hanafurirou book 2, chapter 1, part 2 (once again, OMG FINALLY!!!!)
...So yeah. It's been a while since the last time I posted any Hanafurirou. I'm very, very sorry about that. I've been in a funk. (And to be honest, I think the crocheting is helping me get out of said funk, so yay for yarn!) I'm hoping to actually continue translating with some regularity this time. *fingers crossed*
That said, we continue where we left off several months ago (at least it's not a whole year!) with the next part of chapter 1 of Mede Shireru Yoru no Junjou. We pick up with some general daily life for the boys at Hanafurirou... Kagerou being the princess he is and Kichou being... Kichou (in other words, a charming troublemaker!). Oh, and we get a picture that may be somewhat familiar if you've paid attention to one of the icons I like to use when posting Hanafurirou stuff! ^_^ (Such as this post...)
edit: Oops, almost forgot to link back to the glossary! (Of course, it's tagged, too, and I have a link to it in the layout of my lj, so you can always get at it from there, too. ^_^;; )
"Catch him...!!" The yells sounded from the direction of the kitchens and were followed by a scramble of feet headed up the stairs and coming closer.
In the kamuro's room, Kagerou paused in the middle of brushing his hair and raised his head curiously. Just then, the screen slid open, and Kichou burst in.
Kagerou fell speechless for a moment. Kichou had a fried aji (1) in his mouth. Apparently he had stolen it from the kitchen.
"You... you're acting like a stray cat..."
Kagerou sounded shocked, but Kichou wasn't listening. He pushed the screen shut with his backside and cut across the middle of the room. Then he opened Kagerou's trunk and jumped inside.
"Wai-"
Even though Kagerou's trunk was mostly empty because he hadn't been at Hanafurirou for very long, that still didn't make it all right for Kichou to go hiding in it without asking. But when Kagerou started to protest, Kichou laid a finger across his lips and winked at him, telling him to be quiet.
"Who do you think you're shushing? Hey...!"
Did he really think Kagerou would just let him shut him up like that?
But Kichou just shut the lid of the trunk without listening to his complaints.
Just then, the screen opened, and Takamura appeared.
"Did someone come running in here?" he asked, looking around the room.
"...... ...No, not really." Kagerou hesitated for a moment, but in the end he answered.
He didn't have to cover for Kichou. And he did consider telling on him.
He did think Kichou deserved scolding for his incorrigible penchant for taking food, but he also hated Takamura. He couldn't really say why, but ever since they first met he hadn't cared for the man. He wasn't doing it for Kichou's sake. Not at all.
"Is that truly the case?"
"Check for yourself if you don't believe me."
Takamura stepped into the room. He opened the screens on the closets and the shoji doors on the garden-facing side of the room. The shoji doors opened onto a veranda, and a person in the shadow of the storm door could avoid notice fairly easily.
But, of course, he didn't find anyone, and he turned back to give Kagerou a suspicious look.
That gaze came to a stop at Kagerou's feet.
Kagerou followed that gaze to look down as well and almost cried out. Bits of tenkasu (2) had fallen to the floor there. When he looked up, Takamura was looking down at him scornfully.
"Are you the one who took the aji?"
"No...!! This..."
"This?"
He was about to say that the one who took to the fish wasn't him, but Kichou, but then he suddenly snapped his mouth shut. If he told the truth now, Takamura would know that Kichou had come in. -Though really, it would serve him right to get scolded.
"This... this was from last night's fried food..."
"Last night's meal was stewed."
"......"
Oh yeah. He realized that he was screwed, but he couldn't think of any other excuse.
"I never expected you to be stealing food from the kitchens."
"It wasn't me...!"
Takamura raised his voice, as if he was annoyed. "Then you're covering for someone?"
"Uh." He shook his head reflexively, but even so, Takamura sighed, having seen through it all.
"Then let's leave it at that. However, that does mean you'll go without dinner tonight as punishment."
"Wha!? But..."
By the time Kagerou protested, Takamura had already opened the screen and exited the room. Even though he knew exactly what was going on, he was still punishing Kagerou. He might have been ensuring that Kagerou never covered for Kichou again, or he might have just been trying to be mean.
"...Come out."
