Notes on the Sixteenth Maria-sama ga Miteru Novel, Part 4

Maria-sama ga Miteru 16 – Variety Gift

Part 4 (Final)

Variety Gift IV


"Um, in general, what you're telling Yumi-sama is that the model for the red toy Daruma is based on real Buddhist priests sitting in meditation. It's close, but it's not the same. Even if you roll it, it was made to be a good luck charm." Noriko-chan explained, disinterestedly.

In her head, Yumi took a memo of a real Buddhist Priest rolling around.

When one is near someone whose interest it is, and they can give a good lecture, it's easy to get ideas into one's head.

"Talisman...ah, you mean like the kind you see at elections and the like."

"Yeah. First you pray with one eye open, and when the wish is fulfilled, you draw the other eye in."

If you make my wish come true I'll draw a face for you. Very similar to the teruterubouzu.

Then.

"I'm sorry, I'm running late." It was Shimako-san.

"This is significant, because it's nearly the opposite of using ofuda (E: ofuda are spells written on paper) for protection." Noriko-chan brought the conversation firmly to a finish by rising from her chair, and rushing to the pot. In order to brew excellent tea for her beloved onee-sama.

"What are you talking about? It looks like you're having fun."

--D, déjà vu?

Just as she was thinking it, the biscuit door opened again, this time the two third-years completing the gathering.

"Ah, she did it, she did it."

"Ahh, really. It's as you said, Rei."

Rose Foetida is Hasekura Rei-sama. Rosa Chinensis is Ogasawara Sachiko-sama.

"What are you talking about, Rose Foetida?" Noriko-chan asked, taking out two more cups.

"I'm saying, we're late, and Yoshino-chan already broke the seal on it."

"Then, Rei-sama, you already knew about the box—" Yumi muttered, while Rei-sama smiled.

"Of course I knew. After all, I was the one who brought it."

"Eh!?" Yoshino-san and Yumi said simultaneously.

"B, but – the writing on the tag..."

"Ah, you knew? It's Eriko-sama's writing."

That always precise writing, how did Rei-sama... She looked at the label that had been peeled off the wrapping paper.

"Um, Rei-sama was the one who brought these sweets. But Eriko-sama's writing was on the label. What...?" Yumi confirmed. Inside her head things were not being properly kept tidy and in order.

"Right."

Uh, which of the two options was it closer to.

"Obviously, it was Eriko-sama. It was just given into my keeping, to bring it here."

"When was it given into your keeping?"

"Earlier."

"Earlier?"

"About cleanup time, I left for a bit and ran over to university buildings to meet Eriko-sama."

"The university buildings?" This time Shimako-san joined the chorus of second-years.

"Mm. You know, it's not easy to get into the high school area if you're not wearing a uniform."

That was so not it.

"Um, but, wasn't Eriko-sama attending a different university?"

"That's right."

"Then, why..."

Why was Eriko-sama here at Lillian University, was the question Shimako-san was asking.

Yes, that was it, Yumi nodded. That was what she wanted to hear too.

"Obviously, to meet up. Last night I got a phone call to come out and receive the supply drop."

So, then, Rei-sama went out for a little during cleanup to go meet Eriko-sama, receive this Variety Gift into her keeping, brought it to the Rose Mansion, then returned to her area to finish cleaning, is what she was saying. Well done.

But.

"You never told me about it." Yoshino-san was angry. From yesterday evening until now, you never said anything about this, what was she was saying.

Definitely, Yumi thought.

But, these two were also cousins, their houses were built next to each other, on the same premises; in morning these two came to school together, ate lunch at the Rose Mansion together with everyone. There had been how many chances to talk.

However, Rei-sama answered calmly. "Right. I didn't say anything."

"Why didn't you say. ...No, I mean, why didn't you mention it?"

In front of the first-years, Yoshino-san altered her speech. Yumi was already accustomed to it, but still, it was important to clarify one's standing as an upperclassman or underclassman in this school.

"Because, this morning Yoshino was in a bad mood. I thought that, at the time, if I brought up Eriko-sama, it would only make it worse. If you asked who the candy was from and I said Eriko-sama, it would be the same, right?"

"Right, I understand."

Knowing Yoshino-san too well, Rei-sama had decided to bring the box without mentioning the giver and letting the contents speak for themselves. And knowing Yoshino, Rei saw it through.

