Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume4 Chapter1 2

A lonesome warmth. Part 2.

"That's not too surprising."

Answered onee-sama, in the Rose Mansion.

"Those taking exams are likely busy with that, and the third-year supervisor said they didn't need to force themselves to come."

"Is that so?"

Yoshino-san brought a warm cup of black tea to Sachiko-sama, who'd come in after them. Yumi, who'd been beaten to the punch because she stood up a second later, put her cooling teacup to her mouth and shifted slightly away from Sachiko-sama. It was a bit nerve-wracking. She was lonely when they didn't see each other, but once they sat next to each other, she had no idea what she was supposed to do. "Onee-sama" is a mysterious being.

"Lillian doesn't prepare you all that well for exams, so you are left to your individual autonomy, I suppose."

As she spoke, Sachiko-sama placed both of her hands around the teacup, warming them.

It was after school, as their only task after the ceremony was to retrieve their report cards from homeroom.

The Yamayurikai headquarters, also known as the "Rose Mansion," currently housed Rosa Chinensis en bouton and her sister, as well as the sister of Rosa Foetida en bouton.

The three Roses handed Sachiko-sama their contact info and quickly departed from school. Rei-sama and Shimako-san were probably busy with helping out their club and classes, but they would probably come soon.

"It's a bit lonesome."

Sachiko-sama mumbled, casting her eyes down.

(… Oh, yeah.)

When the year ends, there was no escaping from the word "graduation." To Sachiko-sama, Rosa Chinensis was her one and only onee-sama, and thus was to Sachiko-sama was she was to Yumi. When you thought about your dependable onee-sama going far away, it was obviously lonesome. Plus, Rosa Chinensis declared long ago that she would be taking exams for a different university. No doubt Sachiko-sama felt that, even if onee-sama were to graduate, if she attended the university in the same premise, it would be reassuring, but that wasn't to be the case.

"Onee-sama-"

Yumi began, but she felt afraid of asking her onee-sama. What did Sachiko-sama plan to do next year? She couldn't imagine school without Sachiko-sama. Though, no matter what Sachiko-sama planned, graduation was inevitable, so Yumi's high school life was destined to be shut in darkness.

"What?"

"No, nevermind."

Yumi reflected on her own character after she carelessly thought, if only Sachiko-sama repeated a year, then they would be together. She felt so self-centered she couldn't look Maria-sama in the eye.

She was envious of Yoshino-san. Rei-sama long ago declared her intention of attending Lillian's university, so she had no need to fret like this, and they lived in what amounted to the same house, anyways, so even if Rei-sama graduated, they could see each other any time.

The creaking sound of the stairs reached Yumi. She didn't have as superhuman a hearing as Rosa Gigantea, but even Yumi could tell it belonged to one person.

The footsteps were fairly quick, so Yumi was surprised to see it was Shimako-san rather than Rei-sama. She was normally so calm, so this was surprising.

"Has anyone heard of the word Rosa Canina?"

And again surprising was that Shimako-san, upon entering the room, skipped greetings and jumped straight into a topic.

"Rosa Canina?"

The three of them asked, at once, and then shook their heads.

"What is that?"

Sachiko-sama looked back, doubtfully, but Shimako-san also shook her head.

"I'm not sure."

Well, she probably asked, "Does anyone know?" because she didn't know.

But, "Rosa Canina." Was it related to the Roses? -Rosa Chinensis, Rosa Gigantea, Rosa Foetida. And, Rosa Canina.

They all seemed to ponder the same thing, as they folded their arms and thought. This time, the stairs creaked really loudly, like there was an earth tremor going on. No doubt Rei-sama.

"Hey, who's Rosa Canina?"

Without bothering to fully open the biscuit-shaped door, Rei-sama shouted to the people within. Curiously, she asked the same thing as Shimako-san, although worded quite differently.

"So, Rosa Canina is a person, may I presume?"

Sachiko-sama confirmed. Rei-sama, who'd just arrived at the Rose Mansion, simply responded nodded with an "of course" expression on her face. She didn't know about how they'd heard the name.

"Of course it's a person. She's a student at our school."

"I see. You've gathered three more minutes' worth of information than Shimako, in exchange for coming later."

As expected of Sachiko-sama. Her ears were as sharp as ever. Come to think of, Shimako-san was asking only about the term Rosa Canina.

"Rei… I mean, onee-sama. Onee-sama, where did you hear about this?"

She'd been completely soaked into cousin mode over winter break, as Yoshino-san struggled to resume calling Rei-sama onee-sama.

"In the hallway in front of my classroom. A bunch of students were chatting. I wouldn't have cared, but then when they noticed me, they stopped talking. Well that made me curious, so I kept in mind what I heard before they stopped."

"And that's Rosa Canina?"

"Yup."

As Rosa Gigantea nodded, Shimako-san said, "Me, too."

"The same thing happened to me. I think they were second-years, but they were talking at the stairs, and when they saw me, they looked extremely conflicted before they went away."

"Something they didn't want Shimako-san to hear, maybe?"

ESPer, or the reputable detective Yoshino-san groaned. No, maybe in her case, it's more like a plain-clothes detective from a historical play.

