Maria-sama ga Miteru:Volume23 Chapter3 2

Stopping in Along the Way. Part 2

They stood around chatting by the ticket gate of the train station that they'd arranged to meet at, and after about five minutes Shimako-san arrived.

"I'm sorry. Did I make you wait?"

"No, we got here a bit too early."

There was still more than ten minutes until their arranged meeting time of 11:30. But Shimako-san seemed to get a bit flustered when she saw them already standing together. She walked out of the ticket gate accompanied by the pitter-patter sound of zouri sandals.

That's right. Shimako-san was wearing a kimono. It wasn't an extravagant long-sleeved affair, but neither was it just a wool ensemble. It could be said to sit right in the middle of those two extremes. Although she was wearing some sort of coat over the top so they could only see the collar and from the waist down.

"Is that a komon kimono?"

"Yes. You're quite knowledgeable about kimonos."

"No, no, it was just a lucky guess."

In truth, Yumi had stopped adding to her knowledge of kimonos one year ago, but she'd opened that rarely used drawer and it seemed like the same sort of kimono that Sachiko-sama had worn during New Year's last year, so she thought she'd ask. The kimono had a small floral pattern across it. As for the color, she could see gray and pink and green. But just by wearing the kimono, Shimako-san was saying that she'd be able to put it on by herself. Impressive.

"So, then, do you have a yukata to sleep in, by any chance?"

Yumi asked, pointing at her tote bag, but Shimako-san laughed.

"Sadly, no, just pajamas."

At that point, Yumi caught a glimpse of Noriko-chan smiling warmly and watching over their conversation out of the corner of her eye.

"Ah, sorry. I jumped straight into conversation without the greeting."

"Not at all, I didn't mean to rush you."

So with that, the three offered their greetings together.

"Happy New Year."

Let's look after each other this year too. After bowing their heads and exchanging greetings, Yumi noticed an unsteady atmosphere between the White Rose soeurs.

"Is this, perhaps, the first time you've met this year … ?"

"Yes. What about it?"

That's right. Noriko-chan said she'd been spending New Year's with her family and had come straight here.

"Sorry, I didn't realize. I'll leave you alone for a bit, so take your time – "

She quickly picked up her bags and turned around but then Shimako-san grabbed her upper arm and said, "Oh Yumi-san, there's no need for that."

"What, even after all this time, are you looking out for us?"

"But, well."

It was the first time the soeurs had met this year, wasn't she just a third-wheel?

"If you're going to do that, wouldn't we also have to hide somewhere when we arrived at Sachiko-sama's house?"

In theory, that would be right. But those two hadn't been soeurs all that long … not all that long … then Yumi counted it out on her fingers and corrected herself. It had been six months already. They couldn't be called veterans, but their relationship was probably in its prime. Because of that, she decided to stop fussing over them too much.

"What were Rei-sama and Yoshino-san doing?"

Shimako-san asked, looking around restlessly.

"I asked them just in case, but they said they'd go straight there."

Coming from their house, they'd have to take a detour to get to this train station.

"It's just the three of us then?"

"That's right."

Since they'd all arrived, they decided to leave the train station even though it was a bit earlier than planned.

It was about a fifteen to twenty minute walk from the train station to Sachiko-sama's house. About three bus stops. They could take a bus from outside the train station, but the bus stop was a fair way from Sachiko-sama's house, so they'd still have to walk some distance.

"What should we do?"

"You've visited her a couple of times before, right Yumi-san? Which way did you go then?"

"Every time I've been to her house, someone's driven me there."

"Huh, so it's like your first time going to her house too?"

A palpable sense of "Are we going to be okay?" was radiating from Noriko-chan. But Yumi had been instructed by her onee-sama to safely escort the first-timers, so there was no way she could say something like, "I'm not sure."

"Hey. Well, she did fax me a map. Huh, which way is which?"

Yumi unfolded the map and was rotating it around when Noriko-chan said, "Pardon me," and relieved her of it.