"But, my mood wasn't bad. I was just thinking about something." The way Yoshino-san said that, it was probably a problem about taking a little sister. Ironically, something that had to do with Eriko-sama. (E: From the previous novel, "Ready, Go!" the promise Eriko extracted from Yoshino about introducing her to her soeur...)

"So then, Eriko-sama? After giving you the box, did she leave for home then?" Yumi inquired. If she had come all the way over to the university, she could have carried it to the high school, she thought. Standing out because she was not in school uniform was some kind of reason, certainly but, Eriko-sama was not the type to worry about being rude. A graduate could enter with confidence, at any rate.

"It looks like it. I also went, wanting to catch even a glimpse I thought, so I left the cleaning with Rei and went with her to the university., but...." Sachiko-sama shook her head.

"Afterwards, did it look like she had some plans, don't you think?" Rei-sama rubbed her cheek with a finger puzzled, trying to stimulate her memory.

"I wonder if that's true." Detective Yoshino-san crossed her arms and inclined her head suspiciously.

"Why would Eriko-sama lie?"

"Because, the odor of some kind of scheme floats around that tin." Yoshino-san pointed to the tin.

Just so.

From the faces of the first-year girls, who had just a while ago eaten the cookies and chocolates so happily, the smiles completely disappeared.

"It's all right. There's no poison inside. Probably."

"No, there's no worry about that."

Why was Noriko-chan, with a smiling face, answering so intently.

Of course, no one was thinking that she or anyone else had put poison in them. Of course, after someone mentions that they are involved in a scheme, it's unlikely that anyone will want to consider eating anymore. When the ringleader says, "It's a plot" even if everything else is left ambiguous, of course it will be distrusted.

"It's a plot, huh?" Rei-sama took a jam sandwich cookie in her fingers and held it up to the light. "If Yoshino says it is, then it might be."

"Eh?"

"Because, Eriko-sama. Because, when she handed it over to me, she said, 'Give Yoshino-chan my best regards.'"

From that two layer cookie, from the hole cut in the top layer so that looking down, one could see an ambiguously yellow-colored jam, maybe apricot, maybe apple, came an amber light.



Poison Apple


The clouds were oppressive.

That was what I thought when I looked up.

But, when I thought about it, what part of me felt that way? Whether it was my body or my heart, even I didn't know.

When I relinquished the thing I had carried with me from home, I felt completely light. Why would that be the case?

If I thought about it, I would probably come up with an answer, but in order to think about it properly, I'd have to know what it was I was thinking about and that seemed entirely too troublesome.

Therefore, for an hour, I shelved "oppressive" and sat on a bench in front of the fountain.

"Ugh," I said in a completely old woman way.

And again, I stared up into the sky. The oppressive clouds hadn't changed. The same went for me looking up at them.

It was because it was a little chilly, or because it was time to be in class. On the lawn near the fountain, there were no students to be seen. It seemed more like a park on the verge of closing than a woman's university garden.

The other day, when I had come to peep at the sports festival, the grounds were completely crowded with students, parents everywhere I looked. That was already two or three days ago. But it felt like much longer ago than that.

In any case, I smiled to myself bitterly. The bag in which I had carried the Variety Gift must have been my source of power. Since, I hadn't let go of it. So it seemed.

While I was carrying it, it felt like it was a surprise box with a joker inside. If I had actually used one of those, I could imagine Yoshino-chan's response, the thought floated into my head.

In that case, it was like the Variety Gift had been like a balloon for me, maybe. Therefore, now that I had parted with it, my cheerful mind sank.

Be that as it may, at last my foot reached the ground. Whether it was my feeling of being heavy or gravity, it was the way things were. However, the reality was that I felt oppressed.

I stared at the ends of my shoes.

The Variety Gift of treats lifted my heart a little, however, not for very long.

Whoever held the joker at the end of the game loses. Or, more appropriately, if someone opens a surprise box without knowing what it is, then the meaning is wasted.

Therefore, I who had parted from it, laughed from far away.

"Pardon me, you wouldn't happen to be Torii Eriko-sama?"

The voice comes back to me, as if by chance, in front of my eyes are two feet in short black boots. The toes were turned this way as they stood there. As my gaze rose slowly upwards, there appeared the face of a dear friend.

"It is as you say, Satou Sei-sama. Well, what wonderful coincidence!" I grinned, putting out both my hands as I stood.

"It has been so long, are you well?"

