Hanafurirou book 2, chapter 1, part 3
^_^_v More Hanafurirou! I'm seriously trying to stay with the translating this time, and it seems to be working. Two more scenes this time, leaving me with just one more to finish out the first chapter. Woot!
Today we have the fallout from Kichou's little prank on Kagerou last time, Kichou being friendly and amusing... and later a complete disaster for poor, pretty Kagerou. >_< (As well as the queen bitch himself, Tamafuyou, who gets his own story several books down the line.) And a picture... but not a happy one, unfortunately. (That said, it's not that bad, really, just part of the disastrous night.)
But the first scene is a fun one, so enjoy!
"...Dammit. Why do I have to do this...?" Kagerou muttered as he squeezed water so cold it made his hands hurt out of the cloth.
Though kamuro were expected to do most everyday tasks, they were not allowed to work with water because it was too hard on the hands. However, this time Tamafuyou had decided that, as punishment for being late, Kagerou should clean all the first floor rooms and halls by himself after the banquet was over.
It was particularly brutal, considering he was to go without dinner as well.
And what's more...
"That's quite an interesting hairstyle you're sporting. You should keep it that way for the rest of the day," he had ordered, after laughing at his pigtails. The ones Kichou had given him.
"Dammit. Nothing goes right when he's involved...!"
"...When who's involved?"
When Kagerou looked up to see who had spoken, he found Kichou standing in the hallway behind him.
"You're even pretty when you're angry," he said, laughing.
Kagerou glared at him. "Just who do you think I'm mad at!?"
"Could it be me?"
"Who else!?"
Going without dinner... Being told to clean up... It was all Kichou's fault. He couldn't not be mad at him.
"That's why I'm gonna help you."
"Help!? You should be the one doing it all!"
"If it bugged you that much, you could have just ratted me out, you know. Why'd you cover for me anyway?"
"...Well, I..."
Kagerou started to reply, but he couldn't finish. He should have just turned Kichou over to Takamura in the first place. Then not only would he have gotten out of cleaning, but he wouldn't have been denied dinner. So why did he cover for Kichou?
"...Never mind. Go away. You're in my way," he said, tired of thinking about it, as he tried to drive off Kichou.
"Oh?" Kichou replied, a teasing note in his voice. "I guess I'll take you up on that, then. Have fun." Then, almost immediately, he waved goodbye and disappeared.
"That jerk...! What is with him...!?"
Even though he had driven Kichou away, Kagerou was pissed off.
So he wasn't serious about his offer to help after all. If he really felt bad about it, shouldn't he force his help on Kagerou even when he said he didn't need it?
Kagerou berated Kichou in his head as he put all his anger into scrubbing the floor with a vengeance. Though it was more of a feeling of self-pity than anger. -It almost felt like he had been abandoned.
"...Like I care what that bastard does."
He had just muttered those words, when a white object was shoved in his face. It was a rice ball.
"Kichou..." he murmured, looking up at the figure standing in front of him. "What's this?"
"A bribe, I guess?"
"E-even if you give me that, I'm never going to-"
He was about to say "cover for you again" when his stomach growled rather noisily. No matter how stubborn he wanted to be, he was still a growing boy.
His face went beet red.
Kichou grinned and held the rice ball up to Kagerou's mouth. "Your hands are dirty, aren't they? I'll feed you."
"...I can do it myself."
"Don't be like that. Come on, open wide!"
Kagerou glared up at Kichou, but the white rice right in front of him looked so good. And Kichou was smiling so carelessly. After a while, holding out just seemed silly.
When he finally took a bite, Kichou let out an ooh of surprised. "A successful feeding-!"
"Idiot."
Even though Kichou's words had shocked him, Kagerou couldn't help but think that the pleased smile on his face was kind of cute.
"Oh, lunch."
"Huh?" The moment Kagerou raised his head, Kichou nibbled off the grain of rice stuck to his cheek.
Kagerou's face went red again at the feeling of soft lips against his cheek. It wasn't anything special. He was just taking the grain of rice, that's all. He knew there was no real meaning behind it.
Even so, he couldn't figure out why it made him feel so embarrassed.
"Hm?"
Kichou gave him a questioning look. He turned away with a huff.
"Don't be mad. I'll help you when you're done eating."
