Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume28 Chapter3

Frame of Mind 2

"Ah – there she is, she's really here."

A new face appeared at the Rose Mansion tea-party for two, which had evolved out of Tsutako-san's solo club work.

Katsura-san, from the second-year wisteria class, excused herself before entering the room.

"Oh, this is a rare treat."

The two who had already been present looked at each other. How long had it been since Katsura-san was last in the Rose Mansion? It happened so infrequently that Yumi couldn't readily recall the last time.

Katsura-san, Tsutako-san and Yumi. They had previously been classmates but had since lost that designation. A trio of former first-year peach group students.

"Did you come to see Tsutako-san?"

Yumi asked, based on Katsura-san's earlier statement. If she'd only said, "Ah – there she is," then it wouldn't have been obvious. The "She's really here" part made it apparent that Katsura-san had been dubious about coming here. Since finding Yumi in the Rose Mansion was more likely to elicit something along the lines of "Of course she's here," that left one other possibility, ie. Tsutako-san was the one who was "really here."

"Bingo."

Katsura-san said, walking forwards. When Yumi stood up to prepare some tea, she declined the offer saying, "There's no need, I'm just about to head home," then made her way over to stand beside Tsutako-san.

"Actually, there's something I wanted to ask you."

Katsura-san caught sight of Tsutako-san's cup and picked it up, as though suddenly remembering her thirst.

"Is it related to the tennis club?"

Tsutako-san asked.

"Bingo number two."

Katsura-san put the teacup back in its original position, then flashed the peace-sign. Well, given that she was currently wearing her tennis uniform and not her school uniform, that wasn't a particularly difficult deduction to make. Katsura-san had been a member of the tennis club since the beginning of first-year. The short, white skirt looked cute on her.

"You want Tsutako-san to take some photos for you?"

"Putting it bluntly, yes."

Katsura-san didn't say a third 'bingo.' Fair enough. Nine times out of ten, when a high-school student has something they wanted to ask Tsutako-san it would be for her to take some photos. Yumi didn't have any data to back that up, so the actual statistics remained unknown, but it seemed about right.

"We wanted to give our graduating onee-samas a present to remember us by."

Katsura-san started to expand on the topic. They wanted to produce something like a booklet or a mini-album with photos of all the first and second-year members of the tennis club.

"We thought about getting it printed, but then it'd lose that hand-made feel. So we've decided to stick the photos to cardboard and then write messages around them. Then we'll use some cute ribbons to bind the books."

And they wanted Tsutako-san to take the photos that would go in the book. Katsura-san had been chosen to make the request because she could appeal to their bond of friendship as former classmates. So that's how it was – normally it'd be the club president's job to ask.

"That should be fine."

Tsutako-san leaned forwards. Her favorite activity was taking photos of the daily lives of female high-school students and she'd be able to take some wonderful shots of girls playing tennis, so of course she was going to leap at the opportunity. And since she was already thinking about taking some new photographs for the 'Third-years' Send-off' it was closer to a mutually beneficial arrangement than an imposition.

"We don't have a lot of money, so if you can do it at cost price that would be a real help."

Katsura-san said. In other words, they weren't able to pay Tsutako-san for her labor. Well, Tsutako-san probably wasn't looking to make money out of her fellow classmates anyway.

"Well, of course. On top of that, if you let me display the photographs at the 'Third Year's Send-off,' then I'll cover the cost of film as well. What do you say?"

Tsutako-san immediately commenced the negotiations. Shrewd.

"Oh, that'd be a huge help."

Katsura-san clapped joyously. Then she suddenly reconsidered and muttered, "Wait, no can do."

"The 'Third Year's Send-off' is before the graduation ceremony, right? It'd put us in a tough spot if the photos were displayed before we gave the third-years their present."

They wanted it to be a surprise, so they wanted the existence of those photographs to be kept a secret until the moment they were delivered.

"I see. That's a shame."

A breakdown in negotiations. Tsutako-san slumped her shoulders, dejected. Nonetheless, there was no need to reject the initial offer.

"So I suppose that means you don't want me taking photos when there are third-years there either."

"That's right."

Katsura-san told Tsutako-san that the tennis club had received permission to hold a special all-day training session on Sunday, so she'd be welcome to take photos at any time during that day. If she couldn't make it to that then things would get more difficult, as there were usually a couple of third-years hanging around during their regular practices simply because of how large the tennis club was.

"Okay. Next Sunday it is."

Tsutako-san replied immediately, writing a note in the calendar section of her school diary.

"I hope it's sunny."

"That's for sure."

Unlike the kendo club or the basketball club, the tennis club practiced outside on the tennis courts. If it was raining, the photography session would have to be postponed.

"The weekly forecast says it should be fine."

Yumi informed them. Rain wasn't forecast for the days either side of Sunday either, so there shouldn't be any chance of the weather slipping.

"Yumi-san, do you always check the weather a week out?"

"As if. It was just by chance."

Yumi said, trying to deceive them. In actual fact it was a very special day for Yumi, which was why she was concerned about the weather. That's right. It was the day set aside for her half-day date with Touko-chan.

"Oh, – by chance, huh."

Katsura-san smiled knowingly as she looked at the photographs spread across the table, one after the other. Having found the one she was looking for, she said, "This one."

"Which one?"

Yumi came over to have a look, but the picture had been taken from such long range that it was hard to make out who was in it.

Two young women were crouching in the school's courtyard, looking at the ground.

"Lots of people are saying all kinds of bad things about her, and to a certain degree that's understandable."

Katsura-san seemed to recognize one of the girls in the photograph. Then, with a faraway look in her eyes, she continued.

"But if she has an onee-sama, that might change her feelings for other people."

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