Disclaimer: I do not own either Gunslinger Girl or Maria-sama ga Miteru and have no intention of profiting from this story

Bloodstained Rose – A Gunslinger Girl/Maria-sama ga Miteru Crossover

Chapter 5 - Information

"Rosa Foetida! Rosa Foetida! The Tea Ceremony Club needs more chairs and tables! 30 more people showed up to our event than we expected!" a girl shouted, panting heavily. She had joined a bustling crowd of other girls whose classes or clubs needed something. It had been like that since they had opened the office for business a few hours before the festival started. It was a testament to the Yamayurikai's hard work that the room wasn't filled beyond capacity.

Rosa Foetida looked up from the room layout she was studying. "Yoshino, grab Noriko and some of the Hanadera boys when they get back with those cords for the Computer club and grab those chairs and tables. There's a few more piles of them in the gym storeroom." Then she turned back and studied the layout for a few more moments, before continuing her conversation with the representative of one of the third year classes.

Touko jogged in, carrying several bundles of raffle tickets which she handed to several impatient members of the Archery club, who scampered off as soon as they had the items in their hands. Though Triela was on the other side of the room, she could hear Touko's disdainful sniff at the members' impoliteness. She would have giggled if she hadn't been frantically scribbling notes on last minute scheduling changes that Rosa Gigantea and Yumi were dictating to her. She already had a sign prepared for the changes, but it looked like she had made it too small for all of the changes. Kanako was scrounging around somewhere for a bigger piece of poster board, but Triela doubted she'd be able to find anything larger that wasn't already scribbled on.

There were only two people in the room who weren't scrambling around frantically. The first was Ogasawara. It would probably break some fundamental law of the universe for Ogasawara to appear anything other than unruffled. She was expertly calming a student who had nearly been hyperventilating in her panic to get… well whatever it was she needed. Triela hadn't been able to make out what it was that she needed over the girl's frantic gasps for air.

The other person was Hilshire. He was standing in the back of the room, watching the hustle and bustle with equal parts amusement and respect. Unlike her, Hilshire had no extra responsibilities. He wasn't the homeroom teacher of any class, and had no additional responsibilities other than the occasional patrol of the grounds. So until their meeting with Sachiko's parents, he was simply waiting and watching. The bastard. He could at least offer to help rather than just standing there smugly.

She had turned to tell him just that when the human whirlwind that was Captain Ayako burst into the room, startling them all. She quickly zeroed in on Triela and bounded over to where she was sitting. Without any other warning, she shoved the papers out of Triela's lap onto the floor, and pulled Triela to her feet (A much more difficult task than it appeared to be, due to her cybernetic parts. Captain Ayako hadn't once commented on the fact that Triela weighed more than she should. They had sparred enough that she had to at least suspect something). She pointedly ignored Rosa Gigantea's and Yumi's glares and tried to drag Triela to the door.

"You're going to be late to our demonstration, Triela-hime! It starts in twenty minutes, for goodness sake! You should have been in gear half-an-hour ago! You'll barely have time to warm up properly at this point. Don't blame me if you pull a muscle," she sighed dramatically, "I don't know why I even bother." By this point, Captain Ayako was ignoring everyone's reproachful stares. She had lots of practice.

Triela could have stopped her in her tracks by simply digging her feet in. She did, after all, mass far more than the girl. But… that would undoubtedly cause just as many problems as it would solve. And anyway, stopping Captain Ayako in her tracks would by no means stop Captain Ayako. One way or another, Triela would be at the demonstration in the next twenty minutes. So she gave everyone else in the room an apologetic shrug and allowed herself to be dragged out. She tried to ignore the fact that Hilshire was laughing.

She'd be free of the skirt for a while, at least.

In fact, she was free of the skirt for several hours. Captain Ayako had neglected to mention that the judo demonstration was part of an even larger martial arts club exhibition. So she spent the next hour and a half either demonstrating to the crowd or participating in short exhibition matches with members of the other clubs. That was, of course, the entire reason that Captain Ayako had dragged her there. Triela solidly beat any challenger that was willing to face her, and thus made the club look good. She didn't doubt that there would be a few new members come Monday.

