Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume6 Chapter5 7

The Crimson Card. Part 7.

Instead, I hesitated.

With the treasure hunt beginning, I still hadn't decided how to proceed.

At the time the game started, I quietly slipped in amongst the crowd of participants in the courtyard and took a registration form. On the reverse side of the registration form there was a map, with the greenhouse drawn inconspicuously in a corner.

Sachiko-san stood in the middle of the trio of boutons.

I glanced at her discreetly. But Sachiko-san didn't look at me at all.

Tsukiyama Minako-san from the newspaper club explained the rules, but I didn't take any notice of them. My mind was concentrating on the contents of the handbag that was hanging from my left hand. The crimson card in there continued to silently condemn me.

Right before the start, the bouton's soeurs were called to the front.

I scrutinized Sachiko-san's petit soeur, Fukuzawa Yumi.

I had always thought of her as an innocuous girl, with nothing special about her. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't understand why Sachiko-san had chosen her as her petit soeur.

I had no doubt that there had to be something about her that made Sachiko-san choose her. This was something that I'd been thinking about since the day after the school festival.

Her grades were average, her appearance could be described as ordinary rather than beautiful, she was taller than me but if pressed you'd say she was short and there wasn't anything special about her build, being neither obese nor overly skinny.

In short, I still hadn't found an answer. My first impression of her as someone who was somewhat lacking in composure still hadn't changed.

With the bouton's soeurs given their five minute handicap, the treasure hunt started.

I made myself as inconspicuous as possible as I slipped away from the crowd and then headed to the old greenhouse. The greenhouse was empty, so apparently no one had noticed it drawn off to the side of the map. The martial arts building was in a similar position, but because it was the location of Rei-san's club activities I could see a stream of people rushing there through the cracked windows.

Returning to the same old spot, the ground that I had dug up and then filled in this morning was much drier, making it look far less obvious. If you didn't know about it beforehand, you wouldn't notice it.

I used the trowel to dig at that location. I was thinking that I should put the card back.

But in reality, I was still hesitating.

I was thinking that there was no way anybody would find it hidden in this place. And in that case, I might as well just hold on to it.

But would that really be okay, I wondered.

I didn't know.

Not knowing what I should do, I put back the soil I had dug up. The ground was blurred by my tears.

I wondered what I was doing in this place.

I wondered if this was supposed to be my revenge on Sachiko-san for not remembering me.

All I had wanted was for her to look back at me.

All I had wanted was for her to acknowledge my existence.

I didn't know what I should do.

I could no longer move.

I was imprisoned in this old greenhouse together with the crimson card.