Volume 25 Chapter 3 Part2 (2/2)

Yumi-san said.

”Suppose, for instance, our onee-samas weren't here right now. If Mami-san came to us with this proposal for Valentine's Day, what would your reaction be, Yos.h.i.+no-san?”

A hypothetical question.

”What about s.h.i.+mako-san?”

Would she be there or not? While it wasn't that important a detail, Yos.h.i.+no had been drawn into the conversation enough to ask a stupid question.

”She can be there or not. Which ever you'd prefer.”

”Ooh.”

Frankly speaking, Yos.h.i.+no thought that either way she wouldn't really want to do it. It felt like she was getting further away from understanding why she was so opposed to it.

As s.h.i.+mako-san had said, it would be good for the Yamayurikai - Yos.h.i.+no could understand that. Yumi-san's aim of seeing Youko-sama's dream realized seemed like she'd followed an argument through to its logical conclusion.

So what didn't she like about it? Yos.h.i.+no asked herself this question.

”Last year, you were totally opposed to the event during the planning stages too, but once it started you were really into it.”

Yumi-san said, in place of the silent Yos.h.i.+no.

That was true. Yos.h.i.+no had realized as much herself. Last year's treasure hunt had been surprisingly exhilarating. The result was unfortunate, but looking back on it the event had been fun overall.

Then that meant that she wasn't harboring any ill-will which prevented her from getting on-board with the newspaper club's plan. So how was this year different to last year?

”I know.”

Yos.h.i.+no thumped her right fist into her left hand.

”It's because it's boring.”

”B &h.e.l.lip; boring?”

Not just one person, it was everyone other than Yos.h.i.+no that repeated this in surprise.

”That's right.”

Last year, she'd had the clear-cut goal of ”stopping someone else from going on a date with Rei-chan,” but if she was on the organizing side then it was nothing but meeting after meeting after meeting with the newspaper club, which meant all she got out of it was work. For someone who'd been all excited and nervous as a regular partic.i.p.ant, becoming one of the game's main cast and deciding on the rules just didn't seem comparatively worthwhile.

On top of that, if they did the same thing as last year, then she'd have to go on a half-day date with the winner afterward. Putting it bluntly, that was a pain in the neck.

Now, suppose that Rei-chan partic.i.p.ated and, luckily enough, won. Even then, going on a date with Rei-chan was too ordinary, it wouldn't get her heart racing.

If she absolutely had to co-operate, then she'd much rather play dirty so that n.o.body won. And since Rei-chan was taking entrance exams, she might not even partic.i.p.ate in the game in the first place. Black Yos.h.i.+no grinned.

s.h.i.+mako-san timidly asked:

”Are you really opposed to it because it's boring?”

”That's right. Got a problem with that?”

Yos.h.i.+no leaned back. Acting defiant. Now then, if they wanted her to partic.i.p.ate, they'd have to fix the ”boredom.” If they could turn that into ”fun,” then she'd happily partic.i.p.ate.

”&h.e.l.lip; like that.”

”Yeah, &h.e.l.lip; ”

Yumi-san and s.h.i.+mako-san leaned their heads close together and whispered to each other. The third-years kept on grinning. Mami-san looked serious, perhaps worried about who would break.

”Isn't that kind of childish?”

Despite having been silent the whole time, she suddenly spoke now.

”Ch-childish?”

Yos.h.i.+no glared at her, but Noriko-chan calmly said, ”Yeah.”

”I don't know the details, but, to summarize, last year you happily partic.i.p.ated when the then-boutons and current-Roses were at the center of the Valentine's Day plans, but now that it's your turn you're saying it's boring and you don't want to do it. That's just selfish, isn't it? It's childish.”

Even when her opponent was older, she said what she wanted to say. As an ally, Noriko-chan would have been as strong as 10,000 men. But to have Noriko-chan snapping at her, Yos.h.i.+no had made a grave mistake. At the very least, to be called ”childish” by someone in a lower grade than her had caused more damage to Yos.h.i.+no than she'd expected to take.

”That's true. Your refusal to partic.i.p.ate due to ”boredom” is rejected.”

Yumi-san said. That was to be expected. Last year's boutons had floated similar reasons, but they hadn't been able to get out of it.