Yumi had to literally pry her away from the captain so she could get ready for the play. She was late for make-up, and spent all of her time getting ready being lectured on the virtue of punctuality by the drama club president. The play had started by the time she had finished getting into costume. She just barely made it in time for her character's first appearance on stage. Thankfully, the rest of the play went off without a hitch. She didn't understand it, but the audience really liked the gender-flipped play. The Hanadera boys' performance was especially well received. That was understandable. The cat calls girls sent her way whenever she was on stage however were not. The girls here had to be repressed. Or maybe they went for anything not in a skirt? Wait, the guys in this play were in skirts….? Well, feminine clothing at least. And didn't she wear a skirt most of the time? It didn't make any sense.

Well, crazy girls aside, the play was now done. Triela had expected to have some sort of feeling of accomplishment, but she actually felt a bit sad. The feeling had been present in the background all day. She didn't know what exactly she was sad about. She'd been working hard on both the play and the festival for the past month with barely an hour to spare for much else. When the whole thing was finished, she didn't know quite what she would do with herself.

But that in itself was a lie. She knew what she would be doing. And that it would mean the beginning of the end of whatever it was that she had found here. Today they would meet someone who was likely a Padania agent. Neither she nor Hilshire were certain that the person was actually an agent, but it was their first lead since they had arrived. So far, Triela had failed in her mission to learn more about their targets, but today they would have a prime chance to make up for lost ground. Hilshire hadn't commented, but she knew he was a bit frustrated by their lack of progress. She had been too busy or too distracted by all of the things she'd suddenly become involved in to properly execute their mission. Hilshire simply didn't teach enough classes with Ogasawara in them to properly gather the information they needed.

"Triela-hime, you did a wonderful job in the play!" Yumi gushed, interrupting her thoughts.

"As did you, Yumi-sama," Triela replied, glancing over at Ogasawara and trying to hide her pleasure at the comment. She didn't want to appear to be too familiar with Yumi in front of the older girl.

But as always, Yumi had her own ideas. Without warning, she stepped backward and wrapped her arms around Triela. Triela was used to this by now, even in public places, but the evaluating look that Ogasawara gave them made her uncomfortable. "Don't be so formal, Triela! We're going to a picnic. My family, your family, and Onee-sama's! No need to be so stuffy! It'll be fun!" Yumi said with a smile.

Triela tried not to roll her eyes. In present company, that would only set off more teasing. She simply settled for a sigh and avoided looking in Ogasawara's general direction. She still felt the girl's amusement, however. The two of them together were far worse together than they ever were apart, Triela realized. They made up for the other's weakness and easily picked up where the other finished. She had no defense.

To Triela's mild embarrassment, Yumi refused to let her go until they reached their destination, a small grove of ginko trees a bit off the main school path. This caused its own problem, for Touko was waiting with a group of people she assumed to be Ogasawara's family. The girl sent her a venomous glare, but, for once, didn't charge over and try to grab Yumi's attention. In front of all the adults, she at least managed some manners. Not that Triela cared. Of course not.

"Triela, my darling! You were wonderful!" said Hilshire, already fully in character as her over-affectionate, bumbling uncle. She knew he did it on purpose. He took an almost disturbing amount of pleasure in heaping praise and nicknames on her in near equal amounts. She didn't like the extra attention it often brought to her, but it certainly had endeared him to the rest of the students. She hadn't known he was such a ham.

She smoothly dodged his offered hug, and politely followed Yumi and Ogasawara over to where their families were. She stayed in the background as they greeted their families, and waited till they turned their attention back to her. Yumi's family was small, but just by looking at them she knew they were all birds of a feather. She had already met Yumi's younger brother Yuki, who was the President of Hanadera's student council. During all of the festival preparation, she hadn't talked to him much, but he exuded the same sort of quiet cheer and trustworthiness that was Yumi's trademark. She hadn't met her parents, either, but they looked just as kind and open as their daughter. They greeted their daughter with a warm hug and immediately began chatting away.

