M or K station together. That way, Rei-sama will be there and she and Yoshino-san can come along too."

"Will the Hanadera student council be okay with that?"

"Yeah. Everyone's really pumped about meeting the Yamayurikai members. We'll knock down any obstacles in our way."

"Really pumped – "

That was one of those slightly troubling phrases.

"Please tell everyone that they absolutely cannot make a pass at Sachiko-sama. If her man-hatred really flares up, we won't be able to assist at the Hanadera school festival."

"Don't worry. All the guys know she's an unattainable flower, a princess that we can only watch from a distance."

"Really? … Okay, that's fine."

"Lastly, if you could let us know approximately what time you expect to finish your meeting on the agreed upon date. Does that sound reasonable to you?"

With Kobayashi-kun leading the discussion, it was settled surprisingly easily. It seemed ludicrous that they hadn't been able to come up with this plan on their way home from Kashiwagi-san's house.

"Alright. I'll talk with Rei-sama then let you know, Kobayashi-kun."

Yumi answered, and Kobayashi-kun suddenly burst into laughter. Yumi thought it was strange, since she didn't understand what he was laughing at, but then her eyes met Yuuki's and he didn't have to speak to say, "Dummy."

"Ah, right, I guess I could just tell Yuuki."

She didn't have to call anyone, she lived in the same house as a member of the Hanadera Academy's high school student council.

"Geez, you really are as dense as ever."

Two hours after their conversation finished, the electrician finally arrived and fixed the air-con in Yuuki's room.