Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume11 Chapter1 2

The Girl with the Brown Umbrella. Part 2

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 sexually harassing 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 gratitude, Yumi was assailed 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 glass 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 Japanese style.

Even so, it didn't feel like a modern reproduction of a traditional Japanese 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.