That would make Sachiko-sama the police officer. And all of them standing in a circle was like idle gossiping at a tenement.

"I intuitively felt they were talking about me, or the Yamayurikai staff."

Shimako-san quietly looked at the ceiling, remembering. Yumi also looked up. Oh, a spider web.

"Wait. Shimako aside, how did Rei know Rosa Canina is a student?"

Good question, Sachiko-sama. But Yumi felt a bit sad, being left out a bit. She wasn't able to find that "good question" with her own strength. Of course, so that onee-sama wouldn't read her thoughts, she did everything possible to keep her facial muscles still.

"Uhh, I wonder why?"

Rei-sama folded her arms and looked down. And of course, Yumi, too, looked down. This time she saw cotton lint at the edge of the floor. When you don't use a room for two weeks, even with no one living in it, it became dirty.

"Oh, right. They were talking about her doing something. That Rosa Canina."

After some thought, Rei-sama finally managed to succeed dragging out bits and pieces of her memory.

"Doing what?"

Yoshino-san urged her.

"Umm. I think they mentioned announcing her candidacy?"

"Candidacy?"

The four other than Rei-sama simultaneously asked back. But Yumi was the only one with a different tone to the question. Yumi was more like, "What do you mean by announcing her candidacy?" while the Sachiko-sama, Shimako-san and Yoshino-san had all cleared that hurdle and were more like, "She's actually announcing her candidacy?"

"How amusing, we'll accept the challenge."

Sachiko-sama laughed fearlessly.

"How depressing."

Rei-sama scratched her short hair.

"… Oh."

Shimako-san simply smiled.

As for Yoshino-san.

"What should we do, Yumi-san?"

For some reason, she asked Yumi. (…)

What should we do? Yumi thought it awkward asking for a person's idea when that person had no idea what was going on.

But, oh.

If she were to ask, "What's going on?" It would, without a doubt, be like throwing a weighted stone into the flow of the conversation.

To start with, that would embarrass her onee-sama. Oh how much she wished she could throw herself into the river instead of the weighted stone. It was such a pinch of a situation that she wanted to just be swept somewhere else.

"At the end of January, there's an election to see who's going to be in the next student council. If she's announcing her candidacy, that would mean she'll first run in that election."

Sachiko-sama, next to her, mumbled. It was slightly louder than whispering, so that Yumi could hear.

"O-onee-sama…"

It would be wonderful if it was something as beautiful as telepathy, but it was, of course, Sachiko-sama saving her sister from embarrassment. Her onee-sama, being intelligent to make up for her sister's deficiencies: how cynical. –Wait, it wasn't the time to be sentimental!

"Th-th-then. Depending on that election, onee-sama might not be the next Rosa Chinensis!?"

Snapping back to reality, after she chewed on what she was told, she realized how critical this topic was.

"Hey, Yumi, you shouldn't shake peoples' shoulders, it hurts."

"Ah, I'm sorry."

What a blunder. She'd become so agitated she latched onto onee-sama. When she let go, Sachiko-sama looked exasperated and fixed her pulled sleeves.

Yumi finally understood.

Bouton weren't guaranteed to become Roses. Well, considering Lillian Girls' Academy stood in Japan, which was a democracy, it would be odd if the student council was decided without listening to the peoples' opinion.

But, because they were "bouton," she wanted them to blossom into full-grown flowers. Though that was her personal opinion.

"It doesn't necessarily mean Sachiko. It could mean me or Shimako."

Rei-sama laughed and pointed out.

"Even if the possibility is equal, the probability is not."

"Shimako."

Sachiko-sama said the name in a scolding manner, but Shimako-san continued to express her opinion, undeterred.

"If that Rosa Canina is a second-year student, it might actually be natural."

(Ah…)

What Shimako-san was trying to say. Even Yumi could see it.

Currently, there was no second-year student in the white rose family. That was simply because Rosa Gigantea chose a sister two years her junior. That was why Shimako-san, despite being a first-year, was forced to carry the heavy burden of being Rosa Gigantea en bouton.

At this rate, she would be Rosa Gigantea next year, despite being a second-year. But if there was another person, a second-year, who was just as capable as Rei-sama and Sachiko-sama, maybe it would be more fitting than herself? Might be what Shimako-san wanted to say.

So if one of the boutons were to not become a Rose, it would be herself, because she was a year under the norm.

Would that be called withdrawing? No, it was different, there was a more appropriate word for it-.

"You're running away?"

With perfect timing, Sachiko-sama said. It was the right nuance, but Yumi thought it was a harsh way of putting it. If it were Yumi, she would apologize, "I'm sorry," and tearfully beg for forgiveness, even if she'd done nothing wrong.

"No."

But Shimako-san. Even if she was in a different grade, she was a bouton, too. She looked Sachiko-sama straight in the eye and answered.

"It would be an inexcusable transgression against onee-sama, who chose me as her sister. I will run in the election. And I have no intention of losing."

"What a passively strong stance."

But Shimako-sama simply smiled, not answering Sachiko-sama's pointed remark.

Shimako-san was unfathomable. –Yumi thought, yet again.

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