Maria-sama ga Miteru Volume 11 Chapter 1

The cars sparkled as they skimmed along the road hazy with rain.

It wasn't yet 4pm, but the area was dark and the street lights, traffic lights and car lights all reflected off the thin membrane of water on the asphalt, making it look like a night view of the city.

To that extent, it was quite beautiful.

The glittering of the tears that spilled from her eyes added the finishing touches to the whimsical scene. - Quite ironic.

If she stayed like that, forever struck by the rain, perhaps she could disappear.

Along with her despairing thoughts, she could disappear.

For the last half-year, Yumi had always been looking at her onee-sama. Her eyes had been following her onee-sama, her ears searching for her onee-sama's voice, her lips had quivered with delight as she offered up words of dedication to her onee-sama. Even her straightenable sailor tie looked forward to the touch of her onee-sama's fingertips.

Ogasawara Sachiko-sama colored Yumi's everyday life. Flowers, jewels, hand knitted lace and perfume were all treasures whose color would fade. No-one made her heart throb with antic.i.p.ation so. Surely a second such person would never appear.

So to be cast aside by such a wonderful onee-sama, did that mean she no longer had any value whatsoever?

She wasn't thinking in such realistic terms as life or death, she just wanted to disappear.

If Sachiko-sama no longer needed her, then she wanted to remove herself from Sachiko-sama's presence. And if she were to still feel this way for Sachiko-sama despite being cast aside, then she wanted her heart removed from this world too.

The rain chilled her body. Yumi crouched, hugging her shoulders.

The glittering road was like the twinkling stars. Although the actual sky was blanketed with thick clouds, so there was nothing to see at that moment.

"Yumi-chan."

An umbrella was held over her from behind. Sei-sama's gentle voice brought Yumi back to reality.

She was now so wet that holding an umbrella over her was kind of pointless, but by looking up at Sei-sama's face inside the large, men's umbrella, some of her reckless thoughts were drawn out.

Like, here was a person who cared deeply for her. And if she were to disappear from this world, then so too would the kindness that this person showed her.

"One of my friends is boarding near here. She said we could go to her place."

Sei-sama swiveled her head towards the gate. And there she saw a large brown umbrella, which the lady in civilian clothes holding it dipped, probably intended as a bow.

"But."

"If you stay like that, you'll catch a cold. Besides, don't you think it'll be a bit rough to catch two buses home looking like that?"

When she heard this, Yumi took another look at herself. It looked like she'd had a bucket of water dumped on her. Water dripped from her two hair bunches like from a faulty faucet, and her triple-folded socks were so covered in mud that they looked like dalmatians.

From the tip of her head to the soles of her feet. There was no doubt that she had an eye-catching appearance.

"She made the offer herself, so you don't have to worry."

Being told not to worry by a third-party. To begin with, Yumi was little more than a pa.s.ser-by to the girl with the brown umbrella.

"I'm grateful for your concern for me. But, I - "

She turned her back, intending to finish with, "would prefer to be left alone." She grabbed the handle of her folding umbrella, gritty from the mud, and used all her strength to force it open. Sei-sama then regarded Yumi coolly as she said:

"If you're absolutely against it, then I'll have to take you back to your place myself."

"Huh!?"

She put too much force into it, and the umbrella turned inside out, so Yumi hastily closed it and turned around.

"Isn't it obvious? Of course I'm worried about whether you'll get home properly. And I'll have to explain about what happened to your family."

Since she had an umbrella, her mother would surely be surprised if she arrived home in her current condition. The f.u.kuzawa family weren't the kind of hands-off people that would be satisfied with an explanation of, "It's nothing," and sooner or later would drag the truth out of her.

And that would be a problem. She didn't want her family to know about things with Sachiko-sama.

She didn't want to make Sachiko-sama out to be the bad guy, and it would be too wretched to talk about how she'd been cast aside.

Speaking of wretched.

The sight of her continuing to struggle to get her umbrella to open was fairly wretched too.

"Satou-san, can I say something?"

The girl with the brown umbrella approached and spoke. Her long hair reached to her shoulders. She had almond eyes beneath her black rimmed gla.s.ses, and her thin lips were exquisite.

