Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume22 Chapter1.2

Section 2

"I found her at the corner of Kakino-san's house. So I came home, 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 this without knowing the situation, it seemed as if Yuuki had brought home a girlfriend.

"W, Well just give her to me," Yumi told him.

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." She raised her head, and then walked toward the window frame.

"It's fine, it's fine. In my house, guests are always welcome. 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?"

She didn't know if Touko-chan had already introduced herself while Yumi had been coming down the stairs, 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 there 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" to her brother.

"Ah, my room 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've been up here?"

"No..." 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 was 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 met Shimako-san every day at school, so they'd never ended up trying to arrange plans to meet at someone's house after school.

"Touko-chan is the first person to visit 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 look on her face.

"Not even Sachiko Onee-sama? Then I can't go in." 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 was really leaving.

"How could I go up there if I went before you've even let your Onee-sama or your close friends go? What else can I do but refuse?" she asked.

"It's not a line you know."

"But..."

"But what?"

Touko-chan fell silent. These were things that Yumi would not have even realized Touko-chan would be watching out for, let alone tirelessly, and she even understood that there was no point in doing so. Touko-chan was strict at the oddest times.

"It's not like I didn't let Sachiko-sama or Yoshino-sama inside, you know. It's just never 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, one would confirm such things and then not take off one's shoes.

"Or is it just that you're worried that no one's come to my room before you?"

"... No."

"Then, it's fine, right? Come, come." Touko-chan might not have 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 being 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 them in order, and placed them in a box which she put 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. When she found the student notebook and the phone together, she knew it was like a sickle closing in on her. Touko-chan had only to look at Yumi, who wore her thoughts on her face, to understand most of the situation.

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

"I see. Great." She'd meant it in a that-way-Noriko-chan-will-not-get-worried sort of 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 sat slightly diagonally in front of Touko-chan.

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

"You walked here?"

"Yep."

"I see." Of course. She didn't even have the time to put on her coat. When she'd 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'd grown 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? If Yumi's mother not called out just then... she would have pulled Touko-chan close to her and hugged her, probably.