Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume7 Chapter7

Wednesday

Part 1

"Onee-sama, a visitor from the story telling club is here. She wants to discuss the musical accompaniment."

"Ah, show her in."

"Okay."

I guided the club president to the room on the second floor, then prepared some tea. It was a token of hospitality we provided to all visitors that came out to the Rose Mansion. There was no shortage of people who would would only approach us to discuss matters in the hallways, so we were always grateful to those who came to visit.

It was after school.

Rei-sama was at a meeting for the sports clubs participating in the "Third-Years' Farewell Party." They couldn't hold a competition or anything like that, so the sports clubs decided to put on a performance highlighting each club's styles and techniques. Yoshino-san was taking a message to the clubhouse, while Shimako-san was at the shops on an errand.

Whether it was lunchtime or after school, there were a lot of people coming and going from the Rose Mansion nowadays. It reminded me a bit of the school festival. Although one obvious difference was that, back then, the Roses had been running things, but now the boutons had that role.

"Here you go."

I poured a cup of tea just for our visitor. Initially, I would also prepare tea for whoever was meeting with the visitor, but Sachiko-sama told me not to. She said her stomach was getting bloated from having tea with each and every one of the endless procession of visitors.

"Sorry to bother you."

The club president sipped at the black tea like you would Japanese tea. Her actions were refined. Despite wearing her school uniform, she had an air about her as though she was wearing a traditional kimono.

"Have you got confirmation from the florist?"

Sachiko-sama asked me, as though she'd just remembered.

"Ah, yes."

I replied, stifling a yawn.

"I did that yesterday. They said the roses will be delivered between 4:30 and 5 on Friday afternoon. They'll be brought by car to the back gate, and someone will have to be there to accept them."

"Alright, I'll leave that to you, Yumi. Get Yoshino-chan to help you too."

"Okay."

"Having you two around is a real lifesaver."

It had been a while since Sachiko-sama was grateful to me, so I was overjoyed but also a little bit embarrassed.

But when I thought about the hard work that the boutons were doing, it made me want to enthusiastically help out where I could.

And when I remembered how I couldn't do anything to help during the school council elections, it made me glad that there was work for me to do.

After giving my stiff neck a quick rub, I set to work on my next task.

Part 2

"Yuuki."

"Mm?"

"What's thi~s?"

Visiting my brother in his room, I motioned towards the cloth bundle from before.

"…"

He didn't say anything, but his eyes were swimming. Visibly shaken. The culprit had been found.

"I asked dad, but he said he didn't know. This is yours, right?"

"Well, so what?"

Spinning his chair around, Yuuki turned his back on me. Oh ho, now he'd turned defiant.

"Admit it."

I grabbed the back of the chair and spun him around to face me again.

"No way."

Yuuki fled from the chair, escaping to his bed.

"I'm going to sleep, leave now."

"You were just at your desk, why are you suddenly going to bed?"

"That's just what I do."

He tried to burrow under the blankets, but instead they fell off.

"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me about this."

Did he really want to hide this part of his past so badly? Even so, I didn't call off the investigation. Following him to the bed, I lent over my younger brother and dangled the bundle in front of his face.

"That's been sealed. You can't just drag it out."

"Then why did you hide it in the closet? If you couldn't stand to look at it, you should have thrown it out in the trash."

"If it was trash, I would have thrown it out. But, unfortunately, it's not mine."

"Huh?"

"I'll explain everything, so get off. You're lying all over me."

Yuuki said sullenly.

Oh ho, so that was my mistake. It was tough on a first-year high-school boy when a spunky young girl got too close to him, even if it was his own blood related older sister.

"Someone gave it to me to look after."

After I'd stepped back, Yuuki got up and straightened out his pajamas.

"You're looking after it, huh."

He started to talk without really saying anything. I would even have welcomed his face turning red. Was he mad at me? Or was he, due to a certain someone's influence, completely uninterested in girls? That would be an alarming proposition.

"But there's no space in my room, and I thought that if I made it through the spring cleanup, no-one would find it."

"So who gave it to you?"

I had a bad feeling about who this "someone" was.

"Kashiwagi-sempai."

"Oh Yuuki."

There it was. Despite guessing right, I wasn't particularly happy.

"But Kashiwagi-san's graduating soon, isn't he?"

So give it back. I tossed the bundle to Yuuki.

"If I could do that, it wouldn't be hidden in the closet."

Like a true dodge-ball player, Yuuki caught it with both hands.

"Ah, right."

"They call it an endowment. Every year, some unfortunate first-year gets stuck with looking after it."

"Uh-huh."

So it has to make an appearance when it's publicly handed down to the next unfortunate first-year student.

"Let me borrow it."

I sat down next to Yuuki and pointed at the bundle.

"Okay, but … don't tell me…"

Yuuki stared at me in wonder.

"Yep, it's exactly what you're thinking. Teach me how to use these. I want to do it for a farewell party."

Hearing my answer his face turned serious and he said, "Are you stupid?"

"What's so stupid?"

I interrogated Yuuki. Most of the time, what he said was sensible enough, but this time I couldn't follow him.

"You're going to, of your own free will, have people laugh at you?"

"No. They'll be laughing with me."

"…"

"…"

After a moment's silence, Yuuki suddenly laughed.

"That's the sort of thing Kashiwagi-sempai would say."

"Wha. You're lumping me in with him!?"

That was a bit unpleasant. While I didn't have any personal grudge against him, just knowing he was my onee-sama's fiance was enough to make me dislike him.

"Pretty much. The situation may be a bit different, but that's the sort of thing he said."

Yuuki said, "Alright," and undid the seal of the bundle.

"It's fine. I'll be your instructor, dear sister. The version with musical accompaniment will do, right?"

"Thank-you very much, professor!"

I bowed. Becoming his pupil before Yuuki could change his mind.

However.

"One, two, three, four."

It was only when I started practice that I found out how strict an instructor he was.

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