Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume1 Chapter4 1

Spicy and Bitter Weekend. Part 1

Saturday.

Just about two and a half hours after noon, there was a gift from the cooking room to the Rose Mansion.

"Second-year cherry blossom. We're opening a curry stand for the festival, and we'd like to request a tasting."

"Wah!"

A strong, spicy scent roused her appetite. They had been rehearsing for the play on the second floor, but everyone had stopped, and quickly moved the table back from the corner to the center.

"Please."

Three students wearing pink apron-dresses labeled "Sakuratei" took out three dishes each from a Ramen-shop delivery box and placed them on the table.

"Oops, there's one extra."

They cocked their heads. They had brought nine, for eight.

"Who said it was three times three?"

"Oh, oops. Rosa Gigantea had no second-year."

They were whispering to each other, but it was very audible. Yumi had already been counted, in a very matter-of-fact way.

"It's better than too little, isn't it? May I have the extra one, too?"

The three students from Sakuratei were relieved by Rosa Gigantea's suggestion, and so the problem with the number of dishes was resolved. Finally, they could get to sampling the food.

"It's a trial product, so please, be honest."

There was a bank of rice in the middle of the elliptical dish, and on either end was a different curry sauce. A red curry with ripe tomatoes, and a white curry using coconut milk as its base.

They had eaten lunch two hours earlier, but as they were hungry from rehearsal, everyone eagerly lifted their chopsticks, or spoons.

"Being able to eat two types of curry on one dish is nice. … But, I think there might be too much sauce compared to the amount of rice?"

Was Rosa Chinensis' first impression.

"The colors, also, might be a bit bland?"

Rosa Gigantea said.

"Green is missing. Boiled broccoli, asparagus… turnips or pickles, anything, but I think you should place something green on the dish."

"Green. Come to think of it, that's true."

The Sakuratei students earnestly took notes.

"Maybe you should cook rice with a little less water? Personally, I prefer a bit drier rice."

Said Rosa Foetida, and Shimako-san answered, "I like rice puffed up like this." Then, they took a survey of everyone at the table, which resulted in three preferring "drier" rice, three preferring "puffy" rice and two not caring either way. Yumi raised her hand for "not caring," and she felt to a certain degree, her personality was shown in her answer.

There were some selfish comments, like Sachiko-sama's "I don't like coconuts, in general," but as expected of the people at the Rose Mansion, everyone was offering earnest advice for the tasting. By contrast, Yumi could only offer the unhelpful comment of, "I think it's good," and so she felt a bit apologetic.

"We'll head back and discuss it, then. We'll come back later to pick up the dishes, so feel free to just leave them there."

They hurried back to the cooking room, saying they were scheduled to take a peek into the staff room, count the number of heads, and deliver food.

"Speaking of which, what time is it?"

Rosa Chinensis flipped her hand and looked at her thin, silver wristwatch in response to Rosa Gigantea's question. Not just Rosa Gigantea, but almost everyone glanced at a nearby clock to confirm. –Two fifty. The three first-years began cleaning up the dishes.

"Almost three. Oh, yeah."

"We need to go pick him up."

"Who shall we send?"

The Roses softly discussed among themselves.

"Um, what should we do about the extra dish?"

Yumi pointed at the dish Rosa Gigantea mentioned earlier, as she wiped the table. Perhaps Rosa Gigantea planned to eat it now, or perhaps she meant to keep it until after the rehearsal. If she was going to save it for later, it was probably prudent to move it to a different plate and stick it in the refrigerator, as cleaning the dishes for the cooking students was something she preferred to have done now.

"Perfect. Yumi-chan can we ask you to do a chore?"

Rosa Gigantea said.

"Eh?"

"There's a person waiting for us by the main gate, if you could bring that person to us."

"Fine with me…?"

Yumi wondered who it could be. The main gate meant it was not a person from within the school.

"We'll have that person eat the curry."

"Ah."

Rosa Gigantea explained, today was the day the Hanadera student council leader was arriving to join rehearsals. They had gotten permission from the school, but a young man walking alone into a girls' school was not a good idea, so they had promised to send someone to escort him.

"Why are we treating an outsider?"

Sachiko-sama spoke, unpleasantly, and Rosa Chinensis curtly answered.

"It would be impolite if only we are spicy."

Even Sachiko-sama had to feel sorry for the Hanadera guy, who would be surrounded by people who had just eaten curry with garlic. Either that, or she preferred not to have that image of herself, regardless of who the opponent was.

"Eight minutes left."

Rosa Foetida began counting down.

"But I don't know how that person looks?"

"There are not a whole lot of Hanadera students waiting by the main gate. His name is Kashiwagi-san. He's a pretty nice-looking guy, so you'll recognize him immediately."

Yumi hurried out, spurred on by the words, seven and a half minutes left.

It took a bit over ten minutes to walk from the Rose Mansion to the main gate. How long would it take if she walked quickly?

(Ahh, shoot.)

Yumi hurried back after stepping out. She could keep her indoor shoes on if she were just traversing the courtyard, but she would need shoes to walk to the main gate. There was a barrier of fallen gingko nuts, after all, along the way.

One minute lost due to the detour to the shoe box. She would have to run.

She disturbed her plaited skirt just a tad, she let her sailor scarf overturn a tiny bit, and she paid care to not step on gingko nuts. It was exactly three o'clock when she arrived at the main gate.

(Please don't be here, yet.)

When she stepped out of the gate, a Hanadera Institute uniform was waiting right in front of her. Still, even though the uniform was identical to the one her brother wore, his height allowed him to look 20% more grand, a fascinating effect.

"Excuse me, are you Kashiwagi-san?"

"Ah, yes."

He lifted his head and smiled.

"Are you the person sent by the Yamayurikai? Kashiwagi Suguru, pleased to meet you."

The pitiful prince that was hated by Cinderella was a pretty good looking young man.

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