Unable to respond with an appropriately clever comeback, Misa nodded earnestly while the woman walked through to the next car.
Itoh-san seemed a bit quieter, compared to the others. She muttered an apology as she handed the bag back to its owner and settled herself beside Misa.
‘No big deal.’ This, of all things, was the comment that came from the handbag-tosser.
She hadn’t spoken loudly enough to reach those across the aisle, but it was likely Itoh-san heard her. Misa was spoiling for a fight. But Itoh-san merely glanced at her sideways, not saying a word.
The gaggle of older ladies seemed to be talking about the lunch they were on their way to, at a restaurant in Takarazuka. No doubt the place was expensive, and they must have been pretty well off to be able to afford such a lavish lunch on a Saturday.
Misa had been commuting on the train since she was in middle school.
On the way to school, the line she took was packed like sardines so there was never any hope of sitting down, but on the way home, there was sometimes the chance of getting a seat with her friend Mayumi – depending upon the timing.
And by timing, that meant days when she wasn’t on cleaning duty.
On those days, if she could make it to the station to catch the local train, she might just get a seat, but from the next train on, it would be filled with high-school students who had boarded at the previous station, and there would be no chance.
In the beginning, whoever had cleaning duty would just give up hope, but at some point it dawned on Misa and Mayumi (they weren’t sure whose idea it was) that whoever didn’t have cleaning duty could get to the station beforehand and save two seats. Then, the one on duty would run to the station after the cleaning was finished and they’d both be able to sit.
It always came down to the wire for the one on cleaning duty, so they would get seats at the end of the car closest to the ticket gate. The one who got there first would save the desired seat, placing the other’s bag there and sitting up very straight beside it, with one hand on the handles, every so often peering towards the ticket gate to make it obvious that she was waiting for someone.
How cheeky they must have looked. Even now, thinking back on it made Misa wince with shame.
‘Whatcha doin’ there, girlie?’ An old man standing right in front of Misa spoke up all of a sudden.
Not realizing that ‘girlie’ meant her, Misa kept up her show of waiting, still peering at the ticket gate.
‘Girlie, there – you! The one letting yer bag take up a seat.’
Misa realized he was talking to her, so she turned to look at him.
He was a balding old man, small in stature, but he gazed down at her with a forbidding look.
The reflexive hostility unique to a person her age was easily quashed by his angry and unwavering glare.
‘What makes you think you can take up someone else’s seat when it’s crowded like this?’
‘Uh, um, this is my friend’s bag, she’ll be here any minute.’
‘That’s your excuse?! All these good people got on the train before your friend there, but because you so shamelessly saved her a seat, she can just show up and sit down?! You don’t see anything wrong with that?!’
The eyes that she had expected to be directed towards the disruptive senior citizen were instead staring daggers at her, the one who was still a child.
Though not such a child that these people didn’t feel the same level of frustration with her as did the old man.
She was humiliated. Not because everyone was staring at her but for the reason that had drawn their attention. There were probably other students from her school in the car, maybe there were even some from her very own class.
‘And … my friend, she’ll be tired from doing cleaning duty,’ Misa offered feebly. She knew enough to feel embarrassed for using this as justification, but she couldn’t help herself.