Chapter 12

“You are such a doll, Kaede-chan!”

Kaede’s smile was a little forced, as she had tried on a multitude of different outfits that Yurika had provided her.

There would be no mistaking that Yurika was related to Yukiko, even if Kaede had met them separately on the street. The effusive nature of how the island girl interacted with her was absolutely hereditary. Yurika was also very good at keeping a conversation going, even if it was one-sided.

“Turn this way, Kaede-chan!”

Kaede, for her efforts, was playing along quite well with being Yurika’s dress-up doll, though one wouldn’t be wrong if they thought the young oiran was caught up in the other girl’s pace.

The outfit of the moment was a simple blue checkerboard hakamashita with a dark blue andon bakama to match. Kaede found it incredibly easy to move around in and may have started to get used to modelling for the other girl as she did a little twirl, before stretching her arms out letting the sleeves fan out.

Yurika clapped at the extra flair from Kaede as she smiled at her audience of one.

“You’re a natural at showing off an outfit!”

Kaede brought one sleeve up to her mouth laughing slightly. A fair amount of these motions were taken directly from the myriad of dances that were ingrained into her body after all these years. That was without mentioning the amount of yukata and kimono that she had been fitted for by the Imperial seamstresses. In a way, her oiran training made her into a glorified model.

“It’s something I’ve always had to do at the palace…” Kaede said absentmindedly after a slight bow to Yurika, another action that was practically involuntary. She turned her back towards the island girl, starting to undo the various ties on the outfit.

“The palace, you say?” Yurika said, her hand under her chin as she flicked through the remaining pile of clothes she had carried up to Kaede’s room. It hadn’t even been a full chime after Yukiko had the two of them settled in that there was a boisterous knock on her door and Yurika barged in with a bundle of clothes under one arm along with a greeting as if Kaede and her had been friends their whole life.

Kaede flinched, as she neatly folded the lantern hakama, realizing that she had let that slip out. It’s not like she was keeping it a secret. She just didn’t want to parade around Tsuiraku with everyone treating her like some sort of naïve little maiden. That would be no different than being in the back palace!

“Um, I mean…” She tried to backpedal, as she removed the hakamashita, handing the long garment to Yurika and taking the next one the girl had prepared for her.

“You don’t have to hide it, Kaede-chan. That is, you’re not hiding it very well!” Yurika said with a hearty laugh as she rolled the cloth up into a bundle, before digging through the pile for another pair of hakama.

Kaede slid into the new hakamashita, maroon with a pattern of stylized crabs scattered across it, before tying the garb around her with practiced hands.

“What do you mean, Yurika-chan?”

“For one, you move with such easy grace and elegance, you’ve got to be someone from a high family.”

Kaede sighed, as there wasn’t any way that she could deny it. Even if they hadn't been retained by the Imperial family, the skills and training that the Yumekawa women went through would’ve landed them somewhere in the upper echelons of society.

“The way you talk is also prim, proper and polite. Not at all like a girl like myself.” Yurika continued, as she fanned out a dark blue umanori hakama to pair with the hakamashita Kaede was currently trying on.

“There’s nothing wrong with how you talk, Yurika-chan!”

Yurika snickered as she stepped close to Kaede and held the pants up to her petite waist. “I know there isn’t, but there’s just something different about how the words sound coming from you.”

Kaede blinked, not quite understanding what the island girl meant before she felt the umanori placed in her hands.

“Lastly…” Yurika grinned as she wrapped an arm over Kaede’s shoulder, causing the young oiran to lose her balance. She hadn’t expected the sudden close contact. “...most people don’t have two names, Yumekawa Kaede-chan!”

Kaede was released from Yurika’s grasp and the question of how the girl knew her full name was clear on the oiran’s face.

“You signed our guest book with some lovely brushwork!”

Gakuto’s leg was bouncing anxiously as he sat on the edge of the bed. The walls were quite thin between the two rooms and he could make out most of the conversation between Kaede and Yurika. They were getting along like a pair of old friends, as far as he could tell, with the snippets he overheard.

It’s not like he was trying to eavesdrop either. He just felt a bit uncomfortable with a stranger, someone that they hadn’t even met mere moments ago, dressing Kaede up in an adjacent room.

