Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume2 Chapter2 2

The Returned Rosary. Part 2.

"Don't expect too much."

Rosa Chinensis cautioned, before saying anything else.

"Eh?"

"Yumi-chan looks like she wants to say, 'I entrust everything to you,' so I thought it would be prudent to remind you."

"Ah."

"Right, right. Even if we're third-years, we're still high school girls, so you're completely mistaken if you think we're like Superman."

Rosa Gigantea and Rosa Chinensis both spoke, and then took a seat, saying, "If that's enough, we'll listen."

The second floor of the Rose Mansion. Fortunately, Rosa Chinensis and Rosa Gigantea had both been drinking tea when the three of them strolled in. Yumi probably had that "fortunately" emotion written all over her face. So the Roses warned her.

"Onee-sama, is that not cold? It's almost as if you're saying you don't care what happens to Rei."

Sachiko-sama complained, while seating Rei-sama.

"We're not saying anything about not caring, right?"

"Right. … So, if we don't do anything, Rei and Yoshino-chan are going to be in corporal danger?"

The two Roses glanced at each other, then resumed sipping their tea elegantly.

"The onee-sama are going to leave this distraught Rei alone?"

"Sachiko's on fire today."

Rosa Gigantea spoke coolly, then laughed.

"You and Yumi-chan are free to become agitated over this, but the most important thing is how Rei feels, right?"

"Rei?"

Everyone looked at Rei-sama. And she, in turn, looked away twice or thrice, uncomfortable in the spotlight.

"Do think about it. What if you and I…, no, Yumi-chan's better. If Sachiko and Yumi-chan were to have an argument?"

Rosa Chinensis walked to Sachiko-sama's side, then softly stroked her black hair. In this situation, it was fascinating how Sachiko-sama suddenly looked very young. Ah, everyone becomes a "little sister" in front of their "onee-sama."

"If? What are you saying, onee-sama."

"Would you want someone to intercede? Even if you did want someone to help, wouldn't you dislike it if Rei were to be proactive and move before you asked?"

"- Well."

"That's my point. Of course, if that were the case, I'd come knocking on your door anyways, before you even asked."

"And why is that?"

Sachiko-sama asked, dubious. Of course. She wanted to know why it was different for Rei-sama and Sachiko-sama.

But, Rosa Chinensis.

"Because I'm your onee-sama."

She gave a simple, clear answer that was almost embarrassing to hear. When said with such confidence, no one could complain about partiality.

"Then we should discuss Rei with Rosa Foetida?"

Sachiko-sama's forehead quivered.

"Well, that would be the norm, I'd say. In turn, I would prefer not to have Rosa Gigantea and Rosa Foetida say anything about Sachiko."

"Oh, really? I actually don't mind if Shimako relies on someone else."

Rosa Chinensis and Rosa Giganta were rather laid back. Even Yumi, who was relatively new to the group, felt that she couldn't leave Rei like this.

"But we're here because that Rosa Foetida isn't around…!" Finally, Sachiko-sama shouted and banged the table with her hand. But the third years, being like sly, old foxes, weren't to be moved by such a show.

"It's not something that's life-or-death, is it?"

Um. But that's a whole different level, Rosa Chinensis.

"It's common courtesy to not interfere with strife in other peoples' households."

Even Rosa Gigantea. Sheesh, the Roses were merciless. However, they weren't cruel enough to not reach out.

"But. If Rei wishes, we'll listen."

"Right. We won't push anything upon people. So how is it, Rei? Is there anything we can do?"

Like that. If they had said that in the beginning, Rei-sama probably wouldn't have answered.

But while they were bickering over outsiders being this or that, Rei-sama seemed to have gathered her wits, so she shook her head and answered, no.

"If the time comes, I will bring the matter up. At the moment, even I'm still in confusion."

If she could be that clear, it was looking better, Yumi though. She didn't look that confused.

I'll think about it, Rei-sama said. Why it turned out this way, why Yoshino-san wanted to break things up, if there was fault in herself, what that was, all of those, little by little.

Indeed, without understanding those fundamental matters, even the Roses being intermediates wouldn't solve anything. And even if things were brushed under the carpet now, there was no guarantee it wouldn't happen again.

"Then we were just a bother."

