Maria Sama Ga Miteru:Volume12 Chapter5

Searching in the Mist

Part 1

"Red pine. Larch."

Sachiko-sama pointed out the different trees in the woods.

"Judas tree."

Informing Yumi of their names as they slowly walked together.

"Maple … its leaves turn to red in Autumn."

Sachiko-sama had an incredible knowledge of the trees in their vicinity. But her knowledge wasn't just limited to trees – every faint bird cry would cause her to stop and say, "That was a narcissus flycatcher," or, "That was the call of the blue-and-white flycatcher."

It was Thursday.

Sachiko-sama had awoken unusually early and invited Yumi on a pre-breakfast stroll.

"Watch out, there's some broken branches over there."

Fog had rolled in and they were enveloped in a white world.

They should be fine as long as they kept going straight ahead, but the thick milk-colored fog completely cloaked everything around them to the point that Yumi felt her confidence slipping, even though they were actually walking along a path.

That said, even if they did veer slightly off course, they'd feel the cool morning dew on the ferns and other ground cover against their legs.

"I like the fog too."

Her eyes were partly closed not because she was squinting, but because she was smiling. It seemed like the fine spray of water surrounding them had sharpened her senses.

"I wanted to show this to you."

At that moment, Yumi understood that Sachiko-sama didn't simply like everything about this region.

What she loved was the woods surrounding her villa.

Sachiko-sama probably thought of everything in the guidebooks – all the shops, walking tours and art galleries – as being in some distant town, since none of them were here. Basically, it didn't matter to her whether they existed or not.

The delicious pastries that Gensuke-san fetched on his bike for their daily breakfast.

All the locally sourced meat and vegetables that Kyo-san cooked with.

The handmade jam from one of the neighborhood ladies.

The rich honey from an old retiree who had taken up beekeeping as a hobby.

Fresh wasabi from a marsh a short distance away.

Sachiko-sama liked all these things. But that was the extent of it. She didn't go out and buy them herself, nor did she go and visit where they were made.

As a result, spending all day in the villa didn't bother her at all.

To Sachiko-sama, this place must be like a familiar childhood room. She was inviting Yumi in to a space that she'd spent so much time playing in on her own.

"Onee-sama."

Yumi grabbed onto the arm in front of her. She vowed to never let go of her onee-sama again, even if it was painful, or her arm got hot.

"What's the matter? Is the fog scaring you?"

Yumi shook her head at Sachiko-sama's question.

"We'll be fine if we stay like this. The mischievous fairies only come for people traveling alone, you know."

They walked on, arms tightly linked.

On the other side of the fog, Gensuke-san's bike light shone as he made his way home.

Part 2

Kikuyo Ayanokouji-sama came to visit Sachiko-sama shortly after 10am.

Kikuyo-sama was the same age as Touko-chan, and staying in her parents' villa about 500 meters down the road from the Ogasawara estate.

"Can you help me with my homework?"

With a thump, Kikuyo-sama dropped a stack of books, including an English translation of "The Tale of Genji" plus a couple of Japanese-English dictionaries and some B5 notebooks, on the terrace table.

"We have to translate the chapter "Young Murasaki" back into Japanese. It's tough because the English translation has changed some of the nuances slightly and we have to translate it back into modern Japanese."

A Japanese classic translated into English that they had to translate back into Japanese. Sure, different schools had different homework, but even so, this would surely be a shock to its original author, Murasaki Shikibu.

"… Kikuyo-chan, homework is something you're supposed to do yourself."

Sachiko-sama put a bookmark in the book she had been reading and closed it. She'd already finished Dazai's "Tsugaru" and had moved on to Shakespeare.

"But you've always helped me out in the past. Every year, I look forward to studying with you, Sachiko-onee-sama. It's why I come to the villa. I'm not asking you to do it for me, I just want to do my homework by your side, so I can ask you questions if there's any parts I don't understand. Or, is it that – "

Kikuyo-sama shot a withering glance at Yumi.

"You don't care about me because you've got Yumi-sama this year?"

Yumi was thrown into confusion, since she had considered herself to be completely uninvolved in this matter. After all, the issue of whether or not Sachiko-sama would look over Kikuyo-sama's homework was just between them, and Yumi just happened to be in the same place.

"This has nothing to do with Yumi, though."

Sachiko-sama said, naturally.

However, Kikuyo-sama lost her temper and said, "So that's what you think? You're too greedy, Yumi-sama."

"Huh!?"

"Day and night, you're monopolizing Sachiko-onee-sama. And yet I can't even get a tiny sliver of her time. It's just unfair."

"Kikuyo-chan."

"But it's true. You've never called me selfish before, or looked at me with such a scary face. You've changed, Sachiko-onee-sama. I just know it's because of Yumi-sama."

Kikuyo-sama flopped down onto the table, sobbing. Confronted by this sort of behavior, even Sachiko-sama had to give in and offer consolation, placing her hand on Kikuyo-sama's back and speaking tenderly, saying, "There there, don't cry." At which point Kikuyo-sama, with tears streaming down her cheeks, turned and pressed her face into Sachiko-sama's chest. Then she kept sobbing, crying, "Onee-sama," "Onee-sama," over and over. She just kept going on and on, like a cicada in a tree.

"I'll go and read upstairs."

Unable to stay there any longer, Yumi closed her book and stood up.

"Yumi … I'm sorry."

"It's okay."

Yumi somehow managed to force out a smile in return, then she kept going into the hallway and up the stairs, as though she were running away.

Yumi didn't think she'd done anything wrong.

Even so, she understood that she was probably responsible for Kikuyo-sama's tears – just like Kikuyo-sama had said.

A newcomer had appeared, and become Sachiko-sama's petite soeur.

It was easy to imagine that those who had known Sachiko-sama before wouldn't be particularly pleased by that.

She'd been likened to Cinderella for some time after becoming Sachiko-sama's petite soeur.

However.

Now she was starting to wonder whether the Cinderella in the story had really lived happily ever after.

Wouldn't she feel out of place, leaving her home to go and live in the prince's palace? Wouldn't she long for her old life, that had gone up in a puff of smoke?

Returning to her room, she lay down on the bed. She only had about ten pages left in "Kokoro" but she didn't feel like opening the book.

She liked Sachiko-sama.

But them liking each other, just by itself, wasn't enough for her to be happy.

Just by being next to the person she liked, she was making someone else sad.

They were surrounded by lots of other people – that's what society was made of. Although, that wouldn't be the case if they were shipwrecked on some deserted island together.

Looking up at the ceiling, Yumi gently closed her eyelids.

Still, loving someone was a precious thing.

On the away team, Yumi became her own supporter and cheered herself on with a, "Keep at it."

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