Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume6 Chapter5 5

The Crimson Card. Part 5.

Which brings us to this year's Valentine's Day.

I was confident that the same scene from last year would repeat itself again this year. Actually, until I arrived at school it felt just like deja-vu, as though I was tracing out exactly the same course as last year.

Three days earlier, I had gone to a department store to buy a small box of milk chocolates from a certain chocolate maker that my mother liked.

At this time of year, the shops are all packed.

Places that are crowded at the best of times put up special displays that contain tiny shops from chocolate makers that you've never heard of or don't usually visit. The crowding is especially bad in the evening, when office ladies and female students congregate, making you feel as though you're standing on a platform during rush hour. It's even worse around famous chocolate makers, where they have to resort to handing out numbered cards in order to deal with all the customers.

Ordinarily, if a traditional rice cracker maker were to come out with a chocolate coated rice cracker it would be enough to make you want to cry. The mismatch between that and the brand's traditions would be too great. But even they probably don't want to get left behind during this holiday season.

Partly as camouflage, I bought chocolates for my father and two others. I used the excuse that he might be working late to give my father his chocolates in the morning. Giving them to him after he had received a lot of obligatory gift chocolates from his subordinates at work would diminish their value. Overjoyed that the first chocolates he received were from his only daughter, my father offered to drop me off at school on his way to work. Taking advantage of his offer, I arrived at school at quite an early hour.

As I got out of the car in front of the school gates, I saw a black car had also pulled up slightly ahead of us. I supposed it was someone like me, a student at Lillian's that had been given a lift by a family member. The morning peak of students arriving at school was nowhere to be seen just yet, but it wasn't unheard of that someone would arrive at this early hour. Even so, it was somewhat out of the ordinary; usually you'd only get here at this hour if you had something like club practice or preparation for the school festival, or if you were carrying numerous or heavy bags.

As though the student had already been dropped off, the idling car pulled away from the curb. I thanked my father and got out of the car. Maybe it was because the roads were empty, but it took an hour less than usual. The train must take a considerable detour on the way from my house to school. Given that, it would have been better to stay in the small house we lived in when I was in kindergarten – although there's no point in saying that now.

As I jogged past the school gate I saw a figure ahead of me wearing a green dress with an ivory collar – as I had expected it was a student at Lillian's Girls Academy.

At that time I hadn't yet discovered that the figure was Sachiko-san. Although after seeing the car pull away, I probably did have a faint glimmer of expectation. They had probably traded in their cars numerous times during the intervening years, but the car I had just seen had a very similar air about it to the one that Sachiko-san had used so many years ago. I don't know of any student other than Ogasawara Sachiko-san that it would be fitting for such a car to deliver.

"Sa...."

I aborted my attempt to call out to her.

Because I was her classmate, I could have greeted her with "Gokigenyou" and then we could have walked to class together. No matter how much of a big shot she was, we still studied together in the same room. So it wasn't as though I couldn't call out to her.

I don't really understand why I did what I did myself.

Having missed my chance to call out to her I became like a stalker, keeping myself completely concealed as I followed after her.

Sachiko-san stopped in front of Maria-sama and prayed. After offering up a brief prayer she raised her head and set off walking again.

The fork in the path. If you take the path to the right, it will take you to the auditorium and chapel, and then on to the martial arts building and the pool. The left-hand path runs parallel to the library, and if you followed that you would see the high school buildings.

Usually, we took the left-hand path. If you did take the right-hand path, you could get to the school buildings by taking the correct path at the next fork in the road, but it was a fairly large detour. But for some reason, Sachiko-san took the right-hand path. Out of habit I stopped to offer up a perfunctory prayer to Maria-sama, then followed after her.

I wondered where she was going.

Because she doesn't belong to any clubs, I didn't think she was going somewhere because of a morning training session. At first I thought she might have been going to meet Rosa Foetida en bouton, Hasekura Rei-san, at the martial arts building, but they see each other every day and I couldn't think of a reason why she would need to see her before school started.

That was when I remembered about today's festivities. That is, the event organized by the newspaper club wherein we have to search for the treasure hidden by the Roses' en boutons.

I had wanted to laugh it off as being typical of Minako-san, but found that hard to do. In one of the stories involving Sachiko-san, they said that the winners would receive a present from the boutons. After the rumor that it was a ticket for a half-day date, my heart couldn't keep still.

