Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume31 Chapter16

Memories of the Blue Umbrella

I wonder if the rain's stopped.

I idly pondered this as I handed the receipt to the customer.

"Thank-you."

As she gave a cursory nod and walked out, the neatly folded green and orange umbrella that the office lady held was still wet with moisture. As an input to my deliberation, it could go one of two ways. Was it folded because the rain had stopped, or was it folded because she'd entered the store?

The customers in the store were a girl wearing a local high-school uniform and a middle-aged man. Neither of them were holding an umbrella. Had they not brought an umbrella because it wasn't raining when they'd left home this morning, or had they gone out this evening because it had stopped raining? At any rate, it's the nature of a train station that you can travel a long distance without needing an umbrella, so I probably wouldn't learn much just by watching the customer's hands.

Well, I didn't really care whether it was raining or not just at that moment. What mattered to me was whether or not it would be raining in an hour's time.

"I'm sorry, the raisin-chocolate is sold out for today."

It was just after 7pm. My part time job at the bakery finished at 8. Incidentally, the raisin-chocolate had been a hit product for our store just recently – it sold out within 30 minutes of being put on sale at 3pm. Knowing that booms will always come to an end, the shop manager had a policy of not increasing the number of items of a well selling line. I think that's correct.

I was worried about the rain because I hadn't brought an umbrella with me.

It was Saturday, so my shift had started at 4pm. After attending lectures at university in the morning, I'd returned home, and it wasn't raining when I left again at 3:45 so I'd made the mistake of forgetting my umbrella. Since it was the rainy season, I was usually in the habit of taking a folding umbrella everywhere with me, but I'd put it in my handbag along with my textbooks. That was my downfall. When I left to go to my part-time job, naturally, I left my textbooks behind.

I realized I'd left my umbrella behind when it started spitting, but by that time I was already in sight of the station. If I'd turned around to go home, I'd have been late for work. So I dashed towards the train station.

Just as I arrived, a bus swept past me into the turn-around area. About half of the twenty passengers got off the bus and opened already wet umbrellas. It had been raining earlier, somewhere along this bus's route.

When I saw the last guy getting off the bus, I was a bit shocked.

I couldn't narrow the shock down to one specific thing – I think it was probably just a general shock.

I knew that guy, just a little bit. Since we both used the same train station, I'd seen him around from time to time. He never came into the store to buy bread, but I'd seen him walk past the front of the shop. I think we were about the same age. Importantly, he had the kind of face I liked. In other words, he was handsome. That was all I knew about him, so there was much more I didn't know.

The guy that got off the bus was carrying a blue umbrella. With a floral pattern. A lady's umbrella. Based on the design and color, it was probably a young girl's.

While I'd been a little disturbed by seeing this man with a lady's umbrella, the next moment I received an even bigger shock. After getting off the bus and reaching a covered area, he threw that umbrella away. Well, maybe he was just placing it there. He didn't actually throw it, he leaned it up against the wall, but then continued out through the ticket gate, leaving the umbrella where it was. To my eyes, he'd thrown it away. He'd thrown away the umbrella that didn't suit him at the train station.

That was, in general, a shock.

Leaving behind the gentle rain, I entered the bakery. But as a result of that, I couldn't help but notice the umbrellas the customers had when they came in. Particularly when they were bluish umbrellas.

I wonder if the rain's stopped.

I wonder if that umbrella's still in the same spot.

If the rain hasn't stopped when my shift finishes. And, if that umbrella is still in the place where it was abandoned – .

When I got to that point, I realized that I was thinking foolish thoughts.

Really, I wanted it to be raining. Because I wanted to pick up that umbrella and take it home.

"Put out the 'everything half-price' signs."

My manager's voice came from further back in the store. Looking at the clock, it was 7:30. Only 30 minutes until closing. I was serving customers at the time, so the other part-timer, a school-aged girl who had been slicing white bread, put the signs out.

After closing the shop at 8, checking the till, changing from my work uniform into my normal clothes in the locker room, it was 8:20pm.

"Good work today."

The manager always told us it was fine to take home as much of the unsold bread and pastries as we wanted, but I lived alone and there was only so much I could eat. But if I held back too much, it might look as though I thought the bakery's food was awful, which would also be bad. So I said, "I'll just take one," and looked inside the basket of unsold pastries.

"Ah, then you won't take this?"

The manager offered me a paper bag that had been stored on the shelves behind the register.

"It had been set aside as an order for one of our regular customers, but they rang and canceled it not long ago."