"Ahh, Yumi-san … was it? You don't have to be so reserved. I live alone, although the place is fairly small."

"Umm - "

Even after getting a good look at her, Yumi didn't recognize the girl at all. Since she'd called Sei-sama 'Satou-san,' it seemed likely that she was a graduate of a different high-school.

"You're well enough to walk about two bus stops distance from here, right?"

"Ah, yes."

"Alright, let's go then."

"Huh!?"

But the girl with the brown umbrella had already started walking off along the footpath. She had apparently interpreted Yumi's answer of "Yes" to the question of whether she could walk two bus stops distance to mean an acceptance of the offer to enter her house.

"Come on, let's go."

Sei-sama took Yumi's umbrella by the handle, and with a practiced action quickly opened it for her.

"Here, take a look behind. You don't want to become a spectacle, do you?"

When she heard this, Yumi became acutely aware that among the students around the school gates and bus stop, there were some who were looking dubiously in her direction.

Indeed, it would be odd for those gathered near the school gates to see a student getting soaked holding an unopened umbrella and not think, "What's going on?" And since she was Rosa Chinensis en bouton, it was only natural that she would garner even more attention.

"Right, Yumi-chan?"

"… Yeah."

In this situation, getting out of there as soon as possible was imperative. Yumi took hold of her red umbrella and followed after Sei-sama.

Although they were quarreling, in everyone else's eyes Yumi was still Ogasawara Sachiko-sama's pet.i.t soeur. She didn't want to bring shame to her onee-sama right at the very end. The fewer bad memories, the better.

She continued walking down the road she usually took home by bus, her footsteps heavy and her uniform heavy and dripping the rain it had absorbed.

Her umbrella was still crunchy from the dirt, or silt, and streaked with muddy water, but now it was providing her with shelter from the falling rain and at least the mud was washing away from the outside as she walked along holding it.

They walked single-file along the narrow footpath beside the road.

The rain wasn't falling as heavily as before, but it hadn't reached the level where an umbrella was unnecessary. It was light, but it looked as though the weather had resigned itself to a protracted campaign.

In front of her was Sei-sama's black umbrella. And in front of her was the kindhearted university student, name unknown, with the brown umbrella.

Yumi mentally apologized to its owner, but the brown umbrella appearing and disappearing behind Sei-sama reminded her of a shiitake mushroom. With that in mind, Sei-sama's black umbrella resembled a cloud ear mushroom, in shape at least. It looked exactly like the way water flowed off a cloud ear mushroom when it was being prepared for cooking.

(Oh … ?)

Yumi smiled instinctively, then was a bit surprised when she realized that she was coping well enough to smile.

Perhaps people are in possession of many hundreds of impudent nerves that fired on their own. If she really was being backed into a corner, surely she wouldn't pay attention to something like someone else's umbrella.

Mentally she might be in a bad state due to things with Sachiko-sama, but Yumi's body was tediously putting one foot in front of the other. And, without any orders to do so, her mind had started thinking on its own. Desiring stimulus from the outside world, her eyes and ears had been put to use.

Her body was in good condition.

The wound was solely in her heart, although there was no direct damage to the flesh.

Then, what of this heart?

Perhaps it didn't reside in her chest.

Yumi raised her arm that was carrying her school bag slightly and touched her chest with the back of her hand. When she thought of her heart, why did it feel like it existed within her chest?

( - There, see)

In the end, she kept thinking about it this way. It seemed the chest was boring too.

(Mm.)

As she watched the shiitake mushroom umbrella, Yumi was struck by a thought.

When she'd seen them earlier, had an umbrella of that color been in the group that surrounded Sei-sama?

Pink floral pattern, navy blue checks, yellow stripes or polka dots - she could remember those umbrellas, but there was no memory of a brown umbrella. In the first place, Sei-sama's umbrella had stood out because it was the only men's umbrella mixed in with the women's umbrellas. And when she looked at it closer, the dimensions of the brown umbrella were almost identical to Sei-sama's, making it a men's umbrella.

"Sei-sama."

Yumi called out to the cloud ear mushroom umbrella.

