Disclaimer: I do not own Maria-sama ga Miteru or any of its characters.

A/N: I want to express my sincerest thanks to all those who left comments and reviewed my story, those who included me and my stories in their favorite list and finally, to Imoshen88 for the beta'ing my story.

And here we have the final chapter. In the end, who's plans or schemes do you think succeeded?

Yumi cracked her eyes open with a start.

She allowed a small smile to graze her lips, feeling absolutely wonderful. She had a good night's sleep, not to mention a really good quick lovemaking before that, and she felt well rested despite a long night of drinking. It was one of the very few times she woke up without a hangover after a night of partying.

Yumi sat up and stretched her arms and her back. Sachiko and Touko were nowhere to be seen. It seems she woke up late, but as to how late, she had no idea. She stood up from the bed and picked up her phone to check the time and was somehow shocked that it was already a few minutes past noon. She had missed breakfast entirely and none of her friends even thought of waking her up. But then again, they were probably just considerate of her. For one, Sachiko knew she hadn't slept well the whole week because of her project, so Yumi thought her lover requested their friends to allow Yumi to sleep in.

Yumi headed out of their bedroom and into the bathroom to brush her teeth and bathe. She was humming a tune while showering, enjoying the feel of the cool water on her skin. For whatever reason, Yumi felt like today was going to be a good day. She went back to the bedroom to dress up and fixed the bed. She still saw no one, so she guessed everyone was at the dining pavilion, probably having lunch.

After grabbing the room key, which was left on a table by the front door, she walked out of their cabin. The sky was cloudy and she enjoyed the light cool breeze that caressed her face. She decided not to rush and just enjoy the scenery which she was not able to take notice of the previous day. She looked around and noticed the big trees that lined the pathway leading to countless cabins. She spotted Eriko's cabin and she blushed at the memory. It was one of the few but adventurous things she had done with Sachiko. Despite how embarrassing it was that they got caught, it was undoubtedly something she would commit to memory and never forget.

From afar, she could see the turquoise ocean spanning for miles. The surface of which shined like diamonds when hit by the sunlight. There were small islands in the distance and Yumi wished they could go and visit one of those islands and enjoy a day of swimming with her friends.

A frown unconsciously lined her lips when she remembered that she had to face Yoshino's wrath when she finds out that she had kept her relationship with Sachiko a secret. But she had a good defence and it was nothing to be worried about. She was in good spirits and it seemed nothing would be able to dampen her mood.

She soon reached the dining pavilion. Even at a distance, she easily spotted her friends. But she was puzzled that Sachiko was not with them.

"Good morning" she greeted happily as soon as she reached their table.

But it appeared like her appearance had greatly surprised her friends because at that moment all conversations died down.

Then…

"Yumi-chan!" Rei stood up so suddenly that her knees hit the table, causing it to shake.

Noriko dropped the glass she was holding and it landed on the table with a thud, spilling its contents. Thankfully, it remained unbroken.

Sei choked and Eriko, with a smirk, handed her glass of water.

Touko froze.

Yoshino stopped what she was saying midsentence, and in effect had her mouth hanging open.

Nana gave Yumi an anxious look and elbowed her own onee-sama to close her mouth shut.

Lastly, Shimako shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

Yumi gave them a quizzical look. "What's going on?" She asked.

"What do you mean, Onee-sama?" Touko said with a straight face. But Yumi, being her seour for a long time, knew that her imouto had put her actress mask back on.

Was it because of what Sachiko and I did last night? Yumi thought. Yumi's cheeks flamed and decided not to question any of her friends' eccentric behaviour and proceeded to walk towards one vacant seat. She was afraid to be teased again, just like what Eriko did the previous night.

"U-um. You should get some food from the buffet first, onee-sama. Let me accompany you." Touko said.

"Sure" Yumi said and proceeded to stand up.

Lunch had been a surprisingly quiet event for Yumi. It was even more suspicious when Sei, Noriko, Nana and Touko excused themselves a few minutes after she came back to their table, leaving Yoshino, Eriko and Shimako with her. They said that they'd be preparing for the island hopping that afternoon.

"Why is everyone acting so weird?" Yumi asked.

"They're just anxious about something" Eriko said.

Yoshino shot Eriko a glare, but Yumi missed it.

"Is it still about last night?" Yumi finally decided to ask thinking it was better to be humiliated and teased by her friends, rather than be ignored totally. She had been bracing herself for the teasing, but the conversation took a different turn than what she had expected.

"Oh, last night was fun." Eriko commented.