Hiding his anger, Kagerou called out softly, and Kichou pushed up the lid of the trunk and peeked out.
"Thanks."
He smiled fearlessly.
"Honestly. We're growing boys. You'd think they'd cut us some slack. Not this stupid diet. Don't you think?" As he spoke, he climbed out of the trunk.
"No, I don't think!! What did I do to have to put up with this!?"
"Sorry 'bout that. I was on my way to talk to you, so I figured I'd do that on my way," Kichou said, not seeming sorry in the slightest.
"To talk to me? About what?"
"...I forget."
Kagerou sighed at hearing that reply.
Even since that first time they met, Kagerou could never seem to handle the situation whenever Kichou got involved. He just couldn't figure out how to deal with him.
"Oh well," Kichou said lightly. It was hard to tell whether he really had forgotten, or whether he hadn't had something to talk to Kagerou about in the first place. Then he waved the uneaten tail end of the aji in front of Kagerou's face. "You want this?"
"Are you making fun of me?"
Kichou turned his head away and burst out laughing, and then he threw the tail out the window.
Kagerou sighed again.
They were given three meals a day at the brothel, but those meals were just not large enough to satisfy the appetite of a growing boy. It could be that the brothel just didn't want to spend more on them after the amount they paid to buy them in the first place. Or, even more likely, they just didn't want them to grow too big, or too large, and thus become useless as iroko.
Even though Kagerou agreed that they didn't get enough to eat, he still thought making a habit of pilfering food from the kitchens was a little unreasonable.
The sight of Kichou sitting on the edge of the veranda and licking his greasy fingers looked just like a cat washing his face, probably because Kichou looked somewhat feline in the first place. And even though Kagerou was fed up with him, something about that image was vaguely comforting, so that he just couldn't hate him.
Keeping Kichou in view at the edge of his vision, Kagerou turned to his dresser. He had been in the middle of trying to deal with his hair earlier, since he had been told it was about time for him to start doing it on his own.
During the day the kamuro were often busy with their study sessions and various errands for the keisei, but when they didn't have anything else to do, they had free time.
Kagerou was one of the kamuro under the care of Tamafuyou (3), the current o-shoku. The o-shoku was the iroko who had highest take the previous month. In other words, the highest seller in the brothel.
Even though he had only been at the brothel for a short time, Kagerou had already learned quite a bit.
"He's gonna be o-shoku for sure." When Kichou said that before, he probably meant it as a prediction that Kagerou would one day be just that? And the same with that comment about moving him to the back of the room. "He's gonna be sheltered in the end anyway."
It wasn't quite as clear cut as it was with the iroko, but apparently the kamuro were given places to sleep based on a ranking of age, order of entering the brothel, and hopes for the future. When older boys became shinzou and spots at the back of the room opened up, those spots were reserved for sheltered kamuro and the boys expected to be o-shoku in the future.
"Not that I really want to be o-shoku." Making lots of money meant selling his body to that many more men. It wasn't really a situation he found joy in.
Even though it was decided without asking Kagerou at all, some of the other boys were jealous of the spot he was given. When they picked on him and ordered him to give the spot up to someone else, he just ignored them. He couldn't help but think that fighting over a place in shared living quarters, which weren't even that nice in the first place, was just plain stupid.
"If you don't care, then why not just move? But you won't even do that," Kichou said.
Though it had seemed like Kichou had disappeared, it seemed he had only left to wash his hands. He came back while still drying them, and then lay down on the floor, propping his chin on his hands as he watched Kagerou do his hair.
"It's not like I have a problem with being in the back. I was given that spot, so why should I have to give it up?" Kagerou replied, fighting with hair that kept falling back down. He had intentionally filled his words with barbs aimed at Kichou for getting involved, but Kichou didn't seem to be listening.
"I had I feeling you'd be like that from the start. You don't like losing, do you?"
Astonished, Kagerou glared at Kichou's reflection in the mirror. "...You're one to talk."
"Hey, I've been watching you this whole time, and..." Kichou blithely moved on to another topic, almost as if he was ignoring Kagerou's gaze. "You're pretty clumsy."
"?? Well, sorry about that...!!" Kagerou didn't necessarily mean to raise his voice. Then, all of the hair he had just started to get put in place suddenly fell apart. "Arrgh! Would you just shut up!?"
