Maria-sama ga Miteru Volume 25 Chapter 2 Part4

"I know Sachiko always takes her time, thoroughly was.h.i.+ng her hands and rinsing her mouth, and it looks like you're the same, Suguru-san. I should have expected that, since you're cousins. You're both equally fastidious."

Hearing Sachiko's mother's comment, they both looked at each other and smiled.

"Now, let's eat."

Being urged to hurry, Sachiko sat down on the sofa.

"I suppose. You went to the effort of making us tea, we shouldn't let it go cold."

Although it was matcha, so it wasn't meant to be served piping hot, but it would still taste worse cold. It was fundamentally different to iced green tea.

"Ah, hold on."

Sachiko's mother stopped her just as she was about to take a sip from the teacup.

"What is it?"

"You should start by eating the manjuu. Right?"

The last, "Right?" was directed at Suguru-san. The gift giver simply smiled and said, "Well, we could try it your way."

"We're sitting on a sofa, eating manjuu that's a souvenir from a ski resort, and you're telling me there's a proper etiquette to it?"

It wasn't like it was the full-blown tea ceremony. If it were, they'd first of all have to do something about the matcha that had been sitting on the table for over five minutes.

"Never mind that. Come on, peel off the cellophane. Then on the count of three, take a bite."

" &h.e.l.lip; ?"

Even though she thought it was a strange procedure, Sachiko followed her mother's instructions. She cut the manjuu bun in two and placed one half in her mouth. At that point she was innocent. She hadn't been told anything in advance, so she held no preconceptions.

"What do you think?"

Suguru-san asked them, as they were chewing. He was a coward - he'd unwrapped his manjuu bun but hadn't taken a bite.

"Give me your honest opinion."

Sachiko lightly glared at Suguru-san when he asked a second time.

"If you want my honest opinion."

"Please. Don't hold back."

In that case - Sachiko made up her mind.

"This confectionery, well, it's - "

Sachiko started to speak, but then her mother blurted out, "It's disgusting!"

"Um, mother, shouldn't you consider your words a little more &h.e.l.lip; such as, "It's not overly tasty." Or, "It's not to my taste.""

Having said that, no matter how they sugar-coated it, something disgusting was still disgusting.

The outside was dry and crumbling while the red bean paste was overpoweringly sweet. It would have been better if that was all, but it also had a spicy aroma, so one bite was enough to make her lose her appet.i.te.

"It's alright, Sacchan. I sampled all the sweets they had at the gift shop and bought the most disgusting one as a souvenir."

"Why would you do such a thing?"

Was he really such an idiot?

"Because all the people around me have discriminating palettes. How would I get a gift that they all found truly delicious?"

"It wouldn't have to be truly delicious."

That was the nature of a travel souvenir. It was brought back as evidence of where you'd been.

"Ahh, that's boring."

"I know one thing. It's become the talk of the family."

That Suguru-san the gourmand had brought back some truly awful sweets from his ski trip. Of course it would become a rumor. Even Sachiko's mother had apparently heard the rumor and had been ready and waiting for Suguru-san's visit.

Even though she'd just said it was disgusting, she was still taking bites out of the remaining half of her manjuu bun and was.h.i.+ng it down with matcha tea.

"You too Sachiko-san, have another bite."

"No."

She was not currently overcome with hunger. She didn't want to eat something that she knew was awful. She didn't want to join her mother out of some vague sense of camaraderie.

"You think I'm trying to trick you. Have it with the tea."

"&h.e.l.lip; Huh?"

Now that she'd mentioned it, Sachiko remembered. The green tea. She'd been forbidden from drinking it before eating the manjuu bun, but it looks like that ban had now been lifted. Not having a choice, but still thinking she was being tricked, Sachiko took a sip of tea and then a bite of the manjuu bun.

And then.

"Oh my."

"Right?"

It definitely felt as though the flavor had changed. The overblown sweetness was milder, and what she had thought was a spicy aroma was somehow lessened and now had a subtle hint of flowers. Even though the aroma had previously seemed synthetic, now it seemed like the sweet had traces of caraway and dill in it. Was it really the same thing as before?

"Was this your idea, Suguru-san? Did you put that much thought into it?"

"No. I just bought something truly awful."

Suguru-san sipped his tea, looking unconcerned.

"Then &h.e.l.lip; "

"It was Mrs Matsudaira's breakthrough."

"Matsudaira &h.e.l.lip; ah, Touko-chan's mother?"

Sachiko remembered the last time they'd met, a couple of years ago. Mrs Matsudaira was an adorable woman - slightly plump but gentle, and still with the air of a sheltered lady despite being married.

"When I visited the Matsudaira's, aunty was making some green tea. We decided to eat them then, since it seemed like a good time. I knew they were awful so I held back, but Mrs Matsudaira told me they were delicious. It didn't seem like she was faking it."

"Since she had it with green tea from the start."

