Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume2 Chapter5 4

Fighting Maidens. Part 4.

Rei saw Yoshino on an evening, three days after the match.

She actually wanted to run over as soon as possible, but she restrained herself until Yoshino said she wanted to meet. And that morning, her aunt told her Yoshino wanted to see her, so she stopped by the hospital after her club finished. Apparently, Yoshino didn't want to see people with tubes still stuck in her.

"Long time no see."

Are people allowed to be this energetic just three days after heart surgery? she wanted to ask, because Yoshino was propped up on her bed and smiling as always.

"You look fine."

"But I'm not. The incision hurt so much when the anesthesia wore off, I'm better now because they just gave me some painkillers."

"… So it hurts?"

"Well I mean they cut the skin, messed around with the heart, and then closed it again."

Yoshino said, like she was reciting a simple cooking recipe. With her acting like that, she couldn't help but wonder, again, if it actually hurt, if she actually had surgery.

"Yoshino-"

When they split up, she had a lot of things she wanted to say. But now, with Yoshino in front of her, she couldn't find any words to say.

Yoshino was alive, and right there. That was enough to satisfy her.

"How many days?"

"About two weeks."

"It's the first time. That we've spent so long apart."

"Yeah."

Even during the class trips during middle school, they hadn't been apart this long. Plus, when they were on trips, they still phoned each other, so they never felt lonely. The days where they could count down how many days were left on their fingers felt nostalgic.

"Rei-chan."

Yoshino said, with a meek face.

"I'm sorry. I wanted to hold hands and walk with Rei-chan."

"Eh?"

"Not lending a shoulder, or carrying, or anything like that. I wanted to walk with my own legs. I wanted a relationship like that. Like Yumi-san and Sachiko-sama. That's why I wanted surgery. I wanted a sturdy body, so I could walk with Rei-chan. And I wanted Rei-chan to be used to that."

Yoshino blurted everything out at once, like her words were going to vanish if she didn't.

"Will you believe me? I didn't return the rosary because I began hating Rei-chan."

"Yeah, I know."

When the Oonaka Girls' High Taishou took a point from her, she didn't find distress or pressure in her heart, but rather a pure, white, empty world. That's when she understood what it meant to "win." What she needed to strike down wasn't the opponent in front of her, but none other than herself.

Opponents, club members, audience, and the Yoshino she loved so much-. When all of those weren't there with her, Rei found herself alone in that white world. That's when she realized what Yoshino had thrown at her, she thought. What Yoshino meant by "winning," what she really meant.

"I love Rei-chan the most, in the whole world."

Yoshino murmured.

"Me, too."

Rei felt Yoshino's hair. More than father, more than mother. She loved Yoshino most, in the whole world.

That's why she could believe Yoshino's words, and she could tell Yoshino her feelings.

When they were stuck together, they were so close that she'd never been able to look straight at Yoshino's face like this. But now, even though they were a bit further apart, their souls felt closer. She felt closer to Yoshino than ever before.

"Oh. The match. How'd it go?"

Yoshino asked, suddenly remembering.

"We won."

Her eyes widened in disbelief at Rei's reply.

"Really? But the Oonaka Taishou is that Tanaka-san, right?"

"We got pulled into a closing match, and I ended up with a decision win. Plus she got a point off me in the actual match, too."

"But your opponent was a third year san-dan! Wow!"

Which meant, of course, that Yoshino wasn't really ever expecting her to beat Oonaka's Taishou.

Yoshino was excited, suddenly rambling, that she'd definitely go to cheer next year, that she would spend the next year practicing so she'd be able to make a handmade lunch.

"But, wow, you're energetic. Did you really have surgery?"

"I did. Do you want to see the scar?"

"… Really?"

"I want Rei-chan to see."

Yoshino unbuttoned her pajama and opened the front. She wasn't wearing an undershirt, but a big gauze was wrapped over her breast in its stead. She didn't have any bandages.

"When a bunch of things were stuck in my body I wouldn't have wanted to show you, though."

As she said that, she peeled off the paper tapes. When she lifted the heavily piled gauze a bit, there was a roughly 10 centimeter scar under her right breast.

One horizontal slice. It was stitched together with a wiry thing, rather than thread. The single line that ran through Yoshino's white body was beautiful, looking like a decoration.

"When it heals, it'll hardly be noticeable."

"Ah."

Because it's a girl's body, it's a good thing the scar wouldn't remain, but Rei felt a bit disappointed the decoration were to vanish. Yoshino laughed, too, "I'd look like a girl pirate if it stayed."

After carefully returning the gauze to its place and buttoning her shirt, Yoshino spoke.

"I think I want to start kendo."

"Eh!?"

"I'm Rei-chan's cousin, so I might have some talent. I said I'd cheer for you, but it seems more fun if I were to do it, myself, too. Then, next year I'll take a point from Oonaka's Tanaka-san as vengeance for Rei-chan."

Yoshino's ego had bloated after surgery. Rei smiled bitterly.

"Then I guess I should make sure I don't lose my Taishou throne."

She seemed so ecstatic Rei didn't want to correct her.

Third-years graduate, so next year Oonaka wouldn't have Tanaka-san.

Maybe it's because they'd been together a lot lately. Yoshino seemed a bit like Yumi-chan.

Speaking of which.

The professional nurse immediately noticed that the patient had opened the gauze.

Do I even need to mention that Yoshino-san and Rei-sama were scolded afterward?

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