"The station's here and north is up, so it should go this way around. So with that, this street's that one over there, so I guess we should go straight ahead for now. As long as we're heading in the right direction, we can revise our route at any cross streets on the way."

There was a reason behind Noriko-chan's unsure words. The map she'd been sent was rather vague … and after walking for a while they were still in a residential area, with no sight of the shopping district or large building landmarks that were on the map.

Well, even so, Sachiko-sama's house wasn't just a building, but a plot of land large enough to be a public park, so they'd know when they were alongside it. The other people living in their neighborhood probably used the Ogasawara estate as a landmark.

"Ah. There's a hill over there. We must be on the right track after all."

Hanging from the hand of their advance guard Noriko-chan was the bag of festival food Yumi bought. Noriko-chan was in unusually high spirits and took the lead, either because she was the only first-year, or because the two second-years weren't being all that energetic.

"Quite a reliable petit soeur you've got."

"Yes, she is, isn't she?"

Like pensioners watching over some young people, they chatted as they slowly walked. Ahead of them, Noriko-chan would sometimes go down a wrong path before doubling back, so their slow pace worked out quite nicely.

The street they were walking along was like an esplanade, with trees growing along the side. All the gardens were overflowing with evergreen trees too, so it was quite pretty.

"Will your family be alright today?"

Yumi asked Shimako-san. She seemed to remember hearing from Shimako-san's onee-sama, Satou Sei-sama, that Shimako-san helped out her family at New Year's and other such times. Although now she knew that this was because Shimako-san's family ran a temple.

"Yes. People are coming to help from outside, so my dad urged me to go, saying they'd be fine without me."

"Your father's really down-to-earth."

In truth, Yumi had only seen Shimako-san's father twice. The first time he was running on the school's track wearing a monk's stole. The second time he looked like he'd stepped out of a yakuza film and was buying oden soup and frankfurters. He was a cheerful and mischievous Buddhist monk and Yumi probably wouldn't have realized he was Shimako-san's father if she hadn't been told.

"My dad seemed to be relieved that I was spending time with my friends, like a normal young girl. On top of that, my older brother's back home now, which is quite unusual. Whenever I'm around they try their hardest not to argue, so I guess this is good timing?"

"Your brother's home?"

Yumi had only found out that Shimako-san had an older brother about a week ago. Since she'd thought Shimako-san was an only child, she didn't really get what she meant by "back home." And the "quite unusual" remark made him seem like some kind of wanderer, like Tora-san from the Otoko wa Tsurai yo film series.

"So I've brought some manjuu buns my brother made."

Shimako-san held up the parcel wrapped in furoshiki cloth that she was holding in one hand, her other holding her tote bag. Indeed, Yumi had been wondering what was in there for some time now.

"Manjuu buns? Your brother made them?"

"Yes. I thought he specialized in western sweets, but he seems to be trying his hand at traditional Japanese sweets too."

Since this was the first Yumi had heard of him specializing in western sweets, her shock hadn't been at him making Japanese confectionery. She'd thought he must have been a Buddhist priest, since she'd heard there was some disagreement about whether or not he would inherit the temple. But he was actually a patissier. No, perhaps a former patissier now turned Japanese confectionery maker. Shimako-san's home life had always been something of an enigma, but it just kept getting more and more mysterious.

"Ah, I've found Itou-san. Suzuki-san should be next."

Noriko-chan happily reported from her position ahead of them, having checked out the house nameplates.

Sachiko-sama had been looking out for them, and wrote the surnames of the people that owned the houses on the street corners on her map. Still, neither of those names were all that unusual, so they couldn't rule out the possibility of there being several houses with those names in the area.

They arrived at Suzuki-san's house before long and turned onto a street that Yumi vaguely remembered.

"It's probably just along here."

Yumi called out, pointing up ahead.

Soon enough, the tall and long wall appeared. There was no mistaking it.

The gate to the Ogasawara house was along that straight line.

She broke into a jog, overtaking Noriko-chan.

Behind her, Noriko-chan remarked to Shimako-san that she was like a lost dog that wandered around and then suddenly sped up and started running when it was near home.