By contrast, Ogasawara's family was far more varied. They had, perhaps unconsciously, separated into two smaller groups. The first was made up of Touko, an older woman that Triela assumed was Ogasawara's mother, and a young man that Triela had occasionally seen with the Hanadera boys. The other group was made up of three older men. Two of them were Japanese. One was distinctly older than the other, so Triela guessed that maybe they were Ogasawara's father and grandfather. The third was their possible lead. He was tall, brown-haired, and definitely of Italian descent. No Japanese man had that kind of swarthy skin. Their greeting was more reserved, but still cheerful.

"So this is one of the girl's who you've been mentoring, Yumi, dear?" Triela heard Yumi's mother ask after a few minutes. She walked over and stood in front of Triela and good naturedly gave Triela a hug. She smelled and felt so much like Yumi that Triela didn't even flinch. "I hear so much about all you girls, but I never get to meet any of you. Please feel free to come by and bring the others. I'd love to meet them." She ruffled Triela's hair lightly, and Triela felt a small blush creep on to her face.

"Indeed. I'd like to congratulate you on a fine performance, Triela-san. Sachiko also has said much about you, as has our Touko," Said the older women from Ogasawara's group, who had also walked over. Triela bowed politely. It was easy to see where Ogasawara got her looks and manners from. Her mother embodied elegance and refinement. However, her smile was as warm as Yumi's mother's.

"I-I-I'm honored by your praise. It's nice to meet both of you, well. Your daughters have made it very easy for me to get settled here," Triela managed to stutter out. Despite all her preparations, social occasions were still not her strong point.

She saw Hilshire introducing himself to the men in the group, and suppressed a twinge of jealousy. He looked completely unruffled. Within moments, he was engaged in some lively conversation with Yumi's father and the men from the Ogasawara party. She didn't think she'd ever be able to manage that sort of ease, mission or not. Not that it had really mattered that much before she had come here.

She felt a light pinch on her check, and turned to see Yumi smiling at her and the rest of the women looking at her with amused looks on their faces. "Come on now then, Triela-hime. We don't bite! Mom, did you know Triela comes from Italy?

Triela and Hilshire didn't really have a plan for the afternoon, per se. There were simply too many odd variables to account for to have a really concrete plan. Instead, they each had a set of lead-ins and questions that were hopefully innocuous enough to get information without drawing suspicion. Not that they were really expecting suspicion, considering that the Ogasawara's were comfortable enough that they had brought their guest along. They were expecting a quiet lunch with their daughter and her friends, and perhaps the opportunity to speak with their guest without a paid translator.

Some of the lead-ins Triela and Hilshire had prepared were simple, like questions about the Ogasawara's family life and status. Some were a bit more complex, dealing with business, trade, or finance. Triela didn't really have any of those lead-ins. That bit was Hilshire's job. There wasn't much reason for a supposed 14 or 15-year old to ask questions about the profitability of a business. Her job was simply to be an inquisitive child. It was too bad. She had enjoyed those topics back at the SWA.

Things were actually made easier with both Yumi's and Ogasawara's families present. Triela had been surprised to find out that both families were meeting each other for the first time, despite the fact their daughters had been... well, partners, or whatever they wanted to call it, for the past two years. The rudeness of a slightly probing question was generally overlooked by both sides as each tried to size up the other. In other words, it was the perfect atmosphere to do a little digging and learn personal information. Yumi's father owned a small construction company, and was just as interested in how the Ogasawara business was doing as Hilshire was, so even questions in that direction were allowed.

"So, how's the construction business going, Fukuzawa-san?" Triela heard Hilshire ask. They had segregated themselves roughly by gender when they had seated themselves to eat. The men were seated on one side, the girls in the middle, and the women on the other side. Triela wasn't sure if it had been a conscious decision or if the entire group had subconsciously just decided to follow the Ogasawaras' lead. Triela wasn't complaining; she had positioned herself so that she could listen and ask questions to both groups. It wouldn't be proper to have to shout or to appear awkward in some fashion.

