Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume2 Chapter3 1

Unexpected Consequences. Part 1.

It seemed one of the biggest reasons why the rumors spread so fast was the speed of the newspaper club. By noon the next day, every high school student knew about the catastrophe that had befallen the two whom were voted Best Sœur. It was an awe-inspiring display of speed.

"Tsukiyama Minako got us, this time."

"I didn't think she'd publish it the next day."

Lunch break.

When Yumi arrived at the Rose Mansion with her lunch box in hand, she found Rosa Chinensis and Rosa Gigantea groaning to one another while sitting across from each other.

"Sorry, could you pour us some tea?"

Rosa Gigantea mimicked the speech mannerisms of section chiefs, like in dramas. Her back was a bit stooped, and she didn't lift her eyes from the table in front of her. She was like an "old man."

"Rosa Chinensis, would you like Japanese tea, as well?"

"Yes… no, actually, I'd prefer orange pekoe, if you don't mind."

Usually she'd accept the same thing, or she would pour herself her preferred tea, but it seemed she had other things on her mind today.

"Orange pekoe."

I wonder if Darjeeling isn't sufficient? Yumi thought, as she peeked inside the cupboard, and then she found orange pekoe teabags in a glass bottle. It seemed like she knew exactly how much remained.

She poured thick blend of Japanese tea for Rosa Gigantea in a chawan, and orange pekoe in a teacup for Rosa Chinensis, then placed the tea in front of the respective requesters. After pondering over which to choose, she then filled a chawan a third of the way with the same blend of Japanese tea as Rosa Gigantea and then distilled it with boiling water.

The groaning of the two was based on the newspaper extra spread out in front of them. It was a simple, one-sided monochrome print on a B5 sheet, but it was extremely attractive nonetheless.

The headline in big letters read, "Yellow Rose Revolution." And to its side, "What is going on with the yellow roses?" was neatly printed, further engrossing the reader.

"It's like a sports paper."

Rosa Gigantea grumbled, while holding a mustard-tarama-salad sandwich to her cheek, the sort that only the most die-hard of fans actually order.

"It's rather vulgar for an authenticated high school newspaper."

Rosa Chinensis sighed, rolling her round rice ball around her lunch box. As for Yumi, sitting between them, she stuck a fork into her crab-shaped sausage and thought,

(Is that so,)

Being satisfied by the implications.

The Lillian Kawaraban used to be a more orthodox high school newspaper. She had only started reading the newspaper in depth the past two or three issues, so she had assumed it was always a gossipy tabloid.

She wondered what sort of person Tsukiyama Minako-san was, so fervently tracking down rumors about other people.

Character aside, she took the two-shot photo of Rei-sama and Yoshino-san that was used for the Lillian Kawaraban that was published ten days ago, and this time had the artistic sense to lay out the new article on a torn version of the photo. Even Yumi had to admit that was brilliant.

Speaking of senses, the two Roses in front of her. Sandwich and Japanese tea, orange pekoe and rice balls, those were mismatches, too. –Just as she was thinking about that, Rosa Gigantea started laughing, staring at Yumi's face. She was probably going through life's phases again.

"I heard Yoshino-chan's absent again?"

Rosa Gigantea returned to the topic, deciding to ignore Yumi's face, this time.

"Ah, yes. I went to the Chrysanthemum class during the class break, but Yoshino-san was absent."

"But Rei was here."

Rosa Gigantea mumbled, "she's so honest," then wiped tarama salad off of her lip with her ring finger and licked it off.

Apparently Rei-sama had appeared on time, as always, though without Yoshino-san, and had been properly attending classes since first period. Perhaps she had settled down after a night's rest, although she hadn't recovered to the point where she could outwardly look fine, which itself was quite painful to watch, opined Rosa Chinensis. Rei-sama was probably forcing herself to take everything in stride to alleviate everyone's concerns. But a newspaper with her photo plastered on its cover was unexpected, so she had been stunned, and had read the article in detail, anyways.

"Rei-sama was the one who was dumped, so her classmates'll be sensible and not inquire, but-"

Rosa Gigantea stopped there, but even Yumi knew what she wanted to say. "We're going to be bothered all day as substitutes for the questions."

Because they wouldn't say it, but Rosa Chinensis and Rosa Gigantea both looked extremely tired, even though they had only attended the morning classes so far. Even if they had been at physical education, they looked like they had run an hour-long marathon, or had swum in a pool for that long. But it was out of season for pools, and you could tell just by entering the room that their exhaustion was not sports-related.

Right. Their exhaustion was mental fatigue. They might be stressed out, too.

