Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume27 Chapter4

At the Outset of the Date

Part 1

Without going into every little detail, the days passed quickly enough.

It was the Sunday of the week following the treasure hunt. Right on 11am.

Yoshino stepped into the plaza on the first floor of the JR K Station building.

"Ah. Yoshino-san, gokigenyou."

Who knows what time she got there, but Tanuma Chisato-san was already at their appointed meeting place, and when she saw Yoshino she smiled and waved gently.

She was wearing the same coat that she'd had on for her date with Rei-chan last year, but underneath that she was clearly wearing a pair of jeans and sneakers. A huge departure from the red, white and pink fluffy skirt. It seemed obvious, but her style probably reflected her emotional involvement in the date. But then again, Yoshino was wearing something similar, so they were at least equal in that regard.

"… Gokigenyou."

Stifling a yawn, Yoshino started by returning the greeting. Not good. She'd had a little nap in the car, and that seemed to have encouraged her weariness, so try as she might to fight it off it kept assailing her.

"Did you ride here?"

In response to Chisato-san's question, Yoshino shook her head.

"Huh, you caught the bus!?"

The accusatory tone she used was quite offensive.

"I did not. My father drove me here in his car."

Before she knew it, it was past the time when she would have had to leave to make it to their date by bike.

"Well, I guess that can't be helped."

"It's alright for you, Chisato-san. You can get to K Station using your commuter pass. But I walk to school. Telling me to come by bike to save on travel costs, that's not fair."

"I said it can't be helped, didn't I? Stop trying to pick a fight."

"But your tone of voice was annoying. It was my father's car, so that should be fine. In the report, we can just say I rode here if you want."

"What are you going to do about getting home? We're on a really tight budget, you know."

"I'll pay for it myself."

Even Rei-chan, last year she secretly put in some of her own money, so as long as it wasn't written about in the report, it should be fine.

"If you start saying that sort of thing, where will it end?"

Then Chisato-san went on a bit of a rant about how the date would be fun staying within the budget, and that there would be others who would try to copy their date, so they had to keep to the allotted amount.

"Well, it's fine. There should be enough left over for your bus fare home. Let's go. Time's wasting."

In the end, if you're just going to say, "It's fine," then don't bother bringing up the complaint to begin with. Yoshino stuck her tongue out behind Chisato-san's back. Chisato-san didn't notice this, and continued on, almost skipping as she walked ahead.

(Oh geeze.)

If things were like this right at the start, would they really be able to get along for their date?

At the very least, Yoshino thought that nobody would want to copy their date.

The place they headed to first was the cinema. The one building contained lots of movie theaters, and they had a few different movies playing simultaneously.

"Two high-school students."

As Chisato-san held out her hand to pay at the ticket counter, Yoshino firmly grabbed it. As if to say, hey, hold on a minute.

"Owww, that hurts, what are you doing?"

What are you doing? Yoshino thought she should be the one saying that.

"Chisato-san. Why are you taking me to this sickly-sweet romance comedy, and acting as though it's the most natural thing in the world?"

"Why? You like it, right? This sort of thing."

"I like it? This sort of thing?"

Yoshino snarled. She'd only seen the TV commercials for this movie, but it was a drama set in France about a beautiful man and woman and how they meet, break up, cross paths, fall in love, overcome obstacles and flirt.

"Huh? A subscriber to Comsos Publishing hates love stories?"

"That's Rei-chan's preference. Mine's something more like this."

Yoshino pointed at one of the giant posters on the wall. The one on the right-hand edge of the four. A young, clean-shaven samurai stood back-to-back with a grizzled old ronin, both had their katana drawn. Incidentally, the other three posters were for the romance movie that Chisato-san had requested, a horror movie, and a kid's anime.

"Ah, don't tell me you like the blue Cosmos books?"

"… You're way off."