"...I told you - I don't need your help."
"Oh really?"
Kichou pushed the last bit of rice into Kagerou's mouth, picked up the discarded rags, and threw them in the bucket. After wringing them out, he tossed one to Kagerou. He took another rag and spread it out on the floor. And then...
"Race you to the other end!" he said and immediately started running.
"Hey, no fair...!"
Kagerou chased after him without thinking. By the time he realized that he didn't have to join in on Kichou's silly race, it was already too late.
Their feet thudded against the floor, and when they reached the other side...
"Okay, now over there!"
...and they turned around.
Kagerou tried his hardest to catch up with Kichou, who was always a step ahead of him. Over and over again, they ran down the long hallway, only to turn around and head right back as soon as they reached the end.
"See? That didn't take all that long."
As soon as he heard those words out of Kichou's mouth, Kagerou fell on his butt, exhausted.
"I knew you hated losing," Kichou said, laughing as he held out a hand to Kagerou, who was completely out of breath.
There's a system of "turns" in the brothels.
When a single courtesan has multiple clients at the same time, they take the clients not to their personal room, but to one of the so-called shared rooms to wait. Then they move from room to room to deal with each one.
And while the keisei is absent, the shinzou who deals with the waiting client is known as a stand-in.
That night, Tamafuyou stopped Kagerou in the hallway as he was in the middle of refilling lantern oil in the shared rooms.
"Yes...?"
Tamafuyou gestured for Kagerou to come, so he moved closer.
"Go stand in for me."
"Huh...?"
Stand-ins were usually shinzou, since the kamuro were too young to be shown to the clients yet.
"Unfortunately, it's really busy tonight, and we don't have enough help. It's just pouring drinks. You can do that, right?"
All stand-ins did was talk and provide companionship while the clients drank, and one of the house rules was that you didn't lay a hand on the stand-in. Every now and then a client tried to break that rule, but those clients were called rude, and sometimes even denounced as cheaters. It was considered tasteful to just accept it quietly and pay, even if the keisei didn't make it around at all.
Kagerou didn't like the idea, but when Tamafuyou put it that way, he couldn't really refuse.
"...Okay..."
Kagerou finished refilling the lamps and headed for the room in question.
He knelt down, opened the screen, and put his hands on the floor to bow in greeting.
"Good evening. I'm Kagerou, here to stand in for Tamafuyou. I look forward to my time with you."
"Oh, a kamuro." The man sounded somewhat surprised, but he gestured for Kagerou to enter. "Oh well. Come in."
"Excuse me."
Kagerou entered and pushed the screen shut behind him.
The client was a young man who had been to visit Tamafuyou multiple times, so Kagerou recognized him. He was fairly sure the man was still a graduate student. The fact that he had the money to frequent a high-class brothel as a student meant he was probably the lazy son of a rich family or something like that. Kagerou wasn't sure exactly what, but his appearance seemed to fit. He wore fashionable clothing and expensive watches.
"You're the boy who was sitting in the corner at the last banquet," the man said. It seemed he recognized Kagerou as well.
"Yes, I am..."
"I remember you because you gave me high hopes for the future."
Kagerou seated himself at the man's side and served him, but he had no idea what to say, so he mostly just sat there and listened.
He used to buy women, but after trying a man once, he discovered that they were actually pretty good. Men knew what places felt the best, so they gave wonderful blow jobs. Men's bodies were good because they were tighter than women... Despite his youth, his choice of topics was a constant stream of lewdness, so much that Kagerou was hard-pressed to just show that he was still listening.
But even though Kagerou made himself listen, the man put his arm around Kagerou's shoulders. Perhaps he was starting to get a little buzzed.
"So, how old are you?"
"...I'm almost thirteen."
"Hmm..."
Kagerou tried to slide the man's arm off of him, but the man wouldn't let him. Even worse...
"Then you should be starting to grow some hair down there. How's it going?"
"Let's see."
He stuck his hand under Kagerou's kimono. Kagerou struggled, trying to get away.
"Please, stop...!"
"I'm just gonna check. It'll go faster if you behave yourself. Tamafuyou's not gonna be here anytime soon, so it's your job to make sure I don't get bored, isn't it?"
"Stop..."