"Well, I'll take that then."

I thanked the manager and accepted the paper bag, then punched-out with my time card and left the store. The girl I'd been working with was still choosing a pastry, so I farewelled her with, "I'll see you next time."

I wondered what happened to that blue umbrella. I hurried across the wet and slippery train station floor.

I didn't care whether the rain had stopped or not. What I wanted was for the blue umbrella to still be there.

It had been four hours. It wouldn't be unusual for it to be gone.

Someone without an umbrella could have picked it up, or some kind person could have taken it to the station building or a police box. But that guy won't have returned to pick it up. Of that I was certain.

The umbrella was there. But it wasn't in exactly the same spot. It had moved about a metre. Since it was near the station entrance, that was probably because people had run into it, knocking it over, and then set it back up leaning against the wall. There was also the possibility that someone had borrowed it and then returned it.

At any rate, with my heart thumping, I touched the blue umbrella. I gripped the handle and gently opened it.

Luckily, it was raining lightly. I whispered to the umbrella, telling it that I'd take it to a police box tomorrow, then lifted it over my head and started to walk. Whoever the true owner of the umbrella was, it was surely not that guy from before.

As I left the train station, the man that I had once thought wonderful had become uninteresting. Why had I ever thought he was a good guy?

"I've still got a long way to go, when it comes to picking people."

I said to myself, and smiled. The blue flowers blooming on the umbrella seemed to be giggling with me too.

When I returned to my apartment and opened the paper bag from the manager, I found two raisin-chocolate breads inside. I'd been working there twice a week for about three months, and this was the first time I'd eaten them.

As for what happened to that blue umbrella, it disappeared from my place within the night.

I really had been intending to take it back the following day, but the rain had stopped so I left it out, opened, on my verandah to dry. And the following morning, it was gone.

My apartment's on the second floor, and it's not like it was underwear, so it was hard to imagine a thief taking it. There had been a strong wind that night, so it had probably been blown away.

I hope it bumped into somebody, provided it didn't hurt them.

From time to time I think about that blue umbrella.

I'm sorry I couldn't keep my promise.

Since it would be a miracle, perhaps one has to pray.

That it is returned to its rightful owner, no matter how many years that takes.

* * *

A blue umbrella had fallen onto the street on my path home from school. Lost property should be taken to the police box. I picked it up. It was a bit of a detour from my usual route, but there was a police box on the main street. Instead of following my usual path home, I turned one street earlier, in the opposite direction.

"I wonder if this really is lost property."

Although I'd started out in high spirits, I became a wee bit concerned. After all, the umbrella had certainly fallen, but it was stained with dirt. The frame wasn't broken, but there was a section where the blue material had come loose from the frame and flapped about.

"It could have come from a rubbish bin, or something."

But there weren't any rubbish bins along that road. Especially since the street I picked it up from was in a residential area.

"Ah, whatever."

At any rate, if I handed it to a policeman then my job would be done. It wasn't something I'd been ordered to do, but if pressed, I'd say it was to make the world a better place. When humans find something that's for the good of society, the order to do that comes from within.

However, being an ally of justice was never quite that easy.

"Oi."

Usually, an evil agency was out to block your path.

"…"

Well, that was problematic. Normally, you'd have to deal with a number of underlings first, but today the final boss had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

"You're from District A, aren't you? Why are you running around in District B?"

I didn't like this kid. Ishimaki-kun was in the same class as me, but he was a thug. Since we were in fifth grade of elementary school, he should have calmed down a bit, but he spent all his time teasing girls, teasing girls and teasing girls. Most of the time, you could substitute my name for 'girls' in that last sentence. But I wasn't about to back down.

"There's something I have to do."

"What is it?"

"What does it matter what it is?"

Does B district belong to you? Do I need your permission to walk here? In my mind I said these things, but they didn't come out of my mouth. I wasn't going to descend to his level to fight him. I, at least, wanted to maintain the composure expected of a fifth-grader.

When I walked on, ignoring him, Ishimaki snatched the umbrella out of my hand.

"Give that back."

"If you want it back, then tell me where you're going."

"No, way."

"Well, I'll just keep this then."

Ishimaki chuckled to himself.

That umbrella wasn't mine. So it was no skin off my nose if Ishimaki kept it. I had a small folding umbrella inside my satchel, so I wouldn't get wet even if it started raining, and when I returned home mom wouldn't ask me about the blue umbrella.

For a moment, I considered turning my back and going home. One turn around the corner and I'd be back on the street I had been on, and back in District A. If Ishimaki followed me, I could ask him, "Why are you running around in District A?"

