In the year 1891, twenty-three years after the revolution that restored all political power in the empire of Japan to it's new Emperor Meiji and ended the period of the Shogunate, the island nation had become a prosperous modern state with grand ambition.
But while great wealth was being acquired by the powerful new elite many groups still yearned for a return to the ways of the past.
Many farmers had lost their livelihood and independence because of the new taxation-system and the measures the government had implemented in order to change Japan from a rural nation into an industrial powerhouse.
Women had lost much of the rights and financial independence they had enjoyed during the Shogunate. The owners of the factories in the cities profited from the situation in the country by employing the judicially disempowered daughters of the financially troubled farmers under harsh conditions, deceitfully indebting the young women to them and housing them in factory-owned dormitories that became breeding-grounds for cholera and TBC epidemics.
The invisible minorities of the Empire like the Burakumin, people who due to the nature of their inherited professions - like tanners, butchers, or undertakers - were considered tainted through association with death and shunted by the rest of society, had received equal rights by the government but continued to suffer from century-old stigma's while the government showed no intention to further improve their situation.
The right to murder members of these minorities with impunity used to be one of several outrageous ancient rights enjoyed by the now abolished Samurai class.
Many former Samurai had adapted well to the modern times, finding employment within the government or in business, but many others found themselves unable to adapt.
Their fortunes declined due to mismanagement and they remembered the times when they were revered by members of the other castes with nostalgic regret.
It should not be surprising then that the period of the Meiji restoration saw many uprisings and disturbances of all sizes.
Disenchanted former Samurai and farmers often banded together in attempts at contra-revolution.
Futile attempts, because the state had rapidly grown strong and the modern conscription army was able to overcome all the Samurai's expertise and experience with its ability to constantly replenish its numbers.
Faced with this situation, one of the former Samurai caste who had seen the government strip his father and family from the hereditary title of Daimyo and the governing power that came with it had early on decided on another way to defeat the new government: Infiltration.
The Kirishima family of Fujisawa-Osaka had managed to remain prosperous in the modern times through smart investment and business acumen but fueled by a nostalgic ambition for more power over their fellow men than this new society could ever provide them they yearned to dethrone the emperor and abolish the changes wrought by the government.
They had started tentatively by positioning confidants in strategic places in the government and the army and as they found new allies and co-conspirators over the years their secret power grew.
When they caught word that Emperor Meiji would come to Fujisawa-Osaka in the autumn of 1891 to honor the combat exercises of the local garrison with his presence the conspirators judged the time ripe to start the coup that would bring them the throne and herald the return of the old ways.
But before that happened the would-be Emperor of the Kirishima family wanted to ensure his progeny.
One other ancient and outrageous tradition connected specifically to the Daimyo's of the Kirishima clan was the ritual of divine selection.
In early feudal times, the family wanted their heir to be married to the young woman most suited to be the wife of a leader of warriors.
To that end, they organized a life or death tournament between the Samurai daughters who wanted to mary the male heir, confident that the girl who emerged victorious would be able to adequately support her husband in times of war.
By the time the young Atsuya Kirishima was born the tradition had long been abandoned and had obviously become illegal. Nevertheless, Atsuya's father proposes to those faithful to him that at the day of his son's 22nd birthday a similar tournament would be held and that the girl who emerged victorious would be sure to become one of the most powerful women in the Empire.
It should not surprise anyone that in those more enlightened times few families would want to gamble the lives of their daughters, yet two high-bred families saw fit to do just that and as they grew up Atsuya's father considered that either of them would make a very fine wife to his son.
Akane Minagawa, who had received the honorary title of Amaterasu Gozen in honor of the Goddess of the sun, was a beautiful young woman admired throughout Fujiwara and had been trained from a young age in armed combat.
Failed investments had struck her family's fortune when she was born and in desperation, they saw a chance to ensure the future of their daughter and raise their fortune and position to its former glory.
They spared no expenses to ensure their daughter could not be beaten at the day of the ritual.
Hanabi Yasuraoka, who in turn was named Uzume Gozen in honor of the Goddess of dawn, possessed a more modest beauty but was a young woman of great intelligence and refined behavior fit for the wife of a ruler.