"Mmm."

"That lady … your friend, what should I call her?"

"Huh?"

"You know, what's her name?"

It was hard to speak in a way that she would be heard by Sei-sama, but not by the person in front of Sei-sama. And yet, Sei-sama turned her back towards Yumi. The design of the ears was such that they were better at catching information from in front.

The end result.

"Hmm? Sorry, I can't really hear you, ask me later okay?"

And, just like that, Sei-sama shut Yumi out, so she wasn't able to learn anything about this kind university student. Yumi was being supported by someone whose name she still didn't know.

After walking slightly less than two stops distance, they turned a corner. They left the main road and entered into a housing district, then walked another couple of hundred metres before arriving at the girl's lodging.

"Well, come inside."

The sight of the brown umbrella closing slightly and the woman holding it enter through the gates made Yumi blink. No matter how she looked at it, this was a detached house. And it looked like a splendid one at that. The wooden main gate was so large it could be mistaken for a wall, and the gate had a door within it that was used to enter.

"Mmm."

Sei-sama seemed to find this a bit unexpected too.

After taking in the ancient looking wooden gates, she murmured.

"This place, … umm."

When she'd heard the word 'boarding,' Yumi had pictured a cramped apartment. Although, it was certainly possible that the girl was renting a single room in a detached house. In that case, maybe it wasn't a problem that she was bringing home a dripping wet high-school student.

"Sei-sama, umm - "

Yumi had instinctively grabbed on to Sei-sama's arm when it was offered to her.

"Pardon our intrusion."

Sei-sama went inside, following the brown umbrella.

"Ahh, hold on."

No time for indecision. Yumi hurriedly followed along.

Now that they'd finally made it here, there was no going back. Even though it was close to Lillian's Girls Academy, this was unknown territory to Yumi, since she only ever got off the bus at school. If she were left alone here, even if the weather had been fine and it was mid-afternoon, she'd have been a bit helpless.

Once inside the premises, they continued along a paved path.

"You don't have to be so hesitant. My room's separate from the main building. See, it's over there."

Yumi followed where the owner of the brown umbrella was pointing, and at the end of the path was a small building. Next to it, the main building towered overhead, imposing.

"Wait here a moment. I'll just inform the landlady then be back."

She didn't go to the front door of the main building right in front of them, instead continuing along a stone path through the garden and gently tapping on the wooden frame of one of the main building's windows. Someone inside responded by opening the window. Since the garden was quite large, Yumi couldn't really make out the landlady, but from the general ambience she got the impression that it was an elderly lady.

"Okay. Come on through."

The girl said, upon her return. Apparently they'd been given the go-ahead.

"Boys are forbidden. Girls are allowed, but I have to get the landlady's permission."

"That seems strict."

"If it wasn't like that, it'd just become a gathering spot since it's so close to school, right?"

"Ah, I get it."

They continued along the paved path.

The garden, whether by design or just by nature, looked like a piece of pristine woodlands at the base of a small hill. The ground by the stone path was clear, but further in there was a solid covering of either gra.s.s or weeds, Yumi didn't know enough to say which, and the tall trees were all entwined with creeping vines.

The thin curtain across the front of the window of the main building that the landlady had been at opened slightly, and Yumi saw a grandmotherly woman regarding them.

"Pardon our intrusion."

Yumi instinctively stopped and bowed deeply, and that lady hastily closed the curtain.

"Huh? What is it?"

Sei-sama, who had been walking a few steps ahead of Yumi, turned around and asked.

"Nothing … just now, someone - "

"Someone? The landlady?"

Sei-sama asked, meaning to greet her. But now, it was too late when she looked. The curtain had already been drawn back across the window, and it was made of such thin material that they could tell there was no-one behind it.

"What's the matter? Come on in."

The girl with the brown umbrella had unlocked her door and beckoned them over.

"Okay."

Sei-sama and Yumi both responded, and walked along the stone path.

On the way there, Yumi stopped to have another look back, but the curtain across that window remained closed.

The warm shower seeped into her entire body.

Apparently she'd been colder than she thought. She seemed to remember that when she stepped on to the dry mat in the bathroom, and even when she entered the shower before she'd started the water running, she thought of herself as being lukewarm rather than cold.

