Volume 11 Chapter 4 (1/2)
Her blue umbrella returned home
Not returned, but returned ho, it returned home to Yumi's hand
This happened after school on Monday
When she was leaving afternoon hoh she had just remembered, Yumi's homeroom teacher informed her:
”Ah, fukuzawa-san Aota-sensei from middle school wanted to have a ith you, so stop by the staff roo duty”
”Aota-sensei?”
He had been her ho the first year of middle school They hadn't really had h-school, since they were in separate buildings and he didn't teach any of her classes
”Do you knohat it's about?”
”He didn't say But I don't think it's anything to worry about”
”Huh?”
”Aota-sensei was s when he asked”
”Ahh, s … ”
Good or bad Either way, Yuh idea of what it could be about If it had been her third-year houess
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 - Yu ood nor bad
Yu 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 confir towards hiray 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 aher 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 alrite their nas”
”Huh?”
What was he talking about? Yumi's eyes darted about as she tried to co from Aota-sensei Come to think of it, his classes had been like this too He'd touch down soap as he laid out the proof
”I wonder if you can reo you shared your umbrella with me”
”… Not really?”
”It was in the , by the statue of Maria-sah the rain, and let ot to school that I noticed I'd forgotten my umbrella”
”Mmm”
Now that helike that h 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 uht it for you You said you really loved that umbrella”
”Yes”
But that uone now too It had disappeared froo
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 sohtlessly 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 - ”
Yu nod She remembered She'd definitely had that conversation with Aota-sensei
”My grandfather wrote it”
Carved with a needle, then colored over hite crayon After shi+ning the outside with a cloth, the white letters ically 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 na fro 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 so like fate”
”Fate?”
Another detour Just when it see
”Perhaps I should call it Maria-sauidance”
Aota-sensei stroked his htly whiter than his hair
”I've foundwith you on the walk to the school building, and wondering why”
Yuot 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 ould 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 anshen I called upon you Nor did you forget your homework But you weren't an honors student You ht around average”
”Umm … ”
If Aota-sensei wanted to reo to all the trouble of calling her here Yuht have been different if she'd been brilliant, but she didn't understand the point of calling her here and re 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 Yureeable response, she only half understood what Aota-sensei was saying Frankly, she wasn't all that good with these ra conversations
”Indeed”
Aota-sensei reached under the desk and quickly pulled so
”Because without that, your umbrella wouldn't have been returned to you”
”Ah!?”
Yu what flashed in front of her But no words beyond that came out
That familiar blue
Grandpa's umbrella
Aota-sensei opened the uea
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 ain”
”Take charge of it, it's your uht?”
Aota-sensei said, ”See,” and showed her the handle ”Lillian Girl's Acade it, this was Yumi's umbrella
”Sensei, how did this umbrella … ?”
It seeiven the umbrella by the criminal who took it from the convenience store
”Before we get to that, you ht? I'd like to hear about that first”
Aota-sensei asked, seely 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 u the fabric While Yuh a similar fate had befallen whoever took the umbrella
”Well, now it's hter found it at a train station, picked it up and brought it to me”
Aota-sensei indicated the uaze
”A train station?”
”Which train station do you think it was? Don't be surprised It was fukushi+ma train station”
”Fu-fukushi+ma? ”
Even with the warning not to be surprised, Yumi instinctively repeated the name loudly fukushi+ma station, that would be in fukushi+ion
”Yesterday, hter went to fukushi+ht her eye, leaning up against a rubbish bin There was no-one near it, and it looked like it had been throay I don't know if she sensed so, but she instinctively picked it up And when she did, she saw the words ”Lillian's Girls Acade 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 euments sake, that Lillian's Girls Academy was the private school in Tokyo and the oas 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 fukushi+ma And since she was at a train station, it seemed unlikely that the oould still be there Even if it had been lost at fukushi+ht not be able to find the owner So while it ht it to me Don't you think that kind of feels like fate?”
”It does”
If Aota-sensei's daughter hadn't gone to fukushi+ma, then the umbrella probably wouldn't have found its way back to Yumi Or if she had used fukushi+ma 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 Acadeh to university, so there were a huge nuirls with the commonplace name ”fukuzawa Yumi” So even if it made its way to the lost-and-found office, there was still the probleh-school second-year peach class
”But you said you lost the uo I suppose its had quite an adventure during that time”
”That's for sure … ”
Yuain You've finally come back Aota-sensei stroked his mustache and watched on, apparently satisfied
As she folded the uht, ”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 fra a different thread to that which Yues 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 kno those ten days were for you too”
Hearing Aota-san's words, Yumi's eyes ide 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-sahtened 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 tiside 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-sa away, she'd bawled unreasonably
Even though Sachiko-sah she'd never spoken the words, ”I don't want you”
It felt like so 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 roo breeze swept past her forehead
Ahh, right
That's what it felt like
Yuht at that moment
” - So, you came to help out?”
shi+
”Right Is there anything I can do?”
After she left the middle-school staff room she returned to her classroom, but her excitee to do soht for the Rose Mansion
Yoshi+no-san and Rei-saain it was just the diligent White Rose sisters steadily going about their work
”At the very least, I'ain, Yumi-san As for what to do … well”
shi+ed her shoulders, and clipped a stack of docuether There was lots to do, in fact, so much that it was hard to tell where she should start
”Sachiko-sa before school and during lunch Even then, I think there's too much”
”I see, so that's how it is”
This time last year, the Roses were all third-years, three in a row While shi+antea, she wasn't even Rosa Gigantea en bouton a year ago, so she didn't have any direct experience in preparing for the school festival
”While I did frequent the Rose Mansion, I refrained fro myself directly If I kneould turn out like this, I would have participated s and preparations”
shi+mako-san smiled ruefully But it was undoubtedly because of the way she looked back on last year that she was putting all her effort into it this time around
”Here, Yumi-sama”
Noriko-chan gently set a cup of tea down in front of her Yurateful, because she'd worked up quite a thirst running all the way here
”Thank-you”
It was delicious The sight of Noriko-chan standing by the sink, or taking a cup from the shelf, was that of a splendid Rose Mansion occupant She wasn't the 'assistant' from before She had a self-confidence that seemed to Yumi to come from the rosary she wore beneath her school uniform
shi+mako-san and Noriko-chan put down their work and sipped their tea Without sootten to take a break shi+ breaks was better from an efficiency perspective, but they were both persistent type of people
They were both equally beautiful, but it wasn't as though these well matched soeurs didn't have their own troubles
”Returning to our conversation”
Yumi said, after a pause
”It seems we're understaffed at the moment”