"Want me to do it?" Kichou smiled, completely unaffected by Kagerou's yelling. This only shocked Kagerou even more.
"...I'm fine."
"Don't worry about it."
"I said I'm fine! Instead of worrying about me, why don't you do your own hair?"
Kichou's hair was still down, even though Takamura had told him to put it up three times already that day.
"How about we do each other's hair then?"
Fed up with how silly things had gotten, Kagerou didn't even bother to answer. Instead, he turned back to the mirror and started combing, getting ready to start over again from the beginning.
Suddenly, the comb disappeared from his hand.
"Hey...!"
Kichou had taken the comb from him. He started combing Kagerou's hair.
"I said I was fine...!"
"Just let me do it! I can't stand watching you anymore."
When Kagerou tried to turn to face Kichou, he felt a sharp tug on his hair.
"...Ugh." Kagerou grunted and then turned back. His hair was being held hostage.
He could see Kichou grinning in the mirror.
He didn't think he was that clumsy. He just wasn't used to it. Besides, his hair was still growing out, and that made it really hard to put up.
"You really do have pretty hair, you know. You've never bleached it at all, have you?"
"Of course I haven't."
"It's really straight and fine, right? It's strong and doesn't tangle easily. But that makes it hard to put up, too."
Kichou talked as he combed. Even though Kagerou didn't like him taking over like that, he couldn't help but think that it felt kind of nice having someone else do it.
"Actually, it would help a lot if you wet your hands down a little before you started. Using some sort of product would help even more, but that would be a waste. Your hair's nice as it is. ...I'm sure it'll get even prettier once you've grown it out."
"......"
It was rare for Kichou to give him such a straightforward compliment. It was oddly embarrassing, and he couldn't think of anything to say back to him. So instead, he just sat in shocked silence.
The mirror reflected the two them together. Kagerou, with his dark eyes that threatened to overwhelm his stiff, pale, doll-like face. And Kichou, with his soft-looking, and probably dyed, brown hair and lively brown eyes. Though they were said to be the two most promising boys among the kamuro, they were pretty much opposite in appearance.
Something about staring at Kichou in the mirror felt embarrassing to Kagerou, and he averted his eyes.
"...Do you want me to do yours when you're done?"
"Hmm," Kichou said, though after a moment's thought, he continued. "Nah, I'll pass. You suck at it."
That reply got on Kagerou's nerves. "Well, sorry!"
"It's not that big of a deal, really." Kichou smiled. "A princess doesn't need to do anything."
"What do you mean by that!?" Kagerou unintentionally raised his voice, still not sure why he got called a princess, even though he was a guy.
"You just kinda give off a princess vibe."
"How so!?"
Kichou just laughed. And then...
"There. All done," he said, setting down the comb.
"Waaaah...!?" Kagerou yelled again, after looking back at the mirror.
In the brief time he had been looking away, his hair, which should have been put in a high ponytail, had instead been put in pigtails. One tail right above each ear.
"What the hell is this...!?"
A single ponytail was the rule at Hanafurirou. Putting his hair up was pointless if it was like this. Besides, it not only made him look childish, but foolish as well, and he couldn't stand that.
"It's adorable. Like a bunny rabbit."
"You bastard...!!"
Kagerou tried to grab Kichou, who was laughing at the success of his prank, but Kichou was one step ahead and avoided him.
"Oh yeah! I just remembered," he said suddenly.
"What!?" Kagerou growled, thinking Kichou was just making something up to get away.
"I remembered why I was looking for you."
Come to think of it, Kichou had said something like that.
He continued. "Tamafuyou was looking for you earlier."
"Wha...? Earlier? When!?" Kagerou blurted out.
"Hmmm. Before I grabbed the fish, I think?"
"!! Why didn't you mention that sooner!?"
Tamafuyou, the keisei Kichou and Kagerou served under, was often o-shoku, so he was certainly beautiful, but he was also a rather difficult person at times. Still, it seemed like he was even harder on Kagerou. Or maybe that was just his imagination. He didn't want to think about what Tamafuyou would have to say about him not coming right away when called.
And so, forgetting to undo his hair, Kagerou ran from the kamuro's room.
notes:
1: Horse mackerel.