However.

I felt a prick of pain in my chest.

Ishimaki wouldn't take the blue umbrella to the police box. I would not complete the task I had undertaken. That troubled me.

"Give it back."

I chased after Ishimaki as he ran away. He was undoubtedly pleased by my overreaction.

He left the street and ran across the pedestrian overpass. As someone who is always chosen for the athletics relay, I caught up to him in the middle of the bridge and we struggled for the umbrella.

Thinking that the blue umbrella was under attack from an evil agency, I desperately fought to retrieve it. Ishimaki probably just saw the blue umbrella as a blue umbrella, but having taken it he desperately sought to retain it.

We were both absorbed in what we were doing, and didn't consider how it had come to be like that. But just as I thought, "Ah," the open umbrella fluttered off into the air. That it remained like that and didn't fall onto the road was either a blessing or a curse. No, it was probably a blessing. If it had landed on the road, it may not just have been the umbrella that was damaged – if it had hit a bicycle then both the bicycle and its rider may have been injured too.

The blue umbrella was caught in one of the trees next to the pedestrian overpass. It was close, but not close enough that you could stretch your hand out from the overpass and reach it. On top of that, the tree looked to be completely unsuitable for climbing.

I felt despair, and cried. I wasn't able to protect world peace.

"I'm sorry."

Ishimaki said.

"I'm sorry."

After he'd said it a second time, I shook my head. The final boss had bowed his head. That would probably preserve world peace. But the tears wouldn't stop. Because the umbrella was still stuck in the tree.

"That wasn't mine."

I said to Ishimaki. I opened up to him, and asked what to do next. I told him that I'd come to District B so I could take it to the police box. I said what I'd earlier resolved not to tell him. In this way, I thought I'd gain the wisdom of the final boss.

"Let's call an adult."

The final boss's decision was quick.

"An adult?"

"All we can do here is cry. After all, we're only kids."

Ishimaki took my hand, and led me down off the pedestrian overpass. He looked less like a bully and more like someone trustworthy.

Indeed, I was only a child. The umbrella was only an umbrella that had fallen down, and the world wasn't going to end if it disappeared. That was just something I'd made up.

"If a kite gets stuck on an electric line, you call Tokyo Electric. But who has jurisdiction over the tree branches?"

After I grumbled this, he looked back at me and smiled.

"I dunno, so how about we go to the policeman like you'd planned?"

"Okay."

I was enticed into smiling too.

After explaining what had happened at the police box on the main street of District B, the policeman said, "Let's see what's happened first," and accompanied us back.

But by the time we'd returned, the umbrella was no longer there.

Ishimaki and I searched the surrounding area, but in the end we couldn't find the umbrella, so we spent some time playing in District B's park before going home.

* * *

The blue umbrella appeared before my eyes just as I was regretfully thinking, "I should have at least taken an umbrella when I left."

Technically speaking, the umbrella didn't appear before my eyes. It fell on me from above.

"I'm fine by myself."

I'd left home with that sharp parting remark, and within five minutes it had started raining lightly. If I'd turned left towards the train station when I left, I would have come across numerous shops selling umbrellas, but, unfortunately, I turned right and even the houses became fewer and farther between. It would normally be called a quiet residential neighborhood, but deep inside there's a small wood, of the type where ghosts might appear at night, and small fields were dotted between the houses. The clouds covered most of the sky, so it was dim and gloomy, but thankfully it was still early afternoon. Not yet the time of day when ghosts were likely to be moving around.

With the rain falling on me, I reluctantly ran towards a patch of greenery. It was too early to return home. If I didn't let at least an hour elapse, it wouldn't look good at all.

I knew everyone in the neighborhood back in the rural area where I'd grown up, so at times like this all I'd have to do was call out to someone and I'd be invited back to their house for tea, snacks and idle conversation. Call it the flavor of Tokyo, or society in general, but I didn't have any nearby acquaintances here. It was kind of sad.

The closest patch of greenery was a grove of mixed trees, containing a shrine to the god Inari. Or probably the other way around. Because the Inari shrine was there, the trees that surrounded it hadn't been cut down. At any rate, thanks to that god, I managed to more or less escape the rain. Soon enough the red torii arch came into view and I realized that the surrounding trees were fewer in number and scarcer in foliage than I had initially thought.

I was regretting it now, and it was too late to do anything about it, but I should have at least taken an umbrella when I left. Just then, a gust of wind blew, and an open umbrella fluttered down on top of me. I didn't even think about it. When the handle came into reach, I grabbed it. Since that's how you use an umbrella.