Sealing the deal, s.h.i.+mako-san cheerfully smiled and said, ”Let's do it.” It would have been better if she'd glared and said, ”You have to do it,” since that would have driven Yos.h.i.+no to rebel more, but the way she smiled like Maria-sama was far more of a dirty play.

What to do, Yos.h.i.+no? She was surrounded on six sides, not just all four.

Rei-chan and Sachiko-sama had tears in their eyes, trembling as they clutched their stomachs. Not because they were forcing themselves to hold back from a.s.sisting, but because they were stifling their laughter. Oh, how she'd hate it if they didn't stifle it.

”Even if you say that.”

Since it had come to this, her only option was to agree. Even if she was childish, Yos.h.i.+no had been alive for 17 years so she knew when she had to withdraw. But because of her earlier opposition, it was difficult for her to agree straight away. Some impetus was necessary to get Yos.h.i.+no to change course and meet up with everyone else.

She wasn't raising a hand in agreement, nor both hands in surrender. Her arms were folded across her chest as she breathed a soft sigh. She raised her downcast head slightly and closed one eye, but not to wink. The pose she wanted to strike was one of, ”By all rights, I'd never agree to this, but I'm willing to pitch in and help for your sake.”

Then, unexpectedly, Mami-san lowered her head to just above the table.

”I'm begging you, Yos.h.i.+no-san. I know you don't want to, but it would allow me, your cla.s.smate, to save face if you could somehow find it in your heart to co-operate with the newspaper club. We'll do our best to make sure you enjoy yourself.”

Mami-san joined her hands together in prayer, going above and beyond to implore Yos.h.i.+no. Ah, what a pitch she'd been tossed.

”Well &h.e.l.lip; ”

Not from Yumi-san, or s.h.i.+mako-san, or Noriko-chan. The farce only worked because it came from Mami-san. Yos.h.i.+no gratefully came on board.

”If Mami-san's willing to go that far, I suppose I've got no choice.”

Nice timing, good job.

In her mind, Yos.h.i.+no flashed the peace sign.

”Well then, I'd like to return to our discussion about the plans for this year's Valentine's Day event - is that okay with everyone?”

Mami-san resumed her presentation. The approximately ten minute long derailment was now over.

”Please take a look at the prepared doc.u.ments.”

Hearing this, Yos.h.i.+no swapped the location of her cup of cooled tea and the printout. She flipped past the front cover which read, ”Valentine's Day Event Proposal.” The proposal was bound together by a staple in the top left hand corner, and the heading at the top of the second page was:

””Treasure Hunt: Where are the Bouton's Cards!?” Hold on, Mami-san. Isn't this last year's event?”

For a moment she thought that Mami-san may have inadvertently brought last year's doc.u.ment. But Mami-san nonchalantly said:

”Exactly. Last year's event had unprecedented popularity. Of course, we'll draw on our experience of last year to improve certain areas, and incorporate some feedback from the students that partic.i.p.ated, so even though it's the same proposal this year's event will be bigger and better &h.e.l.lip; ”

In other words, they couldn't think of anything that would top last year's event.

”I'll answer all your questions and concerns at the end.”

Mami-san started her explanation. The meat of the event was the treasure hunt. A lot of the details were the same as last year, but there were a number of modifications.

”Last time, Rosa Chinensis' red card was the only one that wasn't found within the time limit.”

Mami-san looked to Sachiko-sama, as though for confirmation.

”Yes.”

Then Sachiko-sama looked at Yumi-san, seated beside her. In turn, Yumi should have looked at someone else, but it stopped there, with her looking back at Sachiko-sama.

There was a reason behind this relay of meaningful glances.

During last year's event, only Rei-chan's yellow card and s.h.i.+mako-san's white card were located - n.o.body found the red card. But, when they went to check, they were met with the mystery of the card being found in a location that Yumi-san had searched in vain during the event. At that point, there was a dispute between the Red Rose soeurs as to the depth at which the card was buried. Incidentally, it was buried in the old greenhouse, next to the Rosa Chinensis plant.

But, naturally, the point of Mami-san's question wasn't about the mystery of whether the card was buried or not. It was that the card hadn't been found.

”It's such a shocking waste to go to all the effort of hiding the card, only to have it go undiscovered. We expected there would be three winners last time, but there were only two. If we went by the same rules as last year, then what if - what if - none of the three cards were found, then we'd have no winners at all. Now, the chance of that dreadful outcome happening is low, but we have to take some measures to avoid it altogether.”