"I slept through it." Yoshino complained, seemingly back to her usual self.

"So did I" Shimako said with a red tinge on her cheeks.

"How are you feeling, Shimako-san?"

"I'm feeling better now, Yumi-san. I was informed by Noriko that I lost consciousness, after my onee-sama handed me some shots. Then we proceeded to join the crowd in dancing…then…" Shimako's eyebrows creased, "My memory seemed to have stopped there. Can you tell me what happened?"

"Oh, do you really want to know, Shimako-san?" Yoshino snorted.

"Is it something that I shouldn't know about?" Shimako said nervously. "Did I do something foolish?"

"Nothing foolish. But it was like seeing a different Shimako-san." Yoshino continued.

"I didn't know you had it in you, Shimako." Eriko started. "Didn't you remember that you danced sensually with Yumi-chan?"

Shimako's cheeks flamed.

"And that you touched Yumi-chan's body suggestively and…"

Shimako covered her face with both her hands. "Okay, I think that's enough, Eriko-sama."

"…you kissed Yumi's neck."

"Please, Eriko-sama. This is embarrassing."

"And then you passed out on Yumi-chan's shoulders." Eriko finished. "See, that wasn't so bad. It was a rather short moment when we witnessed the temptress Shimako."

"Oh gods… I am so sorry Yumi-san." Shimako exclaimed, clearly mortified.

"D-don't worry about it Shimako-san. You were drunk and you didn't know what you were doing." Yumi reasoned.

Shimako peeked out of her hands to look at Yumi's face. Judging from the warmth on her cheeks, she knew her face was as red as Yumi's.

"But what happened after that was even more interesting" Eriko continued.

"Yes, but you refused to say anything about it when we asked you for details earlier." Yoshino huffed.

"So what did she tell you exactly?" Yumi asked.

"It was only me, Shimako-san and Nana who didn't know what happened." Yoshino started, but then paused, trying to find the right words to say. Eriko just smirked, letting either Yoshino or Shimako share with Yumi her version of the story.

"Well" Shimako started, but was unable to continue.

"You did something beyond what Shimako-san did." Yoshino finished.

"Hey! Yoshino-san!" Shimako's usually gentle voice turned a pitch higher.

"Come on Yoshino. Why are you so embarrassed to repeat the words that I used? It's not like you haven't done it with Rei, right? And as to why I didn't go into details, it's because it's more fun to tell the story when both Yumi-chan and Sachiko are present." Eriko said with merriment in her eyes.

"You're evil, Eriko-sama."

"And you just realized this now, Yoshino-chan?" Eriko smiled sweetly, contrary to how she had just been described by her junior.

"Where is Sachiko, anyway?" Yumi asked, hoping to side track the discussion.

At this, Shimako and Yoshino exchanged nervous glances.

It was Eriko who answered, "She has an important business matter to attend to."

Yumi gazed into their senior's eyes, hoping she could to read exactly what those words meant. But Eriko just stared back at her.

"Youko is with her, helping her out."

"I wish she had woke me up then, so I could help out too."

"Oh, you wouldn't be able to." Eriko said.

"Is it some legal matter?" Yumi thought it probably was, if she needed Youko's help for it.

"You can say that."

"Anyway, why didn't you tell me that you already talked, Yumi-san?" Yoshino pouted. Her reaction was far from the angry best friend Yumi was expecting.

"I already answered that for you, Yoshino-chan."

Yoshino averted her gaze in discomfort. Apparently, Eriko took the liberty to also share that specific part of the story with everyone, the reason why Yumi and Sachiko kept the status of their relationship a secret to everyone.

"But how did it happen? Did you go to their office the fourth time?"

"I'm sorry for not telling you sooner. I had been busy the whole week due to a project." Yumi looked at her best friend and apologized. "I had the chance to speak with Sachiko just the week before and it was through the help of Suguru-san."

"You asked for that man's help?!" Yoshino exclaimed emphatically.

"I didn't ask for it."

"What do you mean, Yumi-san?" Shimako asked.

And Yumi told them the story about the meeting. How Suguru-san advanced the schedule of the meeting to an earlier date than planned, how he asked for Yumi's boss to bring her with them to join the meeting and how he forced Sachiko to attend despite it not being her project.

"I always knew that Kashiwagi Suguru was a cunning man, to plan out everything for your meeting with Sachiko." Eriko said.

"Ogasawara Suguru" Yumi corrected.

Again, the three exchanged glances. But this time, it was with a smile.

Yumi decided not to ask anymore, because surely, she will not be getting answers. Anyway, she would know eventually, probably before the day ends.