"And because of that we have some of the cutest pictures of Yumi and Yuki in the bath together!" Yumi's mother finished a laugh and a twinkle in her eye. Her two children looked mortified. Yuki was only slightly better at concealing his feelings than Yumi was. Sachiko, her mother, Touko, and the other man who's name was Suguru something-or-other and was a cousin or something, were laughing at the siblings' plight.

Yumi's mother and Ogasawara's mother had been exchanging embarrassing stories about their daughters for more than half-an-hour, and while it was funny, it was starting to get on Triela's nerves. She didn't quite know why, but she had a pretty good guess. If they abruptly asked Hilshire to share a story from her own childhood, only awkwardness could ensue. And she doubted he'd tell one of their fratello's stories.

Still she had managed to glean some information out of those stories. Other than possible blackmail at a later date, she'd noticed that Ogasawara's mother always started her stories with 'I', 'Sachiko and I', or 'my mother and I.' In the four or five stories that she had told, she hadn't heard a single reference to Ogasawara's father. That could simply be a coincidence of course, but the fact that her father wasn't present at any of the moments that her mother considered memorable seemed to indicate something to Triela. Perhaps her father spent a great deal of time at work, or on business trips, or something else. Whatever the reason, he might not be terribly active in Ogasawara's life.

On the other hand, both Ogasawara's father and grandfather seemed to be very active in the business world. Triela knew from her briefings that their company, Ogasawara Industries, was an extremely large and highly diversified company. They controlled a significant portion of the mining industry in East Asia, and had a large manufacturing arm, as well. Ogasawara's father, his Italian guest (whose name she still hadn't caught, but Hilshire had so it was okay), Yumi's father, and Ogasawara were having a spirited discussion about the local construction industry. Ogasawara's grandfather wasn't participating in the conversation due to the fact that he had fallen asleep soon after they had finished eating. Triela didn't particularly understand much about their conversation, but she understood enough of it to know that despite his company not being involved in construction, Ogasawara's father was extremely well informed. Their guest didn't seem nearly as well informed, but Hilshire helpfully translated the more difficult bits for him.

The Italian man was at least somewhat proficient in Japanese, Triela had noted with some surprise. When Ogasawara had asked her to come, she had made it sound like he would need significant help. However, he was able to follow most of the conversation, and only seemed to rely on Hilshire if something very specific or highly technical came up. He was also relatively familiar and friendly with Ogasawara's father, which seemed to indicate that they were at least long standing associates, if not friends. That could be perfectly innocent if he was actually just a businessman. If he was, as they expected, a Padania agent, it didn't bode well for the future of Ogasawara Industries. The Social Welfare Agency would see to that.

"Well, Ricci-san," asked Mr. Fukuzawa, "What brings you to Japan? I understand you do some business with Ogasawara-san."

Triela held back a smile. The Fukuzawas joining them was definitely a blessing. "Ahh… I work in freight and shipping, yes? My company handles product distribution throughout the Mediterranean."

Mr. Fukuzawa nodded, "Ah, I see. You must do a lot of traveling. It must be rough."

Triela piped up before the man could answer, "But think of all the places that he's visited! You've must've seen a lot of interesting places. Where have you been?"

The man gave a small start, but turned and smiled kindly at Triela. She heard the conversation on the women's side of the table die down. Travel was an interesting topic for everyone. "Well, let's see. This year alone, I've been to Russia, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Syria, India, Libya, Indonesia, and here in Japan. They've all been interesting places."

"Which one was your favorite? And which one had the best food?" Yumi asked.

The man turned to Hilshire for a moment and asked a quiet question in Italian that she couldn't hear. When Hilshire replied, Ricci laughed. "Ah, good question, good question. For food, I would have to say Greece. Despite being so close to my home, the food is very different. As for my favorite…" he thought for a moment. "Well, I would say Egypt. The pyramids are truly magnificent," he turned and asked Hilshire another brief question, "Ah. Pictures do not do them justice."

