Maria-sama Ga Miteru:Volume17 Chapter 6 4

Resounding! Leaning! Melting?! Part 4

They descended the stone steps carefully to avoid slipping. When they got to the exit, Shizuka-sama was there waiting.

"Ah, excuse me, sensei."

After bowing politely, she left Katori-sensei. That's right, Katori-sensei was also in charge of last year's second-year students, so she would know Shizuka-sama.

"I thought you were going home."

Yumi said after running up to Shizuka-sama.

"I wanted to have a more leisurely talk with Yumi-san."

So she was waiting for Yumi? Huh. It's not that Yumi wouldn't be happy to talk to her. Certainly, Yumi thought the farewell back then was a little sad.

"Yumi-san. We're heading to the restroom."

Yoshino-san said to Yumi while waving a handbag from their locker. Yumi-san, what will you do?

Yumi replied, "I'm fine." I'll wait here. Everyone go on.

"Are you sure?"

Shizuka-san asked.

"Yes. I already went at the fast food place by the train station."

After seeing the three of them off to the rear of the Duomo, Yumi and Shizuka went to the middle of the lawn and sat down. What to say after such a long time?

"Shizuka-sama, do you live near here?"

Asked this, Shizuka-sama said, "not so near." She pulled out a notebook from her bag. Fluently writing letters and numbers, then tearing out a page, she held it out to Yumi, "here." It was a foreign address, so Yumi did not know right away where it was. But Shizuka-sama explained that it was a town near Florence. Right now she was staying as a guest (to hear Shizuka-sama say it) in a house with my aunt and her Italian husband. While attending a private school to study Italian language and vocal music, she also was working on the various things for college admissions.

"Your parents must be relieved to know you're safe, staying with a relative."

"You think so? Still, they call often. It's troublesome. But I guess it's not strange. That they want to know that I'm happy, to hear my voice. In that manner, that also makes me happy. It means that they care. It's just straightforward and easy to understand."

"Shizuka-sama, you don't call them?"

"International calls are expensive. So it's exclusively these."

Shizuka-sama then pulled something from between the pages of her notebook.

"Ah."

A picture postcard of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. She had already written the address and text, and affixed the stamp.

"My parents are not good with computers, so we cannot really exchange email. If it's just a status report, it doesn't matter how long it takes to get there. What else could I do that would be better than that? That's why, whenever I come to a tourist spot like this, I buy a postcard and write a letter. E-mail is e-mail, but airmail is better, no?"

"Excuse me, where did you buy that postcard?" A souvenir shop? And the stamp? Can I run there?"

Yumi might get her wish here. The wish that she could not get at the Vatican art museum. After thinking this, she could no longer sit still. She stood up without waiting for Shizuka-sama's reply.

"What's wrong? Settle down, Yumi-san. First, sit here. You want to send a letter to Japan, right?"

"Yes."

"To Sachiko-san?"

With a deep nod, Shizuka-sama opened her earlier notebook and once again pulled something from between its pages.

"Here, let me give this to you."

What she offered was a picture postcard of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, different from the earlier one. Of course, it was an unused one.

"Huh?"

It seems that out of habit, she buys several. She sends some to her Japanese friends, but she had many and never uses them all up.

"I have stamps, too."

"I see. Then, uh, please sell this to me."

"That's not very charming, Yumi-san. At times like this, it is better to just say 'thank you very much.'"

She remembered that Sachiko-sama had said something similar, a long time ago. At the venue for one of Rei-sama's kendo matches, whether to pay or not pay for a sandwich.

"But."

Shizuka-sama is not my onee-sama. There's no reason to accept it. But it felt somewhat rude to refuse it stubbornly.

"I wanted to play the upperclassman, but fine. How about I take just the postage cost?"

"Yes."

After their mutual concessions, the negotiation concluded. Yumi accepted the postcard from Shizuka-sama, and in ballpoint pen, wrote Sachiko-sama's address and name.

"Hm."

For the text of the letter, she was stumped. First of all, what should she write? If this were a New Year's card, then "Happy New Year" or "Greetings for the New Year." If this were a seasonal letter, then something like "how are you on this hot summer day," even though that was rather cliched. "Dear Sir or Madam" and "To whom it may concern" felt strange. Why did the opening greeting on a letter become the main issue all of a sudden? At first, she thought that she wanted something like a simple greeting.

"How do you say 'Gokigenyou' in Italian?"

"Gokigenyou? If it's the 'konnichi wa' nuance, then 'Buon Giorno,' I think. If it's addressed to Sachiko-san, then would 'Ciao' be okay?"

"Ciao."