Which meant that the person who lived here, the "Girl with the Brown Umbrella," had probably been correct in insisting she went straight to the shower, and not giving Yumi an opportunity to argue.

When Yumi had hesitated, Sei-sama had said, "Hurry up or I'll have to take your clothes off you myself," which she thought wasn't meant as a joke, but out of concern for her cold body. At any rate, that s.e.xually hara.s.sing comment had undoubtedly spurred her into the shower.

"Yumi-chan. I've left a bath towel and change of underwear here for you."

The girl with the brown umbrella called out to her from in the dressing room. Yumi really did have to ask for her name, but since she hadn't taken the opportunity when they first met, the ideal time to do so hadn't seemed to come around again.

"… Thanks."

After expressing her grat.i.tude, Yumi was a.s.sailed by conflicting emotions.

Since she was in the bathroom and completely under the shower, Yumi was, for the time being, not wearing any clothes. In her birthday suit, completely bare, stark naked. There were many ways to say it, but basically, she was nude. It had been relatively daring of her to take off her wet and heavy school uniform in the closed off dressing room, but her underwear had been a bit of a problem.

She hadn't brought a change of underwear.

Her bra and slip weren't as wet as the uniform, but they weren't the sort of things she wanted to wear twice without washing them either.

What to do, Yumi?

Yumi regretfully thought that she should have stopped and bought a new pair at a convenience store, but that's not the sort of thing that anyone thinks of until they're in just such a predicament. She could wash them now. But then, what to wear while they were drying? Plus the lace on the hem of her slip was wet from the rain.

She'd been pondering this while she had her shower, so she was grateful when she heard the phrase 'change of underwear.' But what was she going to do if they were like Sachiko-sama's gorgeous lingerie (to lump them together with mere 'underwear' would be demeaning). It would be fine if they were something she could use her pocket money to buy a replacement for, but - .

So, when she opened the frosted gla.s.s door to the dressing room, there was a bath towel and change of clothes waiting for her in a clothes basket.

There was a pair of 100% cotton boyshorts and an undershirt, both still with the creases from when they'd been purchased, and a gray sweatsuit that, while not new, had the faint aroma of washing powder.

Alone in the changing room, she bowed her head and said thanks, then got changed. The dry clothes, and the warmth when she put them on, made Yumi feel like she was wearing people's kindness, and once again she was moved to tears.

As for the unpleasant state of her body, perhaps that had been because her heart had been leading it in a negative direction. Yumi liked to think that she usually kept herself neat and tidy.

But the way she acted when driven to desperation couldn't have been all that desirable. Yumi suddenly remembered the hands of her onee-sama fixing her tie.

"Are you nice and warm? I guess a bath would have been better, even though it takes longer."

Yumi came out of the bathroom and saw her school uniform hanging by a window. The girl with the brown umbrella was carefully wiping a damp cloth along the pleats of her skirt, to remove the mud stains.

"Ah, yeah. I'm plenty warm. Thank-you."

"Okay, that's good. Pick somewhere to sit and rest."

While the girl was still talking, Yumi sat down on one of the zabuton cushions by the low table. A modern table wouldn't have cushions. But this was a traditional table, and so had the traditional cushions to accompany it.

Sei-sama was standing in the kitchen doing something. If it was the same as this room, then it would be a traditional kitchen too.

"Umm - "

"You don't have to worry about the change of underwear, if that's what you were going to say. They're a gift, so you can take them home. It would be more of a problem if you left them."

Indeed.

"I bought a stack of them from the 100-yen shop for when my friends stay the night. But this kind of situation's an even better use for them. Right?"

"…Yeah."

So 200 yen total, plus tax. Of course, this didn't represent the full amount of her kindness, but it was still an important consideration that she not be out of pocket for these items. Naturally, the fewer times something like today happened, the better.

Inside her purse, Yumi had a couple of hundred yen coins. But if she were to get them out now, the girl in front of her would surely take offense. So for the time being, Yumi decided it was better to be humbly grateful.

