"A Notice from the Yamayuri Council When watching "Maria Watches Over Us ~Printemps~" please have the room brightly lit and sit well away from the television set." "Are you all right?" ""All right"?" "You thought I was crying?" "What?" "You're not?" "Your shoulders were trembling the entire time we were working, so..." "That's probably because I was cold." "Then, when it looked like you were sobbing..." "I was just sniffling." "I thought it would echo too much if I blew my nose in the gymnasium." "Then this is what you need." "I guess it's already the day after tomorrow." "Let's not do this." "It makes me feel sad somehow." "You're right." "The maidens, who flock to Mother Maria's garden, pass through the tall gates today yet again with innocent, angelic smiles." "Their pure hearts and bodies are clad in deep-colored uniforms." "So that the pleats of their skirts are not disturbed and so that their white sailor collars are not set aflutter, it is customary here to walk slowly and with decorum." "The Private Lillian Girls' Academy, a garden of maidens." "Maria Watches Over Us Printemps" "In the morning mist, Asamoya no naka the white path goes on." "tsuzuku shiroi michi" "The birds sing." "Tori no saezuri" "We exchange greetings." "Aisatsu kawashinagara" "At times, the clouds hang low, Toki ni kumo ga tarekomete and the sun may grow dim." "hizashi kagerou tomo" "But I will walk with my chin up, Sesuji nobashite aruku for I know, watashi wa shitteru kara that above those heavy clouds..." "omoi kumo no ue wa ...is the blue sky." "aol sora" "That's right, I still have it easy." "Shimako's big sister is two years older, so she will be graduating this year." "Rosa Gigantea..." "Eek..." "Aww..." "R-R-Rosa Chinensis!" "W-What kind of joke is this?" "!" "Darn!" ""Darn"?" "I missed my chance to fully enjoy the experience of cuddling Yumi." "And Sei said you make sounds like a baby dinosaur, so I was looking forward to it." "I see..." "I just wanted to try it once." "The unique experience of being a pseudo-serial hugger with you." "I can't do it anymore once I graduate, right?" "Since it's not as if I'm going to the affiliate college." "Please come visit us." "Yes..." "Yumi, keep me company for a bit." "What?" "Uh, um, Rosa Chinensis..." "Just come along." "Humor your old granny for once." "Okay, don't be shy." "Drink up." "What?" "Well, but it's hot, so I can't gulp it down that quickly." "Really?" "Wh-Wh-Wh-What are you doing?" "!" "What am I doing?" "Isn't it obvious?" "W-W-Why?" "You just said it's too hot to drink." "Well, I did say that, but..." "This doesn't taste that good, does it?" "T-That's not true!" "Thanks for the treat!" "Rosa Chinensis..." "Was this something you wanted to try once, too?" "That's right." "You're very perceptive, Yumi." "Ahh..." "And also interesting." "Um..." "That's why I think very highly of you." "So, um, is that to say, that's why I was singled out as someone who had experience with hot strawberry milk au lait?" "No, as Sachiko's guardian." "Pardon?" "Yumi, please take care of Sachiko for me." "I will..." "She's not very endearing, but even so, she's my dearly beloved little sister." "I am not perceptive by any means." "Rosa Chinensis invited me along to convey her "will" to me." "But it was only in that moment that I finally realized this." "What were you doing?" "I am so sorry for being late." "I believe I told you to come early today, because we would be cleaning out the first floor storeroom." "Yes, I am sorry!" "I am asking what you were doing." "Um..." "I was invited along by Rosa Chinensis... to the milk bar..." "By my dear sister?" "I see, I understand." "Then, let us begin." "Yumi, you can join us after you have cleaned up here." "All right." "Don't let it bother you." "Sachiko is only irritated because she was worried about you." "Rei, what are you muttering about?" "!" "Nothing!" "See you later." "Ooh, so scary!" "Sachiko's throwing a fit." "Excuse me?" "!" "There, that's it." "Storing up your anger isn't good for you." "I feel like I can understand why she conveyed her "will" to you." "Understand?" "You see, when people move on to a different environment from a place they've long been familiar with, they tend to be keenly aware of the things they've left undone." "And thus, a "will"..." "Rosa Foetida asked to see me, too." "What?" "Our relationship comes down to a triangle with Rei in the middle." "So naturally, there are a lot of things we want to say to each other." "Things you want to say?" "About each other's strengths." "We go over every little thing, even things like our attitude towards life." "Well, it's not the sort of argument that can be settled." "It's just for show, if you will." "For show..." "Everyone's doing all sorts of things." "Their methods might differ, but they're all reluctant to say good-bye in their own way." "I see..." "And my