The newspaper club's plan was to have something like a repechage round, so that the card would definitely end up in someone's hands.

”Hmm.”

In that case, Yos.h.i.+no's plan of avoiding going on a date with someone she didn't know by hiding the card in a location no-one would find was probably futile.

”What are the specifics of this repechage round?”

Sachiko-sama inquired. Yos.h.i.+no was idly expecting it would be scissors-paper-rock, but it looked like Mami-san had a different idea.

”This year, I was thinking we should give those students that can't take part on the day a chance too.”

”The people who can't partic.i.p.ate? That sounds like a good idea.”

Rei-chan's eyes sparkled. Obviously pleased that she'd be able to partic.i.p.ate in the treasure hunt in some small way, even if she couldn't make it to the event because of her exams.

Enough, enough. Can't she have even just a semblance of a poker face? Yos.h.i.+no looked away. Rei-chan was currently wagging her tail like a dog about to be fed. And it's like she wasn't even embarra.s.sed by it.

”Yos.h.i.+no-chan, you seem pleased by that.”

Sachiko-sama looked straight at her.

”No way.”

d.a.m.n it. It looked like she'd caught the giggles just by looking at Rei-chan's face.

Incidentally, Mami-san had said ”repechage.” On the third page of the proposal was the heading ”Absentee's Chance” - which looked to be it.

”Since it's held after a regular school day, I'm sure there will be people who want to partic.i.p.ate but won't be able to due to their own individual circ.u.mstances. Let's call this a lifeline for them.”

So that's it - it was like the absentee ballots for an election that they occasionally talked about on the news. Mami-san had apparently taken a hint from that sort of thing.

”We'll set up a post box, where they can ”post” a form saying where they think a card will be hidden, up until the day before the event - or whatever time limit we decide. Of course, the box won't be opened until after the event, so the boutons can't change their hiding position after looking at the predictions.”

”I see. Then if the card isn't found during the event, it will go to whoever submitted an entry with the correct location?”

”Exactly. That way, if all the cards are found on the day, the second-chance entries instantly become void, regardless of how many had the correct location.”

”What will you do if a card isn't found on the day, but there are multiple entries in the box with the correct location?”

”It'll be sorted out by scissors-paper-rock the following day, in front of the newspaper club and the person who hid the card.”

”And if there isn't a correct entry in the box?”

”We could go with whoever got closest &h.e.l.lip; although, if it comes to that, we could draw it like a lottery, or pick whoever wrote the funniest answer - I don't think it really matters. For the minor details, I want to hear your opinion, but I don't want to get bogged down in them just now, okay?”

Everyone nodded, there was no objection.

”Will the entries have to have the color of the card as well as the location?”

Rei-chan asked, raising her hand. She was all eager and full of questions now that she thought there was a chance she could take part.

”No, just where it's hidden. Don't you think it's better if it operates under the same rules as the treasure hunt itself?”

For the people who were searching on the day, even if they had a card they were aiming for, they didn't have to declare that in order to partic.i.p.ate. As a result, if they chanced upon some other card, there was no disputing their owners.h.i.+p of it.

But still, that Rei-chan. Even though she'd just been told that they didn't want to get bogged down in minor details. Mami-san forced a smile.

”Were there any other questions?”

”Yes.”

As Yos.h.i.+no shot her hand up, so too did Yumi-san and Noriko-chan - in short, all the boutons raised their hand. As the ones with the leading role in this event, it was something that affected them directly, so they were all taking it seriously.

It was something she could have let go without comment, but then it would have remained unresolved.

”Well then, we'll start with Yos.h.i.+no-san.”

Mami-san asked her first, since she had been the one to raise her hand with the most force, after all. Yos.h.i.+no cleared her throat and said, ”Okay then,” before continuing.

”I had a question about the ”Project Aims” section.”

Then the other two nodded and said, ”Yeah.” It looked like they all had questions about the same thing.

”It says, ”To promote interaction between regular students and the boutons who will become Roses next school year.” &h.e.l.lip; ”

After reading that far, Mami-san finally noticed and let out a little, ”Ah.”

”Drat. I forgot to fix that part.”