2: Bits of fried dough that are the byproduct of making tempura.
3: Tamafuyou is a type of peony, also known as the Japanese tree peony.
That said, we continue where we left off several months ago (at least it's not a whole year!) with the next part of chapter 1 of Mede Shireru Yoru no Junjou. We pick up with some general daily life for the boys at Hanafurirou... Kagerou being the princess he is and Kichou being... Kichou (in other words, a charming troublemaker!). Oh, and we get a picture that may be somewhat familiar if you've paid attention to one of the icons I like to use when posting Hanafurirou stuff! ^_^ (Such as this post...)
edit: Oops, almost forgot to link back to the glossary! (Of course, it's tagged, too, and I have a link to it in the layout of my lj, so you can always get at it from there, too. ^_^;; )
"Catch him...!!" The yells sounded from the direction of the kitchens and were followed by a scramble of feet headed up the stairs and coming closer.
In the kamuro's room, Kagerou paused in the middle of brushing his hair and raised his head curiously. Just then, the screen slid open, and Kichou burst in.
Kagerou fell speechless for a moment. Kichou had a fried aji (1) in his mouth. Apparently he had stolen it from the kitchen.
"You... you're acting like a stray cat..."
Kagerou sounded shocked, but Kichou wasn't listening. He pushed the screen shut with his backside and cut across the middle of the room. Then he opened Kagerou's trunk and jumped inside.
"Wai-"
Even though Kagerou's trunk was mostly empty because he hadn't been at Hanafurirou for very long, that still didn't make it all right for Kichou to go hiding in it without asking. But when Kagerou started to protest, Kichou laid a finger across his lips and winked at him, telling him to be quiet.
"Who do you think you're shushing? Hey...!"
Did he really think Kagerou would just let him shut him up like that?
But Kichou just shut the lid of the trunk without listening to his complaints.
Just then, the screen opened, and Takamura appeared.
"Did someone come running in here?" he asked, looking around the room.
"...... ...No, not really." Kagerou hesitated for a moment, but in the end he answered.
He didn't have to cover for Kichou. And he did consider telling on him.
He did think Kichou deserved scolding for his incorrigible penchant for taking food, but he also hated Takamura. He couldn't really say why, but ever since they first met he hadn't cared for the man. He wasn't doing it for Kichou's sake. Not at all.
"Is that truly the case?"
"Check for yourself if you don't believe me."
Takamura stepped into the room. He opened the screens on the closets and the shoji doors on the garden-facing side of the room. The shoji doors opened onto a veranda, and a person in the shadow of the storm door could avoid notice fairly easily.
But, of course, he didn't find anyone, and he turned back to give Kagerou a suspicious look.
That gaze came to a stop at Kagerou's feet.
Kagerou followed that gaze to look down as well and almost cried out. Bits of tenkasu (2) had fallen to the floor there. When he looked up, Takamura was looking down at him scornfully.
"Are you the one who took the aji?"
"No...!! This..."
"This?"
He was about to say that the one who took to the fish wasn't him, but Kichou, but then he suddenly snapped his mouth shut. If he told the truth now, Takamura would know that Kichou had come in. -Though really, it would serve him right to get scolded.
"This... this was from last night's fried food..."
"Last night's meal was stewed."
"......"
Oh yeah. He realized that he was screwed, but he couldn't think of any other excuse.
"I never expected you to be stealing food from the kitchens."
"It wasn't me...!"
Takamura raised his voice, as if he was annoyed. "Then you're covering for someone?"
"Uh." He shook his head reflexively, but even so, Takamura sighed, having seen through it all.
"Then let's leave it at that. However, that does mean you'll go without dinner tonight as punishment."
"Wha!? But..."
By the time Kagerou protested, Takamura had already opened the screen and exited the room. Even though he knew exactly what was going on, he was still punishing Kagerou. He might have been ensuring that Kagerou never covered for Kichou again, or he might have just been trying to be mean.
"...Come out."
Hiding his anger, Kagerou called out softly, and Kichou pushed up the lid of the trunk and peeked out.
"Thanks."
He smiled fearlessly.