dear sister knew that..." "Here, look." "We found all these personal belongings of Rosa Gigantea's." "A textbook, a sports towel..." "Oh, this is the lunch box that she made a big fuss about losing." "It had fallen between some cardboard boxes." "But my dear sister insisted that it had to be upstairs, so we all looked for it." "She must have had lunch upstairs, then dropped by this room on her way home." "But she had convinced herself otherwise." "No wonder we couldn't find it." "Oh, Rosa Gigantea..." "[Cinderella Props]" "Hey, are these the props we used for Cinderella?" "Oh, Rosa Foetida's handkerchief." "This is my dear sister's mechanical pencil." "They have no names on them." "I am amazed you know who they belong to." "Of course, we can tell." "Because we are their little sisters." "I shall return it to her tomorrow." "My dear sister's "will"?" "Right, like about something she wants you to do or about how she wants you to guard the school traditions..." "Has she said anything like that?" "A "will"..." "She is not the sort to speak of such things." "At the very least, she wouldn't say it to me." "I see." "I guess you're right." "But she might have something to say to you." "Me?" "Yes, because my dear sister has great affection for you." "I'm sorry." "Why?" "I think I may have been leaning on Rosa Gigantea for support without considering how it might make you feel." "Oh, please." "Such a thought has never once crossed my mind." "You know, if anything, I'm actually grateful to you." "What?" "I'm not good at leaning on others for support and that was never a part of our relationship as sisters to begin with." "And because we're two years apart, even if she wanted to dote on someone, in Rosa Gigantea's case, her little sister doesn't even have a little sister." "You mean, like a "granddaughter"?" "Granddaughter?" "Oh yes, something like that." "Since your little sister will be enrolling as Rosa Gigantea is leaving." "A little sister..." "I can't even imagine having one, though..." "But maybe Rosa Gigantea also had similar thoughts when she became soeurs with you." "Yes..." "Whether I can find an underclassman whom I can get along with is one issue, but if I come to have a little sister, as a first-year student, she will have to become the Rosa Gigantea en bouton, right?" "But that's what you did, too." "Yes, of course, but I have this vague feeling that perhaps I must not have a little sister." "Shimako!" "What?" "What is it?" "Shimako, please don't go anywhere!" "Yumi?" "Please don't go anywhere, and wait for me until I become a third-year student!" "We're going to carry on the Yamayuri Council together!" "I don't want to do it without you!" "Um..." "Miss Fukuzawa." "I'm sorry to put a damper on your beautiful friendship, but please take your seat." "I'd like to begin homeroom." "Pardon me!" ""Th-ank you"..." "Now that I think about it, if Rosa Gigantea were to have concerns and they had to do with Shimako, there's no way she would say that to Shimako." "We could always find our dear third-year sisters in these classrooms..." "But even that will come to an end tomorrow..." "Rosa Gigantea's classroom..." "Did you forget something?" "Oh, Yumi." "Sorry, but would you close that?" "I wanted to say good-bye to the classroom, so I killed time in the library and came back when I figured that everyone would have left." "Go ahead and laugh." "When I thought about how I have to leave this place behind as of tomorrow," "I got a bit sentimental." "Because you will be leaving Lillian?" "A lot has happened, after all." "A lot?" "Happy experiences, painful experiences..." "There are things I regret, but also great memories..." "These three years in high school were the most enriching years of my life thus far, I think." "Rosa Gigantea, I..." "W-What is it, Yumi?" "Is there anything that I can do?" "!" "That you can do?" "Any requests or favors or promises or something you want to entrust to me?" "What's this about?" "Anything is fine." "Something to do with Shimako, for example." "Or to do with Lunch..." "I mean, Goronta." "There must be something!" "At least one thing!" "There isn't." "Like I said, there isn't." "There isn't anything I want to ask of you." "And Goronta's all grown up now, so he'll be fine, even without humans to feed him." "If he can't survive on his own, there's no point in him being a stray anyway." "Besides, I don't need to ask." "You wouldn't be able to ignore it if Shimako got in trouble, right?" "Even if you had to do something scandalous, you would surely throw yourself into the maelstrom to save Shimako." "There's a genuine friendship between you two." "There's no need for me to will anything." "Besides, if you were the sort of person who wouldn't help others unless you were asked to, again, I wouldn't ask you to be there for Shimako." "But I want to do something for you, Rosa