(E: Sei is speaking in full "honor student" mode. Her Keigo is...impressive...and kind of a little creepy. lol)

"Yes, thank you."

The two of us were jokingly moving the conversation along formally. Old friends meeting unexpectedly in a place like this, why did this embarrass me?

"What are you doing for today? Do you have business here at Lillian Jogakuen? Did you forget something?" Sei inquired. When she had graduated, she had chosen Lillian Women's College. Therefore, it was not particularly mysterious to see her here, but why did I remember a sense of incompatibility?

Here on the same premises as the high school, although different buildings, Sei was not in high school uniform.

As I stood to meet her, although I could call myself graduate, here at the university I was an "outsider".

We had been apart for only about half a year.

"To come and take back something I forgot after six months had passed after graduation, what kind of person do you think I am?" After I laughed at that, I rethought it. Maybe I had come back to get something I forgot after all, in one sense.

From somewhere appeared three girls in kindergarten uniforms, their voices bubbling over as they ran up to the area around the fountain. They had left their guardians behind them, but after them came several women who looked like their mothers, walking up to the bench and sitting down.

And, then, my surroundings, which had been quiet, were now lively and gay.

"Do you have time? Will you take some tea?" At Sei's suggestion, we removed ourselves to the café in the university.

"Quiet, isn't it?" I asked as we walked. On the way up, if you look at the school building, it looked gloomy on account of all the classrooms not being lit.

"Because we're in the middle of exams. I was struggling at the end, in the library." Sei laughed. "What about yours?"

Ah, I smiled bitterly. "Today the general education exams are over. Afterwards, all sorts of presentations and reports have to be filed, though."

I myself, on the final day of midyear exams was, with my empty afternoon, visiting my alma mater. It was much the same schedule at another university.

"Hmm. My day is replete. Being able to meet busy Eriko."

"I guess so."

The café was much busier with university students than I would have thought. Because some facilities were closed during exams, they washed up here, it seemed.

Sei bought blend coffee, I milk tea, then we sat. The cup was warm, my cold fingers were happy. It was colder outside that I had thought.

"I hear you have a grandchild?" I asked, turning towards my friend. Because we had not met for some time, I wanted recent news.

"Grandchild? Ah, Shimako's soeur you mean?" Because Sei, in her third year, took a first-year student Shimako to be her soeur, Sei's soeur's soeur was therefore her "grandchild."

"How is she? Cute?"

"Um, how is it. Even though it's after I graduated, it's nice. To the extent that I know her face."

While saying that, Sei told me Shimako's soeur's full name and about her peculiar hobby. Except for her hair, she'd be the type Eriko liked, was her added comment.

"How do you say it..., yeah. Now that someone to be by Shimako's side has appeared, I'm quite relieved, myself." Bringing the black coffee to her mouth, her eyes narrowed. Inside Sei's communication of relief, there was a slightly bitter flavor.

"It's not often you get to feel what it's like to be a grandmother, huh."

I added a half a spoonful of sugar, then stirred the milk tea. In the small cup, the beige swirled around and around.

"I'll just have to lavish my affection on Yumi-chan instead."

"I see. Sei's still interested in Yumi-chan, huh."

"I'd be affectionate to Yoshino-chan, too, but she's Rei and Eriko's cherished cat. There's no gap for me to get in."

"Aha, so it looks that way?"

Upon hearing that she was a cherished cat, I was a little pleased.

"It looks that way. There's always a sense of Eriko teasing Yoshino-chan because she's so cute and you can't help it."

"Heheh." Exactly what I'd expect from my best friend. Certainly I couldn’t help myself from lavishing affection on her. And, since she'd had the surgery, Yoshino-chan was doing very well.

"Your opponent has to have some serious fighting spirit."

"That's true." If they were some weepy, weak, prone to running away person, I wouldn't be able to give myself up. They had to bite at the challenge; Yoshino-chan's straight on gaze attracted me.

"Although she looks like that kind of girl, she's isn't that all the time." It was like it wasn't Sei across the table from me, but myself that I was talking to. I wouldn't have to say even a word to that me, so why did I feel that way? Sei then asked, with a sense of "this is trivial, but," "What's up? Did something happen with Kumaotoko?" (E: "Bear man" because he's a hairy guy. And that's where that nickname came from for Yamanobe.)

Kumaotoko. He was a professor at the school next door to Lillian Girls' School, Hanadera Academy, and less importantly, the man I love.