It was a blue umbrella. With a floral pattern, probably hydrangeas from the looks of it.

I surveyed the area, looking for its owner. But there was no one but me on the path. It must have flown here from somewhere else. It had been carried to me on the wind just now, but before that who knows how many modes of transportation it had taken. The cloth had come unstuck from one of the struts.

"Maybe the god Inari granted my wish for an umbrella."

As a start, I passed through the torii archway, and put my hands together in thanks. In that case, I briefly thought that I should have prayed for something else, but quickly reconsidered – it's not good to be greedy. Things could have gone bad if it had chosen a wicker basket.

Since I had obtained an umbrella, imperfect as it may be, there was no need for me to run around looking for a place to shelter from the rain. I could keep walking around the neighborhood until the residual heat dissipated.

But I didn't do that. My ears picked up a small sound from close by. It sounded more like an 'ahh' than a 'meow.'

"A cat?"

I squatted down and looked along the ground. Beside the shrine to the god Inari there was a cardboard box, and inside that were cats. One, two, … three cats.

It didn't really happen very often these days, but these cats had undoubtedly been abandoned. Outwardly, I remained calm as I looked down upon this clump of vitality, but inside I was just as surprised as I had been by the umbrella.

Just in case, I had another look around the area, but just like the umbrella's owner, there was no sign of the former owner of these kittens.

"Well then, what to do?"

The kittens hadn't just been born, as their eyes were open. Given their size, they'd probably finished weaning. There was a towel in the box instead of a blanket, but in spite of that they were probably still cold as they huddled together in the corner.

"Left in such a location, I doubt anyone would have noticed them."

While I certainly didn't approve of the dumping of new-born kittens, at least they could have put some more thought into where they left them. But then I tried to think of a better place, and nothing sprang to mind. I considered a main street, that had pedestrian traffic, but then I imagined the kittens getting out of the box and being attracted to the cars, and shook my head.

"Ahh, right."

As usual, the gears in my head don't spin that quickly, but it came to me. There was an animal hospital on the road I'd taken to get here. Talking to the veterinarian there would be the answer. Perhaps they'd be able to search for a new owner.

I retraced my steps. Although I'd called it an animal hospital, it was actually a small, private veterinary. I walked in through the gate, up the three stone steps and turned the doorknob, but the door didn't open.

"Not in?"

There was a notice beside the door. It said the veterinarian was on a training course and not seeing any customers for a week. The address and phone number of an animal hospital in the neighboring suburb was listed in case of emergency, but it was too far to walk and I had neither a phone nor any money, so I returned to the Inari shrine.

The cats were still in the same place as when I left. I squatted down, holding the umbrella over them.

I wanted to pat them, but I didn't. I knew that if I touched them, it would stir up my emotions.

I wanted to keep them, but I probably wouldn't be able to. Since I didn't even know what would become of me tomorrow, I was in no position to act irresponsibly.

"At the very least, I'd like to see you lot get a good home."

What if I took them home, temporarily? From there, could I get them to the animal hospital? Then I remembered that Kazuo had come by car. Kowtowing to her would be annoying, but she might be able to take them to the animal hospital.

Perhaps I saw a bit of myself in those kittens. I wanted to get somewhere warm and be given some milk.

With that decided, I stood up. I tapped my numb feet on the ground a couple of times and started walking, when I spotted a pink umbrella in the direction of the torii.

"Gran."

"Oh my."

When the umbrella was lifted slightly, the face that appeared belonged to my granddaughter, Misa.

"Mom and dad and aunty were all worried about you. Won't you come home?"

"Worried, huh."

"Of course they're worried. That's why we were having the conversation about living together in the first place, right?"

Misa was attending a university in the city. She was Kazuo's daughter.

"I'm fine by myself."

My husband died at the beginning of the year. I thought laying him to rest was all that was required, but it didn't take long for this to happen. They said I should go and live with them because they were worried about someone my age living on her own.

"You don't have to be by yourself though, right? When grandpa was alive, it was the two of you. But you don't want to leave the house that has all of your memories with him. I could see that."

"Maybe you're right. But both your parents and your aunt said they didn't want to move back in to my old, cramped house, so there's nothing that can be done about that."

"Aunty's husband works in Saitama, and they've bought an apartment 20 minutes away from his work."

"And your parents are in the middle of renovating their place."

"Mom's just finished the flower arranging classroom."

