Maria-sama ga Miteru

Chapter 129

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She gave her room a spring clean, helped her mother out a little bit with the New Year"s cooking, checked the TV Guide for the New Year"s specials and in no time at all it was New Year"s Eve and her father was slurping soba noodles as he watched the annual Red and White New Year"s singing contest.

Even if she was carrying some unfinished business in her heart, at midnight that night it was as though the reset b.u.t.ton was pressed across all of j.a.pan and the new year arrived.

"Happy New Year!"

Her father spoke over the top of the countdown program announcer on the TV, saying, "Tape, tape. Bring me a piece of tape about 10cm long." The new year brought a new lucky direction that the protective talisman had to face, and to make sure it didn"t fall down it was held in place from above with tape. It was bad luck to stick the talisman back up again after it had fallen down. Her father stood on a stool, holding the talisman up with his right hand as he reached down with his left.

"Coming right up."

Yuuki cut a piece of tape from his roll as he answered. Even though he could have just used the serrated edge attached to the tape holder, he always made a point of cutting it neatly with scissors. His reasoning was, "If this is going to be the sash that wreathes the talisman of an unimaginably powerful G.o.d, then it"s better to make the ends straight."

It was probably because of his methodical nature that their father made Yuuki his a.s.sistant. Incidentally, Yumi had been involved a bit earlier when she"d played the role of the guide, standing back from the wall and looking from the talisman to the compa.s.s and giving directions like, "A bit to the left."

Despite these sort of involvements with the Shinto G.o.ds, the eldest son and the eldest daughter of the f.u.kuzawa family had attended a Buddhist and Christian school, respectively, since they were young.

Now then. With the talisman hanging safely, the whole family could finally say, "Happy New Year."

Aunt Taeko"s family weren"t going on a vacation to Hawaii this year, so there was no talk of both parents going to Yamanashi as their father handed out the New Year"s gifts.

"Let"s make this year a good year too."

The amount inside the decorative envelope was the same as last year, but they weren"t too disappointed because they"d been informed of this ahead of time by their mother. Well, it wasn"t as though the amount went up every year. It had gone up by a bit last year to emphasize their entrance into high school.

Tomorrow, or, rather, the morning a few hours from now, started for them at 7. So after saying goodnight to their parents, the two children headed towards their rooms on the second floor.

"I kinda feel wide awake."

Yuuki said, stopping in the middle of the stairway in front of her.

"Oh, you feel that way too, Yuuki?"

She"d felt a bit drowsy when some unknown singers had been performing enthusiastically during the New Year"s singing contest, but she"d pushed past that and was now completely awake.

"Yeah. I guess I"ll play a game or something until I get tired."

Her brother occasionally seemed like an old man, but when he had time to waste he liked to play video games like a normal high school boy.

"But you know, they say you should start the year the way you intend to spend the whole year. If you start off just playing games, how will you be if you get addicted and that"s all you do for the whole year?"

In the past, Yumi used to spend New Year"s morning reading manga comics, but her now deceased grandfather had warned her that, "You"ll be addicted to them for the whole year." Ever since then, she"d paid particularly close attention to how she spent January 1st.

"Addicted to games? That"d suck. In that case, watching TV downstairs is out too."

He could have just laughed off the superst.i.tion but her earnest younger brother gave it serious consideration, standing in the middle of the staircase. Although since she was stuck behind him, Yumi would have preferred that he"d at least finished climbing the stairs first.

"Hey, Yuuki."

She was about to tell him to do his thinking in his room, but Yuuki raised his head.

"I know. I"ll head out for a bit."

"Head out?"

"For a walk. Just around the neighborhood."

He begged her pardon and squeezed past her down the stairs. She obediently let him pa.s.s but then thought better of it and followed after him.

"So you"re going to spend the whole year going for a walk?"

"It"ll be good for my health, don"t you think?"

Probably. There was no need to worry though, it was different to a game in that no-one ever became obsessed with going for a walk.

"Wait, I"ll go too."

Yumi grabbed her brother"s elbow. But Yuuki immediately rejected this.

"No way, you"re a girl."

"No fair."

"Huh."

"It"s fine for a boy, but not for a girl. That"s not fair."

The f.u.kuzawa family had a policy of gender equality. Yuuki was fully aware of this too.

"Let me tell you, it"s not s.e.xual discrimination."

"I know. You"re just worried about me."

"That"s right."

Yuuki shook free of his sister"s hand.

"But it annoys me. I know it"s different, but it still really annoys me."

As she was saying this, Yumi vaguely realized that her annoyance wasn"t just directed at not being able to go for a walk in the middle of the night.

