Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume4 Chapter7 2

The hatsumoude on the second. Part 2.

Rosa Gigantea, under the guide of a "date," took me to the temple by the school.

"Wow, Rosa Gigantea! Are you an ESPer!?"

"What are you saying?" We got off of the circulation bus and walked under the shrine archway. As I expected, festival carts lined up either side of the shrine pathway. The burning smell of soy sauce drifted in the air.

"Squid? Or corn?"

"We can do that later, let's go pull our fortunes."

Rosa Gigantea was very far from being able to be called deeply religious, so it was surprising, until I realized at least part of her reasoning was for "checking out the goods." Because she went in line for the prettiest shrine maiden, despite it being the longest line.

"So we really did go on a two-person date."

I mumbled, as we lined up for the fortunes. For a moment I still had a sliver of hope that Yoshino-san and Rei-sama would be waiting for us here.

Shi.

Shimazu Yoshino.

"Yoshino-chan and Rei are in Hakone for New Year's."

"Hakone?"

"With their families. It was Yoshino-chan's wish, because she's healthy."

"Hakone?"

It was odd. Hakone was famous for hot springs, but wasn't it known more as a tourist spot for the elderly, than high-school girls?

"Umm, are you sure you don't mean Karuizawa?"

"Do they do horseracing in Karuizawa?"

"---"

I'd forgotten. Yoshino-san loved sports. So Shimazu and Hasekura went to Hakone to let Yoshino-san see a horse race live. It seemed like Yoshino-san's go-go-go personality was a result of her environment. Not just Rei-sama, but their parents were also soft on Yoshino-san.

"Rosa Chinensis is studying during the break. And Rosa Foetida is at her villa in Hawaii. She goes every year."

"And Shimako-san?"

"Shimako?"

Rosa Gigantea thought about it, and then raised an eyebrow and she answered.

"Shimako."

To.

Toudou Shimako. "I didn't invite her."

"Why?"

"Lots of reasons. Shimako's household gets a lot of visitors, so on New Year's and the likes, she has to help out a lot. And plus, do you think that devout Christian Shimako would come to a hatsumoude at a shrine? You shouldn't try to sway her beliefs like that."

"Um, Rosa Gigantea? … If you're going to say that…"

"Yup. Once we go there, it's over. You shouldn't be inviting any Lillian student to a hatsumoude."

Rosa Gigantea cackled.

"Then, why me?"

After all, I'm an actual student at Lillian Girls' Academy, you know. Plus, though not really something to brag about, I was raised in the greenhouse since kindergarten.

"Your smell."

Rosa Gigantea sniffed, as she crept closer.

"Yumi-chan, your household covers the million gods, Buddha, and Maria-sama, all together, friendly-like, right?"

"Eh, how!?"

What kind of smell is that? I ended up sniffing around my coat, but Rosa Gigantea, even though she said it first, doubled over in laughter.

"You're really funny. Did you think you had the smell of sacred wine, incense, and holy bread and wine or something? Smell was a metaphor. A metaphor, understand?"

"Erk."

"-Which of course means Yumi-chan's house is a mixture, after all."

"Yes."

Indeed.

We had no prayer shelf, but we had shrine charms pasted around the house.

We had no Buddhist altar, but Yuuki's room, as a Hanadera student, was filled with Buddhist goods. And the Lillian Girls' Academy I attend is a Catholic school.

And my household accepted it all, without a second thought.

"Come to think of it, how unchaste."

"Oh don't fret, my house is the same. So I can tell if someone's a comrade by their smell. Plus, that's Japanese culture. And this is how the Yamayurikai members are, so don't worry. If they didn't have plans, I'm sure Yoshino-chan and Rei would have joined us."

"But Shimako-san is different?"

"Shimako is special."

She seemed to have reminisced about Shimako-san, as she softly narrowed her eyes.

Oh, Rosa Gigantea. You always seem to leave her alone, but you care so deeply about Shimako-san. Well, she is your proud sister, after all.

