Hoping that the boy would come get her sooner or later, Miss Umbrella growled every time someone tried to pick her up and prevented anyone from taking her.
She kept on waiting for the boy.
And then there was what happened yesterday.
Miss Umbrella saw him.
She saw the boy walking around with other children.
“……”
The boy was only ten.
It’s a sensitive age.
She was sure that after being dragged away by the hand, he had befriended the other boys.
The boy seemed to be enjoying himself as he walked along. His smiling face, which the umbrella had grown accustomed to looking down on, now seemed very far away.
“—Ah.”
In the middle of their conversation, his gaze suddenly turned her way, and they locked eyes.
“……”
However—
The boy did not pick her up again. The boy must have been certain that Miss Umbrella was a cursed object.
At that moment, she understood.
She knew that she had been abandoned again.
“Whine…whine…”
From that point on, we know what happened.
Miss Umbrella was crying by the side of the road, and Mistress Elaina picked her up.
“I get it now—an old object like me will never be loved by a person…”
Miss Umbrella, who had gone on at length telling us about her memories, burst into tears once more.
Oh, Mistress Elaina is going to be angry again—
“Snore…”
Mistress Elaina is asleep. Okay. Well then, I guess it’s fine.
I comforted Miss Umbrella, who was feeling completely disheartened. “Um, cheer up, Miss Umbrella—”
“Just go ahead and break me and throw me away… Please, living is so painful for me—”
“Come now! How can you say such a thing?!” I was shocked and horrified.
To objects like us, destruction is the same as death. “Are things so difficult that you’re brooding over thoughts like that…?”
“The pain of being discarded by someone you care about… I’m sure you understand?”
“No, I’m sorry. I’ve never been discarded.”
“Waaah!”
Miss Umbrella started crying again. The floor was so soaked in water, it seemed like a hole must have opened up in the ceiling.
Ah, I wonder what I should do?
Like an adult faced with a wailing infant, I just stared in confusion at the rapidly growing puddle. I was at a loss for what to do.
“Young lady…I understand it, the pain you feel.”
Abruptly cutting into our conversation at that moment was the wood grain floor. “I still remember long ago… When I was young, just like you, missy, I had my own hopes and dreams about the people who would use me… Those tears of yours, I really feel them…in more ways than one—,” said the old wood grain floor.
I couldn’t tell what his expression was, but he was probably wearing a self-satisfied look. I recoiled a little from his slightly creepy comment.
“Ew!”
In an instant, Miss Umbrella’s tears receded. I would say that receiving sympathy for her worries was effective, but in this case, I think it had too much of an immediate effect.
But putting that aside, I felt like I wanted to deliver a lecture to Miss Umbrella, who was saying that she wanted to give up her own life.
“Miss Umbrella, please try to calm down somehow. Talk of throwing away your life is not something an object should bring up lightly!”
“You be quiet! It’s all very well for you to say that, when you’re being treasured and used every day, isn’t it?”
“Heh-heh-heh.”
“Waaah! I can’t take it anymore! I’ll break you!” Miss Umbrella shouted.
“Quit bein’ so loud!” Something reacted to Miss Umbrella with a rattling jolt. It was Mister Window. “I been listening to ya, an’ all yer doin’ is grumblin’ ’cause ya hold a grudge about bein’ thrown away, but not only have I got experience being thrown out, I never even had anyone ta talk to about it! You know why that is?”
Because you’re a window, I guess.
“ ’Cause I’m a window!”
I thought so.
“You silly thing!” Then, jumping in to sympathize with Mister Window was Miss Bed. “In my case, day after day, I go through customer after customer! No matter how hard I try, the customers never pay me any mind at all. I’m always just a one-night stand to them. Though I may keep my customers warm, my heart is always cold. Do you know why?”
Is it because you’re a bed?
“It’s because I’m a needy woman…!”
I really envied Mistress Elaina, who was fast asleep in her chair.
“Well, in any case, to sum it all up, we’re saying you’ve still got a chance.” Taking it upon himself to summarize the conversation so far was the door to the room. “You’re an umbrella; you can skip on out of here anytime. There’s another object right there who could carry you away.”
Oh? Is it possible that having my support is putting things in motion?
“B-but…the boy. I don’t even…know where he is…” Miss Umbrella was somber.
The door to the room smiled at her with his doorknob.
“Hah. Hey now, just how many objects do you think there are in this city?” Then he said, “I’ve already got my pals looking for your little buddy.”
“Mister Door…!”
No, it isn’t just the door.
All of the objects in the room were trying to encourage her. I suppose they had developed a kind of solidarity through their shared frustrations at being unable to move. All together, they bid her in high spirits, “Go see him…!”
“…Well, they’re right, you know?” Then even I, a lowly broom, got caught up in the mood of the room. “I’m certain that if you find the boy, he’ll be your owner again.”
“…How can you be so certain?”
To be honest with you, I have conclusive evidence.
Just like when Mistress Elaina always spits out some pithy saying to fit the mood of the room, I left a good long pause and then smiled at Miss Umbrella.
I said—
“The reason is that youth is a sensitive time.”