Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume13 Chapter4 3

Gathering Material with Dustpan and Broom. Part 3.

"What the heck's going on, calling me out here so suddenly?"

The for-all-intents-and-purposes head of the Lillian's Girls Academy newspaper club said to the in-name-only head of the newspaper club as she took a seat opposite her.

"Honestly, why have you been procrastinating so much?"

– Those were the first words out of Tsukiyama Minako-sama's mouth.

"I got here as soon as I could. You called me less than thirty minutes ago."

Yamaguchi Mami adjusted her wristwatch and confirmed the time. The sweat gathering there was annoying, so she loosened the leather strap by one notch. It was 4pm.

"Not that. I was talking about the progress of the beginning-of-semester bumper edition of the Lillian Kawaraban."

"I know what you meant, onee-sama, what I don't understand is why you're asking about that."

Mami sipped on her coffee milk through a straw. It wasn't actually coffee milk, it had a more fashionable name that she'd completely forgotten five seconds after she ordered.

Her onee-sama was eating something that looked like coffee-colored shaved-ice. Although she didn't say anything, Mami thought it looked exactly like "snow from a mud pool" as she watched on.

They were at the K station branch of a coffee chain.

The store was crowded with young people.

She'd been told to get there ASAP, so she'd only picked up her notebook and purse before rushing out. She knew she would have received a lecture about it if she took the time to change, so she'd headed out into town in her shabby T-shirt and denim skirt that were barely fit to wear to the local convenience store.

"You don't understand? You know, even though I've stepped down from the front-lines, I still love the "Lillian Kawaraban." So when I see my adorable petit soeur floundering around lost, of course I'll gently offer her a helping hand."

"Gently, huh."

Mami propped her elbows on the table and let out a sigh, "Oh geez."

"You got bored of studying for your tests and your reporter's spirit came gushing up, right?"

Also known as escaping from reality.

"… But, it's summer vacation, and I'm spending all my time on summer classes, mock exams, reference books and vocab books … I'm just over it all."

Minako-sama was desperately lacking motivation.

"That's because you're studying for entrance exams, right? If you hate it, you should change course now. I'm sure there's still time for you to accept early entrance into Lillian's Women's University."

"I would have done that from the start if it was a possibility."

Stir, stir.

Minako-sama mindlessly stirred her slushy ice with a spoon. Mami inferred that she'd probably lost interest in its flavor.

But enough about that. There was absolutely no reason for Mami to get dragged into her onee-sama's escape from studying for exams.

"My deepest apologies, but I can write those articles without your help, onee-sama. Excuse me."

Mami stood up, picking up the plastic cup with the remains of her coffee milk in it.

"Last month, you tried to tail the White Rose sisters as they visited various churches and temples but they gave you the slip."

Those icy words were thrown at Mami's turned back.

"They didn't give me the slip, I just lost sight of them."

Mami said, after turning around. She knew her onee-sama was trying to provoke her but she had to respond.

"So the reason you were unable to gather any information about the Yellow and White Rose sisters' coincidental appearance near the Ogasawara holiday house was also because you lost sight of them?"

"…"

Exactly. But it pained her too much to admit it.

"Are they ghosts?"

Minako-sama smirked. That was the trigger that caused Mami to return to the table, against her better judgment.

"Takeshima Tsutako-san's photo."

Mami took the evidence out from her notebook and handed it over. Her onee-sama raised her eyebrows and looked it over with an expert eye.

"It's very small and from behind. You could use it if you had an interview to go with it, but if they refuse then that's the end of that photo."

Mami thought that if her onee-sama was still the editor then she wouldn't have been saying this. But now that she wasn't in charge, she was raising the height of the hurdles.

"You have to stockpile material during the summer vacation, so you can publish a steady stream of special editions once the new term starts. That's the service that we in the newspaper club provide to reward the loyal readers of the "Lillian Kawaraban.""

The service, huh.

"But onee-sama, it's summer vacation now. There's still plenty of time – "

"So naive."

Minako-sama shifted her legs beneath the table.