So if I were to live with either of them, I'd just be a burden on their household. And it would then only be a matter of time until the house that no-one was living in was put on the market. The house that we'd built from scratch, without any help from our parents, or anything like that. The house that we'd raised two children in.

"That's why I said I'd be fine by myself. I can still take care of myself."

"I suppose. When you put it that way, the next move is difficult."

Misa murmured, then as though she'd just noticed, she said, "Ah, kittens."

"What are they doing here?"

"What are they doing? They've been abandoned. Ah, don't pat them."

But before I could stop her, she'd done just that.

"So cute."

"Aaaah."

"Why can't I pat them?"

"If you get too attached, it makes it even harder to say goodbye."

"You speak from experience?"

"Indeed."

"Did you and grandpa have a cat at some point?"

"Just for a day."

Ever since I was a child, I'd wanted a cat. When I was in primary school, one of my classmates had a cat that gave birth to a litter of kittens, and I thought we could have one of them. But about the same time my older brother said he wanted a dog, and my father granted his request. His reasoning was that the dog could be a watchdog. I pleaded with him, saying that the cat could hunt mice, but he wouldn't listen. Our house didn't have enough mice to warrant an exterminator.

After we'd been married for a while, before we'd had any children but after we'd built the house, I asked my husband about getting a cat. He said that cats were old people's pets, and suggested we get a dog. It wasn't a big deal, but it hurt me and I ran out of the house. It brought back memories of my father getting my brother a dog, and made me far too sad.

I remembered. It hadn't been raining, but back then I'd come here too. My parents lived far away, so I'd had nowhere to go after a matrimonial quarrel either. When my husband found me here crying, he said we could get a cat. The following day, I answered a personal notice in the local paper from someone looking to give away kittens.

"Why just for a day?"

Misa asked.

"Because of your grandpa. He couldn't stop sneezing and crying."

"He was allergic to cats?"

"Yeah, but at the time we didn't use words like that. Your grandpa probably knew about it beforehand. But he was a man of the Showa era. He couldn't say that he had a weakness against cats. And if I wanted a cat so badly that it drove me to tears, then he intended to keep himself under control through sheer willpower."

"And so?"

"What else could I do? Tearfully, I took the kitten back."

While my husband was alive, that was both the first and the last time that I ran out of the house. He had shown he was willing to endure ill-health for my sake, and I loved him all the more for it.

"Gran. What if you kept them?"

"Huh?"

"The kittens. After all, grandpa said that cats were pets for old people, right? From here, you're heading down the highway to old-age, so why not keep them?"

"That's quite an interesting thing you've said, Misa. But even supposing I can look after myself from here on out, I don't know that I could handle a cat too."

Let alone three of them.

"Gran, earlier you said that you could take care of yourself."

Misa said. Indeed, I remembered saying that and nodded. Then she asked once more:

"But I guess adding three kittens would be tiring, right?"

"What are you saying?"

I had no idea where my granddaughter was trying to take this conversation. Probably because of my old age.

"So I'll come and help out, is what I'm trying to say. To take care of the cats."

"What do you mean?"

I was understanding less and less. How could I take these cats with me, when I'd already be imposing on one of my children to stay with them.

"Bit slow, huh? How about I live with you, gran. At your place, with the three kittens."

"Uh."

"Your place is closer to my university than home."

"So I wouldn't have to move out of my place?"

This was a bolt from the blue. I'd mostly given up hope, so was it okay to accept such a lucky opportunity? As I lapsed into silence, Misa looked me straight in the eye.

"My mom and dad persuaded me. Even aunty thought it was better if you didn't live alone … Or would you rather I not live with you?"

"How could I possibly refuse."

I hastily shook my head.

"You're my one and only darling granddaughter, Misa. Of course I'd be delighted for you to live with me."

"Then it's decided. Let's take these little guys home. I'll take the kittens, so you handle the umbrella, gran."

I nodded, then gave Misa the cardboard box and took her umbrella.

When she saw me close the blue umbrella and stand it up against the torii, Misa said:

"Isn't that your umbrella?"

It seemed she'd only just started to question how I could be holding an umbrella when I'd left the house carrying nothing.

"It was a gift from the god Inari."

"But if it was a gift from the god Inari, shouldn't you take it home?"

"It's fine, I'll leave it here."

I once again joined my hands in prayer, then left the Inari shrine.

"I've already received so much today."

It's not good to be greedy.

A darling granddaughter, and three kittens. And a precious house, packed with memories of my husband.

That was enough for me.

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