"Anyway, let's get back to our rooms and prepare. We're going island hopping this afternoon." Eriko said.

Yumi headed back to their villa, still trying to decipher her friends' actions during lunch. But her musing was interrupted when she heard Touko's voice.

"What took you so long, onee-sama?" Touko asked. She was standing in front of their cabin with her hands on her hips.

"We were chatting, why?"

"We will miss our plane." Touko said.

"Plane?"

"We rented seaplanes to take us to visit an island."

"Oh. I thought we were going to rent a boat."

Touko led her to their room and handed her a white lacy dress. Not giving her a chance to voice out her question, her imouto immediately said, "We went shopping this morning and I thought that dress will look good on you."

Yumi held the dress in front of her.

"And I will be more than happy if you wear it now."

Touko's smile was so sweet and loving that Yumi couldn't say 'no'.

"Alright, if that is what my cute petite seour wants, then it shall be done." Yumi said, cupping her little sister's cheeks.

Touko lunged at her and hugged her tightly.

Yumi was taken aback at her little sister's actions.

"What's wrong, Touko?" Yumi asked.

"I love you onee-sama. You deserve all the happiness in the world because you are a wonderful person." Touko said.

Yumi didn't know what caused Touko to be this sentimental. Was it because she agreed to wear the dress that her little sister bought for her? It seemed like a trivial matter for Touko to be moved to tears with joy. But since it was very rare for her uptight and serious petite seour to act like this, Yumi decided not to question it further and just placed her arms around the younger woman to embrace her tightly.

"I love you too, Touko."

After their heartfelt exchange, Touko pulled away and ushered her to the bathroom. Saying that they've already wasted precious time.

"How about Sachiko?" Yumi asked again.

"We'll meet her there."

"She's that busy, huh?"

"We'll not fit in one plane anyway."

Touko closed the bathroom door for her, not giving her another chance to speak.

It was a sleeveless white dress with two layers. Underneath was a layer of soft cotton that felt comfortable on her skin and on top was a lacy fabric with flower patterns and designs. It was a loose fitting dress that fell a few inches above her knees. It fit her perfectly, as if it was made just for her.

She couldn't help but be happy at her imouto's thoughtfulness for buying her something so nice. However, she couldn't bring herself to smile because somehow, her heart started beating wildly against her chest. Everything about the day was turning out to be good…so good in fact that it felt like a bad omen. Like the quiet before the storm or the peacefulness of the ocean before a tsunami.

Yumi placed a hand to her chest and took deep breaths to calm her heart, willing the ridiculous negative thoughts out of her head.

"Onee-sama?" Touko called from the outside of the bathroom.

"I'll be right out."

Yumi swallowed hard. Surely, it was nothing bad. It couldn't be. Whatever the reason was for Sachiko's absence, Yumi was positive (or at least hoped) that it was nothing serious like her grandfather's death earlier this year, nor something terrible like her grandmother's death during their time in high school. Because both times, Sachiko had been distant, especially when her grandmother died.

After one good look at herself in the mirror, she opened the door and walked back to their room.

"Yumi-san, let me fix your hair for you."

Yumi was surprised to find Shimako and Yoshino in their room. They were dressed beautifully, Yoshino with a yellow dress and Shimako's was cream. This made her think that her friends must have went out to shop together, seeing that their clothes were somehow similar to hers.

"Are we really going island hopping or are we attending a garden wedding?" Yumi joked.

"We need to be pretty. We'll be taking lots of pictures since these events are very rare." Shimako answered.

Yumi nodded in understanding. It's true that it was a rare occurrence for them to be complete. And nobody knew when they will be able to have a reunion again, considering that Sei and Youko lived in another country and each of them have their busy lives to live.

With this thought, she let Shimako fix her long brown hair up into a messy bun. Shimako attached a flowery pin to hold Yumi's hair.

"You look gorgeous, Yumi-san" Yoshino beamed.

"You look not so bad yourself" Yumi returned the compliment.

Yoshino then pulled her into a hug, much similar to what Touko did earlier. "I am so happy Yumi-san!"

"Me too."

Is Yoshino-san this excited about going on a seaplane and go on island hopping? Yumi thought.

"Let's just enjoy the afternoon and take lots of pictures, like what Shimako-san said."

"Oh yes, Yumi-san. We definitely will!" Yoshino exclaimed as she let go of her best friend.

