Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume11 Chapter4 1

Welcome. Part 1

Her blue umbrella returned home.

Not returned, but returned home. Like it had the homing instincts of a lost dog, it returned home to Yumi's hand.

This happened after school on Monday.

When she was leaving afternoon homeroom, as though she had just remembered, Yumi's homeroom teacher informed her:

"Ah, Fukuzawa-san. Aota-sensei from middle school wanted to have a word with you, so stop by the staff room after you've finished cleaning duty."

"Aota-sensei?"

He had been her homeroom teacher during the first year of middle school. They hadn't really had much contact since Yumi moved to high-school, since they were in separate buildings and he didn't teach any of her classes.

"Do you know what it's about?"

"He didn't say. But I don't think it's anything to worry about."

"Huh?"

"Aota-sensei was smiling when he asked."

"Ahh, smiling … "

Good or bad. Either way, Yumi didn't even have a rough idea of what it could be about. If it had been her third-year homeroom teacher, then she could have started to guess.

For example:

To ask her to organize the class reunion.

Or, a photo taken on the day of their graduation had finally been developed, and she was being asked to distribute it.

But even with these, it wasn't exactly clear why Yumi would be the one to be asked. It wasn't like she'd been the class representative or anything – Yumi hadn't been a particularly conspicuous student during middle school, which was neither good nor bad.

Yumi was still pondering it as she finished her cleaning duties and headed to the middle-school staff room.

"Pardon me."

Up until a year ago she'd come here from time to time, but she felt out of place now and hesitated as she entered. From the entrance she confirmed Aota-sensei's desk, and was walking towards him when the gentleman with the silver-gray hair looked up from his library book and noticed her.

"You haven't changed, huh?"

Aota-sensei stuck a nearby tag in the open page and closed the book. She'd initially thought it was a complicated science textbook, but it looked to be a mystery novel. Aota-sensei ducked beneath the desk and placed the book in a paper bag by his feet.

Despite being Japanese, Aota-sensei looked exactly like Dick Bruna, the author of children's books, and because of that he was nicknamed "Miffy-chan." An unfortunate coincidence for the school teacher whose full name was Aota Mitsuo. Well, Miffy-chan was cute, so he probably wouldn't mind too much.

"Fukuzawa-kun, I hear you're this year's Rosa Chinensis en bouton? Do your best, okay?"

"Okay … "

It was a bit strange to hear a middle school teacher call her Rosa Chinensis en bouton. On top of that, recently she hadn't been behaving in a manner that could be described as 'doing her best.'

Aota-sensei probably didn't know about that as he smiled happily, then slowly and deliberately said:

"Lillian's Girls Academy – Fukuzawa Yumi."

"Yes?"

"One should always write their name on their belongings."

"Huh?"

What was he talking about? Yumi's eyes darted about as she tried to comprehend. But the answer was not forthcoming from Aota-sensei. Come to think of it, his classes had been like this too. He'd touch down some distance away, then bit-by-bit bridge the gap as he laid out the proof.

"I wonder if you can remember, some time ago you shared your umbrella with me."

"… Not really?"

"It was in the morning, by the statue of Maria-sama. You called out to me as I ran through the rain, and let me share your umbrella. Since I drive, it was only when I got to school that I noticed I'd forgotten my umbrella."

"Mmm."

Now that he mentioned it, something like that may have happened. It certainly seemed plausible enough. It probably happened three years ago.

"Ah, I see, you don't remember it. To you, it probably wasn't that special that you would remember it."

"Umm?"

"It was a blue umbrella. You told me that your grandfather bought it for you. You said you really loved that umbrella."

"Yes."

But that umbrella was gone now too. It had disappeared from the umbrella rack at a convenience store ten days ago.

The clerk had said that it probably wouldn't come back, and she'd received no call to say it had been found. There was no way someone who could steal someone else's umbrella so thoughtlessly would go to the effort of returning it.

"When you shared your umbrella with me, I praised your umbrella. In truth, I wanted to praise your actions, but I thought you'd be happier if I complimented the umbrella. Because I'm taller than you, you let me hold the umbrella. So I took the handle. It had your name written on it. Lillian's Girls Academy – Fukuzawa Yumi."

"Yes."

"I asked the question that came to mind immediately. Why did it have the name of your school on it, and not your address?"

"Ahh – "

Yumi gave a big nod. She remembered. She'd definitely had that conversation with Aota-sensei.

