Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume23 Chapter4 3

Full to Bursting at the New Year's Party. Part 3

The games began just after 3pm.

First up was the refined, traditional New Year's game of 100 Poems. As she waited, Yumi flexed her wrists.

"Living all alone – "

Sayako-oba-sama read the first part of the poem.

(Living all alone … I think the bottom part is, "Can you realize at all," so – )

Actually, after her ignominious defeat last year, she'd spent a little bit of time studying the 100 poems at home. But this was just a thin veneer.

However.

"Here!"

Shimako-san picked it up from nearby. Since it was on Shimako-san's side, by the time Yumi had found it it was already too late. Sachiko-sama had also been reaching out for it, but she was further away so it looked like she got off to a slow start.

"The Mother of Michitsuna. That's right, Shimako-chan."

Sayako-oba-sama confirmed that it was correct and read the top and bottom sections.

Living all alone,

Through the hours of the night,

Til the daylight comes:

Can you realize at all

The emptiness of that night?

From memory, this poem was about a woman whose husband had gone to see a mistress and, "how long the night seems when you're not there."

Hearing Sayako-oba-sama read that poem aloud made it all the more poignant. Her husband, Tooru-oji-sama, was out today. The annual tradition was that the men would visit their mistresses.

Even though he had a wonderful wife like Sayako-oba-sama. From what she knew of Tooru-oji-sama, he seemed kind and a devoted husband – These were the thoughts that Yumi idly pondered.

"Here."

Yumi was brought back to her senses when a card was plucked from right in front of her.

"Uwah."

The card with, "That rose on Mount Mikasa," that should have been by her right knee was gone.

"It's because you were spacing out."

She'd been found out. Sachiko-sama chuckled to herself, holding the correct card in her hand.

She wouldn't win like this. Yumi decided to roll up her sleeves and play for real.

However.

"Eight-fold cherry flowers – "

"Here."

"An autumn eve – "

"Here."

Sachiko-sama and Shimako-san scooped them up one after the other while she looked on in shock.

Rei-sama had a large reach and moved quickly, so when she found a card she could get it with lightning speed. Noriko-chan kept plugging away steadily. Yoshino-san seemed to have given up already and was only looking at the five cards around her.

Her hasty study was never going to be enough to catch up to them.

Even if she strained to remember that the second half of "Eight-fold cherry flowers," was "In our nine-fold palace court," by the time she'd done this someone was already reaching out for the card. If she didn't want to be hopeless, it looked like she'd have to practice until her body moved without waiting to analyze the words she heard.

In the end, the game devolved into the four others sharing the scraps that Sachiko-sama and Shimako-san didn't pick up.

When it was over, she was a bit disappointed but Sachiko-sama gently patted her on the shoulder.

"But you did better than last year, right?"

Thanks to her efforts, she'd improved slightly over the previous year. It made her happy that Sachiko-sama had recognized this, so she perked up.

Sachiko-sama said, "Let's see," and spread Yumi's cards out. What did she get?

"Just as past time filled with grief comes quietly back in thought … And crushed upon the shore, remembering what has been … but now it is my heart's desire, it may long, long years endure … quite a lot of poems about brooding people. That's troublesome."

That's troublesome, she said.

"A 100 Poems tarot card reading?"

It's not like the cards they picked up showed what was going on in their heart.

"I wonder."

But even if she said that, wouldn't it mean that Sachiko-sama and Shimako-san, who had lots of cards, had all their emotions mixed up inside their head in a massive cacaphony?

"You wonder, onee-sama."

Yumi gazed at the ten or so cards she'd been given back. There really did seem to be a lot of brooding people.

If I should live long

Then perhaps the present days

May be dear to me,

Just as past time filled with grief

Comes quietly back in thought.

(If I live a long life, will I look back and reminisce on the present?

And yearn for these days, even though they seem tough?)

Like a driven wave,

Dashed by fierce winds on a rock,

So am I: alone

And crushed upon the shore,

Remembering what has been.

(Like a wave that smashes itself against a rock,

I spend these days fretting about that person.)

For your precious sake,

Once my eager life itself

Was not dear to me.

But now it is my heart's desire

It may long, long years endure.

(Even though I thought I'd risk my life if it meant meeting you,

now I wish that today would stretch on forever.)

Indeed, there was plenty to think about. Yumi stopped interpreting the rest of her cards.