Just to explain:

As everyone knows, Cosmos Publishing was the label used by the Kyuuteisha publishing company for books aimed at teenage girls. Within that, blue was used to designate BL, or boys-love stories. They were called that because the color blue was used for the covers. And, as the name implied, a boys-love story was a love story between two boys – well, it could instead be between a man and a boy, or two men – at any rate, there were plenty of girls who preferred reading about love between two males than between a male and a female.

And that's fine for them, but unfortunately Yoshino wasn't one of them. Since she wasn't particularly happy about letting that misunderstanding continue, Yoshino decided to correct Chisato-san.

"What I like isn't the love between two men, it's swordplay between two men."

"Wha?"

"The Lillian Kawaraban got our surveys mixed up. A couple of issues later they printed a tiny correction notice. Got it? Try to remember. What I mostly read is sword-fighting novels."

"Ohh. I only saw the article about your hobbies in the Lillian Kawaraban. Maybe if they'd printed Rei-sama's photo next to the correction."

Well, that sounds about right, Yoshino agreed.

"But, you know, anyone who even jokingly calls themselves a fan of Rei-chan would surely have noticed that her favorite books are from Cosmos Publishing."

She was often carrying them around, and when they released a new book in her favorite series she'd spend her lunch-time reading it.

"Ahh. I thought she might be reading them to fit in with you, Yoshino-san."

"No. Just no."

"Oh, so what about this. It said that your hobby was knitting, was that actually Rei-sama?"

"That's right."

"Ohh, so that's how it is. The mystery is solved."

Chisato-san smiled gleefully.

"What mystery?"

"Yoshino-san, during last year's treasure hunt, you were desperately flipping through the pages of a sewing book, right? I never understood the significance of that. But now, thanks to this, I feel relieved."

Yoshino didn't really understand what Chisato-san was trying to say, or what she was relieved about.

"Well, in that case, why don't you make me feel relieved too?"

Yoshino leaned in a bit closer and forced a smile.

"Huh?"

"The movie, let's go to the action one. 'Young Samurai vs Ronin: Ball and Tusk.' Sounds good, yeah?"

"Nope. I'd always planned that we'd see this one, 'Paris, Arrondissement 21, Je'taime.' And since the date is my reward, we can go wherever I want."

"That's fine. We're at the place you wanted to go to. I didn't say I objected to the cinema. But you can't just go ahead and decide what movie we're going to see by yourself."

"What are you saying? We met at 11 so that we'd be in time for the 11:30 screening. Of course we're going to see this movie."

"'Young Samurai' starts at 11:15, so we can still make it."

Yoshino said, pointing to the session times listed above the ticket counter.

"Buh-boow. It's already 11:16."

Chisato-san said, looking pointedly at her wristwatch. However, Yoshino wasn't going to give up that easily.

"The previews go for 5 or 10 minutes. If we go now, we'll still get there for the film."

"At any rate, no."

"But I – "

In truth, it wasn't as though Yoshino was so annoyed by love stories that she broke out in a rash. If she watched the movie they were discussing, she'd probably enjoy it, more or less. She was only being so obstinate because it's what her partner wanted to see. The mood was such that if she backed down here, then that would mean she was defeated.

"This is a date. We can't go and see different movies."

"I know that."

But having said that, neither of them were willing to take the high road and watch the other's movie.

It wasn't obvious who moved first, but they both drew their right hand back. Scissors-paper-rock.

Go!

"Ahh!"

So much energy. They both went for rock.

"It's a draw … I guess."

The next time around, they both went for paper.

After that it was rock, paper, paper, scissors. The run of ties made it looks as though they really were well suited to each other.

They were both breathing heavily. Even though it was only scissors-paper-rock, they were both going at it hard, using their entire body, and they were getting tired. While this was going on, the clock ticked over to 11:20. The "Young Samurai" previews would surely be over by now.

"Hey, why don't we get someone else to decide instead?"