Sachiko-sama said, miffed. Running around finding Rei-sama, then shouting at her, then dragging her to the Rose Mansion was simply a lot of effort for no gain.

"Friends are there to perform these thankless jobs."

Rosa Chinensis' follow-up could be taken as either nice, or teasing. Nonetheless, the message was clear. Sachiko-sama wasn't wanting anything out of it, anyways, so even if it would have been clear nothing would have come of her actions, she probably would have still done the same. Simply propelled by the inability to just sit and watch, she would act, oblivious to any advantages or disadvantages from actions. And that's what friends are about.

"Well, bringing Rei here was probably the right decision by Sachiko and Yumi-chan. From what I heard, Rei was bumbling about, talking to anyone and everyone about it."

"But I didn't-"

Do that, she seemed to want to say, but Rei-sama's voice faded out. At the very edges of her memory, she seemed to remember what she did.

"Right. You were doing that."

Rosa Gigantea lowered her eyebrows.

"If you were talking without knowing it, this is pretty serious."

Yumi agreed with Sachiko-sama's opinion. Because at the very least, Rei-sama had spoken to Katsura-san. Thinking about when Sachiko-sama appeared at the greenhouse, it was easy to assume that rumors had spread using a route different from Katsura-san. That means it was more than possible that Rei-sama had wandered around darkly, and spoken about Yoshino-san returning the rosary to every person who asked if she was alright. And if that was subconsciously done, it was scary.

"I've just returned."

Shimako-san arrived. Well, as she'd apparently been to the Rose Mansion before Yumi, returned was probably more accurate.

"I'm afraid to say, Rosa Foetida had already returned home."

(Then, that meant…) The Roses had already grasped the nuances of what had transpired, and thus had sent Shimako-san to find Rosa Foetida. But Rosa Foetida was already gone.

And then Yumi thought, "Ah." Then the person she saw near the greenhouse was Rosa Foetida, after all.

"That's a shame. She's been a bit off as of late, so I had a suspicion she wouldn't show up at the Rose Mansion."

"So we tried to call her, but we were just a bit late."

So they had turned every stone anyways. This is why the Roses are treated like Superman.

"What good fortune, Rosa Foetida has no idea how serious this is. … So, Shimako, how are things outside?"

"It might be because it's after-school, the rumors have not spread too much, yet."

After listening to Shimako-san's report, Yumi stood up and peeked out the curtain. There were a number of students outside the Rose Mansion who'd probably heard the rumors and come to see if anything would happen. Yumi thought there might have been more people than there were when she'd come.

They didn't have the courage to open the door and ask directly. Rather, like wild horses, they'd gathered, to satisfy their curiosity, that was all.

"Ooh. I recognize some of them. How lively, how lively!"

Rosa Gigantea slid over and giggled, peeking out over Yumi's head.

The familiar face was probably the newspaper club leader. Yumi'd been chased before, so she recognized the face, too. The newspaper club members had fast ears, and along with their fast ears, they wrote articles quickly.

"Rei. Where's Yoshino-chan?"

Yumi heard Rosa Chinensis ask Rei-sama behind her.

"She was taken to the hospital by taxi."

"Oh, well that's good."

Until the masses settled down, they seemed to feel it would be a good idea to keep Yoshino-san out of view. In these cases, the proactive person usually became vilified.

"Even if the masses today settles down, won't the masses tomorrow be excited?"

When Yumi asked outloud, Sachiko-sama nodded, "True." Yoshino-san's heart was weak, as it was, so everyone felt it would be best to shield her from this uproar.

It was a bit hypocritical, because Yoshino-san was the one that caused all of this. But everyone still felt Yoshino-san was an associate. No one knew what the future beheld, but everyone seemed to agree that this should be settled as amicably as possible. Of course, that meant Yoshino-san becoming Rei-sama's sœur again.

"Well, there's no mistaking this is going to become a bit of a scandal. Maybe even more troublesome than Sachiko's scandal."

Rosa Gigantea said, as nonchalantly as if speaking of the weather.

Tomorrow might have a pinch of rain. The temperature will be a bit lower than yesterday. Something like that.

But, in retrospect, it wouldn't be something as soft as rain. Even if it were to be rain, it would be accompanied with a large-scale hurricane. And at that moment, it was northbound toward Lillian at an unimaginable speed.

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