Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume3 Chapter8 1

The last flower of winter, and then. Part 1.

I didn't feel like doing anything, after that day.

My compulsion to study for Shiori vanished, so of course, my attitude in class became horrible and I don't need to explain my quiz scores.

I was called to the staff room numerous times, asked to explain what was going on. My behavior wasn't good to begin with, and I was never very harmonious with my classmates, but the moment my grades fell apart, the teachers turned around began trying to "guide" me, and it disgusted me.

If I could answer, my grades fell apart because I broke up with the first-year student Kubo Shiori, the teachers would probably be surprised. While I was being lectured, I just thought about that sort of thing. If I actually paid attention to things like "you have the talent to do well," my ears would rot.

Of course, reality and daydreams were different, so I never said a word about Shiori. My grades were a result of my own profligacy.

Even if we never met, I couldn't forget about Shiori. Youko must be satisfied, knowing that we fought, and broke up. But my feelings contradicted our physical separation, and I yearned longingly for her.

The second semester exams ended, and one day in the following exam break. I received a summons from school.

I didn't want to go to school during the break, but my mom paled at hearing about my being summoned and forced me into the car.

I braced myself for receiving a lecture about my exam grades being bad, but it felt wrong. Because it was during the break, and I was summoned along with my mother, so it had to be something far more serious.

My mother and I were lead to the guidance office, a solemn room next to the staff room. I felt goose-bumps when I saw who were waiting: my middle-aged male homeroom teacher, the young female homeroom teacher for the first-year pine class, and two sisters. One was the guidance office sister, and the other was the school principal.

When I saw Shiori's homeroom teacher, I felt like I knew what was coming. Today's discussion wouldn't be solely about my grades. I didn't know how they found out, but it was evident Shiori and I's relationship was an issue.

When we walked in, the door was closed, and locked from inside. So I knew Shiori wasn't going to be called today. Perhaps she'd already been called, a different time. But I couldn't speak Shiori's name and ask. Rather than be apathetic, as usual, I felt obligated to pay attention to everything.

After greetings, the homeroom teacher pulled out my semester grades and my attendance records and showed them to my mother.

My mother thought I was an honor student, I guess, because she shrieked when she saw them, and asked if there was a mistake.

"Perhaps. After all, Satou-san was originally a model student."

After scaring my mother, the homeroom teacher began praising me. A person who's going to lead the student council next year, a person with many honor-student friends. And then he said there seemed to be a reason why I turned downhill, and he mentioned Shiori's name.

The way I saw it, it felt like he protected his teaching skills, laying down the first strike by mentioning her name. Like she was a witch, he spoke her name like the name of evil. He probably couldn't think of any reason other than Shiori.

"Is that true, Sei-chan?"

My mother yelled, hysterical.

"It's not Shiori's fault."

I spoke not to my mother, not to my homeroom teacher, but to the principal. No one else mattered to me except the principal, who knew about Shiori.

"I don't understand why you have to link Shiori and my grades. If anything went wrong, it was all my fault, not Shiori."

"Kubo Shiori said the same. That it was her fault, not yours."

The principal seemed to know everything. But she still called me here, with my mother.

For the first time, I regretted my shallowness. Even if I broke up with Shiori, I should have paid attention in class. As long as I was an honor student, my homeroom teacher wouldn't have squealed like this. And if he didn't, the principal wouldn't have found out. Even if she might have overlooked another student, she felt directly responsible for anything to do with Shiori, as she was supposed to be her away-from-home mother.

I tearfully defended Shiori, but the homeroom teacher simply became even more arrogant.

Shiori's homeroom teacher seemed to have lost out in experience, as she simply closed her eyes, silently waiting. I grew irritated, thinking she should defend her own student.

In the end, I was released, just given a strict warning. They wouldn't expel me or anything just because of grades, but there was such a gap between my first and second-semester grades that they wanted to shake some sense into me. Apparently I'd barely managed to squeeze out of the red for all of my tests, and was about to break the record for the worst scores, ever.

"School life isn't just about studying, but I wonder if it's lonesome to become absorbed into one, single thing."

The principal's words felt like a finishing blow.

I understood. My mother, and other teachers and students would never understand. But the principal, she saw through Shiori and I's relationship.

I didn't know what was going to happen to me, starting tomorrow.

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