Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume15 Chapter1 3

Today's Enemy: Excess Cuteness. Part 3

It was only when she entered the school building that she realized that Kanako-chan may have already gone home.

From what her classmate Noriko-chan had said, Kanako-chan wasn't involved in any clubs. And given the way things ended on Saturday, it seemed unlikely she'd still be stalking Yumi. Typically, students that weren't in any clubs would head home as soon as the cleaning was finished.

Yumi had been heading towards the first-year camellia classroom, but she put the brakes on, switched target and changed course.

Don't run in the hallways, walk slowly. Well, change that last bit to "relatively quickly" as she moved with a brisk pace. Even without a major school event going on, there were still a fair few students in the classrooms and hallways after school.

Arriving at the first-year camellia class shoe lockers, she saw a face she knew.

"Touko-chan."

"… Ah."

Relaxing her expression, Touko-chan added, "Yumi-sama."

"What's the matter?"

Since she'd relaxed her expression, it meant it had previously been tense. Yumi had a look out the main door to see if she could see anything, but –

"Nothing."

Touko-chan answered bluntly, and started to leave when Yumi impulsively called out to stop her.

"Ah, Touko-chan."

There.

She couldn't set aside the matter with Kanako-chan, but she was still concerned about Touko-chan's behavior.

"Yes?"

Touko-chan turned around. That done, it was now necessary for the one that had called out to her to present some reason for stopping her.

"Umm, do you know where Kanako-chan's locker is?"

Yumi asked, as a starter. And then.

"Kanako, you say?"

The muscles that Touko-chan had made an effort to relax suddenly clenched tight. It was rare that Touko-chan would be in a good mood around Yumi, but this was something even worse than usual.

"What do you want with Hosokawa Kanako?"

Her full name, but again without honorifics.

Yumi suddenly remembered that Touko-chan and Kanako-chan didn't really get along together. Indeed, they'd been called natural enemies.

"Well, I was wondering if she'd gone home already, so I came to look in her shoe locker … it's okay, I'll find it myself. Sorry for keeping you."

Better to let sleeping dogs lie. She was better off not provoking Touko-chan too much. Yumi went and checked the names on the lockers one by one.

Watching the situation unfold, Touko-chan said:

"Yumi-sama. You'd be better off not concerning yourself with someone like her. Even now … argh, so annoying!"

She almost spat this out as she looked in the direction of the exit.

"Now? … Then, ah, she's over there?"

There was no response. But Yumi said, "Thanks," and ran off.

It was only after she'd raced out the entrance that she realized she was still wearing her indoor shoes, and at that point it was too late to do anything about it. To miss this chance by going back and slowly changing her shoes would be inexcusable considering all Touko-chan had done for her, so she just had to go as she was.

The pleats of her skirt were fluttering and her white sailor collar was flapping, but even so go, go.

Kanako-chan was a bit beyond the statue of Maria-sama, on her way to the school gate. Her conspicuous figure – tall and slender, with long, black hair – made her jump into view, without having to search.

Yumi dropped her speed a little, watching Kanako-chan from behind as they walked along the pathway lined with ginkgo trees.

They had reversed their previous positions.

A few days ago, Yumi had walked down this path aware of the fact that Kanako-chan was following along behind her.

Even longer ago, she'd been unaware that Kanako-chan was there.

Yumi was walking about 20-30 meters behind Kanako-chan, and searched her heart once more.

Asking, "Do I want to make up with her?"

The answer was, "Yes." There was no hesitation. As her onee-sama had said, if she could convey her feelings then this matter could be settled.

She reduced the distance further, and the time was right to call out.

However.

"Ah, Rosa Chinensis en bouton, gokigenyou. Are you by yourself?"

Unfortunately, she'd been spotted by a group of first-years, alerting Kanako-chan to her presence. She often forget about it, but Yumi was surprisingly a bit of a celebrity within the school.

Just as she'd expected, Kanako-chan fled. The word fled may be a bit misleading, but she did pick up her pace and gradually draw further away, without even bothering to turn around and confirm whether or not it was the real Yumi there.

"Aaaah … Kanako-chan."

She stretched out her arm, but it didn't reach. On top of the natural distance in their stride length, Yumi was also surrounded by six first-years, so she couldn't give chase that effectively. She eventually shook them off and ran to the entrance, just in time to see the M station bus pull in to the bus stop. She spotted Kanako-chan lined up ready to board.

If I hurry I can make it – . Yumi was about to make a dash for it when she suddenly realized that not only was she empty-handed, she was also wearing her indoor shoes.

She'd made it all the way here but was just one step too short.

"… What a shame."

All she could do was watch in bitter disappointment as the bus pulled away in front of her eyes.