I was surprised that Sachiko-san went along with the plan. After seeing her attitude last year, I expected she would absolutely refuse. To put it in Sachiko-san's words, "Why are you looking for treasure?" followed by "Why are we going on a date?" I guess it was about then that I came to my conclusion.

(A treasure hunt, huh)

It hit me like a flash of lightning. Sachiko-san was probably going to discuss the plans for today with Rei-san. That was also the reason why they had chosen a time that wouldn't draw attention to themselves. Rosa Gigantea en bouton, Toudou Shimako-san would probably be there too. The three must have agreed to meet at the martial arts building.

But then Sachiko-san suddenly stopped.

She seemed to have stopped right in front of the old greenhouse. She was a bit off course if she was heading towards the martial arts building.

Sachiko-san surveyed her surroundings. I quickly hid behind a tree in case she looked my way.

My heart was thumping, wondering if I'd been discovered. But after swiveling her head back and forth as though she was watching out for something, Sachiko-san gave a sigh of relief by the door. It was okay. I still hadn't been seen.

At times like that I was thankful for my short stature. Also when I'm able to still fit into the cute clothes and shoes made by children's clothes makers.

Sachiko-san slipped into the greenhouse. Before opening the door, she gave her bag a tight squeeze.

The greenhouse.

Even though I was acting dangerously like a stalker, there was no way I had the audacity to walk into the greenhouse. If I got any closer than this, I'd be discovered.

The greenhouse was so old that the glass was broken in places, but the space inside it seemed to be isolated from the rest of the outside world. Taking even a single step inside was a conscious action. Were Sachiko-san to inquire as to the reason why I had come into the greenhouse, I would have no answer.

I stayed outside and quietly peeked in. Up ahead was the school's back gate, so even if Sachiko-san saw me I wouldn't look completely out of place. I hadn't even been able to confirm if Rei-san and Shimako-san were also there.

After about ten minutes, Sachiko-san came out of the greenhouse. Alone, she looked around after exiting just like she did a short while ago but she didn't seem to notice me, as I was on the opposite side of the greenhouse to the entrance.

After that, Sachiko-san walked off towards the school buildings, as though she was making her way to school from the back gate. Naturally, she didn't turn around to look back at the greenhouse even once.

I agonized over whether I should follow Sachiko-san or look inside the greenhouse before deciding on the latter. Sachiko-san was probably going to head straight to our classroom. And then prepare for another day at school like usual.

(In that case)

I wasn't able to contain my curiosity. What had Sachiko-san been doing inside there? Once I started thinking about it, I couldn't stop.

Someone might still be inside. Even still, they definitely wouldn't be Sachiko-san, so it would probably be okay. At that moment, there was no one who was more frightening to me than Sachiko-san.

When I entered the greenhouse, the atmosphere changed.

There was no one else there.

The rays of the morning sun pouring through the glass had the same kind of solemnity as a stained glass window, but without the color.

I walked back and forth inside the greenhouse, searching for a clue. No matter what, I wanted to find out what Sachiko-san had been doing in here.

And then, that's when I found it. It had been about ten minutes since I first entered the greenhouse.

"This is – "

In the old greenhouse, the floorboards had been torn up and there was a flowerbed with plants growing out of the bare earth. In here, I saw something that looked slightly unusual. There were traces that a hole had been dug up and filled in next to the base of some shrub that I didn't know the name of.

It had been carefully filled in, but the surface of the ground was damp. It was as though it had just been completed this very minute. The smell of fresh soil hung in the air.

My heart was thumping with curiosity as I felt the area with my hand. As expected, the ground was soft.

I had a look around and spotted a gardening trowel sitting on top of one of the racks that held pots. Using this, I started to dig. There was no hesitation. Nor was there any sense of guilt. There was only desperation. All I wanted was to expose Sachiko-san's secret.

After digging down about ten centimeters, it felt as though the trowel was sliding against something and, in the end, a plastic bag appeared.

Inside it was the crimson card. From a single glance I could tell that this was the treasure for today's treasure hunt.

I brushed the dirt off it and, in a daze, put it in my bag. I wasn't composed enough to think about what you would call that sort of behavior. My judgment had regressed to that of a child's – I saw something I wanted and grabbed it without thinking.

I put the dirt back where it came from, and left the greenhouse as though I was fleeing.

With that, the crimson card would not be found. I would hold onto it until the end, and not hand it over to anyone.

My heart pounded with excitement.