"Hey, Rosa Gigantea."

I'm finally trying to get a better opinion of you, so stop checking out the shrine maidens like that.

It was finally their turn to get their fortunes, so I turned over a box with a single hole and rattled it. Then, when I looked to my side, Rosa Gigantea, who had lined up in front of me and thus was already long done, was holding the shrine maiden's hand. –Gosh, you can never let your guard down with her.

"Slightly good luck."

Rosa Gigantea said.

"Uncertain luck."

I followed after.

We'd moved a bit away from where you receive the fortunes, and were standing near the plum trees, with beautiful blossoms of white fortunes sprouting along their branches. The real flowers, of course, were still some time away from blooming.

"It would have been more interesting if we got great luck and horrible luck, you know? Speaking of which, what's better, slightly good luck or uncertain luck?"

"I think slightly good luck is just a hair better. … Is there even horrible luck?"

"Well if there's a great luck, I'm sure there is?"

But I'd never heard of a slightly bad luck or an uncertainly bad luck.

"You won't lose anything, and your wishes will come true, despite some difficulty, or something? Gosh, how dicey."

Rosa Gigantea folded up her fortune and tied it to a plum tree.

"Ah, hold on a second."

The fortunes were written in an archaic-like way, so it was difficult to read. Rosa Gigantea's ability to read them in a heartbeat was an exception. It seemed like she wasn't just good at English.

"Lemme see."

"Ah."

Rosa Gigantea took the fortune from Yumi's hands.

"Mmm. You might marry or move this year, it says. Also, you won't have many children. Hmm, an influence of the declining birth rates."

Moving aside, I think "marriage" and "children" are completely irrelevant to a sixteen-year old high-school girl.

"It says your wishes will come true as long as you work hard. Daily diligence, so to speak."

Here, she said, as she handed the fortune back, so following in Rosa Gigantea's footsteps, I folded it and tied it to a branch. Another fortune flower had blossomed.

Your wishes will come true as long as you work hard. But what am I wishing for the most?

I thought about it as I looked at the various charms, like the "arrow to ward away demons."

Family stability. Good health. Warding off disaster. Safe birth prayer. Traffic safety.

People in this world have many things to pray to God for. And everyone lives with a myriad of worries.

The votive pictures were filled with "let me get into OO university." With this many wishes, I wondered how God could possibly fulfill them all.

"Thanks for waiting."

I was praying, so Rosa Gigantea left me behind to check out the festival carts, and now she returned, almost skipping with joy. Umm, she said it was a hatsumoude, but she wasn't really visiting the temple, so what did she come here to do? I was getting the feeling she'd come just for the fortunes.

"Umm, Rosa Gigantea…? What's that?"

My jaw dropped at seeing her carrying a vinyl bag in both hands.

"This bag has ikayaki and grilled corn. And this bag has okonomiyaki and takoyaki and yakisoba. I bought a lot, so they put it in bags for me."

Apricot candy might be impossible, but we could carry cotton candy home, she said. Rosa Gigantea had designs to keep buying, so I felt a bit nauseous.

"Umm. What I'm asking isn't what's in the bags, but what you intend to do with so much food."

"Of course, eating."

"Wh, who?"

"Us. Alright, let's start with takoyaki, Yumi-chan, that's easy to eat."

And Rosa Gigantea took out a pack of takoyaki from one of the bags. Wow. I only got a glimpse, but she bought three packs of each.

"Here, ahhh."

Rosa Gigantea picked up a takoyaki and lifted it.

"Ahhh."

How dreadful, I opened my mouth. But fresh-made takoyaki is warm and delicious. And the tako was big and juicy.

"Alright, let's eat while it's still hot. Oh, we're in the way of passer-bys, so let's go to the back. Yumi-chan, hold one bag."

Just doing what I was told, I picked up the bag with takoyaki, okonomiyaki, and yakisoba in one hand, and carried a paper bag with a box of cakes in the other, and followed Rosa Gigantea to the back of the shrine, into the grove of mixed trees, using the trail. I was still carrying a big shoulder-bag, so I may have looked quite absurd. Some might even think I've run away from home.