Chisato-san offered. If they kept going like this, it would never end. In other words, if they couldn't decide themselves, all they could do was entrust it to someone else.

"Alright, but how?"

"We'll go to the same movie as the next customer."

"But doesn't that put me at a disadvantage, in a number of ways."

By saying that, Yoshino was acknowledging that she was disadvantaged because her movie had already started. She looked around the cinema entrance. Then she spotted a guy running from the train station straight towards them.

"Okay, let's see the same movie as the next person."

A single male wouldn't be going to see 'Paris, Arrondissement 21, Je'taime.' He would definitely choose 'Young Samurai vs Ronin: Ball and Tusk.'

"Okay."

Chisato-san agreed, as the running man looked back over his shoulder.

"Ah."

Damn it, Yoshino thought. A woman was following along behind him. A couple might see 'Paris.' Scratch that. It's probably the more likely choice. 'Je'taime', and all that.

"Looks like victory is mine."

Chisato-san smiled, confident in her success.

"Wait, we don't know that."

Once again, Yoshino stopped Chisato-san as she went to buy the tickets.

"Since they're in such a hurry, they might be going to see 'Young Samurai' after all."

They might be hurrying because the previews were already over. And the guy had gone on ahead to buy the tickets, since he was the faster runner.

"It's simply because they want good seats."

"We don't know that."

The guy was running. The girl was running too. In a way, the scene was more suspenseful than a movie.

"Oddly enough, they might keep running past the cinema."

"Hahaha. In that case, it carries over to the next person."

However, that concern was unnecessary.

The male of the pair that they thought were a couple arrived at the entrance to the cinema, then got his breathing under control as he walked over to the ticket counter.

Well then, which one will it be. Yoshino and Chisato-san nervously awaited the outcome. Well, they didn't really have much time to really take it all in. They followed him, because they had to buy the same tickets.

Without hesitation, he stood in front of one of the ticket windows.

(Huh?)

"Two adults."

The ticket window wasn't for either of the movies that Yoshino and Chisato-san had been expecting.

"Did you get them?"

The pair locked arms, and headed towards the movie theater entrance.

"Please hurry. The movie will start any moment now. Next customer?"

The lady at the ticket counter addressed the two that had been left behind, dumbstruck.

There was no point in complaining. It was a rod that they'd made for their own back.

"Two high-school students."

The tickets that had despairingly been purchased were for:

" … 'The Tale of the Blood-stained Mansion.'"

– As suggested by the title, this was quite obviously a horror film.

Part 2

At the same time, Shimako was in the food area in the department store basement.

She was conscious of the girl in the Lillian's high-school uniform who was separated from her by the crowd of people but kept popping in and out of her field of vision, and for the umpteenth time that day silently asked herself, "Why?"

Why was she going on the exact same date as last year?

(No.)

The 'exact same' was a faulty expression.

Last year, Shimako had purchased onigiri rice balls, but the plastic bag that currently hung from her right hand contained a warm marinaded seafood and vegetables dish, and the paper bag in her left hand contained baked cheesecake.

(Moreover.)

Last year they'd worn street clothes, while this year they were in uniform. And, let's not forget, her partner was different too.

"Sorry for keeping you waiting. Did you make your purchases?"

"Yes. This is the cake. And this is the seafood."

As she said this, Shimako held out the change. A couple of ten- and one-yen coins. Since she'd bought exactly what she'd been told, the money she'd been given was almost exactly spot on.

"But three-hundred grams of each, don't you think it's a bit too much?"

Perhaps not hearing what Shimako said, Ami-san opened her own bags and looked at what she had bought.

"Fried chicken and onigiri. You don't have a microwave in the Rose Mansion, do you?"

"Ah, no."

"There was some really tasty looking pizza, but I decided against it. No matter how good it looks, when it cools the cheese hardens, and it won't taste the same."

"That's true."

As they headed towards the bus terminal on the north side of the station, Shimako was deep in thought. Was Ami-san enjoying their date?