Kagerou tried to stand, but the man grabbed the edge of his kimono and pulled, causing him to tumble to the floor. He struggled even more, but his slender child's body was no match for the strength of an adult.
The man pinned both his arms above his head and pushed up the bottom of his kimono. He looked down on those now bared legs.
"......" Kagerou's skin broke out in goosebumps at the disgusting feeling of the man's lustful gaze. He couldn't understand how the man, who should have known better as an adult, could stand to stare at a young boy like that.
"Quite pretty."
The moment he felt the man reach out to touch him, Kagerou started to struggle like mad. He lashed out with the only free part of his body - his legs.
And caught the man in the gut with a foot.
The man let go of Kagerou and started to cough violently.
It was right then that the screen opened and Tamafuyou finally made his appearance. Even though they didn't get along very well most of the time, Kagerou was relieved that he had come. However, Tamafuyou stared down at Kagerou with a cold look on his face.
"Tama..." The man appealed to Tamafuyou, coughing and purposefully groaning in pain. "H-he came on to me. So I..."
That must have been his excuse. It would be bad for him if anyone found out that he had tried to go after a stand-in.
Kagerou could hardly believe his ears. "I didn't...! I wouldn't come on to...!!"
His shout cut off as Tamafuyou suddenly grabbed him by the wrist.
Tamafuyou had a frightening look on his face. It was like the beauty had suddenly become the beast.
He dragged Kagerou's cowering figure out into the garden-side hallway and to the very edge. Then he pushed Kagerou's head, face-first, into the stone basin filled with water for washing hands.
Kagerou hadn't been expecting it, so he got a mouthful of water. Even worse, it didn't stop at just once. Tamafuyou kept shoving his head under and lifting it back out, not giving him a chance to spit out the water in his mouth. It hurt. He thought he was going to die.
His thoughts started to grow fuzzy and his ears started ringing. He couldn't even shake his head. After that happened, he finally felt Tamafuyou let go.
He curled up on the floor, coughing violently.
He suspected that Tamafuyou realized that his client had been the liar. But if he had, how could he do what he had just done?
"You're just a kamuro. Keep your filthy paws off other people's things," Tamafuyou growled in Kagerou's ear. Then he jerked his chin down the hallway, silently telling him to leave if he knew what was good for him.
Holding back feelings of shame, Kagerou ran off down the hallway.
Today we have the fallout from Kichou's little prank on Kagerou last time, Kichou being friendly and amusing... and later a complete disaster for poor, pretty Kagerou. >_< (As well as the queen bitch himself, Tamafuyou, who gets his own story several books down the line.) And a picture... but not a happy one, unfortunately. (That said, it's not that bad, really, just part of the disastrous night.)
But the first scene is a fun one, so enjoy!
"...Dammit. Why do I have to do this...?" Kagerou muttered as he squeezed water so cold it made his hands hurt out of the cloth.
Though kamuro were expected to do most everyday tasks, they were not allowed to work with water because it was too hard on the hands. However, this time Tamafuyou had decided that, as punishment for being late, Kagerou should clean all the first floor rooms and halls by himself after the banquet was over.
It was particularly brutal, considering he was to go without dinner as well.
And what's more...
"That's quite an interesting hairstyle you're sporting. You should keep it that way for the rest of the day," he had ordered, after laughing at his pigtails. The ones Kichou had given him.
"Dammit. Nothing goes right when he's involved...!"
"...When who's involved?"
When Kagerou looked up to see who had spoken, he found Kichou standing in the hallway behind him.
"You're even pretty when you're angry," he said, laughing.
Kagerou glared at him. "Just who do you think I'm mad at!?"
"Could it be me?"
"Who else!?"
Going without dinner... Being told to clean up... It was all Kichou's fault. He couldn't not be mad at him.
"That's why I'm gonna help you."
"Help!? You should be the one doing it all!"
"If it bugged you that much, you could have just ratted me out, you know. Why'd you cover for me anyway?"
"...Well, I..."
Kagerou started to reply, but he couldn't finish. He should have just turned Kichou over to Takamura in the first place. Then not only would he have gotten out of cleaning, but he wouldn't have been denied dinner. So why did he cover for Kichou?
"...Never mind. Go away. You're in my way," he said, tired of thinking about it, as he tried to drive off Kichou.