"She'd been bedridden for a bit towards the end of the year, so at first I thought that might have affected her tastebuds. But since she was so insistent, I reluctantly tried one and discovered they were surprisingly good."

"Now that you mention it, I haven't seen her for a while. So she's been ill then."

There were a lot of things being learned for the first time today.

"But I heard she made it to the sports carnival and the school festival."

Her mother asked, "Didn't you see her?" and Sachiko shook her head. The sports carnival and the school festival were both so hectic that she wouldn't have noticed an acquaintance in the crowd. Although she probably would have noticed if they'd been borrowed for a race, like a certain somebody.

"She was a bit blue because she was worrying about all sorts of things - like the family hospital, and her daughter, who's at a difficult age. But, from what I hear, it wasn't anything too bad."

Her concerns about her daughter were probably related to Touko-chan running away from home. However.

"What about the hospital?"

The Matsudaira hospital mentioned would probably be the one on the outskirts of Tokyo, where Sachiko's grandmother had spent her last days.

"Mr Matsudaira &h.e.l.lip; uh, Touko's father, didn't become a doctor. And her grandfather's getting on in years. So it seems like a good time to consider the future of the hospital, don't you think?"

Suguru-san answered, with an, "I don't really know the whole story," vibe. Even though he probably knew more than he let on, he was good at making an exit for himself.

"Oh my, your mother was telling me that things were proceeding smoothly at the hospital."

Sachiko's mother murmured.

"Well, there was some things put in motion. But Touko was completely against it, so despite things proceeding smoothly it's been put on hold for now."

Suguru-san said.

When her mother left to make another pot of tea, Sachiko asked Suguru-san:

"Could that have been why Touko-chan ran away from home &h.e.l.lip; "

She'd missed the chance to ask earlier, but the timing of those events coincided almost perfectly.

"Correct."

Suguru-san then added, "That was the direct cause." Which meant that the circ.u.mstances must have actually been slightly more complicated than that.

"They were talking about what to do with the hospital?"

"To put it bluntly."

"But it's not as though Touko-chan's grandfather or either of her parents are forcing her to become a doctor, right?"

"I would say not."

"Then what does it matter what their daughter thinks? Don't you think both Mr and Mrs Matsudaira are too soft on Touko-chan? That's why she's so selfish."

As she said this, Sachiko felt her main point was slipping away. She'd unknowingly been carried away by her emotions. She didn't want to say these things. But she couldn't stop herself.

"The Matsudairas may be soft on her, but Touko isn't all that selfish."

Suguru-san's comment finally put the brakes on Sachiko's mouth.

"&h.e.l.lip; You're right. I misspoke."

Yumi's offer of soeurs.h.i.+p had been rejected. Her irritation at not having a clear answer as to why had unconsciously been directed towards Touko-chan. Probably.

Sachiko understood it well. While Touko-chan may look selfish, or give that impression, like Suguru-san said she wasn't actually all that selfish. Even though she could sometimes act spoiled, one must always take into account the time and the circ.u.mstances. When the time came to reign it in, she reigned it in. Nothing she did was truly unreasonable.

But knowing that had probably made Sachiko even more irritated. Since she'd rejected Yumi, there must have been some circ.u.mstances that stopped her, or made her stop. That was the only way that Sachiko could understand it.

"Hey, Sacchan, do you remember anything from when Touko was born?"

Suguru-san asked brightly. He was probably trying to soften her p.r.i.c.kly mood.

"No?"

Sachiko forced out a smile.

"I suppose not. You were only two, and she was a distant relative."

"Since you said that, does that mean you do remember?"

"Well, I was already three. Aunt Matsudaira and Touko came straight to our place from the hospital, and they stayed for about a month. I think she was a bit worried about raising a baby - well, I suppose everyone is the first time. So she was probably relying on the senior mothers - my mother and grandmother - to help. I was so young that I thought Touko was really my little sister. So I was telling everyone I met, "I've got a new baby sister." I was over the moon."

"I see. And?"

Sachiko asked, and Suguru-san responded with, "Oh, nothing." It looked like he was just trying to change the topic, after all.

"You were affectionate towards Sachiko too, Suguru-san."

Her mother said, returning from the kitchen.

"Even though you were a baby yourself, you used to say, "Baby, baby." And pat her and kiss her."

"I don't remember that."

Suguru-san scratched his head.

"I'm sure that's why Sachiko fell in love with you."

"Let's not talk about the past."

Sachiko glanced at her mother, who was smiling and placing the teacups on the table. She didn't want to revisit the story of how she said, "I want to be Suguru-san's bride," when she was in kindergarten.

It was tough because adults always delighted in dragging things out into the light things that children had done, but didn't remember.

"Alright, alright."

Hearing Sachiko's mother say this as she distributed another round of tea cups and manjuu buns, the two younger people's eyes met and they grinned.

"Even when you were young, you liked girls, Suguru-san."

- Her mother was only slightly off-kilter.