Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume9 Chapter6 1

When the Cherry Blossoms Fall. Part 1.

Shimako-san was behaving strangely.

Yumi noticed it not long after the new first-years had entered into high-school. Three or four days after, perhaps.

"Ooh."

She had no idea why. Shimako-san liked looking at and eating cherry blossoms, so it seemed unlikely that she'd be allergic to them. There was already one person like that, Yumi's onee-sama Ogasawara Sachiko-sama, and that was more than enough. Besides, her symptoms were a little different.

"Why are you yelping like a little dog?"

Appearing in front of Yumi's desk with her trademark twin ponytails was Shimazu Yoshino. Probably returning from the toilet, the floral handkerchief she was holding was wet in places.

But Yumi was a wordless little dog. She was silent, like a shih tzu or maltese dog.

"Huh?"

Yumi felt a momentary sense of cognitive dissonance, wondering why Yoshino-san was there. Noticing this, her sharp-eyed friend got a strange look on her face and grumbled.

"… Yumi-san, can you please stop looking so surprised every time you see me in the classroom."

"Oh, you noticed?"

Yumi tried forcing a smile to hide her embarrassment. But Yoshino-san wasn't even slightly fooled.

"You're too easy to read. Also, I've noticed you looking around for Shimako-san."

"You've got me."

"Get it together, Rosa Chinensis en bouton."

"Hahaha. I'm not used to that name either."

The name Rosa Chinensis en bouton was the only thing magnificent about her, because she just couldn't get it together. And because she herself was aware of this, all she could do was laugh feebly.

Take yesterday as an example, when she'd been guilty of the monumental blunder of heading to the first-year peach group classroom when she arrived at school in the morning.

"Hard to believe, hey."

Yoshino-san muttered, her eyes narrowing. She was Rosa Foetida en bouton. That alone gave her a certain presence, if seen from the right angle.

So that was it.

When April arrived, the first-years naturally became second-years. This hadn't felt even slightly real to Yumi, and she alone had been warped backwards in time.

This was the second-year pine class. The room that Sachiko-sama had been studying in until recently.

It was the first time in the thirteen years since kindergarten that Yoshino-san had been in the same class as her.

Shimako-san, who'd been in Yumi's class in first-year, was in second-year wisteria class. Sadly, they were in different classes this time.

Well, okay. It left the door open to meeting new people.

"Oh ho. Rosa Chinensis en bouton is a springtime fool."

Someone jumped into their conversation, after listening in for who knows how long.

(– Why's she … ?)

"Gah, Mami-san."

Despite being taken aback, the lights soon went on for Yumi and she grabbed hold of the girl's arm.

"Don't put that in an article!"

Shimako-san could get lost in thought and still maintain her dignity, but it would expose Yumi as a natural ditz. Which would not be acceptable for the person known as Rosa Chinensis en bouton. While Yumi knew she hadn't smoothly inherited Sachiko-sama's image, it would be too depressing to Sachiko-sama to have her petit soeur destroy all her past accomplishments.

"I wonder what I should do."

"Please don't print it."

"You owe me one."

Yamaguchi Mami, age 16, left giggling.

Did she part her hair on the side, held in place with a hair-clip, to highlight her lack of vulnerability? Her hair was swept back behind her ears, leaving her news gathering antennae fully open. Her onee-sama, newspaper club president Tsukiyama Minako-sama, had taught her to be ready, because she could run into newsworthy material anytime, anywhere. But, for some reason, Mami-san seemed even more resolute than Minako-sama.

"Ahh."

Yumi sighed. She had no luck at all, being put in the same class as the future head of the newspaper club.

On top of that.

Click.

"Thanks for that gloomy face."

While Yumi may have become accustomed to it, the photography club's ace, and current vice-president, Takeshima Tsutako-san was also in her class.

"I'll call it, "The Melancholy of Rosa Chinensis en Bouton." Will you let me show it at the school festival if it comes out well?"

"… Give me a break."

There was no such thing as privacy in the second-year pine class.

"We'll talk later."

Yoshino-san whispered into Yumi's ear then walked away. Tsutako-san hid her camera and quickly returned to her seat too.

The teacher for their next subject had been spotted walking down the corridor. She was also in charge of educational guidance, and an incredibly difficult teacher, so everyone reacted quickly.

In this manner, with both annoyance and pleasure, Fukuzawa Yumi's new school year began.