Gigantea..." "A so-called parting gift?" "Well..." "Then maybe I'll ask you for a kiss on the mouth." "What?" "Oh?" "You gonna run away?" "You said it could be anything." "Here, be good and close your eyes." "Cut!" "G-Good-bye!" "I can't graduate, because I'll forever regret not kissing you." "What's wrong?" "If you don't hurry on home, I'll come after you again." "What are you thinking?" "I didn't think it needed to be said in so many words, so I'd kept quiet, but from the bottom of my heart, I feel glad that I got to know you." "What?" "I never got along very well with normal girls my age." "Seeing you, for the first time in my life, I envied normal girls." "In my third year, I was able to change in a good way." "Life has become quite a bit more bearable." "There are a lot of reasons as for why I was able to change, but you should know, you were a big part of it." "So, what you've done for me isn't just that kiss." "What did I ever do?" "Open your ears wide and listen carefully." "You made me a college student, didn't you?" "No way." "It's true." "Seeing you, I decided to try being a student again." "Seeing me?" "So you see, Yumi, you should have confidence in yourself." "Since you got someone as cool as me aspiring to be like you." "That is all." "Bow." "I love you, Yumi." "I was truly happy when I got to goof around with you." "There were many times when I wished I could be you." "You tell everyone that you love them, don't you?" "Yup." "Honestly..." "Thanks for the smooch." "Think nothing of it." "It was just a parting gift." "Just a parting gift, huh?" "By the way, do you know which college I'm going to?" "Huh?" "No, it's fine." "I was thinking you might have been running around, trying not to hear the name of the college." "Because it would be like the college was stealing away your beloved Rosa Gigantea." "You think too highly of yourself." "She was right on the mark." "Rosa Gigantea is so perceptive." "I knew she would be going somewhere beyond my reach and I didn't want to make it seem real." "I was running away from that." "I was tricked!" "I was tricked!" "I was tricked!" "Rosa Gigantea!" "Yumi." "That's quite a scowl you got there." "What's up?" "Good day." "Congratulations on graduating today." "Right, thank you." "W-Where are we going?" "Somewhere where we can be alone!" "Sounds good." "Wanna pick up where we left off yesterday?" "That is what I would like a word with you about." "So, what is it?" "Is it true?" "Is what true?" "About college." "About college?" "There you go again, playing dumb!" "Oh, did you find out?" "That was faster than I expected." "I asked Shimako about it this morning!" "What?" "My dear sister?" "She's going to Lillian Ladies' College." "What?" "!" "But she didn't turn in the priority acceptance application in time, so she said she went on to take entrance exams!" "Yes, and she took the exams for Lillian, along with all the non-Lillian applicants." "WHAT?" "!" "I was such a complete fool!" "I was so embarrassed, my face was ablaze!" "What?" "I would have loved to see that!" "Keep teasing and I will punch your lights out." "Whoa..." "Is this payback?" "Don't be so snarly." "It was definitely my fault for not informing you properly." "But who would normally think that you wouldn't know?" "Weren't you intentionally keeping it from me?" "What for?" "For the smooch?" "Don't talk about that!" "What does it really matter?" "It's true that I'm graduating." "It's also true that I'm going to college." "So I took my parting gift." "Where's the problem in that?" "But you're going to Lillian Ladies'." "Yeah." "I'm not going to college for the sake of studying." "It's so I can get acclimated to the idea of "school," if you will." "I'm going so I can come to terms with it emotionally." "So, the place needed to be Lillian." "Besides, I'm not going to visit the high school once I graduate." "You aren't?" "I'll be the same as Yoko and Eriko, who are going to separate colleges." "Is that her way of telling me not to depend on her?" "And yet, even so, the sense of reassurance that she'll be on the same school grounds makes me a little happy." "It makes me really happy." "Too bad." "Time's almost up." "Yes." "Well, see you later." "Yes, see you again later." "Rosa Gigantea, go ahead and graduate." "I'll be fine." "Dear sister, I guess the Lady Roses are finally graduating." "Yes, meow." "We'll miss them dearly, won't we?" "Indeed, meow." "Are you taking this opportunity to change your character?" "I want you to call me Sachiko-meow from now on, meow." "That sounds great!" "Shall we all wear cat ears?" "So we'll be red, white, and yellow cats." "It'll be the Yamaneko Council, meow." "Then we shall say it's the Acorn Mansion." "This is great, it's like Kenji Miyazawa, meow." "Next time on "Maria Watches Over Us," meow," ""The Years That Flew By"." "We hope you watch, meow." "Meow."