The floorboards creaked erratically as his leg bouncing increased in pace. He lifted the offending leg off the ground and rested it on his other leg, trying to compose himself. It took only moments before his other leg started bouncing and he hopped up from the bed, starting to pace in front of it.

“I’m not worried that this island girl is dangerous or anything…” Gakuto said to the empty room as he heard loud laughter from the next room. He just found it a bit unsettling that Kaede wasn’t exercising all that much caution, given her station and their current situation.

He crossed his arms as he lengthened his stride, now travelling between the window and the door, muttering something about Kaede needing to be more restrained around strange islanders, when his door opened and Yurika’s head popped in.

“Sorry for this strange islander to barge in here Gakkun, but Kaede wanted to hear your opinion of her in normal clothes!”

Gakuto’s face had flushed red before he registered everything she said.

“Wait, what did you call me?”

“Gakkun? That’s your name, isn’t it? Kaede said ‘Yurika-chan, can you grab Gakkun for me?’ and you’re the only person who checked in with her, so you must be Gakkun!”

“That’s not my actual na-”

“It’s fine, it’s fine!” Yurika said, gesturing for him to step out into the hall and Gakuto saw the resemblance between her and Yukiko as he begrudgingly followed her guidance.

“I mean it, my name is Gaku-” Yurika slipped behind him as he stepped in the hall and she pushed him towards Kaede’s room with surprising strength.

“That’s not important, Gakkun! When a lady asks for you to see her outfit, you mustn’t make her wait!”

“Once again, it’s Ga-”

“Kaede-chan, we’re here!” Yurika’s voice absolutely overpowered his complaints and Gakuto was left wondering if this island girl had some grudge against him.

Kaede opened the door enough to peek her head out, looking up at Gakuto. “Promise not to laugh, Gakkun?”

Gakuto was surprised by the reluctance from the young oiran. Kaede paraded around the halls of the back palace in the finest silk kimono and the most gorgeous yukata on a daily basis, but here she was going to be timid?

“Why would you think I’d laugh?"

“Because Gakkun likes to tease me.”

Those words stung a bit, but he couldn’t deny them. Though usually it was in regard to her musical talent (or lack thereof).

“Fine, I promise.”

Kaede smiled as if she had won a prize before she closed the door quickly. Gakuto was about to protest when she opened the door fully, stepping out into the hallway.

Her hair was done up in a simple ponytail, with a white handkerchief tying it up like a ribbon. The maroon crab patterned hakamashita was a bit baggy over her petite frame with the sleeves covering everything up to her palm. It was tucked into a dark blue umanori that seemed tailor-made for Kaede, despite her being quite a few inches shorter than Yurika. In lieu of an obi, a grey cloth had been wrapped around her waist and was folded in the back like a pouch that Gakuto noted seemed to already be getting some use.

Kaede did a cute little spin on the white tabi that adorned her feet, before tilting her head and holding up her index and middle fingers in a V-shape. Gakuto had no idea why she did that but Yurika was clapping vigorously to his left, so he just knew it was her idea.

“What do you think, Gakkun?”

“Yeah, whatcha think, Gakkun?”

Both of the girls were looking at him expectantly and he felt self-conscious, looking off to the side as he rubbed the back of his neck.

“It’s cute… I guess.”

“That’s not what we’re asking!” Both girls shouted in sync, causing Gakuto to take a startled step back.

“It… it looks like…” His eyes were turned towards the ceiling as the heat from their dual gazes flustered him.

“Like something an island girl would wear…”

Kaede and Yurika looked at each other before high-fiving each other, wide smiles on their faces.

“That’s exactly the look we were going for, Kaede-chan!”

“If Gakkun says it, it must be true! Thank you, Yurika-chan!”

Gakuto sighed as he turned away from the girls’ exuberant chatter, running his palm across his forehead slowly.

“Were you two twins in a previous life or something?”

Both Kaede and Yurika were smiling brightly, opening and closing their index and middle fingers in V-shapes, proud of their handiwork to assimilate the oiran to a life (week) on Tsuiraku.