The girl by her side was heading directly to the exit, her head fixed looking straight ahead.

She'd called herself a fan of Shimako's. Yet, since the first time they'd met, Ami-san had never looked at her with a happy expression.

At first, Shimako had thought this was because she was nervous. But they'd met a couple of times while planning the date. Surely she should have loosened up during that.

So then Shimako thought that maybe this was just her nature. That her face was normally expressionless, that such was her personality, and that Shimako wasn't the only one that she looked at with a stony expression.

However, that was incorrect.

One day during the previous week, Shimako had been walking with Noriko through the corridor on the first-floor of the school building.

It was one of those rare mild February days, with few clouds, and you could almost mistake it for April or May. Consequently, there were a lot of students who had taken their lunches out into the courtyard and were chatting merrily, and Shimako could feel that energy as they walked through the corridor.

"Ah."

Noriko called out, drawing close to the glass window.

"It's her, right, Shimako-san?"

Where Noriko pointed did indeed include Igawa Ami-san's figure. She was with another of her classmates, and they were leaning against the wall of the opposite building, obviously talking about something or other.

"How did you know?"

Shimako asked. Knowing Ami-san's desire to avoid any outside attention, Noriko would never have gone to her classroom and asked after her. Then, somewhat awkwardly, Noriko admitted:

"I was worried about what kind of person she was, so, this morning, I waited near her shoe-box. That girl was the one who opened the peach group locker with 'Igawa' written on it, and changed into the indoor shoes kept inside … I'm sorry."

"It's alright, you don't have to apologize."

It was unlikely that anyone could get the wrong impression from the first-year Noriko-chan being in the first-year shoe-box area.

"So, what did you think?"

Shimako asked, as she looked at Ami-san. Since Noriko had been worried about what sort of person Ami-san was, Shimako wanted to hear her impressions on seeing the real deal.

"We-ll. She did seem a bit different to the image I got from you, Shimako-san, but it definitely looked like there was a part of her like that."

"I see."

Even Shimako herself felt that occasionally. Just what kind of person was Ami-san really?

At that moment.

"Huh?"

Suddenly, Ami-san laughed. The classmate standing beside her laughed too. It must have been very funny, because they were slapping each other on the shoulder as they laughed together.

"Like a different person … "

Noriko's dumbfounded voice made its way to Shimako's ears.

Ami-san and her friend, unaware that they were being watched by the white Rose sisters, continued to laugh.

So, given that, Shimako was unable to come to a satisfactory conclusion.

The Ami-san that she'd seen in the courtyard that day may have been the real Ami-san. That would mean that Shimako being her partner was the problem after all. Perhaps she'd unknowingly put some burden on her shoulders, or caused her to be on guard.

"Rosa Gigantea."

Hearing this, Shimako looked towards Ami-san, and saw the bus that went past Lillian's Girls Academy pulling into the terminal.

"Please get on ahead of me. I'll follow some time later."

"Okay."

As instructed, Shimako obediently boarded the bus. She didn't bother to ask why. She'd become accustomed to this pattern.

Since the bus had only just arrived, it was quite empty inside. Even though she knew no-one was going to sit beside her, Shimako sat down at one of the double seats towards the back of the bus. Filling the window seat, leaving the aisle seat open.

Inside the bus, with neither the sound of the engine nor the announcer, Shimako idly watched the world go by outside. She hadn't checked the timetable but the bus would probably head out again soon.

Two girls were laughing as they walked across the pedestrian crossing in front of the train station.

(Oh.)

Shimako had thought something looked familiar about them, then realized it was Mami-san and Hidemi-san. If it had just been one or the other, then it's possible that it could have been a case of mistaken identity since they weren't wearing their school uniforms, but seeing both of them together left no doubt.

(They look like they're having fun.)