Perhaps they'd heard the rumors, or they'd read the extra and wondered about the future of the yellow rose sisters, or perhaps the students were simply curious, but they had attempted to hear the story from the people closest to the sisters. And when it came to people close to the sisters, the first people that sprung to mind were the Yamayurikai staff: the Roses, and enboutons and their sisters who went in and out of the Rose Mansion were targets as well. Even Yumi, who you normally would think hasn't yet understood everything that happens in the Yamayurikai, was bombarded with questions to the point where she had escaped to the Rose Mansion, so she couldn't imagine how troublesome it must be for the Roses.

"Was it like this in my case, too…?"

Yumi remembered what had happened two weeks before the school festival. The students were in an uproar over whether Yumi would become Sachiko-sama's sœur or not, and this situation felt just like that.

"It's not really an annoyance."

Rosa Gigantea tied up one of the vinyl wrappings for her sandwiches and tossed it in the waste bin. –Which, of course, meant that out of Yumi's sight, they had all dealt with all of this.

"It's a bother, of course, but it's not Rei or Yoshino-chan's fault, right? I mean, this is all simply compounded by the fact that they're popular, anyways. So don't worry about it."

The Roses were mature, she thought. They were only two years older, but they were able to coolly analyze their actions and their emotions. As for Yumi, she simply thought, "I hope it works out."

"By the way, how about Shimako? You two are in the same class, right? She didn't escape with you?"

"Everyone backs off when she smiles and answers, 'I have no clue.'"

Actually, she was probably joyfully picking up gingko nuts at the secret grove. She was almost bursting with impatience since the morning.

"I see. Beauty is a weapon. In the case of Sachiko, she's so scary no one probably wants to bother her about this."

For Yumi, Rosa Chinensis was also a beauty, in her own right. Rosa Gigantea was more of an exotic beauty, but her looks were on par with the stone statues in the fine arts room. Rosa Foetida-

"Huh?"

Speaking of which, where was Rosa Foetida? Rosa Foetida was the most likely to be irritated by all of this bother, too. She was the person Yumi expected would run here first, faster than even Rosa Chinensis and Rosa Gigantea. And Rei-sama was Rosa Foetida's sister, so the questioning would be even more severe.

"Is Rosa Foetida absent, too?" When Yumi asked, the two Roses looked at each other and answered bitingly, "Well she's here."

"But?"

"She's in an even more otherworldly state than yesterday's Rei. She looks so disturbed I don't think anyone is willing to talk to her."

"It looks like things will keep deteriorating at this rate. I wonder what happened to her?"

Rosa Chinensis rested her head on her palm, musing, "I wonder what happened." Yumi wondered why Rosa Chinensis didn't worry more about Rosa Foetida. Anyways, it seemed like it was at least okay that they knew why Rei-sama was so stunned. Well, it wasn't good or anything, but at least knowing the cause meant there was a way to deal with it.

"Well, if they need to borrow our strength, Rosa Foetida would come and ask."

Rosa Gigantea also spoke in a relaxed tone.

"You don't have to look at us like that, Yumi-chan. If push comes to shove, we'll step in, so don't you worry. But more importantly…"

It was more of a priority to deal with Rei-sama, Rosa Gigantea declared, and Rosa Chinensis nodded.

"But you said you wouldn't interfere with household strife…"

"We said that yesterday, but the situation has changed, what with this thing being published."

Rosa Chinensis flicked the extra spread on the table with her index finger.

"This article…?"

Yumi looked down at the article. Actually, Yumi had received the article by the gingko trees and had read through it.

"It's a big problem. It's not an article, it's a novel."

The extra was slammed by all five fingers, this time.

"A novel."

"'Perhaps-.' 'Possibly-.' They're all presumptions. But it's so well-written that when you read it all, you end up assuming it's all true."

Rosa Gigantea's statement that Tsukiyama Minako should be a novelist rather than a reporter was, of course, not praise but sarcasm.

Come to think of it, the piece was indeed more like a novel than a newspaper article. On top of the blurring of truth and fiction, the writer had assumed the feelings of Yoshino-san and Rei-sama, whom were both not even interviewed. But it was so skillfully written that you would miss that fact unless someone pointed it out. Plus, people assume newspapers are written truthfully, so readers end up taking it for granted.

"You want to protect Rei-sama because a false article was written?"

"Ah…"

Yumi absent-mindedly nodded.

(I can't.)

She'd been trying to follow the conversation, by it was speeding too far ahead.

(Umm, Rosa Gigantea and Rosa Chinensis both said they were just going to watch, but because of this novel-like article, they've started wanting Rei-sama's problem solved. –I think.)

"The problem is that this has been beautified."

Rosa Chinensis stood up and, this time, poured herself a second cup of orange pekoe.

"There'll be repercussions."

Rosa Gigantea leaned back in her chair and signed, "Sheesh."

As for Yumi.

Even when she was washing the three chawan at the sink, she couldn't decipher the Roses' words, and even when she was walking down the hallway after exiting the Rose Mansion, her tilted neck didn't straighten.

"Beautify…? Repercussions…?"

But that was solved sooner than she expected.

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