Rosa Gigantea still had a hand open, so every now and then she'd feed me takoyaki, and so we ended up splitting a pack of eight four-four.

"What are you thinking, Rosa Gigantea?"

"What? Have you become anxious, because I'm leading you to a place with no people?"

"Not that."

I stared at Rosa Gigantea, who was still playing around.

"You know as well as I do that the two of us aren't going to be able to eat all this."

"Hmm."

Rosa Gigantea placed a rubberband around the emptied plastic pack, and carefully placed it back in the vinyl bag so it wouldn't spill. All of a sudden they'd come to a place where knee-high stone statues lined the path. This was leading out of the shrine area, it seemed. It was like a back road, and at the side of the small pavement, a number of cars were parked.

"Someone else is coming, right?"

"I don't know if I would answer right or wrong to that."

Rosa Gigantea grinned, and she fished around her pocket.

"Ah, I have candy here."

My hands were occupied, so I pointed my hip at her.

"No, no."

Rosa Gigantea took out a key of some sort. Of some sort? It was definitely not a house nor bicycle key. It was probably, not, it was definitely a car key.

"Umm-"

Without giving me time to gather myself, Rosa Gigantea kept walking, and when she got next to a yellow car, she used her key.

"Now now, come in."

She placed the bag with squid and corn in the backseat, got in, and reached over to open the passenger seat.

"Uhh, umm, Rosa Gigantea…?"

Where's the driver, I wanted to ask, but my luggage was taken, and then I myself was pushed into the car.

"Are you…"

And what I was afraid of happened. Rosa Gigantea got into the driver's seat. And she turned on the engine and put on her seat belt. Apparently, Rosa Gigantea had driven here herself, left her car behind the shrine because the station parking spaces were filled, and gone to M Station to pick me up by bus.

"Don't worry, I have a license."

She showed me her card, and it was indeed just like my father's one. The picture definitely belonged to Rosa Gigantea, and the name read "Satou Sei." And she'd turned 18 on the 25th of the previous month, so she was of the right age to legally drive.

"It's all good."

Rosa Gigantea laughed, as she courteously fastened my seatbelt.

"Take offfff!"

"Ehhhhhhhh!?"

Ignoring my anxiety, the yellow car driven by Rosa Gigantea began moving. But then, the moment we got to the stoplight in front of the bus route, the engine stalled. I began trembling. In a way, it was scarier than a jet coaster or haunted house.

"How long have you been driving?"

I was very afraid of asking. But I didn't have the confidence I could sit quietly without asking. I just noticed, but that "thing" stuck to the front glass. Isn't that the "new driver" mark?

"How long?"

Turning on her left turn lights, Rosa Gigantea asked back. Uhh, wasn't that light late?

"I am asking, how long you have been driving since you received your license."

"How long? Today's the first time I drove outside of the practice range."

"Eek."

"It's all good, I was safely able to drive here from home."

"It'll be horrible if you get into an accident."

I might have been shrieking. But this may be curtains to my life of sixteen years, so I think that's a normal reaction.

"Hahahahahah."

Gripping the steering wheel, Rosa Gigantea laughed, pleased.

"Le, let me off, please."

"You won't die. After all, both of our fortunes were for 'good' luck. Oops."

"Kya!"

Even though she was a newbie, she attempted a clumsy passing. I don't know where we're going, but please, don't hurry. Please don't try anything, please, just get on a straightforward road.

"Oh, wonderful adulthood-!"

I started praying to Maria-sama.

"Hahahah. Yumi-chan, you're funny."

Screeeeech, screech screech screech!

"Gyaaa. Save me, Maria-sama!"

And thus, strapped to a car like it was a mental and physical torture chair, I completely forgot to ask a very crucial question, so overwhelmed with panic I was. –Or rather, there was no way I was going to compose myself enough to ask.

Where are we headed?

I think it would have been very nice to know.

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