The girl with the brown umbrella had finished cleaning the dirt off the outside of Yumi's school uniform, and started drying it with a hair-dryer.

"It's lovely to look at, but there must be all kinds of difficulties having a dress as a school uniform."

She murmured some examples, like putting it on and taking it off, repairing it, and so on.

"Ah, I'll do that. Sorry, I should have noticed earlier."

When Yumi rushed over, the girl held the dryer up high, out of her reach.

"It's okay. I can do it … rather, I want to do it."

It wasn't said with a grin, but that was the impression it gave. Come to think of it, she didn't seem to smile all that often.

"Yeah, let her do it. She seems much more handy than you, Yumi-chan."

Sei-sama had returned from the kitchen, and stood behind Yumi, offering her a mug.

"Hot cocoa. With extra sugar for Yumi-chan."

Yumi took the offered cup with her hand that had been reaching out for the hair dryer and settled back into her previous position.

" … Thank-you."

It was sweet and delicious. Sei-sama had complete knowledge of Yumi's tastes. So there was no way she'd make a mistake.

Yumi had to say that they couldn't keep pampering her like this. But, right then, she couldn't.

She wanted to stay immersed in that warmth and sweetness for just a little while longer. She thought they'd understand.

"I'll leave yours here."

Sei-sama left a cup for the girl with the brown umbrella atop the low table, then sat beside Yumi.

The rain was still coming down. But it was so quiet that Yumi couldn't pick out the sound of the rain. Perhaps her ears had simply become accustomed to it.

"This is so relaxing."

Sei-sama murmured, talking to herself, as she slowly sipped the contents of her teacup and looked up at the ceiling.

"… Yeah."

Yumi voiced her agreement. If she were to put a name on it, then 'relaxing' would indeed be the most fitting term.

Taking another look around, it was an odd residence.

It was separate from the main building, they weren't even connected by a covered walkway, making it a completely independent building. But having said that, it wasn't simplistic, like a pre-fabricated children's study area. From the outside, the tiles on the roof made it look like a normal, albeit small, house.

From the entrance, the layout of the house gave the impression of a studio apartment. Kitchen, toilet, bathroom all off to the side of a single main room. If the flooring was wooden, then it would be a typical western-style studio apartment, but this room was six tatami mats of pure j.a.panese style.

Even so, it didn't feel like a modern reproduction of a traditional j.a.panese house either. It looked like it had been built in the 1950s or 60s, and maintained as-is since then. Yumi had seen a photo collection composed entirely of houses like this on her father's bookshelf.

"Oh right, Sei-sama."

Yumi tugged on the shirt sleeve beside her and whispered.

"Mm?"

"Umm, my earlier - "

"Earlier? Ah, right."

As she said this, Sei-sama turned her face to the girl by the window, drying Yumi's school uniform.

"Say, Yumi-chan asked me, "What's your name?""

Sei-sama, what are you doing? Couldn't you have just answered quietly? If Yumi was going to ask the girl herself, she would have done it more tactfully.

"Ah."

The girl switched off the hair-dryer and bowed.

"Sorry, I haven't introduced myself. I'm Katou. Katou Kei."

"… Katou, Kei."

Oooh. It was practically the same as a certain someone's name. - As she was thinking this, before she could say anything:

"Ah!"

That certain someone called out.

"So, you're Katou Kei, huh … !"

"Yeah."

Not understanding, Yumi compared the two expressions. The two expressions belonging to Satou Sei-san and Katou-Kei-san, obviously.

While Sei-sama's face showed an undercurrent of profound surprise, Katou Kei-san's face had hardly changed, her smile showing traces of amazement and exasperation.

"Satou-san. Did you, perhaps, come here even though you didn't know who I was?"

"Ooooh … !"

Without thinking, Yumi cried out.

That was it.

The one called Satou Sei-sama was indeed that kind of person.

She thought, "What's with that?"

Yes, she was her senior, someone she respected and loved, and who was always helping her out. But setting all that aside, Yumi wanted to say, "You really are weird, aren't you?" to the person right beside her.

