Volume 13 Chapter 4 (2/2)
”So then Minako-sama didn't call out to you”
Noriko felt a bit disappointed If Minako-sama had made contact with anybody else, it would have provided a clue as to what she was searching for
However
”We did see Minako-san though”
Rosa Foetida said
”Huh?”
”We passed her at the school gate on our way in But she didn't see for the bus Right, Yoshi+no?”
”Yeah … at any rate, she had one heck of an outfit on”
That dispelled any doubts that it was her
Tsukiyauise was completely blown
Noriko felt completely exhausted as the biscuit-door opened and the Red Rose sisters walked in
”Gokigenyou Are you all feeling well?”
On the contrary, it was the bright and cheerful Rosa Chinensis that looked worst off
- Again with the blue visitor's slippers
”What the heck's going on, calling me out here so suddenly?”
The for-all-intents-and-purposes head of the Lillian's Girls Academy newspaper club said to the in-name-only head of the newspaper club as she took a seat opposite her
”Honestly, why have you been procrastinating so much?”
- Those were the first words out of Tsukiyama Minako-sama's mouth
”I got here as soon as I could You called o”
Yauchi Mami adjusted her wristwatch and confir, so she loosened the leather strap by one notch It was 4pm
”Not that I was talking about the progress of the beginning-of-semester bumper edition of the Lillian Kawaraban”
”I knohat you meant, onee-sa about that”
Mah a straw It wasn't actually coffee milk, it had a otten five seconds after she ordered
Her onee-sa that looked like coffee-colored shaved-ice Although she didn't say anything, Maht it looked exactly like ”snow from a mud pool” as she watched on
They were at the K station branch of a coffee chain
The store was croith young people
She'd been told to get there ASAP, so she'd only picked up her notebook and purse before rushi+ng out She knew she would have received a lecture about it if she took the tie, so she'd headed out into town in her shabby T-shi+rt and denim skirt that were barely fit to wear to the local convenience store
”You don't understand? You know, even though I've stepped down from the front-lines, I still love the ”Lillian Kawaraban” So when I seearound lost, of course I'll gently offer her a helping hand”
”Gently, huh”
Maeez”
”You got bored of studying for your tests and your reporter's spirit caht?”
Also known as escaping from reality
”… But, it's su all my time on summer classes, mock exams, reference books and vocab books … I'm just over it all”
Minako-sa motivation
”That's because you're studying for entrance exae course now I'm sure there's still time for you to accept early entrance into Lillian's Women's University”
”I would have done that from the start if it was a possibility”
Stir, stir
Minako-sama mindlessly stirred her slushy ice with a spoon Mami inferred that she'd probably lost interest in its flavor
But enough about that There was absolutely no reason for Maed into her onee-sa for exams
”My deepest apologies, but I can write those articles without your help, onee-sama Excuse me”
Ma up the plastic cup with the remains of her coffee milk in it
”Last month, you tried to tail the White Rose sisters as they visited various churches and teave you the slip”
Those icy words were thrown at Mami's turned back
”They didn't give ht of them”
Ma around She knew her onee-sa to provoke her but she had to respond
”So the reason you were unable to gather any information about the Yellow and White Rose sisters' coincidental appearance near the Ogasawara holiday house was also because you lost sight of them?”
Exactly But it pained her too much to admit it
”Are they ghosts?”
Minako-saer that caused Mament
”Takeshi+ma Tsutako-san's photo”
Mami took the evidence out from her notebook and handed it over Her onee-sama raised her eyebrows and looked it over with an expert eye
”It's very small and froo with it, but if they refuse then that's the end of that photo”
Maht that if her onee-sa this But now that she wasn't in charge, she was raising the height of the hurdles
”You have to stockpilethe summer vacation, so you can publish a steady stream of special editions once the new term starts That's the service that we in the newspaper club provide to reward the loyal readers of the ”Lillian Kawaraban””
The service, huh
”But onee-sama, it's summer vacation now There's still plenty of time - ”
”So naive”
Minako-sas beneath the table
”You can't wait until the enemy reveals their weaknesses You have to take a dustpan and brooather the tiny specks of dust”
”So the newspaper club are janitors?”