"You can't really say anything happened, per se. What can I do about it."

He was the man I loved, but we weren't lovers. The first time I proposed he had refused. Afterwards, we decided to start over again as friends but, after seeing each other for half a year, we were still just friends.

"Stop," Sei interrupted. "Because, there's no way I can offer advice on a love affair between a man and a woman, you know."

"I don’t need that. That's not what's bothering me."

"Then, what?"

"I guess you could say that a rival has appeared."

"Kumaotoko has a woman?"

I wanted to say that he wasn't that type. Or mutter that Sei was being completely rude. But really, on the other hand, it wasn't a woman.

"He has one from before over there." Kumaotoko was suspended between there and here.

"That's like Yoshino-chan, isn't it." Rei was suspended between there and here.

"Yes. However, I didn't really need to peck at Yoshino-chan"

"What's that?"

I summed up for Sei the entire story about the sweets for the Yamayurikai. Just a little, I wish I could rewind time. But in the real world, it's not worth thinking about. For a moment, I turned my eyes away.

"About Yamanobe-san." After a pause, I confessed. "He has a child."

"Eh -"

Sei reacted just as I had predicted, which satisfied me.

"A girl in kindergarten. It's not really strange. He had a wife after all."

"That, that's true, but--"

Yamanobe-san was a pitiable man, whose wife had died. The people close to me knew that much. But.

"I knew about it from the beginning." Just after we met, to learn a little more about him, I had showered him with questions.

"Your father and brothers..."

"They don't know. If I tell them, they'll definitely be set against it."

"That, that's true, but--"

"It's not like I'm lying. Just, if they don't ask, I don’t have to answer, that's all. We're really just friends. If a friend has a child, I don’t think there's any reason for a parent to complain, is there?"

"That, that's true, but--" Sei was repeating the same words from earlier. Although she seemed to tentatively agree, she didn't seem satisfied with what had been done. "If Eriko consented to it at the beginning, then yes, it has nothing to do with your parents. But, it's been the same for six months now. Why is she a rival all of a sudden."

Sei pointed out naturally. However, the truth was that something had altered since the beginning.

"He, you know, wants me to meet his daughter this time."

"Wait a second." It wasn't "that's true, but--" this time. ---Well, it was true.

"Do you think that this is his way of thinking of me as more than a friend?" Come meet my daughter was similar to come meet my parents in that way. Because of this, ever since I'd heard his words, I hadn't been able to control myself properly. Because the last time I had met him was the week before last, the next time would be in two weeks.

I am the kind of person who generally has fun, even when something I didn't expect occurs. But, this time, it was out of my hands.

Why was this so life-affecting a thing.

What goes up, must come down.

These rising and falling emotions somehow, would become past feelings that were recalled when a diary was read or an album was heard. Or, as an extreme eccentricity, when the high school uniform was put on once again. Or, by extension, stopping by the Lillian sports festival.

I already knew that I could never return to those days of high school, thinking about it only made me depressed, especially when passing through the gates of the old alma mater made my heart say, "what if". If I see Rei's face, I'll clear up my heart a little. Or something.

However, unexpectedly, I was thinking about cheerful Yoshino-chan. Before the contest, she had been enthusiastic; it was dazzling, hateful, precious. As I have since I was young, I had to peck at it.

I stepped in to change Yoshino-chan's hopes. And I left her a souvenir of a reckless promise. At the moment I met Yoshino-chan, I was able to regain the self I loved.

"...So, what are you going to do?" Sei asked with a serious face.

"Meet her."

"A person with kids, is that okay with you?"

"Mm. I'm fine with it." After all, I loved Yamanobe-san and his genuine charm doesn’t change just because he has a child. So, if he says "come and meet her" then I'll meet her. Of course.

"Then, what's sticking in your mind?"

"How to handle my opponent, I guess."

"Haaaah, you mean Yoshino-chan---" as she spoke, Sei lifted her hand. "Sorry, Eriko, hang on a second. He-yy, here, here."

Following Sei's gaze, I could see a woman who looked like a university student standing in the café entrance. When she noticed the signal, she quickly walked over to the table.

"Uh, Satou-san, how long are you going to rely on the fact that my house is near the school."

So saying, that person held out the kind of notebook that one uses for classes. Which Sei received reverently.

"Whoa whoah, this is a mite large." (E: Sei says "this is really big" with a distinctly western accent.)