"Honestly. We're growing boys. You'd think they'd cut us some slack. Not this stupid diet. Don't you think?" As he spoke, he climbed out of the trunk.
"No, I don't think!! What did I do to have to put up with this!?"
"Sorry 'bout that. I was on my way to talk to you, so I figured I'd do that on my way," Kichou said, not seeming sorry in the slightest.
"To talk to me? About what?"
"...I forget."
Kagerou sighed at hearing that reply.
Even since that first time they met, Kagerou could never seem to handle the situation whenever Kichou got involved. He just couldn't figure out how to deal with him.
"Oh well," Kichou said lightly. It was hard to tell whether he really had forgotten, or whether he hadn't had something to talk to Kagerou about in the first place. Then he waved the uneaten tail end of the aji in front of Kagerou's face. "You want this?"
"Are you making fun of me?"
Kichou turned his head away and burst out laughing, and then he threw the tail out the window.
Kagerou sighed again.
They were given three meals a day at the brothel, but those meals were just not large enough to satisfy the appetite of a growing boy. It could be that the brothel just didn't want to spend more on them after the amount they paid to buy them in the first place. Or, even more likely, they just didn't want them to grow too big, or too large, and thus become useless as iroko.
Even though Kagerou agreed that they didn't get enough to eat, he still thought making a habit of pilfering food from the kitchens was a little unreasonable.
The sight of Kichou sitting on the edge of the veranda and licking his greasy fingers looked just like a cat washing his face, probably because Kichou looked somewhat feline in the first place. And even though Kagerou was fed up with him, something about that image was vaguely comforting, so that he just couldn't hate him.
Keeping Kichou in view at the edge of his vision, Kagerou turned to his dresser. He had been in the middle of trying to deal with his hair earlier, since he had been told it was about time for him to start doing it on his own.
During the day the kamuro were often busy with their study sessions and various errands for the keisei, but when they didn't have anything else to do, they had free time.
Kagerou was one of the kamuro under the care of Tamafuyou (3), the current o-shoku. The o-shoku was the iroko who had highest take the previous month. In other words, the highest seller in the brothel.
Even though he had only been at the brothel for a short time, Kagerou had already learned quite a bit.
"He's gonna be o-shoku for sure." When Kichou said that before, he probably meant it as a prediction that Kagerou would one day be just that? And the same with that comment about moving him to the back of the room. "He's gonna be sheltered in the end anyway."
It wasn't quite as clear cut as it was with the iroko, but apparently the kamuro were given places to sleep based on a ranking of age, order of entering the brothel, and hopes for the future. When older boys became shinzou and spots at the back of the room opened up, those spots were reserved for sheltered kamuro and the boys expected to be o-shoku in the future.
"Not that I really want to be o-shoku." Making lots of money meant selling his body to that many more men. It wasn't really a situation he found joy in.
Even though it was decided without asking Kagerou at all, some of the other boys were jealous of the spot he was given. When they picked on him and ordered him to give the spot up to someone else, he just ignored them. He couldn't help but think that fighting over a place in shared living quarters, which weren't even that nice in the first place, was just plain stupid.
"If you don't care, then why not just move? But you won't even do that," Kichou said.
Though it had seemed like Kichou had disappeared, it seemed he had only left to wash his hands. He came back while still drying them, and then lay down on the floor, propping his chin on his hands as he watched Kagerou do his hair.
"It's not like I have a problem with being in the back. I was given that spot, so why should I have to give it up?" Kagerou replied, fighting with hair that kept falling back down. He had intentionally filled his words with barbs aimed at Kichou for getting involved, but Kichou didn't seem to be listening.
"I had I feeling you'd be like that from the start. You don't like losing, do you?"
Astonished, Kagerou glared at Kichou's reflection in the mirror. "...You're one to talk."
"Hey, I've been watching you this whole time, and..." Kichou blithely moved on to another topic, almost as if he was ignoring Kagerou's gaze. "You're pretty clumsy."
"?? Well, sorry about that...!!" Kagerou didn't necessarily mean to raise his voice. Then, all of the hair he had just started to get put in place suddenly fell apart. "Arrgh! Would you just shut up!?"
"Want me to do it?" Kichou smiled, completely unaffected by Kagerou's yelling. This only shocked Kagerou even more.