"You can't wait until the enemy reveals their weaknesses. You have to take a dustpan and broom and gather the tiny specks of dust."

"So the newspaper club are janitors?"

"Something very similar … Don't just stand there, have a seat."

Before she realized it, she'd been dragged back into this conversation. Mami sighed and sat down in the seat she'd recently vacated.

"I've visited the Rose Mansion with refreshments numerous times, but there were no gaps in their armor, or, rather, the gaps led to nothing. They were just quietly reading over documents, doing calculations, drawing up timetables and making clean copies. Concentrating on their work and keeping idle chatter to a minimum. I followed Shimako-san when she left the Rose Mansion, but all she did was use the phone in front of the office to confirm the price of something with a bulk discount store. It was even more pathetic with Yumi-san, whenever I followed her the only place she led me was to the toilet."

"You've still got some way to go yet, Mami. But even if you're holding the dustpan and broom, you're still just waiting. You have to scare up the material. Weave a web."

"Scare up … and weave … "

But hadn't the person sitting opposite Mami been burnt in the past by publishing a story based on incorrect assumptions received from those types of coercive data gathering? How quickly one forgets the dangers. Either that, or she was trying to get her junior to start a fire while she was in a safe spot that the flames wouldn't reach.

"Yamayurikai material is scattered everywhere."

Minako-sama's self-belief shone threw as she spoke.

"For instance, the mixer with the Hanadera student council."

"What's this?"

Mami leaned forwards in anticipation. She'd bit down hard on the bait cast by her smiling onee-sama.

"Yumi-san organized an introductory meeting between the high-school student council members from Hanadera Boys Academy and Lillian's Girls Academy for two evenings ago."

"– First I've heard of this."

"Naturally, it wasn't leaked to anyone on the outside. It was top secret."

Mami wanted to ask, "So how come you know about it then?" but chose to remain silent while her onee-sama was happily chatting away.

"But it seems that when they met at the front gate, something happened and Sachiko-san lost her fizz and collapsed."

"… Rosa Chinensis collapsed?"

And lost her fizz. It seemed pretty far-fetched so far. But she'd listen to the whole story, just in case.

"So, what was the cause?"

"Who knows."

"You don't know?"

Mami felt deeply dismayed, after all, wasn't that the most important part? But on reflection, it would have been impossible for Minako-sama to know the answer since she wasn't a member of the Yamayurikai executive.

"It was probably due to heatstroke or illness or something like that. But I can't rule out the possibility that she was overwhelmed by shock when she saw the Hanadera students."

"Is this year's Hanadera student council really such a stunning array of individuals?"

Mami thought back to last year's Hanadera student president, who had the bearing of a prince. His name was Kashiwagi Suguru-san, from memory. Even now, he had plenty of fans at Lillian's.

"Well, there's stunning and there's stunning. Like a bodybuilder, or a cross-dresser, or a punk."

Minako-sama counted on her fingers as she listed these examples.

"… That's quite detailed. You make it sound like you saw them."

"It doesn't just sound like it, I did see them."

"Huh?"

"Two evenings ago. Right there."

"Wha?"

Basically, the summary of Minako-sama's story is as follows:

Two evenings ago, Minako-sama was on her way home from her summer-session entrance exam prep class when her mother asked her to pick something up from the shops near K station. It was a hot day. So, to cool off, she hung out at the shops for a while.

"And the Hanadera student council just happened to be sitting next to you?"

Life sprinkled out some incredible coincidences. Either that, or Minako-sama was blessed with better than average luck.

"There was one of me and many of them. Their conversation reached my ears unbidden."

"So, you overheard the entire thing … "

"What could I do? Intriguing keywords like "Hanadera" and "Lillian" were flying around everywhere."

So Minako-sama pieced together the fragments of conversation she heard and figured out the gist of what happened that day.

"But that's some great material, isn't it?"

Since she'd heard it directly from one of the parties involved, the Hanadera high-school student council. Of course, it would be necessary to confirm the facts with the Yamayurikai before turning it into an article, but that shouldn't be a problem compared to finding the entire story from scratch.