"You know, you're hateful. Did everyone really admire you in high school, that's a lie, isn’t it?"

"It's the truth. Sei let the underclassmen spoil her." I interjected myself into the conversation. For the first time, Sei's friend became aware of my presence, so I nodded with a cheerful "Hi".

"This is?"

"My friend, Torii Eriko-san. She graduated from my high school."

"Ah, Rosa Foetida, huh. I'm I Satou-san's class, Katou Kei."

"Nice to meet you, Katou-san. You could call me Rosa Foetida, although I'm a former one, the name still attaches. But...you know all about it, huh?"

"Fukuzawa Yumi-chan instructed me. Although she said them pretty fast, because it was interesting, I remembered the names of the members."

Rosa Chinensis, Rosa Gigantea, Rosa Foetida, Rosa Chinensis, Rosa Gigantea, Rosa Foetida, Rosa Chinensis, Rosa Gigantea, Rosa Foetida.

Katou-san said hesitating a little over the words Rosa Foetida.

"So, the former Rosa Chinensis is absent today? Or is she only late?"

"Today is a two-person class reunion."

"Oh, I was going to beg a three-shot." (E: A three-person photo)

She said it like she really regretted it; maybe she wanted to know more about Sei, perhaps. However, Sei was apparently interested in the scenery.

"Right, Kei-san. You can give us the perspective from the daughter's point of view," Sei asked.

"Of what?"

"A father's lover."

"Umm." Katou-san stood at the side of the table, looking up at the ceiling. On hearing "A father's lover" I immediately remembered Ogasawara Sachiko's family but, in Katou-san's case, there was no wife when her father took a lover. Her mother died when she was still young - in that point it resembled Yamanobe-san.

"In our situation, he met her when he had fallen ill, and was at his wit's end. Either way, he was either going to die, or to be driven to despair. Then, she was a person who was able to get him past the critical point. Well, if I look back at it, she was a really nice person and for that I have the feeling that I could forgive her. ...Hey, is that a good reference?

"Good enough. Thank you." I wondered if it was even possible to have a reference in what to definitely do in this kind of case but, having a daughter that is at his side looking towards him is one part of Yamanobe-san's character, and she probably has many worries about becoming a good daughter. That was something I decided to never forget.

"Yeah? I'm glad." Katou-san grinned at me, then quickly turned to Sei with a bitter face.

"Sei-san. The rent on that notebook is high."

"Okay. I finished my job already. Will this cancel the debt?" Sei took out an envelope from a travel agent and handed to over to Katou-san.

"Ah, it's already gone. Mm, good. Good work."

Inside were probably tickets, I guessed. Ah-hah, had violently shy Sei had found someone to go on a trip with?

"Sorry to have disturbed you." Her exchange of notebook for ticket hadn't been much of a disruption, but when she turned her back and retraced her steps, Sei leaned her face close to mine and whispered, "What a great person to forgive like that. What do you think?"

What do you think, she said. "Since it's Sei, you understand, right?"

This good person couldn't handle it otherwise. It was impossible for her to perform the impossible.

"The role of evil stepmother bullying a cute princess suits me -" I lay prostrate on the table and thought about this well-suited role.

"'Mirror, mirror on the wall' you mean?"

"Exactly." I lifted my head. "But in the Yoshino-chan version, she'd surely throw away the poison apple and run after me." The spectacle floated into my mind.

It’s not unfair, it's not unfair, it's not unfair. I said.

"You look like you're having fun." At my evil chuckle, Sei's brows drew together.

"You didn't go and put poison in the sweets you gave them did you?"

"Not in the sweets, but--" I drank the rest of the milk tea in the cup silently.

Would Yoshino-chan receive the right message from the Variety Gift box, I wondered.

It had cooled down completely, but as the milk tea flowed into my body it brought warmth.

And I became a little brighter as I had been before.



Variety Gift V


"It's part of a plot you say?" Yoshino-san muttered.

"Wait a moment, Yoshino. I only said whether it was." This is bad, Rei-sama was clearly thinking, as she repeatedly returned to the cookie tin to fix it. The harbinger of a big explosion. At the table, Yoshino-san sat with her fists clenched and clouds swirling overhead, so it was possible to say there would be aftershocks.

"Rei-chan may think so, but I haven't decided!"

Ka-boom.

It came at last.

