Volume 25 Chapter 3 Part3 (1/2)
After school on Monday
It was surprisingly fast, but it came at last
”Gokigenyou Pardon my intrusion”
”Co”
Unfortunately, Noriko-chan was still busy preparing tea, so Yoshi+no went to the first-floor to welcome their visitor and when she saho it was she made a somewhat stupid sound
”Wha?”
The person who'd shown up on the Rose Mansion doorstep holding a manilla folder filled with souchi Mami-san
”It's the newspaper club”
Yoshi+no already knew that However
”I thought you said ere going to do the student council interview tomorrow”
This enyou” She'd said, ”We're going to do the interviews for the Lillian Kawaraban tomorrow after school, so can you keep that free?” Yoshi+no had been with her classmate Yu it
”I did say that”
For reasons Yoshi+no couldn't understand, Mami-san puffed her chest out
”Then what brings you to the Rose Mansion today?”
Yoshi+no had a bad feeling about this This series of events reminded her of a certain someone who had been in the newspaper club before Mami-san became editor-in-chief
”Now that the election's over, I thought it was ti for the Valentine's Day event”
See, there it was
”I haven't heard anything about that”
Although she had actually heard about it indirectly via Sachiko-sanore it
”Well of course I haven't spoken directly with you about it, Yoshi+no-san”
”Why haven't you?”
Even though they'd been studying in the same classrooh their classrooroups never having a chance to speak to each other It was quite the opposite, with Ma with in her class, so it seemed like they should have discussed it
But despite all that; Oh yes, but despite all that; Why did she not say? (a Haiku)
”How can I put this … for insurance?”
Mami-san stepped into the Rose Mansion and closed the door She'd obviously decided she had to do this herself since Yoshi+no wasn't exactly inviting her in It was currently late January It ithout saying that it was cold outside
”What do you mean by that?”
Even so, instead of leading her to the room on the second-floor, Yoshi+no stepped in front of her and blocked her path As expected, Mami-san looked stunned
In truth, Yoshi+no had nothing against Maainst the newspaper club
But it wasn't like she wanted to get revenge for each and every incident that sprang to , she didn't have the time, nor was she that stubborn In the past, she hadn't even had the time to take notice of each and every one of them
Basically, Yoshi+no had been in a bad mood recently And Mami-san was just the unlucky victim of that, this time around
How sad Like, if she'd just shown up toone to h that
”Well, by insurance, I mean like … ”
Mami-san said
”Remember last year, the boutons weren't very cooperative when my onee-sama proposed the Valentine's event”
”Sure, I remember that”
Yoshi+no agreed, thinking back to last year
”So I thought about what ht happen if this year's boutons had the sa up with countermeasures … pardon me”
Slipping past Yoshi+no, Mami-san reached the staircase
”Countermeasures?”
Yoshi+no asked, chasing after Mami-san
”Repeating the events of last year would be a waste of tih frole reason not to be excited about such a dream-like plan”
Mami-san climbed the creaky staircase
”Is everybody here?”
”We are, but”
Yoshi+no answered, and it was only when she reached the second floor that she finally realized
”Ah! Today we have both Sachiko-sa!?”