"My grandfather wrote it."

Carved with a needle, then colored over with white crayon. After shining the outside with a cloth, the white letters magically rose to the surface of the blue plastic handle.

"Right. Your grandfather. The one who gave you the umbrella."

"Yes. He said that I should be careful about which belongings I write my address on."

Writing her name on it was to prevent someone else who owned the same thing from taking it accidentally. But if it was lost, that wouldn't help a bit. – That's what her grandfather had said. Still, she didn't really understand why he had written "Lillian's Girls Academy" beside her name.

"You know, Fukuzawa-kun, recently there's been some events that made me want to believe in something like fate."

"Fate?"

Another detour. Just when it seemed like the conversation had been heading somewhere promising.

"Perhaps I should call it Maria-sama's guidance."

Aota-sensei stroked his mustache, which was slightly whiter than his hair.

"I've found myself thinking back on the few minutes I spent chatting with you on the walk to the school building, and wondering why."

Yumi thought, "And in return, I forgot about it completely – sorry."

"There were other students around. If it hadn't been you, I'm sure there would have been another Lillian's student who would have happily shared their umbrella with me. And if they'd also asked politely, I would have held the umbrella too."

Aota-sensei continued.

"So, why, I wondered, was it you? During class, you didn't really stand out much, but you weren't overly shy either, you were the stereotypical ordinary student. You didn't volunteer answers, but you'd answer when I called upon you. Nor did you forget your homework. But you weren't an honors student. You made lots of careless mistakes, so your grades were always right around average."

"Umm … "

If Aota-sensei wanted to reminisce about events in middle school, he didn't have to go to all the trouble of calling her here. Yumi reluctantly admitted that it might have been different if she'd been brilliant, but she didn't understand the point of calling her here and reminding her of her inconspicuousness and numerous careless mistakes.

"You're the kind of person whose virtues aren't obvious when you're right there, but with time and space they become evident, little by little."

"Huh … "

"Hahaha, I seem to have confused you … Well then, let's return to the fate conversation. Here's what I was thinking. The reason I shared your umbrella was, of course, because you were the first person to call out to me. But perhaps it was fate that made you the first one to call out to me."

"Perhaps."

Despite Yumi's agreeable response, she only half understood what Aota-sensei was saying. Frankly, she wasn't all that good with these rambling conversations.

"Indeed."

Aota-sensei reached under the desk and quickly pulled something out of the paper bag.

"Because without that, your umbrella wouldn't have been returned to you."

"Ah!?"

Yumi cried out, seeing what flashed in front of her. But no words beyond that came out.

That familiar blue.

Grandpa's umbrella.

Aota-sensei opened the umbrella and offered it to Yumi. Beneath the hydrangea.

It wasn't raining, but the umbrella's flowers bloomed in the staff room.

Instead of raindrops, tear drops fell from Yumi's eyes.

Rather than starting with, "How?" she thought, "We meet again."

"Take charge of it, it's your umbrella, right?"

Aota-sensei said, "See," and showed her the handle. "Lillian Girl's Academy – Fukuzawa Yumi." There was no mistaking it, this was Yumi's umbrella.

"Sensei, how did this umbrella … ?"

It seemed unlikely that Aota-sensei had been given the umbrella by the criminal who took it from the convenience store.

"Before we get to that, you must have lost it somewhere, right? I'd like to hear about that first."

Aota-sensei asked, seemingly irritated by her response. Yumi summarized what had happened, and he appeared relieved to hear it.

"I can accept that. The umbrella was so precious to you. I didn't think you'd carelessly forget it somewhere. But it was taken while you were in the shops. Such a calamity."

Aota-sensei looked like he was talking to the umbrella as he ran a finger along the fabric. While Yumi had been the victim of the calamity, it seemed as though a similar fate had befallen whoever took the umbrella.

"Well, now it's my turn. Yesterday evening, my daughter found it at a train station, picked it up and brought it to me."

Aota-sensei indicated the umbrella with his gaze.

"A train station?"

"Which train station do you think it was? Don't be surprised. It was Fukushima train station."

"Fu-fukushima? "

Even with the warning not to be surprised, Yumi instinctively repeated the name loudly. Fukushima station, that would be in Fukushima prefecture, in the Tohoku region.

