Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume3 Chapter1 2

The semester exam and the paperback. Part 2.

"Ahh, I'm sorry, I've actually been out of the loop for that one, too."

Tsutako-san folded her arms and nodded.

"Really?"

"I mean, obviously it smells like something's up, but only a handful of people are in on it."

Afternoon, after another safely concluded exam day. Yumi was still curious, so she tracked down Tsutako-san and asked for her opinion.

She could have asked Katsura-san, but she seemed to keep her distance from Yumi as she stealthily left school, and at some point Shimako-san vanished, too. And then she noticed Tsutako-san, so she was like, "Nice timing!" Tsutako-san's always useful in these circumstances. After all, the photography club was right next-door to the newspaper club, so she picked up little gossip all the time.

"Only a handful of people?"

"Right now, it just seems like a bunch of people in our class secretly talking about it. I don't know about other classes, but I doubt they've really caught on. The newspaper club wouldn't let it go if it were, you know?"

"- That's true."

"That's all, see you."

"Ah, wait."

Even Tsutako-san restrained herself from barging in on club activities during exam time, so Yumi hurriedly put on her school coat and followed after Tsutako-san. Even Yumi had restrained herself from forcing her own timetable to match with Sachiko-sama so they could leave school together during exam time, so this was a good opportunity to listen to Tsutako-san more.

If it was just an irresponsible rumor begun by her class, there was no point in making a big deal out of it by speaking to her onee-sama. After all, these things often end up just being some simple misunderstanding.

"But I don't think that would be the case."

Pointing her camera at Yumi, who was taking her shoe out of the shelf, Tsutako-san quickly answered.

"No?"

"Yumi-san. You seem to be thinking that the book Katsura-san was holding belonged to Rosa Gigantea, but that's not the case."

"Why?"

When Yumi asked as she snapped her shoes, Tsutako-san seemed to have liked her bent-over pose, as she took several photos.

"Tsutako-san!"

"I'm sorry, I got carried away. What was it?"

"You-"

"Oh, right. It's not Rosa Gigantea's book. … I mean, you saw the book, right?"

"I only noticed it was a novel, though."

She caught a glimpse of the front cover because there was no book cover, but she wasn't able to check the title.

"You didn't notice after seeing the front cover... Hmm. I guess Yumi-san doesn't read that sort of book."

"That sort?"

"Perfect. Let's take a detour."

"Eh?"

After they left out the front entrance, Tsutako-san grabbed Yumi's arm and walked across the street.

"L, Library?"

"Yup."

"Why?"

"It's faster to show you than to explain, right? If Rosa Foetida en Bouton were here I don't think we'd have to go to the library, though."

"…?"

Why is Rei-sama mentioned here-? Yumi's mind was like a ball of yarn, with everything needing to be carefully untangled.

Hello, Tsutako-san. Weren't we talking about Rosa Gigantea?

"Oh just come on."

Without explaining anything, Tsutako-san happily pushed open the fogged-glass door and pushed Yumi, sporting a bewildered expression, inside.

It's amazing how passing through one doorway can lead you into a whole different world.

Libraries feel like they have this soft, but heavy feeling drifting in the air. Maybe it's because of the material of the walls and the floors. It's a bit like the music room. But a lot thicker, and dignified.

"What're you standing there for, it's not the first time you've gone into a library."

After a quick bow to the librarian working at the front office, Tsutako-san grabbed Yumi's arm and led her through the sound-proof door to the left. And then. A spacious room, a high ceiling, the unique scent of books, the soft lighting. The reading room for high school and middle school students was in view.

"Umm. Where was it."

After heading to the bookshelf she was looking for, Tsutako-san quickly moved ahead. Of course, she was still grabbing Yumi's arm.

"I feel like I'm being brought to the police."

"If you don't like it, walk faster."

"… Yeees."

Probably because it was exam time, there were a lot of students still remaining in the library. But there were almost no students at the bookshelves or the counter. They were all packed into the seats and desks. They were using the library to study.

"Here we are."

Tsutako-san abruptly stopped in front of a bookshelf stuffed with novels. Yumi couldn't help but notice, though not for the first time, that different bookshelves were used for different shapes and sizes of books. The gap between the shelf holding the encyclopedia and the shelf holding the novels was like comparing a sumo wrestler to a newborn baby.

"Yumi-san, the book you saw was like this, right?"

Yumi looked at the book Tsutako-san pulled out and nodded. It was a beautiful cover, and the light-pink flower insignia was outstanding.

"Wow, Tsutako-san, you saw the title?"

"-Of course not. Even with glasses, my eyesight is just 0.7."

