Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume22 Chapter1.2

Section 2

"I found her at the corner of Kakino-san's house. So I came near the house, and she tagged along."

First Yuuki had to explain how he could get into such a situation, so he talked quickly then stood up as he finished. Yumi and her mother had received a phone call from Kashiwagi-san earlier, so there was no misunderstanding, but if one looked at it without knowing the situation, it seemed as if Yuuki had brought home a girlfriend.

"W, Well just give her to me."

Yumi told him, and Touko said.

"Please excuse my intrusion at night."

Touko turned toward Yumi's mother, bowed her head politely and said, "I'm sorry for being a burden" , raised her head, and then walked toward the window frame.

"It's fine, it's fine. In my house, guests are well welcomed. Yuuki's friends always come over. I'm happy when Yumi's friends come. Dinner is almost done, so please join us. It's just simple home cooking though, so please don't mind."

"No. I'll be leaving soon."

"Kids can have as much as they want. Why don't you stay with Yumi in her room as long as you can?"

While Yumi had been coming down the stairs, she didn't know if Touko-chan had already introduced herself, but her mother seemed to have realized that this girl was the "Run-away-from-home girl" that Kashiwagi-san had been talking about. Anyway, the best thing that Yumi could do would be to encourage Touko and try to keep her for as long as she could. Though of course, her parents' statement of "We love guests" was no lie.

After Touko-chan took off her shoes and went inside, Yuuki made a face that made it look as if he had just finished lifting a heavy suitcase. Yumi used her lips to mouth a "Thank You" for his brother.

"Ah, my house is on the second floor."

Yumi turned around and called, as she climbed the stairs. Touko-chan obediently followed.

"Yoshino-sama and Shimako-san too--"

"Huh?

"They come up this way?"

"Noo..."

Yumi shook her head.

"The Yamayurikai members haven't come to my house."

Yumi had never given much thought to it, but now that she looked back, she found it true.

?She had gone to Yoshino-san's house before, but never the other way around. Shimako had never come to Yumi's house, and she had not been to her's.

She would meet Shimako-san every day at school, so they probably never ended up trying to arrange plans to meet at someone's house after school.

"Touko-chan is the first person to come since she I started going to high school."

Touko-chan stopped walking up the stairs.

"Huh? But Sachiko Onee-sama?"

"She's come in front of my house before, but---"

But she never came inside. Touko-chan had a conflicted on her face.

" Not even Sachiko Onee-sama? Then I can't go."

Touko-chan made an angry face. She about-faced and started going back down the stairs.

"W, Wait! Why?"

Yumi grasped Touko-chan's hand, and stopped her. At first she thought it was some kind of joke, but it seemed like Touko-chan really was leaving.

"How do you think I could go up there if you let me go before you've even let your Onee-sama or your close friends go? What else could I do?"

She asked, what else could she do.

"It's not a line you know."

"But."

"But what?"

Touko-chan fell silent. Things that Yumi would not even realize Touko-chan would watch out for tirelessly, even though she understood that there was no point in doing so.

Touko-chan was strict in weird places.

"It's not like I didn't let Sachiko-sama or Yoshino-sama inside you know. It just happened. Really."

"Well...."

Touko-chan whispered.

"Plus you already took your shoes off right?"

Even if she turned back now, she had come up the stairs.

"That was a mistake."

Normally, she would confirm such things and then not take off her shoes. Until now, who had come, those kind of things.

"Or is it just that Touko-chan is worried that no-one had come to my room before her?"

"... No."

"Then, it's fine right? Come, come."

Touko-chan might have finally accepted the idea, but at least she took Yumi's hand without a fuss and went up the stairs.

"Here you are."

Yumi opened the door to her room, and ushered Touko-chan in. She hadn't been planning to call over any guests, so parts of her room were messy, but she couldn't do anything about it. Well. It was her plain-old self at least.

"Please find a seat anywhere you like."

Yumi took the sewing materials and the thing she was sewing off the bed, put it in order, and placed it into a box which she placed in a corner of the room.

"Okay."

Touko-chan answered and then did not sit. She walked around the room, looking around. It was her form of manners. "What a great room," she said.

After that, Touko-chan's eyes fell on Yumi's desk. There she had carelessly placed the phone, and the student notebook open to a page of phone numbers.

"Did you already call Noriko-san?"

"Nope."

Yumi answered truthfully. There was no need to hide things.

"I haven't told anyone yet."

Touko-chan was very perceptible.

Then when she found the student notebook and the phone together, she knew it was like a sickle closing on her.

If Touko-chan looked at Yumi, who wore her thoughts on her face, Touko-chan would probably understand most of the situation.

"I was going to, but then Yuuki came back."

"I see. Great."

She meant that in a that-way-Noriko-chan-did-would-not-get-worried way. Touko-chan seemed to let out a sigh and laughed.

"Was it Suguru Onii-sama who told you? Or Sachiko-sama?"

"Kashiwagi-san. Sachiko-sama had guests over, so she hadn't been told yet."

Touko-chan nodded to Yumi's explanation, and sat on top of a cushion on Yumi's floor.

Touko-chan wasn't wearing her coat. On top of a traditional red one piece, she was only wearing a white mohair cardigan. It was just as Kashiwagi-san had said, she had just suddenly decided to leave the house.

"Wasn't it cold?"

"Yeah. Because I was walking."

"Really?"

Yumi sad slightly diagonally in front of Touko-chan.

"Really. At first I ran but, I got tired. After that ... yeah, really."

"You came walking here?"

"Yep."

"I see."

Of course. She didn't even have the time to put on her coat. When she left, she obviously had had no time to think of her travel expenses.

She had said that she hadn't felt cold but, when Yumi held onto Touko-chan's arm on the stairs, her cardigan had felt cool. When she held Touko-chan's hand it felt very cold.

It must have been hard.

She didn't know if something had happened at home or if something had made her leave her house. But even though Touko-chan had gone through so much, she walked all the way through the cold to get here. It really must have been hard.

"Were you coming to my house?"

Touko-chan shook her head several times.

"I was thinking about something, and just walking randomly. Eventually I turned up here. I looked at the district number on a power line pole and saw that I was close to Yumi-sama's house. I wondered where it was and ended up walking into this area. But it had become dark, so dark that I couldn't see the name plates. I went around here and there calling your name, but then I gave up. Just as I was going back, I met Yuuki-san."

"I see."

In the end, she wound up coming here. Now she just wanted to stay here silently and warm her cold self. She wanted to rest her tired heart.

"Tou...."

As soon as she heard her mother's "Dinner!" she hastily retracted the hand she had placed out for Touko-chan.

"It's done. Let's go."

Yumi stood up and spoke clearly. Touko-chan nodded and stood up. She opened the door and could smell something from up on the stairs.

Yumi ploddingly descended the stairs, and thought.

What should I have done?

Had Yumi's mother not called out then.

She would have pulled Touko-chan close to her and hugged her, probably.