Yumi had accepted the invitation into this house because she'd been told that it came from Sei-sama's friend. What impulse made Sei-sama bring her drenched junior to the house of someone whose name she didn't even know? Surely there are limits to impudence. - Indeed, Yumi found it almost impossible to remain where she was any longer.

"I'd seen your face around, and you called me Satou-san. Besides."

Sei-sama wasn't acting shy as she gulped her milk- and sugar-free cocoa.

"Drying off Yumi-chan was my number one priority."

Hearing that was tough. The main culprit was herself. But even if it was with the benefit of hindsight, perhaps she should have been suspicious of their friendship when she'd seen Sei-sama standing in the kitchen.

"So, then, Katou-san - "

Why had she called out to Sei-sama, who she wasn't particularly close to, and been so accommodating of her junior? Until now, Yumi had been under the impression that Katou-san was well acquainted with Sei-sama, and had seen caring for her as an extension of caring for Sei-sama.

"It's not like I wouldn't have called out if it was just Satou-san by herself. Or an unknown high-schooler for that matter."

It wasn't quite a soothing tone, but Katou-san spun her words in a slow and detached manner. Hair-dryer in one hand. Now she was directing the airflow at the skirt pleats.

"And although I didn't know the details, I felt I had to lend a hand."

"So wise."

Like someone flipping mochi cakes, Satou-san entered the conversation with exquisite timing.

"It looked like the girl crying in the rain relied on you. It changed my opinion of you, Satou-san. You're not just some university student who's only messing around."

Messing around.

That phrase perfectly described Sei-sama's surface appearance.

"Thanks for saying so. But what about you? This is a lot of effort you've gone to, especially for someone who doesn't socialize enough to leave an impression like mine."

"University's a place to go for learning. There's no need for socializing."

"Ah, it's coming back to me now. Katou Kei, you glared at me the first time we met."

"It wasn't a glare. It was just a surprised look. You've got a persecution complex."

"A persecution complex?"

Listening to them, apparently they had a memorable meeting.

They were probably in all the same cla.s.ses at university, so it was only natural that they'd recognize each other, but this was apparently confirmation that they'd had a face-to-face meeting.

"After the university entrance ceremony, when we were gathered into separate cla.s.ses, they took attendance. When a certain name was called out, two people responded."

"And Satou Sei-san was in the wrong, answering, "Here," when Katou Kei-san's name was called out, right?"

"Exactly."

Yumi could picture it. But even with such an intense encounter, to forget that girl's face, what was Sei-sama -

"At any rate, you can't know a person until you talk to them. Right, Satou-san?"

"So do you think you've gotten to know me?"

"A little bit. At the very least, you're deeper than I initially thought."

There, it's done. Katou Kei-san switched off the hair dryer and turned around.

"Well then, next it's Yumi-chan's turn."

Even though Yumi could have done it herself, Kei-san dried her hair for her. She ran her fingers from the tips of her hair through to the root. The warm air reached all the way through, gently coaxing. It felt really good and made Yumi drowsy.

She dozed off for a while, and Sachiko-sama came to her in a dream.

Sachiko-sama was crying. She was sitting, hunched over, in the corner of a large room. It was dimly lit. Yumi couldn't see the tears, but she was definitely crying.

It had been Sachiko-sama who had chosen Touko-chan over Yumi. So then, why did she have to cry?

Ahh, right. Because this was a dream.

She wanted Sachiko-sama to be crying because she was lonely after their split-up. That was probably Yumi's desire.

"When you're done with that, I'll call her house."

Sei-sama's voice brought Yumi back to reality.

"Don't worry, I'll explain everything."

She shook off the illusion of Sachiko-sama, and her heart swayed like a lullaby.

Neither Sei-sama nor Katou-san had asked for any sort of explanation.

They'd simply cared for her with all their might. They'd warmed her cold body, furnished her with dry clothes, and seen to it that she could get home to her family.

But that alone was enough.

It was what Yumi needed the most at that moment.

She was completely engulfed by the muggy atmosphere when she stepped outside.

The rain had stopped unnoticed, and a burst of sunlight had caused the temperature to shoot up.

The ma.s.sive blanket of clouds that had shrouded the world in darkness had perhaps been blown somewhere else, as there was now only a thin lace curtain covering the sky.