”So very similar … Don't just stand there, have a seat”
Before she realized it, she'd been dragged back into this conversation Mahed and sat down in the seat she'd recently vacated
”I've visited the Rose Mansion with refreshaps in their ar They were just quietly reading over docu clean copies Concentrating on their work and keeping idle chatter to a minimum I followed shi+mako-san when she left the Rose Mansion, but all she did was use the phone in front of the office to confir with a bulk discount store It was even more pathetic with Yumi-san, whenever I followed her the only place she led me was to the toilet”
”You've still got so the dustpan and broo You have to scare up the material Weave a web”
”Scare up … and weave … ”
But hadn't the person sitting opposite Ma a story based on incorrect assu? How quickly one forgets the dangers Either that, or she was trying to get her junior to start a fire while she was in a safe spot that the flames wouldn't reach
”Yamayurikai material is scattered everywhere”
Minako-sama's self-belief shone threw as she spoke
”For instance, the mixer with the Hanadera student council”
”What's this?”
Mami leaned forwards in anticipation She'd bit down hard on the bait cast by her s onee-sama
”Yuh-school student council members from Hanadera Boys Acadeo”
”- First I've heard of this”
”Naturally, it wasn't leaked to anyone on the outside It was top secret”
Mami wanted to ask, ”So how come you know about it then?” but chose to re away
”But it see happened and Sachiko-san lost her fizz and collapsed”
”… Rosa Chinensis collapsed?”
And lost her fizz It seemed pretty far-fetched so far But she'd listen to the whole story, just in case
”So, as the cause?”
”Who knows”
”You don't know?”
Mami felt deeply dismayed, after all, wasn't that the most important part? But on reflection, it would have been impossible for Minako-sama to know the answer since she wasn't a member of the Yamayurikai executive
”It was probably due to heatstroke or illness or so like that But I can't rule out the possibility that she was overwhelmed by shock when she saw the Hanadera students”
”Is this year's Hanadera student council really such a stunning array of individuals?”
Maht back to last year's Hanadera student president, who had the bearing of a prince His nauru-san, from memory Even now, he had plenty of fans at Lillian's
”Well, there's stunning and there's stunning Like a bodybuilder, or a cross-dresser, or a punk”
Minako-saers as she listed these examples
”… That's quite detailed You make it sound like you saw them”
”It doesn't just sound like it, I did see them”
”Huh?”
”Two evenings ago Right there”
”Wha?”
Basically, the summary of Minako-sama's story is as follows:
Two evenings ago, Minako-sama was on her way home from her summer-session entrance exa up from the shops near K station It was a hot day So, to cool off, she hung out at the shops for a while
”And the Hanadera student council just happened to be sitting next to you?”
Life sprinkled out some incredible coincidences Either that, or Minako-sae luck
”There was one of me and many of them Their conversation reached my ears unbidden”
”So, you overheard the entire thing … ”
”What could I do? Intriguing keywords like ”Hanadera” and ”Lillian” were flying around everywhere”
So Minako-saist of what happened that day
”But that's soreat material, isn't it?”
Since she'd heard it directly froh-school student council Of course, it would be necessary to confir it into an article, but that shouldn't be a proble the entire story from scratch
”But things aren't as straightforward as theywhat happened but she clareed to never disclose those events”
”I see”
Indeed, that group or, rather, those ladies presented a strong, unified front It was tough to find a loose seam that would unravel them
”You have to be wary of this sort of material, you can't overextend your lines You have to attack from where they least expect it”
”From where they least expect it?”
So, despite th drained froh she'd only just started thinking about turning it into an article
””Exclusive scoop! Meet Rosa Gigantea en Bouton's Boyfriend!””
”What are you on about this time?”
Marain, no a shaker, of salt She'd run out of energy completely otherwise
”Exactly what I said We score a direct hit on Miss Nijou Noriko's date and quickly publish it in the ”Lillian Kawaraban”'
Grinning Minako-sa her in on a conspiracy
”And? Who's the guy?”
”I don't know It's up to you to cover the event”
Right So that's what this was about
”So you're saying I should cover your wild delusions … no, your baseless speculation?”
”Baseless? Not at all”
Ma and spread it out on the table
”shi+mura Takuya A fourth-year at a private university … that wouldin Tokyo His hobby is viewing Buddhist statues, so they cah their hobby”
That was some detailed information It wasn't a wild delusion or baseless speculation, but gradually revealed the shape of a young man
”Where did you get that info from?”