Even though she realized it, she couldn"t stop herself. It was troubling that she was bothered by such a small matter.

If she kept going on about how annoying it was, it would probably get her brother down too, so he agreed to let her come along with some conditions attached.

"&h.e.l.lip; You can come if you get permission from mom and dad."

So it looked like Yuuki would have gone out without saying a word if it was just him. If their mom and dad then found out about their thoroughly good son"s excursion they"d probably just forgive him immediately. There were benefits to being a boy after all.

The lights in the living room were already off. When she reached her parents" room, her father was in the middle of changing into his pajamas and her mother was rubbing hand cream into her fingers.

"You"ll be with Yuuki?"

Their eyes met for a moment. Ooh, that was a good response. Since it was the sort of situation where they might just say, "No," without listening.

As she"d expected, her father frowned as he spoke.

"Be back by one."

"Alright!"

Yumi thought that, in this case, they were relying on Yuuki. They believed that, if push came to shove, he would protect his older sister. Of course, it went without saying that this wasn"t permission for them to go out at night any time, as long as they were together. Today was special because it was the first day of the new year.

"Back by one. That"s only 30 minutes."

Yuuki said, his face plainly showing that this was a hindrance. Apparently he"d been somewhat expecting their parents to talk her out of it while he"d been waiting at the entrance.

"We"re just going around the neighborhood, right? Thirty minutes should be more than enough."

"But still."

He"d said it would be just around the neighborhood, but it looked like her brother had been planning on going further afield.

"Well, can"t do much about that. We"ve got thirty minutes, so we"ll just go around the neighborhood."

They put on their coats and then set out carrying only their house key.

The night air was cold and stung her exposed flesh, but she could tell that it was clear air she was breathing in.

As they walked the residential streets she completely lost track of what time it was.

There were still quite a few houses with light leaking through the windows.

There weren"t a lot of people walking the streets, but there were more than she"d expected.

"They"re going to visit a shrine."

Yuuki said, pointing at the young couple walking in front of them.

"A shrine visit? How can you tell?"

"The guy"s carrying a ceremonial arrow."

Then, in that case, wouldn"t they be returning from the shrine instead of going to it? Yumi asked this and Yuuki explained that each year people would take their old one as an offering when they bought a new one, so they carried them both ways. His reasoning was that there was a Shinto shrine not that far away in the direction they were going, whereas there wasn"t one anywhere near as close in the opposite direction.

"A shrine visit, huh?"

"Ah, it"s no good. We"d never make it back by one if we followed them."

"I wasn"t really going to suggest that."

Although she had briefly considered it. It"d be really bad if she was back late after pushing hard for permission to go on this late night outing. Nothing she could do about that. She"d have to make do with just a walk around the block after all.

As she was walking along, looking up at the sky, she saw a star speed past.

"Did you see that? Hey, did you see that?"

Yumi pointed up at the sky and her brother said, "What?"

"A shooting star, a shooting star. I guess you can still see them even in Tokyo."

She was so excited she slapped Yuuki"s arms.

"It"s because the air in Tokyo clears up during the New Year"s break. Still, I guess it"s good that you saw it, Yumi."

"It"s not good. I forgot to make a wish."

If you mentally recite your wish three times before the shooting star disappears, it will come true. Although, as you"d expect, that was impossible. But it happened because of the difficulty, or so the theory went.

"Do you have a wish?"

Yuuki asked.

"Well."

She was a teenage girl. She had all sorts of wishes.

- And then.

"Are you fine with anywhere?"

"Huh? Anywhere?"

"For a shrine visit."

Her brother said, "Come with me," then after walking for about ten minutes something unbelievable was waiting for them at their destination.

"Oh oh oh."

She cried out, without thinking. In the winding alley between two houses, there was a small shrine.

"How did you know about this place?"

"I found it ages ago, when I was riding around aimlessly on my bike. So I guess you didn"t know about it then, Yumi."

"Yeah. Even though it"s right in our neighborhood."

Pa.s.sing under the red torii gate, they came to a small altar about 30cm wide and tall.

"Ah, we should have brought some money to offer."

She couldn"t see an offertory box, but there was a bit of a depression at the front of the altar where a couple of coins had been left. They could have been from an earlier visitor, or perhaps they"d been there since last year.

"We did."

"Huh. Don"t tell me you"re talking about our New Year"s money?"

Since they"d gone out before she made it back to her room, Yumi had her New Year"s money in her coat pocket. But she wasn"t generous enough to leave a note as a money offering.

"No, you idiot."