In the end, Sei-sama had switched to her well-practiced honors-student voice and called Yumi's house.

All she said was that Yumi would be home late because her clothes had got wet in a terrible shower and they'd stopped at a friend's house close to school to dry off. She wasn't reading off lines she'd written down in a notebook, but she was able to make her explanation flow.

It wasn't a lie, but she stretched the truth a bit to give a different impression. From the way Sei-sama spoke, it sounded like there had been a sudden downpour of diagonally falling rain that caught them unawares, and that Sei-sama and Katou-san had both been soaked too.

Naturally, Yumi's mother took those words at face value and politely thanked Sei-sama, then when the phone was pa.s.sed to Yumi, instructed her to, "Make sure you thank them before you come home." Incidentally, Yumi's mother was also a graduate of Lillian's and a fan of the former Rosa Gigantea, Sei-sama.

"It's like turning back time."

Sei-sama picked up the cloud ear mushroom, or black men's umbrella, and gave it a shake to clear away the drops of water.

Even though it was now actually dusk, it had been darker about two hours ago.

Such strange weather.

Yumi's sense of time was a bit off-kilter too, but not like Sei-sama's.

It had been two hours since she'd been struck by rain, idly watching the road that the black car had driven down. It felt like such a long time to have only been two hours, and such a short time to have already been two hours.

Had that really happened? Perhaps time was now going backwards, and it was about to happen next. The gap between when she entered and exited the house was too big, and it felt like she was in some kind of a dream.

But when she stepped outside, she realized something.

Like the rain from above, her tears had completely dried up too.

When she thought about Sachiko-sama it still made her chest hurt, but she didn't have the same despairing thoughts about wanting to disappear.

"Thank-you for everything."

"My pleasure. I'm happy that I could host such a cute visitor. I'm an only child, so I wanted to see what it was like to fuss over a younger sister."

Katou-san held Yumi's red folding umbrella out to her. At some point she'd washed away the mud from the inside, and apparently dried it too. The way she'd folded it properly indicated her meticulous nature.

"If you'd like, please come and visit again."

"You betcha."

Sei-sama responded first. But this received a frosty reception from Katou-san.

"That invitation wasn't for you, Satou-san. I was talking to Yumi-chan."

"Okay."

Yumi nodded, and her dry, light twin bundles of hair bounced up and down.

They turned down Katou-san's offer to walk them to the bus stop, and bid farewell to her at the main gate. Looking back at the jungle-like garden, it seemed far more elegant than earlier, perhaps due to time or the brightness of the surrounds.

She didn't know whether anyone was there or not, but Yumi turned towards that window and bowed. The lace curtain seemed to flutter, but that could have just been her imagination.

"Yumi-chan. Do you remember what I told you about Goronta?"

Sei-sama said, out of the blue. This was when they were walking beside each other down a small street lined with private houses, heading towards the main road.

"Goronta? Ah, yeah."

Goronta was the name used by Sei-sama's grade to refer to a stray cat that had its territory in the area surrounding Lillian's High School. Yumi's grade called the cat Lunch, while Rei-sama's grade called it Merry-san.

A long time ago, when it was still a kitten, Sei-sama had taken care of it after it had been attacked by crows. The blackish tabby cat had safely grown to adulthood, and was still occasionally seen in the courtyard and around the back of the school building.

"Right now, you're like that injured kitten, Yumi-chan."

So, what happened? Sei-sama cut short her words before reaching that conclusion.

However, Yumi didn't go searching for any further meaning. She simply said, "Yeah," and nodded. Yumi felt like she could vaguely understand what Sei-sama was trying to say.

When they reached the main road, they saw they were equidistant between two bus stops, so turned in the direction of traffic and kept walking.

"But still. With people, there's things you'll never know unless you talk to them. Especially."

"Huh?"

For a moment, Yumi thought Sei-sama was going to say something about Sachiko-sama, but she didn't.

"Katou Kei."

"Ahh - "

"Surprisingly, I think we could become good friends."

"Is that so."