It was fortunate for Rei-sama that there was no cushion nearby. Not finding anything close by to throw, Yoshino-san threw both hands into the air in futility, as if to throw them at Rei-sama. Her eyes went to the tin of sweets in front of her, but throwing food was no good. It looked like she was still capable of reason.

"What. What haven't you decided?" Rei-sama asked guarding her face with one hand. Even if it flies, there's no need to guard yourself from air.

"But, doesn't it ping your intuition anyway, Rei-chan? Don't you think so? Rei-chan, I think you've rotted since you're no longer Eriko-sama's soeur. There are some things that only a soeur can know, things that they can't feel unconsciously."

The blood already rushing to her head, Yoshino-chan was speaking without paying attention to her words.

Casual speech "Rei-chan," one-sided abuse. More importantly, the inconsistencies in her own words.

Now then, the peanut gallery watched these two with open amazement.

"Yoshino-chan calm yourself." With one roar, everyone returned, to the right of the two, to Sachiko-sama, for the arbitration to begin. No, more than arbitration, to see Yoshino-san returned to a state of correctness, really. Somehow, the active volcano took a one-hour rest to be a dormant volcano.

"Right. Rei-sama hasn't done anything to do to deserve criticism."

"Yumi-san is right. In the first place, the sender of the sweets isn't Rei-sama, it's Eriko-sama, isn't it."

In this atmosphere, as the second-year's spoke, Noriko-chan investigated the cover and the paper that separated the contents, commenting in her usual unconcerned tone.

"This sempai called Eriko-sama, she brought this from home, didn't she? Since it remained unopened, then it couldn't be part of a scheme could it?"

Right, right. That was completely the conclusion she had reached before. Therefore, Yoshino-chan could run to eat as much as she wanted with an easy mind.

"Then, the code for the message inside is?"

Yoshino-chan lifted the seal from the table. She couldn't yet throw away her theory that Eriko-sama had some scheme in mind.

"'To my cute little sisters.' Is this where the code is?"

From behind, looking over coolly, Touko-chan said, "What about the name of the merchandise?"

"'Variety Gift - M'." Kanako-chan read from the cover of the box.

"Em?"

"M size, I think it means....but..."

Yoshino started with Y. Eriko with E. There was an M in the middle of Shimazu but it wasn't the first letter, so there couldn't be any connection there.

"By the way, the manufacturer is Maple Parlor."

There was no point to be taken there. Yumi, who often had exchange gifts in the house, had gotten exchange gifts just like this. Therefore, if the code was concealed in the Maple Parlor shop, it was sure to be here and there in the everyday confusion.

"Other information--" Yoshino-san took out the folded paper that had wrapped it from the table where it had been laid with suspicion. Definitely, even if you make your eyes go round, it was the usual the Maple Parlor logo on wrapping paper. When it became Christmas or Halloween, they would wrap with a different version, but basically the same.

"It's got to be your imagination. Sorry, Yoshino." Rei-sama said, as if saying please stop now; then stopped her motion towards Yoshino-san.

"...This is..." At the sound of her voice, everyone surrounded Yoshino-san, who held her hand out. But all that was in it was the wrapping paper.

"Got it." Yoshino-san grabbed the vexing wrapping paper and wadded it up.

"What? This seal that was stuck on? Or the ingredients? Or was it the 'must be eaten by" date?' Rei-sama took the wrapping paper from Yoshino-san's hand and stretched it out."

When she heard the word seal, Yumi was taken aback. She had seen the seal in question a little while ago.

"Ah, um, flour, sugar..."

Why was Rei-sama reading the ingredients. But then, if she read them from the beginning, she might find something, maybe, she was thinking.

If this was associated with the time Eriko-sama met Yoshino-san and extracted that promise, then she didn’t understand the meaning of the message.

"To continue, the best if eaten by this date is... ah, this year, November, last day of the month. These will be delicious if eaten by two months. But the best if eaten by date has no connection to us, does it? There probably won't be any left over by tomorrow."

Rei-sama's comfortable laughter penetrated into Yumi's heart.

There was a connection there, Rei-sama.

Is that right? If it's November, it's the Intramural Kendo Matches.

Rei-sama didn't know of it, the reckless promise that Yoshino-san made to introduce her to her soeur. ---So.

Best if eaten by, the last day of November.

That, and nothing else, was Eriko-sama's message saying, "I haven't forgotten the promise."

The End

***


Tags: Maria-sama ga Miteru, Marimite, Variety Gift