It was possible that they weren't on a date but were instead collecting information on the dates. Even so, seeing that pair enjoying themselves so much caused a feeling of jealousy to swell up in Shimako's heart. She wondered if she and Ami-san would be able to laugh together like that.

A girl in a Lillian's uniform boarded the bus. For a moment Shimako thought it was Ami-san, but it wasn't. After showing her commuter pass, the girl took a seat right behind the driver.

The driver started the engine. Just as the door started to close, Ami-san hurriedly got on board. As Shimako expected, Ami-san didn't sit down beside her, instead choosing a single seat right in the middle of the bus. Perhaps she would have sat beside her if there wasn't that other Lillian's student in the front. Who knows.

"Thank-you for riding with us again today, this bus is – "

The announcer called out, and the bus slowly started to move.

They were going from the front of the train station to the front of Lillian's Girls Academy. But they were both still separated.

Even though they were taking the same route as last year, Shimako had the feeling they would be very different dates.

Part 3

Winding the clock back a bit.

It's 8:50am. Yumi is at M station.

They had arranged to meet at 9, but she hadn't been sure what traffic would be like on a Sunday morning, so she'd left home with plenty of time to spare. The roads hadn't been all that busy but the bus hadn't arrived on time. As a result, she'd arrived just a little bit early.

Yumi waited in a place where she could see the ticket gate, and five minutes later Touko-chan appeared.

"Gokigenyou."

Beneath a shortish red coat Touko-chan was wearing a long denim skirt. She had on short-heeled shoes, or, rather, fashionable leather boots. Seeing her outfit, Yumi reflexively let out a sigh of relief.

"That's good. It seems my choices weren't too out of line."

"Huh?"

"I mean, you said we were going on a mystery tour, so I couldn't take into account our destination. I'd been puzzling over what to wear the entire time."

At that point, Touko-chan finally understood, and said, "Ahh."

Incidentally, a mystery tour is one where the participants don't know the destination until they arrive. The lady that lives next door to Yumi said she and her friends go on them quite often, and it's all anticipation and excitement as they don't know where they're going, or whether to buy souvenirs along the way, and so on. The previous year, she'd brought a salted salmon back as a souvenir from her mystery tour, and shared it with the Fukuzawa family.

Well, with only 2000 yen each, they weren't going to be participating in any group travel booking. So while it was still a mystery, today's was a budget tour that traveler Matsudaira had wracked her brains to come up with.

"See, if I'd worn a frilly skirt and we went mountain climbing, it wouldn't end well. But if I wore jeans and a t-shirt then they wouldn't let us in at a fancy restaurant."

People varied their clothes based on where they were going.

"Since we have to be back within the day, even if we went mountain climbing it wouldn't be that big of a mountain, so a skirt wouldn't be a problem. And if we were having a 2000-yen lunch, then there's no restaurant around here that would refuse you entry just because you're in jeans, right?"

Touko-chan said. In other words, it wasn't something worth getting too worried about.

"Well, I guess. Still, you called it a mystery, so I didn't know what to expect."

Consequently, Yumi had decided against jeans, instead going with beige wool slacks and a black turtle-neck sweater, then throwing on her usual duffel coat as she left. She'd initially put on her sneakers, then thought better of it, and swapped them for her mother's short-length boots.

But seeing what Touko-chan was wearing had filled her with confidence. It appeared they weren't going mountain climbing or to a fancy restaurant.

"Well, shall we get going?"

"But, what about the tickets?"

Yumi asked, pointing at the ticket machines. Touko-chan may have had a train pass, but Yumi went to school by bus, so she'd have to buy a ticket to get past the gate.

"We won't be buying them here. There's no need to."

"Huh?"

True to her words, Touko-chan headed away from the ticket gates. She continued on, pushing her way through the waves of people, and heading down the stairs.

And then.

"First we'll be taking a bus."

Touko-chan said, then headed towards a bus terminal that serviced a different company to the one Yumi took to school.

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