As she said this, Yumi smiled, just a little. Sei-sama may not have noticed it herself, but it was possible that she had a soft spot for level-headed meddlers. One of her closest friends, Sachiko-sama's onee-sama, Mizuno Youko-sama, was definitely that type. Rather looking after a junior, Sei-sama seemed to be more cut out for indulging one. While there was always the possibility it was planned, it looked more like a latent tendency.

"Oh."

Sei-sama turned around and called out. The bus to M station was bearing down on them from behind.

"Run, Yumi-chan."

Not waiting for clarification, Yumi started running too. No way she was going to let it get away.

Unlike trains, buses are affected by traffic conditions and other things. If she missed that one, it could be a long wait for the next one.

Barely making it to the bus stop ahead of the bus, they were breathing heavily as they climbed aboard.

"You're looking healthy."

The bus driver, about the same age as her father, smiled as he welcomed them aboard.

"Really?"

After showing her commuter pa.s.s, Yumi headed towards the back of the bus.

Healthy.

Ahh, right. Looking from the outside, all anyone would probably see would be a healthy high-school girl.

Her body still possessed the strength to run that far.

"Healthy, hey."

Sei-sama was laughing too, right beside her.

The bus wasn't so empty that they got a seat, but it wasn't overly crowded either.

There were about a dozen girls in high-school uniform on the bus, probably on their way home after club activities. They looked oddly at Yumi as she got on two stops from school, and bowed when their eyes met. Yumi bowed back at them.

The high-school students probably had no idea that something had happened about two hours earlier, and shouldn't be able to guess anything based on her current appearance.

After pa.s.sing a number of bus stops, they turned a corner. As the elbow of her arm holding the strap brushed against Yumi's, Sei-sama said:

"I won't escort you home."

"Okay."

She hadn't made a complete recovery just yet, but she was able to run to catch the bus. She was well enough to smile and exchange greetings with unfamiliar students.

Therefore, she'd be fine. She'd be able to get home by herself.

Like usual, she changed buses at the train station, got off at the usual stop near her house and then all she had to do was walk home.

Left, right, left, right.

If she continued walking like that, she'd soon be home.

Left, right, left, right.

In the same manner, tomorrow would surely come too.

It was just before 7 when she got home, and the preparations for dinner were already complete.

"Go change, and rinse your mouth. Dinner will be in five minutes."

Her mother didn't pry, probably thanks to Sei-sama's phone call. There were only a couple of questions related to Katou-san, since they'd imposed on her. Well, the f.u.kuzawas placed complete faith in their children, so there was no reason she would be doubted.

In the evening, as she was getting her books ready for tomorrow, Yumi was startled when she opened her school case. The textbooks that she'd used that day were in an appalling condition.

"Wah, wah, wah."

For a moment, she couldn't understand what had taken place in there. The topmost part of the books, near the bag's opening, looked like they'd been soaking up water.

She'd completely forgotten about it, but she'd thrown her bag to the ground along with her umbrella when she embraced Sei-sama. It had probably landed in a puddle, and water seeped in through the opening.

"… Ahhh."

Air had got between the pages of her math, modern j.a.panese, and English grammar textbooks, and from above they looked just like a mille-feuille.

Perhaps she could have done something to prevent it while they were still wet, but now that they were dry, the only way to get them back to their original condition would be to iron them. The thought of getting them wet a second time floated into her mind, but she dismissed it because it seemed like it would result in an even bigger mess.

The textbooks were used all through second-year, and Yumi was convinced that each time she saw those stains she'd be painfully reminded of the day's events. But there was nothing she could do about that.

The stained textbooks could never be changed back to the way they were before.

Yumi put the textbooks back into position within the bookends on her desk, and readied tomorrow's textbooks. Then, just for a little bit, she couldn't hold back the tears and so they flowed, although there was no clear reason for them.

At that moment, she couldn't hold on.

She couldn't force herself to keep up a cheery facade. Because right now, she was a wounded kitten. She needed her wounds licked, to be protected, and for her exhausted body and soul to be tended to.

She needed to rest, so that some day she would surely gain strength from this.

Leave thinking about tomorrow until tomorrow.

Yumi turned down the lights, crawled into bed, and bid farewell to the many and varied events of that day.