Ogasawara's mother smiled, "It's always been one of my dreams to see them," she looked at her husband with mild irritation, "But prying my husband away from his activities long enough to go visit has so far been impossible." Her husband raised an eyebrow, but did not comment.

The lack of a reply might have become awkward had Yumi's mother not burst into laughter, "Isn't that the truth? I have a hard enough time prying mine away long enough to go to the beach for a few days. I think Egypt would impossible." Mr. Fukuzawa went red in embarrassment, and the rest of the picnickers laughed.

"Your company has a lot of clients, then?" Hilshire asked.

The man nodded smugly. "We specialize in quick deliveries. Once someone uses our services, they never go back. We guarantee it. No matter the place or the package, we will deliver it."

Mr. Ogasawara nodded in agreement, but seemed to regard Hilshire's question with curiosity. "We've been pleased with their services, so far. Their work has been beyond our expectations. Why so interested, Hartmann-san? Thinking of starting up a company? My daughter tells me you excel at teaching already. It'd be a pity to lose your skills here."

Hilshire laughed, "No, no, it's just good to hear an Italian company doing well in today's market. When we left Italy a few months ago, the economy wasn't in particularly good condition."

Mr. Ogasawara snorted in mild irritation, "The economy isn't great anywhere; that isn't an excuse. You do what you can. You diversify. You find new customers and new markets. That's why we got involved with Ricci-san's company, after all."

It was Mrs. Ogasawara's turn to raise an eyebrow, "So, dear husband, things haven't been as smooth as you've been making them out to be, then?"

Conversation abruptly died, as Ogasawara's parents stared at each other. Triela glanced at Ogasawara, who had an uncharacteristic look of worry on her face. She kept moving her gaze from one parent to the other in apparent confusion. Triela bit her lip and shot a look at Hilshire, who was also observing the reactions. He nodded slowly, and shrugged. Triela wasn't quite sure what that meant, but they would compare notes later. These few moments made this meeting worth the trouble they had gone, through.

Triela suddenly felt a hand grip her own, and twitched, despite herself. She turned to Yumi, who was sitting beside her. She too had a worried look on her face, but it was directed at Ogasawara. She didn't even seem to realize that she'd grabbed Triela's hand. She glanced over at Touko, who was sitting on the other side of Yumi. She was staring at Yumi with worried eyes. Triela looked down and saw that Yumi had also grabbed her hand. When she raised her eyes, Touko met her gaze. They shared a considering look, but Touko quickly broke eye contact.

So, it seemed the father wasn't sharing business information with his wife, and possibly his daughter. And it was possible his company wasn't in such great shape, after all. That didn't prove anything, but Triela was naturally suspicious. It didn't seem like the action of an innocent man. Of course, they'd didn't know how long Mr. Ricci's and the Ogasawaras' company had been in contact. Or maybe Ogasawara's father had simply been pigheaded like that since the beginning. He wouldn't be the first man in history to lie to his wife all the time.

Yumi's mother ended the silence abruptly, as she turned to her son and forcefully spoke up, "So, Yuki, dear, are you planning to run for student council president, again?" Ogasawara's cousin Suguru quickly picked up on the conversation as well, and in a few moments the awkward silence was behind them. The two sides once again pursued different conversations. Triela did notice, however, that the atmosphere was nowhere near as relaxed as it had been beforehand. That made her sad for some reason.

After a few minutes, Triela watched Hilshire gracefully disengage himself from the men's conversation and stand up to leave. Before she could ask where he was going, she was interrupted by Yumi grabbing her by the arm. Surprised, Triela was almost pulled into her lap. "You've been listening to the old men talk too much. Tell us about all the pretty Italian boys you've met. Has there been one special so far?" The other women burst into giggles, and Triela was left sputtering, trying her best to defend herself.

She didn't even notice when Hilshire rejoined the picnickers.

