Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume11 Chapter1 4

The Girl with the Brown Umbrella. Part 4

She was completely engulfed by the muggy atmosphere when she stepped outside.

The rain had stopped unnoticed, and a burst of sunlight had caused the temperature to shoot up.

The massive blanket of clouds that had shrouded the world in darkness had perhaps been blown somewhere else, as there was now only a thin lace curtain covering the sky.

In the end, Sei-sama had switched to her well-practiced honors-student voice and called Yumi's house.

All she said was that Yumi would be home late because her clothes had got wet in a terrible shower and they'd stopped at a friend's house close to school to dry off. She wasn't reading off lines she'd written down in a notebook, but she was able to make her explanation flow.

It wasn't a lie, but she stretched the truth a bit to give a different impression. From the way Sei-sama spoke, it sounded like there had been a sudden downpour of diagonally falling rain that caught them unawares, and that Sei-sama and Katou-san had both been soaked too.

Naturally, Yumi's mother took those words at face value and politely thanked Sei-sama, then when the phone was passed to Yumi, instructed her to, "Make sure you thank them before you come home." Incidentally, Yumi's mother was also a graduate of Lillian's and a fan of the former Rosa Gigantea, Sei-sama.

"It's like turning back time."

Sei-sama picked up the cloud ear mushroom, or black men's umbrella, and gave it a shake to clear away the drops of water.

Even though it was now actually dusk, it had been darker about two hours ago.

Such strange weather.

Yumi's sense of time was a bit off-kilter too, but not like Sei-sama's.

It had been two hours since she'd been struck by rain, idly watching the road that the black car had driven down. It felt like such a long time to have only been two hours, and such a short time to have already been two hours.

Had that really happened? Perhaps time was now going backwards, and it was about to happen next. The gap between when she entered and exited the house was too big, and it felt like she was in some kind of a dream.

But when she stepped outside, she realized something.

Like the rain from above, her tears had completely dried up too.

When she thought about Sachiko-sama it still made her chest hurt, but she didn't have the same despairing thoughts about wanting to disappear.

"Thank-you for everything."

"My pleasure. I'm happy that I could host such a cute visitor. I'm an only child, so I wanted to see what it was like to fuss over a younger sister."

Katou-san held Yumi's red folding umbrella out to her. At some point she'd washed away the mud from the inside, and apparently dried it too. The way she'd folded it properly indicated her meticulous nature.

"If you'd like, please come and visit again."

"You betcha."

Sei-sama responded first. But this received a frosty reception from Katou-san.

"That invitation wasn't for you, Satou-san. I was talking to Yumi-chan."

"Okay."

Yumi nodded, and her dry, light twin bundles of hair bounced up and down.

They turned down Katou-san's offer to walk them to the bus stop, and bid farewell to her at the main gate. Looking back at the jungle-like garden, it seemed far more elegant than earlier, perhaps due to time or the brightness of the surrounds.

She didn't know whether anyone was there or not, but Yumi turned towards that window and bowed. The lace curtain seemed to flutter, but that could have just been her imagination.

"Yumi-chan. Do you remember what I told you about Goronta?"

Sei-sama said, out of the blue. This was when they were walking beside each other down a small street lined with private houses, heading towards the main road.

"Goronta? Ah, yeah."

Goronta was the name used by Sei-sama's grade to refer to a stray cat that had its territory in the area surrounding Lillian's High School. Yumi's grade called the cat Lunch, while Rei-sama's grade called it Merry-san.

A long time ago, when it was still a kitten, Sei-sama had taken care of it after it had been attacked by crows. The blackish tabby cat had safely grown to adulthood, and was still occasionally seen in the courtyard and around the back of the school building.

"Right now, you're like that injured kitten, Yumi-chan."

So, what happened? Sei-sama cut short her words before reaching that conclusion.

However, Yumi didn't go searching for any further meaning. She simply said, "Yeah," and nodded. Yumi felt like she could vaguely understand what Sei-sama was trying to say.

When they reached the main road, they saw they were equidistant between two bus stops, so turned in the direction of traffic and kept walking.

"But still. With people, there's things you'll never know unless you talk to them. Especially."

"Huh?"

For a moment, Yumi thought Sei-sama was going to say something about Sachiko-sama, but she didn't.

"Katou Kei."

"Ahh – "

"Surprisingly, I think we could become good friends."

"Is that so."

As she said this, Yumi smiled, just a little. Sei-sama may not have noticed it herself, but it was possible that she had a soft spot for level-headed meddlers. One of her closest friends, Sachiko-sama's onee-sama, Mizuno Youko-sama, was definitely that type. Rather looking after a junior, Sei-sama seemed to be more cut out for indulging one. While there was always the possibility it was planned, it looked more like a latent tendency.

"Oh."

Sei-sama turned around and called out. The bus to M station was bearing down on them from behind.

"Run, Yumi-chan."

Not waiting for clarification, Yumi started running too. No way she was going to let it get away.

Unlike trains, buses are affected by traffic conditions and other things. If she missed that one, it could be a long wait for the next one.

Barely making it to the bus stop ahead of the bus, they were breathing heavily as they climbed aboard.

"You're looking healthy."

The bus driver, about the same age as her father, smiled as he welcomed them aboard.

"Really?"

After showing her commuter pass, Yumi headed towards the back of the bus.

Healthy.

Ahh, right. Looking from the outside, all anyone would probably see would be a healthy high-school girl.

Her body still possessed the strength to run that far.

"Healthy, hey."

Sei-sama was laughing too, right beside her.

The bus wasn't so empty that they got a seat, but it wasn't overly crowded either.

There were about a dozen girls in high-school uniform on the bus, probably on their way home after club activities. They looked oddly at Yumi as she got on two stops from school, and bowed when their eyes met. Yumi bowed back at them.

The high-school students probably had no idea that something had happened about two hours earlier, and shouldn't be able to guess anything based on her current appearance.

After passing a number of bus stops, they turned a corner. As the elbow of her arm holding the strap brushed against Yumi's, Sei-sama said:

"I won't escort you home."

"Okay."

She hadn't made a complete recovery just yet, but she was able to run to catch the bus. She was well enough to smile and exchange greetings with unfamiliar students.

Therefore, she'd be fine. She'd be able to get home by herself.

Like usual, she changed buses at the train station, got off at the usual stop near her house and then all she had to do was walk home.

Left, right, left, right.

If she continued walking like that, she'd soon be home.

Left, right, left, right.

In the same manner, tomorrow would surely come too.