Marinned in response to this accusation
”When did you become so underhanded, Mami-san? You're like Tsukiyama Minako-sama the second”
”Whatever could youlike your onee-sama? First of all, I wouldn't have to do this if you'd just cooperate with the newspaper club Since you'll be going along with the plan anyway, you should just happily get on board”
The question here did she get the confidence towith it anyway,” and, ”get on board?” Well, sure, last year the previous Roses had pressured the boutons, so they had no choice but to cooperate
But Yoshi+no thought that it wouldn't be like that this year Even if Yumi-san followed her onee-sama's order to participate, shi+mako-san wasn't the type of person to use her authority over her petit soeur and Yoshi+no herself certainly wasn't afraid of Rei-chan Even with the help of the current Roses, it shouldn't go the way the newspaper club was anticipating
After cli the stairs, Mami-san stopped and said to Yoshi+no, ”After you”
”Surely it would be a complete loss of face for you if the visitor entered before the person sent to greet them”
”I never would have expected such consideration from you”
But, since she'd gone to the effort, Yoshi+no decided to enter the room first
”Mami-san from the newspaper club has arrived”
Yoshi+no announced, opening the door
”Oh, hi there”
”Do come in”
Sachiko-sah their visitor was completely unexpected as they welcomed her
(Even though they're only here today because they knew she was co)
In her mind, Yoshi+no co how the two third-years had recently come to resemble their predecessors
”Oh , Yoshi+no-chan? Offer Mami-san a seat”
Wearing the guise of a princess, ”sly old fox 1” acted unconcerned as she spoke
”Well, fine Come in, Mami-san, have a seat here”
If they were going to be foxes, she'd have to be a wolf
”Thank-you kindly”
After Mami-san was seated, ”sly old fox 2” called out to Noriko-chan
”Another cup of tea, too”
If 1 was the princess, then 2 would be the bu prince Well, the princess was a metaphor, she didn't actually take that form so there was no need to cast everyone into the play
Yoshi+no headed over to the sink to help Noriko-chan, but Yuot there first and sidled over to Yoshi+no and whispered:
”Why's Mami-san here?”
”Planning for Valentine's”
Was all Yoshi+no had to say
”Ahhh - ”
Yumi-san loudly exclaimed They'd discussed it once prior to the election, but Mami-san's arrival was just too reminiscent of Minako-sama last year
”Okay? We mustn't lose, Yumi-san”
Yoshi+no kept her voice low as she gripped Yuhtly
”Uh, okay … lose to who?”
The newspaper club … or, their onee-samas? Either? Or both?
”To anyone At any rate, to yourself You ht, you'll win Noriko-chan will be fine too”
Glancing over, Noriko-chan had finished adding the black tea leaves to the cup, and looked perplexed
”I'”
”Basically, you don't have to do what the newspaper club and your onee-sama says”
Yoshi+no added water to the electric kettle and plugged it into the outlet
”Ah”
”That's why … you'll be fine Since you don't seeed easily”
Since she always spoke her ine shi+ in the first place
As she added the hot water to the tea cup, Yoshi+no and shi+mako-san's eyes met
”What is it?”
shi+mako-san's smile was as warm as ever Rather than ”What” it felt like ”Wha~t”
”No, nothing”
It felt a bit sad to luel in with the ”sly old foxes” Sachiko-sa on which way she went, she could be either an enemy or an ally
shi+mako-san was a ”Rose”
Yoshi+no had to be careful, to see which way shi+mako-san lent
The first thing she had to determine hether this plan, or at least the direction, had already been agreed upon behind-the-scenes by the two third-years and the newspaper club
Why would she think that? First of all, it was only this year that Sachiko-sa her out about it towards the end of last year, which certainly smelled fishy
Well, iven the benefit of the doubt and that really was just absentmindedness on her part But since Mami-san had known that everyone would be here before she arrived (or maybe she'd chosen today because she'd heard a rumor that everyone was at the Rose Mansion) and hadn't informed the boutons beforehand, this was less like a surprise attack and more like a foul play
Especially since the presence of Rei-chan, on a day when they didn't have aso I won't be attending often” announcement, was the same as a confession
Ah, hus they were forced into on to the younger generation? Even as she lamented this, there was no way Yoshi+no would break this chain when it was her turn to pass it on Even if she detested it i it once the storirl shi+mazu Yoshi+no was
So then, the question became, as shi+mako-san's position? After they sat down Yoshi+no was able to observe shi+h she didn't support the sly old foxes, aka the third-year Roses, in their plan
Come to think of it, shi+side Yoshi+no and Yumi-san when they'd decided on the cast for the school festival play It rades It didn't seem likely that the third-years would had been worried about shi+ said that, Yoshi+no thought it was better for shi+mako-san's peace-of-mind that she hadn't been told
As she distributed the papers she'd brought, Mami-san spoke
”Well then, I present you with our proposal for this year's Valentine's Day event”
Wha -
She was speaking like it was already decided that the Ya with the newspaper club
Yoshi+no was all for shorteningpoint? The correct behavior when asking so, ”Won't you please co-operate?” Even Tsukiyahts of eccentricity, had done this last year Well, even if Mami-san did bow her head, Yoshi+no wasn't about to say, ”Okay” Now then, at what point would Maet punished for this?