The four of them soon went to the seaplane dock. There was one aircraft waiting for them. A kind-looking gentleman, which Yumi assumed was their pilot, assisted them in boarding the plane. It was a small plane which could fit at least 5 to 7 passengers.

"Where are the others?" Yumi asked as she settled comfortably and fastened her seatbelt.

"They went on ahead, onee-sama. Don't worry, we'll surely see them there."

They soon took off.

Yumi looked out and was amazed at how beautiful everything looked. The place they just left grew smaller and smaller as the plane ascended, while the ocean appeared vast and large, and Yumi felt so small. It was somehow an overwhelming feeling.

It was few minutes after their departure and Yumi was enjoying the view outside when she felt Touko take hold of her hand and started wrapping a black ribbon on her left wrist. Yumi immediately recognized it as the one she gave to Sachiko many years back. It had been a Christmas present to her then onee-sama when they were still in high school. It was the black ribbon that held so much meaning to both her and Sachiko.

She looked questioningly at her imouto, but Touko just smiled at her and proceeded with what she was doing. When Touko finally tied the ribbon, her petite seour drew her face closer and whispered in Yumi's ear.

"Look outside, onee-sama."

And Yumi did.

Her eyes widened in shock at what she saw. Below them was an island. Its beach spanned a long stretch, shaped like a crescent moon. It was a wonderful sight, with its pure white sand, turquoise waters and lush green trees. But what brought tears to Yumi's eyes was not the scenic view, but the words spelled out on the beach. And in the middle of it stood a lone figure, seemingly looking up at their plane. Despite the distance, Yumi could not mistake it for anyone else.

She covered her mouth in an attempt to stifle her impending sob. However, she was unsuccessful in stopping her tears as warmth spread across her chest. She was overcome with so much emotion and she found it difficult to breathe.

"Onee-sama" Touko said smiling widely.

"You knew?"

"Everybody knew."

Yumi looked at two of her closest friends and they looked back to her with brilliant happy smiles. Yoshino, like her, had tears in her eyes.

Yumi still could not believe it. She looked outside again, as if to confirm that it was not just a dream or a hallucination. But indeed, it was still there. Clearly spelling out those three words…

Marry me Yumi

The plane soon descended and Yumi's heartbeat quickened. She wiped her tears away and held her chest, as if willing to calm down.

When the pilot finally opened the door for them to exit the aircraft, Yumi suddenly found her knees were weak and shaking.

Touko unfastened her seatbelt for her and squeezed her hand.

"Sachiko-sama is waiting" her imouto whispered.

And suddenly, everything that happened that morning made sense. Why they left her to sleep in until the afternoon, why everyone stopped talking when she arrived for lunch, why they exchanged nervous glances whenever she asked for Sachiko, why her closest friends dolled her up and why Touko and Yoshino gave her heart-felt embraces. It was all because they knew and had probably been helping with the preparations.

"Hey, what's taking you so long? Sachiko's losing patience in waiting for your reply" Sei's head soon popped out of side of the seaplane, shaking Yumi out of her musing.

"Yumi-san's nervous" Yoshino said.

"No, she's just overwhelmed." Shimako said.

Yumi once again swallowed hard before taking a shaky step out of the aircraft. Sei escorted her out and gave her a quick embrace.

"Go to her" she whispered.

Yumi looked ahead and found Sachiko standing in the middle of the beach, wearing a dress similar to hers and a beautiful dazzling smile. Yumi felt like a high school student again, looking at the most beautiful girl in the campus from afar and admiring her from a distance. The difference this time is that the said girl was looking back at her, with a wide smile on her lovely face and an expectant look in her eyes.

Yumi took slow unsteady steps towards her lover. Each step matched with the loud beat of her heart. Never taking her eyes off of Sachiko, fearing that the mirage would soon disappear.

She stopped a few steps in front of her beloved.

"I thought you needed a month to sort it out?" Yumi said, disbelief still evident in her eyes.

"Surprise" Sachiko just said.

Yumi raised her eyebrows, still finding it hard to take in everything that was happening.

"It wouldn't be much of a surprise if you knew exactly when I was going to propose, right?" Sachiko continued before she took hold of her lover's left hand.

Yumi noticed that like her, Sachiko was wearing a black ribbon on her left wrist.

"I had a feeling that the divorce would be finalized while we were on vacation. So I asked Yuuki if I could borrow this ribbon for a while."

"Wait, he knew?"

"I visited your house a few days after we got back together and expressed my intentions to your family."

Yumi's eyes widened in disbelief, "they didn't tell me anything."

"Of course, silly." Sachiko laughed.