”The internet”
”The internet?”
”I told Noriko-san I wanted to investigate Buddhist statues and asked her for some website recoht of an email printout”
”Mm, mm”
Maed her on
”In it, Takuya-kun asked her out on a date”
”Whoa!”
”They were going to meet out in public, which is proof of their closeness I fished around a bit and she confirmed that he was her boyfriend”
”Incredible! That's a work, onee-sama”
Ma off on sooose chase, but she'd become so excited that she'd lost some of her cool If she'd retained her composure, she probably would have rebuked her onee-sa other people'sto be proud of”
”So, getting back to the story, I knew I'd found a hint so I hurried home and looked up the website she told me about Then, to my surprise, I found out that Takuya-kun was the site ad entries, which gave me all the info I told you What do you think?”
”Nicely done”
Minako-sa material with dustpan and broom
”So here's your job: You're to go to the place where they'll ht?”
”Huh, what about you, onee-sama?”
”Unfortunately, I've got a mock entrance exam tomorrow”
So that was it The tension that had been building up inside of Mami suddenly fell away
”If you get a photo of him, it will be a minor success If the shot has both hiht Don't try to approach him directly toet the film confiscated Apparently, he knows aikido”
”… Understood”
Math If it ca man who knew martial arts, she was 100 certain she would lose It ithout saying that she'd do her best to avoid that
”So, you were saying they weresomewhere?”
”I've got you covered While I was pretending to write down the website address, I made a note about that in my student diary”
”… That's incredible”
Why couldn't she turn this energy towards studying for her exams? Mami slowly started to pity her onee-sama seated in front of her
”Got it, Maht? Hurry back and check out Takuya-kun's hoe, to prepare for tomorrow”
”Yeah”
Mami was about to tell her onee-sama that she should prepare for her mock exams tomorrow too, but then stopped herself
Since she knew that Minako-sah spirits that she wouldn't hear a word that was said
She typed the address into the browser then pressed enter and before long the front page appeared
”Hohoho, ”Takuya-kun's Buddhist Shrine,” huh … Just the sort of name you'd expect from an admirer of Buddhist statues”
The background was a photoshopped i towards an old, temple-like japanese house
Mami clicked on the ”Self-Introduction” link first
I'm shi+le I'm currently a fourth-year student at a private university My hobbies are obviously viewing Buddhist statues, but also skiing※ and aikido
This was all information that she'd heard from her onee-sama
Thinking that there would be anything new here, Mami went to click on the ”Back” button, but just as she was about to move the mouse she noticed the ※ symbol next to his hobbies
When she moved the mouse over it, a pop-up appeared with ”Early this year, I brokethe Tamamushi+ Kannon, which is only shown once every twenty years If another such incident occurs that interferes with my appreciation of Buddhist statues, I'll have to seriously consider dropping this hobby”
Apparently Takuya-kun would stop skiing on account of the Buddhist statues
Mami had no particular interest in Buddhist statues, so she let out a sh as she wondered if it was really okay to revere the would be more popular with the ladies
”Ah, but I suppose there are soirls like Nijou Noriko-chan who like Buddhist statues too”
The world worked surprisingly well
That hy, after dinner, Maes on Takuya-kun's site, just like her onee-sama had ordered
But as she went froh she'd expected it, she was amazed by how fixated he was on Buddhist statutes
Photos of Buddhist statues taken froles, like they were idols
The History of Buddhist Statues
Buddhist Statue Trivia
Buddhist Statue Classifications
Buddhist Statue Q&A
Buddhist Statue Appreciation Reports
Favorite Buddhist Statues - etc, etc
It even had a forum that was called the ”Mandala Forum” She had a look around there, but she had no idea what they were talking about because they were all using terinner At any rate, she was an areat Buddha statues of Nara and Kamakura and the statue of Asura
Completely dispirited, she was just about to leave Takuya-kun's Buddhist shrine when she noticed a se
On closer inspection, the rectangular button looked like a tataside it were the words ”Kounoshi+n's six tatami mat room”
”Who's Kounoshi+n?”
Takuya-kun