The man sighed and loosened his collar a bit, as he strolled down the quiet street. Today had not worked out at all as he had planned. The goal had been to get Ogasawara somewhere casual enough that he could be easily persuaded to sign off on the deal. That had failed rather spectacularly. He hadn't realized that the man had that bad a relationship with his wife. It had made Ogasawara even more tense and unwilling to negotiate. The man was getting cold feet.

The meal had been pleasant enough, he supposed, though he thought it had gone on far too long. It didn't help that his limited command of the Japanese language made things a little awkward. He wasn't sure why Ogasawara had insisted on him not bringing his translator along. He had been surprised, relieved and a little glad to find another native Italian at that backward little school, however. It was good to speak Italian like it should be spoken, rather than the broken and awkward speech that he often heard from the foreigners he negotiated with. It had been months since he'd been home. He'd have to call and see how his son was doing. It had been two weeks since he'd called last.

It looked as if it would be a few more months before he got home, as well. If Ogasawara backed out of the deal, he'd be in a serious bind. They already had a number of buyer's lined up for Ogasawara's goods. He hoped his counterpart on the receiving end hadn't taken payments yet. If Ogasawara refused to go through with the deal and they owed people, it would be very bad. Especially considering some of the people his company worked with. His back-up sellers couldn't even field nearly the same amount as Ogasawara's company threw out as garbage.

Tomorrow, he'd start over. He had some wiggle room in the terms. He'd see if sweetening the deal a little bit would persuade the man. It would hurt his bottom line, and his superior would be unhappy, but Ogasawara had been troublesome before. However, his superior would appreciate late or non-existent shipments even less than paying a little bit more. That just meant that Receiving would have to negotiate a little harder and set the prices a little bit harder. It would result in unhappy customers, but that was something they were used to and could deal with.

He paused to check his surroundings. He had refused the ride that the Ogasawaras had offered, because he had wanted time to think and plan. His hotel wasn't too far from the school, and besides, he needed the exercise. With as much time he spent flying around these past months, he had little time to work out. He had gained ten pounds in the past three months, unfortunately. He'd have to try to work them off before he saw his wife again. She always said that he was a little too fond of sweets. And like with everything else, she was right.

He turned a corner and emerged onto a sparsely lit street. If he had been in Italy, he would have perhaps thought twice about strolling down the road by himself. In Japan, however, he felt perfectly safe. It was one of the few nice things about the country. One could walk around free and not expect to be mugged, killed, or kidnapped. He'd nearly had all three happen to him the last time he'd walked around Venice. He didn't know what it would like to be robbed by a Japanese person. Most of the ones he had met were polite. It probably would be awkward. At least Italian criminals had style. He knew that better than most.

From a nearby alley, two figures detached themselves from the shadows, one far taller than the other. At first, he didn't pay them any mind. They were both wearing over-large coats and large hats that covered their faces. This would have been more notable if he hadn't seen stranger outfits when he had toured Harajuku during his last visit to Japan. That had been an eye-opener. He wasn't that old himself, but just looking at the clothes the youth in that district wore had made him feel impossibly ancient. He hoped the fashion styles of the kids in Italy weren't anywhere near extreme.

Not wanting to draw their attention, he kept his eyes carefully and politely forward. He didn't want to insult and provoke some kids on the street. Things were quieter here, but he could remember being a teenager and being touchy about wearing what he wanted.

Of course that meant he didn't see the blow that knocked him out.

Bleh, I had the worst case of writer's block in the middle of this chapter that paralyzed me for several weeks. But once I worked out where this chapter stands in regards to the rest of the story, things went a bit smoother (I almost threw the story into really high gear. One version of this chapter that I planned out ended in a gunfight with a couple of people dead). A lot of subtle and not-so-subtle things happen this chapter, so things are finally moving. Also, a bunch of new characters appear. I would have liked to give them a bit more personality, but for a lot of them, this'll probably be one of their few appearances. Can you guess who might be important?

Next chapter will deal with some personal issues amongst the characters and some movements in the background. And it'll probably end on a cliffhanger. Anyway, will be working on the next chapter of Something to Die For next, so expect that sometime in January if things don't get hectic. Ja ne!

See ya next chapter!