”Ah, right Itit now, but”
Malare
”We're holding an event on Valentine's Day again this year, and the co-operation of the Yamayurikai … has already been approved by Rosa Chinensis and Rosa Foetida”
”What!?”
Even without the preface of, ”It's a little lateit now,” Yoshi+no knew that the two parties were conspiring But, they'd already approved it?
”Well, there was no reason to refuse, was there?”
Sachiko-sah to say, ”What's so surprising?”
”But even so”
Yoshi+no dug in She hadn't taken a look at the proposal so she didn't know exactly what plan Ma by last year, the ones that had to co-operate the most were the boutons But the ”comfortably retired” people had approved the plan even before hearing the opinion of those ould have to doon?
”You too, Yu”
Yoshi+no spurred Yuether steadfastly to oppose the tyranny of their onee-samas
But, that Yumi-san
”… Um, what's this year's event?”
”Wh - hey!”
Sure, she'd been told to say so, but she didn't have to play dumb like that
”Huh?”
No, that wasn't it Yuhs, she was actually interested in what Ma at Yoshi+no with a puzzled expression, she could have looked at the docuhtly in her hand … unbelievable
”Hang on, Yu to this on their own?”
Oh fukuzawa Yumi, have you been ensnared by the sly old foxes?
”That does annoy me a little”
”Only a little?”
The baby fox said, ”Yeah”
”But, you know, is being angry about that a reason to reject the plan entirely? Because those are two separate ht?”
Wait, don't say any more
”I'm sure I'll have all sorts of concerns about the Valentine's event itself But even so, I'm of the same opinion as my onee-sama - the conclusion I came to was that there's no reason to refuse”
Yuh you were told to be quiet Well, that was only within Yoshi+no's mind, so there's no way she could have heard it
”Last year, Mizuno Youko-sama's dreaain”
The only sound in the deathly silent roo from the kettle
That's right, how could she forget? Yoshi+no hung her head in shame
Yumi-san idolized Youko-sa her candidate's speech?
”So why not listen to what Ma whether or not to co-operate?”
It was a sound argument Too sound - Yoshi+no had no retort
Looking back, Yoshi+no had been such an idiot when she'd told Yuo Yumi-san had stated her opinion brilliantly She hadn't lost at all Yoshi+no was the one who appeared to have lost
”Why are you opposed to it, Yoshi+no-san?”
shi+ht into Yoshi+no's eyes So then, shi+mako-san was in favor of it too Well, that was probably to be expected
”… Because it's an order from above”
Ooh, it was such an unpersuasive reason that she hated having to say it It wasit, especially since Yumi-san had already concluded that that was a ”separate matter”
”And you, shi+ht? You only participated because you were pressured by Sei-sas Why have you joined that side, now that you're a Rose?”
”This side… ? That side… ?”
shi+mako-san had a perplexed expression as she looked back and forth bethere Yoshi+no was pointing with her left and right index fingers for a little while, before finally saying, ”It's not like that”
”It's not aon one side or the other After last year's event, ed”
”Huh?”
She continued after another smile that could also be labeled a foul play
”I think it was good that we gave it a go Both for the Yamayurikai, and for o that I can say that”
Co the candidate's speeches, shi+ her experience to help the Yaht, ”damn it”
Incidentally
The third-years, basically Sachiko-sa over the second-years' argu expression They were detached observers
If their juniors had formed a unified opposition to the Valentine's Day event, in other words, if they'd done what Rei-chan did last year, then they probably would have applied pressure from above But since Yumi-san and shi+mako-san were interested in the plan, it'd be better if they could convince Yoshi+no themselves There was no need for the third-years to intervene That's hoas
”So, then”