"Oh?" Kichou replied, a teasing note in his voice. "I guess I'll take you up on that, then. Have fun." Then, almost immediately, he waved goodbye and disappeared.
"That jerk...! What is with him...!?"
Even though he had driven Kichou away, Kagerou was pissed off.
So he wasn't serious about his offer to help after all. If he really felt bad about it, shouldn't he force his help on Kagerou even when he said he didn't need it?
Kagerou berated Kichou in his head as he put all his anger into scrubbing the floor with a vengeance. Though it was more of a feeling of self-pity than anger. -It almost felt like he had been abandoned.
"...Like I care what that bastard does."
He had just muttered those words, when a white object was shoved in his face. It was a rice ball.
"Kichou..." he murmured, looking up at the figure standing in front of him. "What's this?"
"A bribe, I guess?"
"E-even if you give me that, I'm never going to-"
He was about to say "cover for you again" when his stomach growled rather noisily. No matter how stubborn he wanted to be, he was still a growing boy.
His face went beet red.
Kichou grinned and held the rice ball up to Kagerou's mouth. "Your hands are dirty, aren't they? I'll feed you."
"...I can do it myself."
"Don't be like that. Come on, open wide!"
Kagerou glared up at Kichou, but the white rice right in front of him looked so good. And Kichou was smiling so carelessly. After a while, holding out just seemed silly.
When he finally took a bite, Kichou let out an ooh of surprised. "A successful feeding-!"
"Idiot."
Even though Kichou's words had shocked him, Kagerou couldn't help but think that the pleased smile on his face was kind of cute.
"Oh, lunch."
"Huh?" The moment Kagerou raised his head, Kichou nibbled off the grain of rice stuck to his cheek.
Kagerou's face went red again at the feeling of soft lips against his cheek. It wasn't anything special. He was just taking the grain of rice, that's all. He knew there was no real meaning behind it.
Even so, he couldn't figure out why it made him feel so embarrassed.
"Hm?"
Kichou gave him a questioning look. He turned away with a huff.
"Don't be mad. I'll help you when you're done eating."
"...I told you - I don't need your help."
"Oh really?"
Kichou pushed the last bit of rice into Kagerou's mouth, picked up the discarded rags, and threw them in the bucket. After wringing them out, he tossed one to Kagerou. He took another rag and spread it out on the floor. And then...
"Race you to the other end!" he said and immediately started running.
"Hey, no fair...!"
Kagerou chased after him without thinking. By the time he realized that he didn't have to join in on Kichou's silly race, it was already too late.
Their feet thudded against the floor, and when they reached the other side...
"Okay, now over there!"
...and they turned around.
Kagerou tried his hardest to catch up with Kichou, who was always a step ahead of him. Over and over again, they ran down the long hallway, only to turn around and head right back as soon as they reached the end.
"See? That didn't take all that long."
As soon as he heard those words out of Kichou's mouth, Kagerou fell on his butt, exhausted.
"I knew you hated losing," Kichou said, laughing as he held out a hand to Kagerou, who was completely out of breath.
There's a system of "turns" in the brothels.
When a single courtesan has multiple clients at the same time, they take the clients not to their personal room, but to one of the so-called shared rooms to wait. Then they move from room to room to deal with each one.
And while the keisei is absent, the shinzou who deals with the waiting client is known as a stand-in.
That night, Tamafuyou stopped Kagerou in the hallway as he was in the middle of refilling lantern oil in the shared rooms.
"Yes...?"
Tamafuyou gestured for Kagerou to come, so he moved closer.
"Go stand in for me."
"Huh...?"
Stand-ins were usually shinzou, since the kamuro were too young to be shown to the clients yet.
"Unfortunately, it's really busy tonight, and we don't have enough help. It's just pouring drinks. You can do that, right?"
All stand-ins did was talk and provide companionship while the clients drank, and one of the house rules was that you didn't lay a hand on the stand-in. Every now and then a client tried to break that rule, but those clients were called rude, and sometimes even denounced as cheaters. It was considered tasteful to just accept it quietly and pay, even if the keisei didn't make it around at all.
Kagerou didn't like the idea, but when Tamafuyou put it that way, he couldn't really refuse.
"...Okay..."
Kagerou finished refilling the lamps and headed for the room in question.
He knelt down, opened the screen, and put his hands on the floor to bow in greeting.