"But things aren't as straightforward as they may seem. I tried to lead Noriko-san into confirming what happened but she clammed up. Most likely, they've all agreed to never disclose those events."

"I see."

Indeed, that group or, rather, those ladies presented a strong, unified front. It was tough to find a loose seam that would unravel them.

"You have to be wary of this sort of material, you can't overextend your lines. You have to attack from where they least expect it."

"From where they least expect it?"

So, despite making it that far, it was still only idle gossip. The strength drained from Mami's body, even though she'd only just started thinking about turning it into an article.

""Exclusive scoop! Meet Rosa Gigantea en Bouton's Boyfriend!""

"What are you on about this time?"

Mami thought she should take what she was hearing with a grain, no a shaker, of salt. She'd run out of energy completely otherwise.

"Exactly what I said. We score a direct hit on Miss Nijou Noriko's date and quickly publish it in the "Lillian Kawaraban."'

Grinning. Minako-sama was smiling like she was letting her in on a conspiracy.

"And? Who's the guy?"

"I don't know. It's up to you to cover the event."

Right. So that's what this was about.

"So you're saying I should cover your wild delusions … no, your baseless speculation?"

"Baseless? Not at all."

Mami-sama took a folded-up piece of A4 paper out of her bag and spread it out on the table.

"Shimura Takuya. A fourth-year at a private university … that would make him at least 21. Family of four, living in Tokyo. His hobby is viewing Buddhist statues, so they came together through their hobby."

That was some detailed information. It wasn't a wild delusion or baseless speculation, but gradually revealed the shape of a young man.

"Where did you get that info from?"

"The internet."

"The internet?"

"I told Noriko-san I wanted to investigate Buddhist statues and asked her for some website recommendations. That's when I fortuitously caught sight of an email printout."

"Mm, mm."

Mami excitedly urged her on.

"In it, Takuya-kun asked her out on a date."

"Whoa!"

"They were going to meet out in public, which is proof of their closeness. I fished around a bit and she confirmed that he was her boyfriend."

"Incredible! That's amazing work, onee-sama."

Mami usually had to reign in her onee-sama when she went tearing off on some wild goose chase, but she'd become so excited that she'd lost some of her cool. If she'd retained her composure, she probably would have rebuked her onee-sama with something like, "Reading other people's mail isn't something to be proud of."

"So, getting back to the story, I knew I'd found a hint so I hurried home and looked up the website she told me about. Then, to my surprise, I found out that Takuya-kun was the site administrator. So I read his profile and all his old blog entries, which gave me all the info I told you. What do you think?"

"Nicely done."

Minako-sama was obviously born with good luck when it came to gathering material with dustpan and broom.

"So here's your job: You're to go to the place where they'll meet and lie in wait for Takuya-kun. Alright?"

"Huh, what about you, onee-sama?"

"Unfortunately, I've got a mock entrance exam tomorrow."

So that was it. The tension that had been building up inside of Mami suddenly fell away.

"If you get a photo of him, it will be a minor success. If the shot has both him and Noriko-san, it'll be a huge success. Oh, right. Don't try to approach him directly tomorrow, just take the photos. It's all over if you get the film confiscated. Apparently, he knows aikido."

"… Understood."

Mami had no faith in her physical strength. If it came to a struggle for the camera between her and a young man who knew martial arts, she was 100% certain she would lose. It went without saying that she'd do her best to avoid that.

"So, you were saying they were meeting somewhere?"

"I've got you covered. While I was pretending to write down the website address, I made a note about that in my student diary."

"… That's incredible."

Why couldn't she turn this energy towards studying for her exams? Mami slowly started to pity her onee-sama seated in front of her.

"Got it, Mami? You've got the internet at home, right? Hurry back and check out Takuya-kun's homepage, to prepare for tomorrow."

"Yeah."

Mami was about to tell her onee-sama that she should prepare for her mock exams tomorrow too, but then stopped herself.

Since she knew that Minako-sama was in such high spirits that she wouldn't hear a word that was said.