She also told them she would come straight home afterwards. She was going to add, please don’t worry, but didn’t. Why would they worry about someone who didn’t exist? Mio ate some rice, egg and pickled vegetables for breakfast, fondled Yuki’s ears for luck, then left the apartment before her parents stirred. Without her bike she had a good hour’s walk ahead of her and besides, she still needed to get some sturdy cardboard to make her protest sign. She’d already thought of her slogan: Girl who rides. As she walked Mio puzzled about Juhan Jaan Tamm, this person who called themselves Cinderella. She knew nothing about Juhan, but she did know a lot about Cinderella. In fact, it occurred to her that at this very moment, she could be the Japanese Cinderella. She thought of the story she’d been told many, many times as a child. The story of Ubakawa [The Bark Gown], and how a samurai’s daughter had run away from home, just like she’d done this morning. She thought of how this girl had taken refuge under Kannon’s altar and how Kannon had bestowed upon her a bark gown and directed her to a warrior’s house.