"So probably that's why my mom and dad kept on telling stories about when I was a kid. They also kept on saying that they'll miss me. But I had been so busy with work to really stop and think about my family's weird behaviour."

Sachiko then brought Yumi's hand to her lips and kissed it tenderly. After giving her a loving look, Sachiko let go of her hand and reached behind her own neck to remove the necklace she was wearing.

Sachiko held it up, "can I put this on you?"

It was a necklace made of white gold, with a ring hanging in the middle instead of a pendant. The ring was likewise white gold, and adorned with a rose-shaped diamond in the middle.

Yumi was speechless and they just stared into each other's eyes for what seemed like an eternity.

Sachiko's heart has been beating wildly against her chest as she waited for an answer.

It had been like that since that morning when she told her onee-sama that she received a confirmation that her marriage to Suguru-san had finally been annulled. She had been so anxious since the night before that she hadn't been able to sleep as soundly as Yumi did. And the moment she shared the news with her onee-sama and told her that she intended to propose to Yumi, her onee-sama had been elated. She immediately woke Sei up.

Sei had likewise been so ecstatic that the webs of sleep were cleared from her head the moment the news escaped Youko's lips. But Sei's surprise was nothing compared to Yoshino's shrieks of joy when she had been informed. She was livid at first, that Yumi kept it a secret from her that her best friend's misunderstanding with Sachiko had already been cleared. But when Eriko reminded her that she and Sei were the first ones who attempted to scheme against Yumi and Sachiko, no further protests came out of Yoshino's lips. Instead, she just gave countless suggestions about how the proposal should go.

Sachiko waited patiently for Yumi to snap out of her shock. But with each passing second, Sachiko was starting to get agitated.

"Yumi?" she called out. "Come on, don't space out on me right now. I am waiting" she said anxiously.

Yumi broke into a huge smile and said "Of course it's a yes!"

And the moment those sweet affirmation escaped Yumi's lips, Sachiko's nervousness dissipated and she was overcame with joy. With trembling fingers, she leaned forward to put on the necklace around her fiancé's neck.

Cheers soon erupted from around them as all of their friends surrounded them.

"Congratulations, onee-sama" Touko hugged her and started crying.

"Congratulations, Yumi-sama and Sachiko-sama" Noriko and Nana said before they pulled the still weeping Touko from her arms. It was very unusual for her imouto to be this open about her feelings that Yumi couldn't stop herself from crying as well.

"Touko-chan is just so happy that you are finally able to be with the person you truly love, Yumi-san. And not just some random person you happened to meet."

"Thank you, Yoshino-san. But I am sure those are your own thoughts, and not Touko's."

"No, they were spot on, onee-sama. I feel the same way as Yoshino-sama." Touko said wiping her tears away. "I'm sorry for not controlling my emotions. I have just been so happy since this morning."

After exchanging congratulations with everyone, they soon boarded three separate seaplanes. Sachiko and Yumi had one all to themselves.

The seaplanes departed the island one by one to go back to the main resort island. But midway, Yumi noticed that their plane was going a different direction from their friends' plane. She turned to look at her now fiancé and said "Sachiko, where are we going?"

"We haven't had the chance to really be alone, Yumi. Is it okay if we continue where we left off last night? You said you wanted to return the favour, right?"

"Is that so?" Yumi smiled before she leaned forward to claim her soon-to-be wife's lips. "I love you, Sachiko."

"I love you, Yumi."

Yumi leaned onto Sachiko's shoulders and she absentmindedly caressed her beloved's hands.

Sachiko let a contented smile graze her lips. She was extremely happy that despite being pushed to the edge countless times by their seniors, the game she had played with them had been fun. And in the end, with the ring on her fiancé's chest, it had been her schemes that played out well and succeeded.

Schemes

A/N: There you have it, the end of Schemes. I hope you enjoyed the story. ^^

Here are the answers to the last three chapters questions, just in case you tried to answer them:

*Caught - Sei, Youko and Rei

*Unexpected Ally - Eriko's Husband

*Schemes - Sachiko

Beta note: And, so like "Still" did about a month ago, now "Schemes" as well comes to an end. I would first of all like to thank Teacher Yumi for letting me work with her on this, as well as probably being allowed more insight than most into this story. Both as a beta as well as a reader, I have enjoyed every step of the story, and I do hope that goes for all you readers as well. Please do feel free to leave a review, as I know the author does read and appreciate it, and while I can't tell you what is coming next, do feel free to follow Teacher Yumi, so you can be a part of what comes next as well.

**Teacher Yumi signing off**