Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume24 Chapter4 4

Explanatory Meeting and Clandestine Meeting. Part 4

"Wha … !"

After arriving at the Rose Mansion, their respective soeurs' surprised voices rang out in unison upon hearing about Touko-chan.

Nobody had expected anything like that to happen.

From there, it was amazing how quickly Noriko-chan's surprise turned to anger. Apparently she'd run into Touko-chan just before the information session.

"So why didn't she say anything? She avoided it, saying she was in a hurry. She could have told me she was going to the information session. Ah, damn it."

No-one cautioned her specifically about her coarse words because they were due to her indignation towards Touko-chan.

"Noriko-chan, calm down. First of all, have a seat."

Sachiko-sama said.

"How can I be calm? Not content with refusing Yumi-sama's offer, now she's running in the election? What is Touko thinking? She's – "

"Indeed. We should calmly consider what Touko-chan's thinking, don't you agree?"

Noriko-chan gradually cooled down under Sachiko-sama's icy glare. Perhaps realizing that this was the correct course of action, she nodded and sat down on the seat she'd shot out of earlier.

Shimako-san and Yoshino-san followed suit, as did Yumi, sitting down next to Sachiko-sama.

On the table, steam rose from the cups of green tea that Noriko-chan had prepared. They'd been poured when Noriko-chan saw the second-years approaching through the second-floor window, in that peaceful time before she knew about Touko-chan's attendance at the information session.

Once everyone was seated, and had sipped their tea, Sachiko-sama began to speak.

"Noriko-chan, why do you think Touko-chan has decided to participate in the student council election?"

"Uh."

Noriko-chan faltered slightly, having been suddenly asked about the heart of the matter. While she had been shouting earlier, that was because she had taken offense at something and not because she'd made a detailed analysis of Touko-chan's actions and was angry about that. On top of that, there's no way she would know what Touko-chan was thinking.

"Any speculation is fine."

"Speculation?"

"You're her friend, aren't you? I want to hear how things look from your point of view."

A year earlier, Kanina Shizuka-sama had entered the student council election in order to make herself known to the previous Rosa Gigantea, Satou Sei-sama. But that reason probably didn't hold true for Touko-chan, since everyone was already more than well aware of her existence.

So, why? For what purpose?

They'd already decided it wasn't simply because she wanted to do student council work. Nobody had said it, but everyone in the room was thinking along the same lines.

"Anything at all would be useful."

Sachiko-sama said, looking for information. Hearing this, Noriko-chan looked down, as though in thought. Then Rei-sama asked a question.

"Earlier you said something about her not being satisfied with just turning Yumi-chan down. Did you mean that this was some sort of harassment?"

"Harassment? … No, not quite. But out of spite, maybe … although spite may be the wrong word. For some vague reason, I think she's cognizant of Yumi-sama."

"Yumi-chan, huh? I suppose, it stands to reason that Touko-chan wouldn't be running in the election if she had accepted Yumi-chan's offer of soeurship."

Rei-sama folded her arms and leaned back in her seat.

"Because I offered her my rosary … "

She'd roused Touko-chan's ire. That was probably what it was. The expression that Touko-chan had shown back then. To put it in a single word, it was "displeasure."

"Yumi-san, even if that's true, I don't think you were wrong to offer her your rosary. They're two separate matters."

Shimako-san said.

"Additionally, I don't think Touko-chan running in the election means she doesn't like you."

Then Yoshino-san interjected from the side:

"I don't know about that. In the unlikely event that Touko-chan wins the election, that means that one of us will lose. Shimako-san, could you tolerate something like that?"

"But we're not the arbiters of justice."

"I'm not talking about justice or anything like that. I just don't want to be separated from my dear friends. Yeah, I know what you want to say. You're right, I'm just being selfish. And that's fine. But don't emotional outbursts often contain a lot of important truths? We can't all be like you, Shimako-san, carefully taking into account everyone else's feelings in our remarks."

Yoshino-san slouched back in her chair, having turned on Shimako-san half-way through. Shimako-san stiffened a touch under this machine-gun assault. It would have left an ordinary girl scared and crying, but of course the mature Shimako-san did no such thing. After pulling herself together and smiling, she'd point out the flaw in Yoshino-san's reasoning … or so they thought.

"… Yoshino-san, I love that part of you."

Her words floated out gently, like a dandelion blossom.

"Huh!?"

It wasn't just Yumi that was surprised. Everyone was stunned, except for Shimako-san who had made the declaration. But out of all of them, Yoshino-san was the most shocked.

"Shi-Shimako-san. Wh-what are you saying?"

Her face was turning bright red with anger. No, it may have looked like anger on the outside, but it was undoubtedly embarrassment on the inside.