"Good evening. I'm Kagerou, here to stand in for Tamafuyou. I look forward to my time with you."
"Oh, a kamuro." The man sounded somewhat surprised, but he gestured for Kagerou to enter. "Oh well. Come in."
"Excuse me."
Kagerou entered and pushed the screen shut behind him.
The client was a young man who had been to visit Tamafuyou multiple times, so Kagerou recognized him. He was fairly sure the man was still a graduate student. The fact that he had the money to frequent a high-class brothel as a student meant he was probably the lazy son of a rich family or something like that. Kagerou wasn't sure exactly what, but his appearance seemed to fit. He wore fashionable clothing and expensive watches.
"You're the boy who was sitting in the corner at the last banquet," the man said. It seemed he recognized Kagerou as well.
"Yes, I am..."
"I remember you because you gave me high hopes for the future."
Kagerou seated himself at the man's side and served him, but he had no idea what to say, so he mostly just sat there and listened.
He used to buy women, but after trying a man once, he discovered that they were actually pretty good. Men knew what places felt the best, so they gave wonderful blow jobs. Men's bodies were good because they were tighter than women... Despite his youth, his choice of topics was a constant stream of lewdness, so much that Kagerou was hard-pressed to just show that he was still listening.
But even though Kagerou made himself listen, the man put his arm around Kagerou's shoulders. Perhaps he was starting to get a little buzzed.
"So, how old are you?"
"...I'm almost thirteen."
"Hmm..."
Kagerou tried to slide the man's arm off of him, but the man wouldn't let him. Even worse...
"Then you should be starting to grow some hair down there. How's it going?"
"Let's see."
He stuck his hand under Kagerou's kimono. Kagerou struggled, trying to get away.
"Please, stop...!"
"I'm just gonna check. It'll go faster if you behave yourself. Tamafuyou's not gonna be here anytime soon, so it's your job to make sure I don't get bored, isn't it?"
"Stop..."
Kagerou tried to stand, but the man grabbed the edge of his kimono and pulled, causing him to tumble to the floor. He struggled even more, but his slender child's body was no match for the strength of an adult.
The man pinned both his arms above his head and pushed up the bottom of his kimono. He looked down on those now bared legs.
"......" Kagerou's skin broke out in goosebumps at the disgusting feeling of the man's lustful gaze. He couldn't understand how the man, who should have known better as an adult, could stand to stare at a young boy like that.
"Quite pretty."
The moment he felt the man reach out to touch him, Kagerou started to struggle like mad. He lashed out with the only free part of his body - his legs.
And caught the man in the gut with a foot.
The man let go of Kagerou and started to cough violently.
It was right then that the screen opened and Tamafuyou finally made his appearance. Even though they didn't get along very well most of the time, Kagerou was relieved that he had come. However, Tamafuyou stared down at Kagerou with a cold look on his face.
"Tama..." The man appealed to Tamafuyou, coughing and purposefully groaning in pain. "H-he came on to me. So I..."
That must have been his excuse. It would be bad for him if anyone found out that he had tried to go after a stand-in.
Kagerou could hardly believe his ears. "I didn't...! I wouldn't come on to...!!"
His shout cut off as Tamafuyou suddenly grabbed him by the wrist.
Tamafuyou had a frightening look on his face. It was like the beauty had suddenly become the beast.
He dragged Kagerou's cowering figure out into the garden-side hallway and to the very edge. Then he pushed Kagerou's head, face-first, into the stone basin filled with water for washing hands.
Kagerou hadn't been expecting it, so he got a mouthful of water. Even worse, it didn't stop at just once. Tamafuyou kept shoving his head under and lifting it back out, not giving him a chance to spit out the water in his mouth. It hurt. He thought he was going to die.
His thoughts started to grow fuzzy and his ears started ringing. He couldn't even shake his head. After that happened, he finally felt Tamafuyou let go.
He curled up on the floor, coughing violently.
He suspected that Tamafuyou realized that his client had been the liar. But if he had, how could he do what he had just done?
"You're just a kamuro. Keep your filthy paws off other people's things," Tamafuyou growled in Kagerou's ear. Then he jerked his chin down the hallway, silently telling him to leave if he knew what was good for him.
Holding back feelings of shame, Kagerou ran off down the hallway.