Yuuki reached into his jeans pocket, pulled out a coin and offered it to Yumi, saying, "Here, five yen." Like the five yen of fate. No, in this situation, that was irrelevant.

With the coin still resting atop his palm, Yuuki said:

"Don"t tell me that this is unfair too."

"I won"t."

She"d only ever carried money in her purse, be it coins or notes, so carrying money in a pocket was a bit of a novelty to her. But now that she thought about it, her father often took coins out of his pockets too. It just confirmed that Yuuki was a boy.

"Thank-you. I"ll pay you back when we get home."

"I"m more than happy to just give you the five yen, but you"d rather make the offering with your own money, right?"

"Yeah."

They both placed a five yen coin next to the other offerings, then clapped their hands together and prayed.

Yumi prayed for the health of everyone she loved, and for Touko-chan.

That she could reconcile with Touko-chan.

It was a lot to ask for a measly five yen.

"Oh right. I forgot to mention this before. If your wish comes true, you"ve got to bring an offering of fried tofu in thanks."

"Fried tofu &h.e.l.lip; "

"See, this is a shrine to the G.o.d Inari."

"It is too."

She looked closer and saw the foxes to the left and right, protecting the shrine.

"Hey, Yuuki. Can you draw me a map of how to get here for next time?"

"Huh? We just walked here and you still don"t know?"

"But it was dark."

"It"s less than ten minutes from home."

Yuuki muttered in astonishment. But he"d have to tell her the way. Yumi didn"t know what would happen with Touko-chan, but the health of her loved ones seemed an easy wish to grant. She thought she"d definitely have to come back here with an offering of fried tofu in a year"s time.

The earnest f.u.kuzawa siblings returned home at one minute to one, as instructed.

The house felt a bit warm when they stepped inside, considering the heating would have been turned off half an hour ago.

There was a note from their mother on the hallway floor. It had been left in a place they"d walk over so there was no way they could miss it. For instance, even if they hadn"t turned the lights on, they"d still notice it when they stepped on it or kicked it.

"Welcome home. You must be cold. I"ve refilled the bath with hot water, so you can both take a turn."

"Ooh, thanks."

Yumi and Yuuki looked at each other, then they both took a deep breath and simultaneously called out, "Scissors, paper, rock."

Yumi went with rock, Yuuki with paper.

"You waited until I made my move and still lost."

Yuuki cackled, "You have much to learn, gra.s.shopper," and headed towards the bath. As she watched him go, Yumi softly muttered:

"Which one of us has much to learn?"

Since he hadn"t noticed that she lost on purpose.

"Dad, dad, mom, Yuuki, dad, me, mom."

She was reading aloud as she moved her arm when Yuuki quietly said:

"&h.e.l.lip; It seems like every year I tell you to sort them silently."

"But it just comes out, no matter what I do."

"I"m sure you wouldn"t say it out loud if you thought it"d cause a bomb to go off in the house."

That"s about what it would take. Exasperated, Yumi stopped for a bit then took a pocky stick from the cake dish and stuck it between her lips. Like it was a cigarette, although she"d never smoked. This way was much better than thinking about something dangerous like a bomb. If she opened her mouth the chocolate would fall out, so she had to be careful.

That morning, she"d been awoken by her mother calling out, "Wake up everyone," at 7am.

She got out of bed enthusiastically, even though she"d only had five hours sleep, and not just to avoid the curse of, "It"ll be like that the whole year."

The New Year"s cards were coming. Thinking this, she smartly declined her warm futon"s invitation to go back to sleep.

Of course. The f.u.kuzawa family a.s.sembled and greeted one another, then ate the traditional New Year"s zouni broth together. So the severe scolding she"d receive if she lazed around in bed was another reason to get up.

Now then, on to the New Year"s cards.

The two children split the cards into four lots, with Yumi"s and Yuuki"s stacks looking a bit thicker than usual. Even though the number they"d sent hadn"t really changed. What was going on?

"Who"s this?"

Yumi mumbled. She couldn"t recognize the sender"s name, even though it was addressed to her. And it wasn"t just one or two. Plus they were New Year"s cards, so all that was written in a lot of them was "Happy New Year" or "Best Wishes for the Year Ahead" or "New Year"s Greetings," which made things hard because it didn"t give any hints as to who the sender was or how they knew each other.

And yet they couldn"t have been complete strangers, because they knew her home address. Lillian"s was particularly strict about how they handled that sort of information.

"Huh? This looks like a boy"s name &h.e.l.lip; ?"

