Lost and Found: A Duck's Story

Horror of horrors!

Yesterday was Keyaki's 2nd floor yearbook photo. So as many of the residents who remembered (not a whole lot, actually) came back to the dorm during lunch to get a group snapshot by the yearbook staff. Most of the girls were already gathered, when I started asking around for Kaya-chan. That's not the name of a girl: it is the name of our floors mascot -an adorable little duckie. All the girls start looking around, but he's not in the social room, the common area, or the kitchen. One girl even sent a floor-wide text asking if anyone gathered or absent had accidentally moved little Kaya. But none of the floormates remember seeing him for some time. So we had to take the picture duck-less.

That night, everyone received this email asking for anyone who knew were Kaya-chan was to return the duck safe and sound:

皆さんこんばんは、有加です。

実は私のぬいぐるみの「かやちゃん」が消えてしまいました。私が長い間放置していたのもあり、本当に申し訳ありません。すみませんでした。  見付けたり、見かけたりしたら私までに連絡をくださいf^_^;ルームメイトにも聞いてくれたらとても嬉しいです。御礼に何か差し上げますf^_^;  お忙しい中本当にすみません〓  有加

Soon after that, someone posted a Wanted sign for the beloved, pajama-clad mascot. But, in the end, all the worry was for not, because Kaya-chan was promptly returned to his usual spot on the social room's sofa. The terror had ended, and there was much rejoicing.

(Side note: Since Keyaki dorm is so new and pretty high security, many people at ICU have never seen the dorm. After taking the yearbook shot, the two photographers asked for my permission to snoop about the place while they still had clearence. It was so funny to see them oohh-ing and aahh-ing over everything in our kitchen, laundry, and pod areas! I would have offered to show them my room, but Miki and I had to make a mad dash for Mitaka! Haha, hopefully what the yearbook kids saw will help raise the hype for our dorm among next year's new students.)