"...I'm fine."
"Don't worry about it."
"I said I'm fine! Instead of worrying about me, why don't you do your own hair?"
Kichou's hair was still down, even though Takamura had told him to put it up three times already that day.
"How about we do each other's hair then?"
Fed up with how silly things had gotten, Kagerou didn't even bother to answer. Instead, he turned back to the mirror and started combing, getting ready to start over again from the beginning.
Suddenly, the comb disappeared from his hand.
"Hey...!"
Kichou had taken the comb from him. He started combing Kagerou's hair.
"I said I was fine...!"
"Just let me do it! I can't stand watching you anymore."
When Kagerou tried to turn to face Kichou, he felt a sharp tug on his hair.
"...Ugh." Kagerou grunted and then turned back. His hair was being held hostage.
He could see Kichou grinning in the mirror.
He didn't think he was that clumsy. He just wasn't used to it. Besides, his hair was still growing out, and that made it really hard to put up.
"You really do have pretty hair, you know. You've never bleached it at all, have you?"
"Of course I haven't."
"It's really straight and fine, right? It's strong and doesn't tangle easily. But that makes it hard to put up, too."
Kichou talked as he combed. Even though Kagerou didn't like him taking over like that, he couldn't help but think that it felt kind of nice having someone else do it.
"Actually, it would help a lot if you wet your hands down a little before you started. Using some sort of product would help even more, but that would be a waste. Your hair's nice as it is. ...I'm sure it'll get even prettier once you've grown it out."
"......"
It was rare for Kichou to give him such a straightforward compliment. It was oddly embarrassing, and he couldn't think of anything to say back to him. So instead, he just sat in shocked silence.
The mirror reflected the two them together. Kagerou, with his dark eyes that threatened to overwhelm his stiff, pale, doll-like face. And Kichou, with his soft-looking, and probably dyed, brown hair and lively brown eyes. Though they were said to be the two most promising boys among the kamuro, they were pretty much opposite in appearance.
Something about staring at Kichou in the mirror felt embarrassing to Kagerou, and he averted his eyes.
"...Do you want me to do yours when you're done?"
"Hmm," Kichou said, though after a moment's thought, he continued. "Nah, I'll pass. You suck at it."
That reply got on Kagerou's nerves. "Well, sorry!"
"It's not that big of a deal, really." Kichou smiled. "A princess doesn't need to do anything."
"What do you mean by that!?" Kagerou unintentionally raised his voice, still not sure why he got called a princess, even though he was a guy.
"You just kinda give off a princess vibe."
"How so!?"
Kichou just laughed. And then...
"There. All done," he said, setting down the comb.
"Waaaah...!?" Kagerou yelled again, after looking back at the mirror.
In the brief time he had been looking away, his hair, which should have been put in a high ponytail, had instead been put in pigtails. One tail right above each ear.
"What the hell is this...!?"
A single ponytail was the rule at Hanafurirou. Putting his hair up was pointless if it was like this. Besides, it not only made him look childish, but foolish as well, and he couldn't stand that.
"It's adorable. Like a bunny rabbit."
"You bastard...!!"
Kagerou tried to grab Kichou, who was laughing at the success of his prank, but Kichou was one step ahead and avoided him.
"Oh yeah! I just remembered," he said suddenly.
"What!?" Kagerou growled, thinking Kichou was just making something up to get away.
"I remembered why I was looking for you."
Come to think of it, Kichou had said something like that.
He continued. "Tamafuyou was looking for you earlier."
"Wha...? Earlier? When!?" Kagerou blurted out.
"Hmmm. Before I grabbed the fish, I think?"
"!! Why didn't you mention that sooner!?"
Tamafuyou, the keisei Kichou and Kagerou served under, was often o-shoku, so he was certainly beautiful, but he was also a rather difficult person at times. Still, it seemed like he was even harder on Kagerou. Or maybe that was just his imagination. He didn't want to think about what Tamafuyou would have to say about him not coming right away when called.
And so, forgetting to undo his hair, Kagerou ran from the kamuro's room.
notes:
1: Horse mackerel.
2: Bits of fried dough that are the byproduct of making tempura.
3: Tamafuyou is a type of peony, also known as the Japanese tree peony.