Charm

During the busy evening hours, I boarded a yellow subway train at Sakae-machi station.

I managed to sit down in my seat with my tired body, and a sigh escaped me naturally.

I put my bag on my lap and took out my textbook. It was for today’s drafting class. There was only one week left until the assignment is due, but I was not making as much progress on the assignment as I’d like. I stared at the textbook in the car with a wrinkled brow.

A few people got off the train at one of the stops, and a woman in a spring-colored coat slipped on the train. She carried a large leather bag over her shoulder and a cylindrical drawing case in her other hand. I wondered if she, too, worked in architecture or design. I sighed again at my current situation, where I was not making satisfactory progress on even one of my assignments, while at the same time admiring how cool she looked.

As the person turned around, I felt as if our eyes met. I quickly put my eyes down and concentrated on my textbook, thinking it would be rude to stare too closely.

When I got off the train to change trains, it seemed that the woman in the spring coat was also getting off at the same station. As I walked briskly down the platform, I received a tap on the shoulder from behind. I turned around and saw the woman smiling at me,

“Good luck with your studies!”

and she passed me.

“Thanks…, but why?”

As I stood there with my mouth hanging open, she turned and pointed to the zipper handle of my bag.

On it was my favorite, a charm of the university emblem with a lily and cross motif. She reached into her bag and pulled out a small key case and held it up in front of me. There, the same charm as mine was waving.

She waved the charm from side to side and disappeared into the crowd on the platform, leaving me with a wonderful smile once more.