No matter how many times Mami-san drew her finger across that section of the doc.u.ment, it was too late now. To make it worse, now that this had been pointed out her tongue was tied.

”I see.”

”I read that but it went straight past me.”

Rei-chan and Sachiko-sama looked at the boutons in admiration.

”&h.e.l.lip; I messed up.”

Mami-san lowered her head, crestfallen. Since the event was largely the same as last year, she'd probably followed the same format as last year's proposal. Only modifying the year, and the parts of the event she wanted changed. However, last year the ”boutons” had been the ”next year's Roses,” but they couldn't say that this year.

That's right - the White Rose soeurs.

The ”next year's Rose” was s.h.i.+mako-san, but the ”bouton” was Noriko-chan. Those tangled circ.u.mstances came about because s.h.i.+mako-san was going to be a Rose for two years running.

As a result, obviously she'd be interested.

”Who will it be?”

Somebody asked.

”It'll be &h.e.l.lip; ”

s.h.i.+mako-san and Noriko-chan looked at each other then said:

”Noriko.”

”Onee-sama.”

Usually the White Rose soeurs got along preposterously well, hardly ever fighting or having a clash of opinions. But this time around their opinions were wildly divergent.

”Huh - ”

The pair looked at each other in surprise. Apparently they'd both thought that the other was naturally going to do it. Would that be optimism, or over-estimation of the other? If it had been the Yellow Rose soeurs, then they still would have tried to pin it on the other, but they wouldn't have been surprised that their opinions differed.

”It says ”bouton” and that's you, Noriko.”

”But the ”next year's Rose” is you, isn't it onee-sama?”

The one point they agreed on was that the other should do it. But that was no good.

(Hmm.)

Yos.h.i.+no a.n.a.lyzed the situation.

s.h.i.+mako-san had probably thought that Noriko-chan was going to do it, right from the start. Because the proposal's t.i.tle said ”Bouton” while s.h.i.+mako-san was a ”Rose.”

But what about Noriko-chan? Since they'd been saying ”bouton this” and ”bouton that,” she'd probably resigned herself to the task. But now that the situation had been muddied due to Mami-san's innocent mistake, she was probably looking to escape.

(Well then.)

In the end, it looked like Noriko-chan didn't want to do it if she didn't have to. But despite that, she had insulted her senior by calling her ”childish.”

At any rate, this was the White Rose soeurs' crisis. That was fitting, since the pet.i.t soeur was trying to push work onto the grande soeur. Had the usually peaceful White Rose soeurs stumbled upon their White Rose Revolution?

”My apologies. It was my mistake to think that bouton was a synonym for future Rose.”

Mami-san said, looking meek. Her posture was similar to earlier, when she'd appealed for Yos.h.i.+no to co-operate, but her demeanor was completely different. Well, the earlier one was nothing but an act.

”That's right - which one did you mean, Mami-san?”

Naturally, the ball was now in the court of the person who had come to them with the proposal.

”Um, as the cause of all this chaos it may be a bit irresponsible for me to say this but, I'm sorry, I don't have a definitive answer. I don't mind who it is, as long as one of you does it. So with that, I'd like to hear everyone's thoughts.”

”Our thoughts &h.e.l.lip; ”

First of all, the reason why it had been the boutons last year was because the Roses were all third-years and about to graduate - and on top of that, they'd all been taking entrance exams, so they wouldn't have had much spare time. With that in mind, there was no reason s.h.i.+mako-san couldn't do it this year.

”But I did it last year.”

s.h.i.+mako-san mumbled. Then Sachiko-sama quickly rejected that.

”We can't accept that reason. If we accept it now, from you, then Noriko-chan would be able to make the same excuse.”

Exactly. If they decided that Noriko-chan had to do it because s.h.i.+mako-san had already done it once, then there would be n.o.body to do it next year. In this situation, either Noriko-chan or s.h.i.+mako-san would have to do it twice.

However.

”But, depending on the results of next year's election, Noriko won't necessarily become Rosa Gigantea.”

Huh?

s.h.i.+mako-san chipped in with an amazing opinion. But Noriko-chan wasn't about to be defeated.

”You're talking about what would happen if I lose next year's election and don't become Rosa Gigantea? Well, since you've brought it up, wouldn't it be strange for someone like that to be one of

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