"Yesterday, my daughter went to Fukushima to attend a friend's wedding. The umbrella caught her eye, leaning up against a rubbish bin. There was no-one near it, and it looked like it had been thrown away. I don't know if she sensed something, but she instinctively picked it up. And when she did, she saw the words "Lillian's Girls Academy" engraved in the handle, right? That's something she's quite familiar with. It's the name of her father's workplace."

"Yes."

"Normally, I suppose she would have taken it to one of the station employees, but she hesitated. Suppose, for arguments sake, that Lillian's Girls Academy was the private school in Tokyo and the owner was a student there, then it would be far more likely to reach the owner if she took it back to Tokyo with her. While Lillian's Girls Academy is fairly well known in Tokyo, they may not have heard of it all the way up in Fukushima. And since she was at a train station, it seemed unlikely that the owner would still be there. Even if it had been lost at Fukushima train station, they might not be able to find the owner. So while it may have been against the rules, she brought it to me. Don't you think that kind of feels like fate?"

"It does."

If Aota-sensei's daughter hadn't gone to Fukushima, then the umbrella probably wouldn't have found its way back to Yumi. Or if she had used Fukushima train station, but not noticed the umbrella, or picked up the umbrella, but the words "Lillian's Girls Academy" had faded.

But because it made its way to Aota-sensei, who remembered the umbrella, it returned home to Yumi.

Lillian's Girls Academy covered kindergarten through to university, so there were a huge number of teachers. Plus there were bound to be a number of girls with the commonplace name "Fukuzawa Yumi." So even if it made its way to the lost-and-found office, there was still the problem of connecting it to the Fukuzawa Yumi in the high-school second-year peach class.

"But you said you lost the umbrella ten days ago. I suppose its had quite an adventure during that time."

"That's for sure … "

Yumi closed the umbrella and hugged it. We meet again. You've finally come back. Aota-sensei stroked his mustache and watched on, apparently satisfied.

As she folded the umbrella, Yumi thought, "Huh?"

"Did your daughter make these repairs … ?"

"No?"

"But these use a different thread to the repairs I've made."

The part where the fabric joined the frame had been reinforced, using a different thread to that which Yumi had previously used to repair the frayed edges. Whoever it was, they'd done a neat job. But instead of blue, they'd used pink thread.

"Hoho, the mystery deepens."

Aota-sensei laughed as he peered at it.

How the umbrella had spent those ten days apart from Yumi were unknown. Even if she wanted to ask, the umbrella didn't have a mouth, so couldn't tell her.

"Perhaps your umbrella would like to know how those ten days were for you too."

Hearing Aota-san's words, Yumi's eyes went wide and she softly stroked the umbrella's handle.

"It's been incredibly tough for me. I despaired when I lost my umbrella."

The umbrella and Sachiko-sama seemed to overlay each other. She became frightened that Sachiko-sama would disappear from before her very eyes, just like her umbrella had.

But, during this period of time when she hadn't seen Sachiko-sama, she'd been touched by so many other people. While she knew the world wasn't run just for her and Sachiko-sama, this was the first time she'd realized just how many people were living alongside each other.

Even in places she couldn't see, there were people going about their lives. While she couldn't see them, they were definitely there.

"But you look like you've recovered."

"Yes."

Not because her umbrella returned. She didn't think that Sachiko-sama's heart would come back just because her umbrella had returned home.

She knew she had to look at the bigger picture.

She'd erred because she had been only looking at Sachiko-sama.

Because Yumi loved her so much, and didn't want anyone to steal her away, she'd wrapped herself around Sachiko-sama like she was some kind of favorite toy. When it looked like Sachiko-sama's hand was slipping away, she'd bawled unreasonably.

Even though Sachiko-sama had never said anything. Even though she'd never spoken the words, "I don't want you."

It felt like some kind of light shone down, showing her the path. Yumi turned to Aota-sensei and bowed deeply.

"Thank-you very much, Aota-sensei."

"Do your best, Rosa Chinensis en bouton."

Aota-sensei smiled, his arms folded.

"Okay."

Yumi replied cheerfully, then turned around. She felt like she wanted to sprint off, but she was in the staff room, so she restrained herself.

What was it, this feeling?

Like she'd been set free, but that wasn't quite right.

Opening the door of the staff room, a refreshing breeze swept past her forehead.

Ahh, right.

That's what it felt like.

Yumi wondered what Sachiko-sama was doing right at that moment.