I see. Her trademark frameless glasses weren't just for show. Then why, Yumi thought, but her question was immediately answered. Tsutako-san pulled out another book and showed Yumi. "Here."

"Huh?"

They all looked the same. The book Katsura-san held included. But the titles were all different.

"They all use the same cover?"

"I think there are four different colors. You really don't know?"

"No."

"Cosmos Book Collection. That the very typical Yumi-san wouldn't know of them is quite an astonishment."

Tsutako-san grinned and looked at Yumi.

She would have preferred it if she wasn't being looked at like a rare animal. Typical, meant for better or for worse, she wasn't very outstanding, so it wasn't a particularly fond way to be called.

Apparently, Cosmos Book Collection was a type of book collection published by Kyuuteisha, and it specialized in shoujo novels. In reality, they didn't all use the same cover, but rather, they used yellow, blue and white, other than pink, to signify genre.

(But I thought shoujo novels had cute, florid covers like comics, but I guess I was wrong?)

"Yumi-san, you're wondering why Cosmos Book Collection doesn't use illustrations for their cover despite specializing in shoujo novels, aren't you?"

Tsutako-san, you've even picked up mind reading.

"Of course, illustrations are important. After all, they lend a hand to the dreams and imaginations of young maidens."

"…"

Tsutako-san fit into that "young maiden" age group, too, Yumi thought. But she spoke like she was ten or twenty years older.

"Plus, for first-time readers, the cover illustration goes a long way toward introducing the story to them, right? Even if the author doesn't have name-appeal, if the illustration has enough of an impact, they'll pick the book up."

"Um… Tsutako-san-"

The story was becoming extremely specialized. She would start off on odd tangents, and once she began speaking, she was like a rolling snowball. As time passes, it grows and gains speed.

"I understand the cover illustration is important."

Finding a good time to interrupt, Yumi quickly blurted that out. She decided it was better to cut her off now.

"It's not just the front cover. See."

Tsutako-san opened the book and flipped through the pages for Yumi. No good. She seemed to have been nudged from her original path, but she kept rolling onward.

"No illustrations inside, either. Because-"

Roll, roll, roll, roll.

Yumi gave up and decided to listen to Tsutako-san. She decided if she spoke up and said something wrong, Tsutako-san would simply begin rolling down a brand new path. She brought up the topic, after all. Just because she'd become hungry, it wouldn't be proper to abruptly close the curtains and say good bye.

It would take a while to use Tsutako-san's exact words, so to summarize, Cosmos Book Collection basically strives for adult-oriented shoujo novels. Or put another way, novels supporting mature girls.

Commuting to work, commuting to school, during break time, people like to read in all sorts of situations. But they don't often like having the book they're reading identified.

Normally, it's almost impossible to figure out what the book is about by its cover and title. But shoujo novels are different in that they often have whole pages devoted to an illustration. What could one illustration do? you might wonder, but at the very least, it becomes obvious you're reading shoujo, and if the illustration is a boys' love scene, that could be pretty bad.

So Cosmos Book Collection eliminated every illustration. The story was introduced by the catch-copy sash that comes with the book, a summary was found on the other side of the cover, and they color-coded the books and made them a bit more pleasant to see. Boys' love is blue, for instance. People who don't know about Cosmos Book Collection won't understand the meaning of the colors, and if someone sees them that does know, that's not as big of a deal. And if people are bothered by even that, they can just slip on a book cover.

"… So I don't know what book Katsura-san was holding."

After speaking at length, Tsutako-san finally returned to the original topic. There're no illustrations, the covers are the same, so even though we know it's by Cosmos Books, it's impossible to know right now which book they were talking about. –Gosh, that took a while.

"Even so, it's definitely not Rosa Gigantea's book. She doesn't read novels."

"How do you know Rosa Gigantea doesn't read?"

"I think it was around May this year, they had an interview article in the 'Lillian Kawaraban.' She said she doesn't read many novels or manga."

"Oh."

Ever since she entered high school, she only watched Sachiko-sama, so she didn't remember. Come to think of it, she didn't even know about Rei-sama and Yoshino-san's relationship even though the 'Lillian Kawaraban' had apparently run a big article about it, so she felt like she was a rather blissful creature.

"Ah."

And everything clicked together.

"And that's why you mentioned Rei-sama."

"Exactly."

Contrary to her boyish looks, Rei-sama was a girl's girl. And because she said she loved shoujo novels, she must have knowledge about Cosmos Books.

"Rosa Foetida en Bouton might be able to sort this out for us, but she's not really the type to delve into other peoples' gossip, so I don't know."

Tsutako-san did her camera obsession proud, showcasing her great observational skills.

Yumi had just been thinking the same, that it would feel extremely awkward asking Rei-sama about gossip.

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