Yoshino-san herself had acknowledged that what she was saying was selfish, so naturally she'd been preparing for a rebuttal from Shimako-san. She'd been ready and waiting to see what Shimako-san lobbed back, but what she got was "love." Well, that would drain the fight from her.

"I hope you'll keep expressing your opinion clearly from here on."

Shimako-san clasped both her hands around one of Yoshino-san's, and pumped it like a handshake.

"Uh, ah, okay."

Yoshino-san's momentum came to a crashing halt, like she'd been completely swept away by Shimako-san's presence. Sachiko-sama and Rei-sama exchanged a glance and stifled their laughter.

"While I'm not Yoshino-chan, if the three of you were split up, it would be lonely for whoever was left out and couldn't see the other two."

"That's true."

Rei-sama agreed with Sachiko-sama's statement.

"Shimako and Yoshino are stillness and motion, so they're a good match. The student council won't work if it moves too quickly, or not at all. And Yumi-chan's the cushioning. By all rights, you'll make a splendid Rose trio – "

But there's Touko-chan. Rei-sama left off this last part and once more turned to Noriko-chan.

"Sorry. The conversation got a bit sidetracked. Touko-chan's cognizant of Yumi-chan. Is there anything other than that?"

"I'm terribly sorry. There's nothing else especially … ah."

Noriko-chan gave a small cry. Like she'd just remembered something.

"What is it?"

"It was a long time ago, something I overheard one of my classmates saying."

"And?"

"She said that Touko had always wanted to be a Rose."

"A Rose … "

"It was just after the school year started, Touko was talking with some of our classmates who'd also come through Lillian's middle-school. The conversation didn't go into any specifics, like whose petit soeur they'd like to be, it was more of a vague, "some day" type thing … like she'd always admired them. But I don't think Touko's the only one to have a dream like that."

So did that mean Touko-chan was making a move to turn that dream into a reality? In that case, someone would have to restrain Touko-chan's determination.

No, even if she had an impure motive, no-one had the right to prevent Touko-chan from running in the election. If anyone could, it would be Touko-chan's onee-sama. If she had an onee-sama, they could ask her why she so desperately wanted to be a Rose, and if she couldn't come up with a good answer they could say, "Reconsider your actions."

"Alright, thank-you."

Rei-sama expressed her gratitude, bringing to an end her conversation with Noriko-chan. She'd probably decided she wouldn't be able to get any more information.

"I wonder if we should take a wait-and-see approach for a while."

"There's a chance the election will be over while we're still waiting."

"Either way, all we can do is watch."

"Exactly."

Sachiko-sama and Rei-sama exchanged a look and laughed. Even though they'd looked a bit concerned earlier, they were now acting like disinterested onlookers. Come to think of it, the previous Roses had acted the same way last year. They'd considered themselves comfortably retired, and watched on in amusement as their petit soeurs scurried hither and yon.

"A contest between actual opponents is more common than a vote of confidence anyway."

Given that they'd faced off against Shizuka-sama last year, that comment couldn't just be rejected with a, "Like you'd know."

"If she wanted that, she shouldn't have rejected Yumi-san."

Yoshino-san muttered.

"Yoshino."

Rei-sama warned her, but she continued on.

"Because, then she'd be the next in line to be Rosa Chinensis after Yumi-san. Why did she turn her down?"

Yumi was wondering that too.

Touko-chan didn't have an onee-sama. If her dream was to become close to the Roses, she could have just accepted Yumi's rosary, even if she wasn't interested in being soeurs. Previously, when she'd come to the Rose Mansion to help out, she'd done her work properly and got along with everyone there. If she'd stayed the course and become Yumi's petit soeur, she'd only have to live with that for a year.

"Because she so hated the idea of being my petit soeur that she wouldn't have been able to put up with it for a year … or something."

Yumi hadn't sensed that sort of loathing. Instead, she'd felt a sort of fondness, if only briefly.

But that might just have been Yumi projecting her own hopes, and in truth she really was disliked. It was possible that Touko-chan was always radiating hatred, but Yumi was too thickheaded to notice it.

She loves me.

She loves me not.

She loves me.

She loves me not.

Like using a flower for fortune telling, her mind switched back and forth between these two possibilities – although she didn't have a flower to pull the petals from.

"Touko doesn't hate you, Yumi-sama."

Yumi wanted to believe this, since it was Noriko-chan saying it and not just herself.

"I've got it. While it was regrettable that she rejected Yumi-sama's rosary, we can deduce that if she wins she'll name Yumi-sama as her onee-sama … or not."

Noriko-chan was trying her hardest to cheer her up, but even she was aware that her deduction was highly implausible.

Despite their discussion, they probably wouldn't get an answer unless they captured Touko-chan and asked her, "Why?"

So, for now.

"Touko-chan probably has her own reasons."

Shimako-san said, and that was all they could think.