"Yes. If it's 'Gokigenyou, onee-sama,' then 'Ciao, Sorella'"

Japanese "shimai" changes to "sister" in English, "soeur" in French, and "sorella" in Italian. Yumi learned how to spell it from Shizuka-sama. Then using the marker that she bought at the Milano airport, wrote 'Ciao sorella!' in big letters. Under that, 'I'm in Pisa now. The trip is fun.' written in ballpoint pen.

"Yumi-san, no little sister yet?"

Done writing, Yumi put the cap on her ballpoint pen and answered.

"Yeah, well..."

"Sachiko-san isn't nagging you?"

"Not for now."

"Ah. But soon you won't be able to say that."

Shizuka-sama's vague prediction piled on top of Yumi's own insecure hunch.

"So for now, enjoy being the one doted upon."

With those words, and the episode of Shizuka-sama's parental phone call behind them, Yumi secretly wrote on the bottom of the postcard, 'I miss you, onee-sama.' Then, so that nobody would see it, she quickly put it in her handbag and closed it. Now it was not only Shizuka-sama. The three who had gone to the restroom had returned. If it became known that she wrote such a thing, she'd get made fun of.

"It was a pay toilet. I paid the lady at the entrance."

It appears that Yoshino-san was having fun with experiences she could not have in Japan.

"I honestly used up the last of my change there."

"It was a place that you pay to use, so it wasn't dirty."

While listening to Tsutako-san and Mami-san's report, Challenger Yumi was glad for her own experience. Her goal of sending a postcard to Sachiko-sama was also a challenge, and that was fine.

"The three of us were talking on the way back. Don't you want to eat some Italian gelato?"

"While we were going up the leaning tower, Itsue-san and friends ate some."

"We missed our chance at the Spanish steps, right?"

With an invitation like that, there's no way she could refuse. Nope. She would rather take the opportunity to eat some. Yumi had quite the sweet tooth.

"Gelato shop, huh. From here go straight and you'll end up on a street lined with bars and restaurants. It's there."

Shizuka-sama said, "I think you'll find it soon."

"Huh? Shizuka-sama?"

"I was able to speak with Yumi-san, so I'll take my leave soon. I have to go back and prepare for tomorrow's lessons."

"Is that so?"

"And today's a bit warm, no?"

Yumi thought that asking more might start to feel like a serious investigation, might make things feel uneasy. If it is warm, maybe the voice will come easier, studies will advance, probably something like that.

"Oh, Yumi-san. Shall I mail your postcard for you? There are mailboxes all over the place, but when you're searching for one they can never be found."

"Ah, is that okay?" Thank you very much. That's a big help."

That said, it would be a bit embarrassing if the 'I miss you, onee-sama' line was read. But she could not say "No, that's okay" at this point, so she gently handed it over, with the Leaning Tower of Pisa photo side up.

"Be seeing you."

"Thank you very much for the postcard."

"If you can get a little sister, please send me a letter of report."

"Yes."

Yumi and friends watched Shizuka-sama head towards the entrance, then they started for the gelato vendor.

Here, a double scoop seems to be normal. Studying the inside of the glass case, they saw any varieties of ice cream lined up. Some, like chocolate, they recognized. Others had fruit and things that they did not recognize. But they lacked the language ability to understand any explanation, so they used vague "this and this"-like gestures to buy their gelato.

They moved to the side of the street and tried it right away.

"Delicious."

But compared to the ice cream from a popular ice cream shop in Japan, this was a little soft. Mami-san said softly, "This country's ice cream is leisurely." Everyone spontaneously laughed.

"So, Rosa Canina, huh."

Yoshino-san said while licking vanilla gelato.

"She was certainly considerate of us."

Perhaps she was, Yumi thought, too. Or maybe because she was told so by Yoshino-san, her simple guess made with unusual confidence. Such thoughts wooshed through her head.

"Ah. Yumi-san. Dripping, dripping!"

Her chocolate gelato was melting, flowing down the cone and hand, falling to the ground in drips.

"Wow."

She licked it quickly, but the gelato melted a rate faster than she could lick.

"Aw, I can't appreciate it like this."

She finally understood what Shizuka-sama meant by "today's a bit warm, no?" It was a short warning, a reproach, a wee bit of "mischief" from the Shizuka-sama of olden days. The essence of a person probably does not change even if they go to a foreign country. With this, she had defeated the unprepared Yumi.

"Yumi-san, look over here please."

The moment she reacted to the words and raised her head, the sound of a shutter clicked.

"Wow... you were really gone."

That was a really unattractive face. Now.

"Thank you."

Because Tsutako-san had just finished her gelato, it was easy for her to pick up a point on Yumi.