She hadn"t noticed immediately because the first couple of names had been gender neutral. But then she saw a couple that ended in X-rou or similar, which were more likely to be masculine names. On the subject of X-rou, she"d also spotted the manly name Arisugawa Kintarou, but that card got put in the "known" pile because it was her friend "Alice" from Hanadera Academy.

"Me too."

Yuuki muttered beside her, checking his New Year"s cards.

"I got some from people I don"t know too. Even from girls."

"Huh?"

Yumi reacted more to hearing about her brother getting cards from unknown women than from getting cards from unknown men. Was she a bro-con?

"Not Yoshino-san or Shimako-san?"

"No."

"&h.e.l.lip; I guess not."

Amongst the cards Yumi had checked were ones from Yoshino-san and Shimako-san, and it was as though they"d coordinated their messages, because they"d written, "Give my regards to Yuuki-kun," and, "Give my regards to Yuuki-san," respectively. There would have been no need to include that in their notes if they"d sent one to him themselves.

"Who is it?"

There weren"t really any privacy concerns since the recipient didn"t know who the sender was. Yumi looked at the card in her brother"s hand while Yuuki looked at his sister"s "unknown" pile. And then:

"Ah!"

They both cried out almost simultaneously.

"From my cla.s.s!"

Then they heard each other and said, "Huh?" Yumi tapped on the sender"s name and said to Yuuki:

"This girl"s my cla.s.smate."

"Same here."

As she listened to her brother, Yumi flipped over her pile of cards. Next, next. It turned out that girl hadn"t even sent one to her cla.s.smate Yumi.

"How did it get here?"

"Well, they"d get our home address from the cla.s.s network. And since we"re siblings, they"d know we live together."

"Not that. How did I get a card from your cla.s.smate?"

Yumi asked, but it was thrown straight back at her.

"What do you think? Why did I get a card from your cla.s.smate?"

"&h.e.l.lip; She must have seen you at the school festival."

And fallen for him. No, it didn"t have to go that far, she may have just been interested in him.

"Don"t you think it would be just the same for you?"

Neither of them knew how to react, but they both laughed and patted each other on the shoulder, saying, "You"re popular." After this brotherly/sisterly show of conceit, Yumi reflected and thought that it was either conceit, or a display of sisterly idiocy. There had been some gossip about Yuuki amongst her cla.s.smates immediately after Lillian"s school festival, so she thought that it might apply to him. But in her case, she thought it was a bit different.

"Anyway, let"s write our replies."

"Yeah. I wonder if I"ve got enough cards left."

Returning to her room she took out the cards she"d set aside for this, but even that wasn"t enough so she had to get some more from her mother and the last ones were just ordinary postcards that she wrote "Happy New Year" on.

There was no New Year"s card from Touko-chan in her stack.

Since Touko-chan probably would have started writing her New Year"s cards before the closing ceremony, she thought there was a chance one might arrive if it had been mailed before their harsh parting.

Because that"s what Yumi had done.

Last year she"d almost forgotten and mailed them out in a panic, so this year she"d allowed plenty of time to write them. Although she"d done this alongside knitting Sachiko-sama"s Christmas present, so she"d been really busy.

Oh, that"s right. The card that Sachiko-sama had requested from her on the day of the closing ceremony was the only one that she"d sent out afterward. So Yumi was a bit worried about whether or not it would arrive on New Year"s day. Since she was going to Sachiko-sama"s house on the 2nd, it would be a bit funny if she arrived before her New Year"s card. In that case, she would have been better off bringing it with her.

Sachiko-sama had sent her a card, just like she"d said. But Yumi didn"t immediately recognize that it was from her. Because last year"s New Year"s card had made such an impression.

Indeed. Last year"s had been a delicate India ink painting with deep black calligraphy, that was so delicate it was hard to imagine it was done by a high school student.

But, still.

"I wonder what happened."

A change in her mental state? This year"s looked to be a colorful, computer generated, pop piece. On top of that.

"Mmm &h.e.l.lip; "

She thought that she"d seen a New Year"s card very similar to this one at some point, but she couldn"t remember.

It hadn"t been exactly the same. But it had given off the same vibe. They"d been similar, but Sachiko-sama"s had a better use of color and composition.

"I"m sure I"ve seen something like this before - "

But no matter how she tried, she couldn"t retrieve it from its drawer in her memory.

There was nothing like it when she looked through the cards she"d received this year. Yuuki even let her look through his but that was a miss too. She thought about it some more and realized it hadn"t been from this year. Much earlier. Right, probably from one year ago.

Casting her mind back, she realized with an, "Ah."

"My New Year"s card from last year &h.e.l.lip; right."

Oh, geez, onee-sama. Muttering this, Yumi grinned on her own.

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