Her parents were possibly financially worse of than the Minagawa family, but they did not care to bridle their expenses and pledged their daughter to the ritual of divine selection as soon as they heard their secret leader's declaration, fully expecting to better themselves through marriage.
In spite of their daughter's comparatively low proficiency in armed combat, they maintained that on the day of the duel she would find a way to bring them victory.
And so, as Atsuya Kirishima's father planned the downfall of the government, these two girls counted the days before they would meet to defend their lives against each other.
But then, suddenly, Hanabi disappeared.
The arbitrator for the ritual came to the Yasuraoka home and talked to her parents until he was satisfied they truly knew nothing of her whereabouts.
The Kirishima family dreaded the girl would talk to someone about the ritual and ordered the arbitrator to find the girl and bring her back by any means and in any state.
Akane Minigawa, however, asked permission to find her adversary herself and swore the girl's parents, the arbitrator, and Atsuya and his father that she would bring her back unharmed.
The arbitrator, who the decision lay by since he was the one who had been given the order, thought long about her proposal. At last, with a soft smile, he nodded his agreement.
And so began Akane's journey through the neighboring towns and villages.
A search that at first yielded little results, but after many weeks finally led her through a reliable eye witness account to the Empire's capital.
It was cold in the bamboo basket factory where Akane had found employment.
Sitting on a wooden floor covered only by the waste of the bamboo baskets she and her colleagues were making didn't do anything to improve the situation.
Looking at the girls in front of her and the girls in the rows on either side of hers Akane saw the same kinds of faces she had found everywhere she had worked during her search for her runaway adversary.
Plain looking girls, unlike Akane. Many of them younger than her. Most of them from the countryside.
All working hard to reach the quota for the day and obtain the points necessary to deserve payment.
Akane worked harder than most of them, due to being hardier. And due to having a clearly defined goal other than making money to pay off the debt of being brought here from the country, the "privilege" of living in the nearby dormitories and food so the girls could get through the next day.
Of course, Akane didn't actually need the money she earned here.
Her parents provided her with enough to get modest but private lodgings, food and whatever was necessary to do what she had come here for.
Her employment served only for her to not stand out.
As usual, when applying for work, the men who hired had been apprehensive at first, noticing her confident demeanor. Factory managers liked to find their workers on their own terms and for a clearly defined long term. Girls who looked like they would do anything without contradiction was what they wanted. But as soon as they were content that she kept working as hard as she had promised and didn't cause any trouble they were loath to see her leave when the time came.
Akane was almost done here now. She had finally found Hanabi Yasuraoka after having spent so many months searching.
Akane had been furious when she heard the coward had fled her home.
She had gone in pursuit right after consulting the arbitrator of the ritual of divine selection with her parents and Hanabi's.
Now she was finally able to bring Uzume Gozen back home again. Hanabi would be guarded night and day after this, Akane thought as she finished the basket in front of her with a tug.
There would be no more chances for Hanabi to escape her fate.
A few hours later, having finished work, Akane was hiding in a narrow passage between two wooden houses in a shady street.
It was getting dark, but she had a clear view of the three-story house on the opposite side of the street and could wait leisurely for her target to show herself.
Finally, she had come across Hanabi after searching from village to village for so long. Two weeks ago she had heard of someone fitting the younger girl's description having been seen near this neighborhood in Tokyo.
Akane had followed the lead immediately and arrived in Tokyo, wasting no time in finding lodging and employment so she could stake out the neighborhood Hanabi had been seen in.
After about a quarter of an hour, the girl she had been chasing came out of the house Akane had been watching.
After all the anticipation her heart beat violently and she took a moment to steel herself, employing acupuncture techniques to calm herself down.
Then, to her surprise, she saw a heavy horse-drawn cart drive over the grey flat stones the street was paved with and stop at the house. The two men driving the cart approached Hanabi.
They wore large white skirts and one of them had a butcher's knife hidden underneath.
They were burakumin apparently. Butchers from the nearby slaughterhouse.
Akane watched the men come close to Hanabi, shamelessly joking with her and touching her.
If Hanabi allowed these creatures to pollute her by their touch that was her business, but this familiarity with one from the Samurai caste was something the older girl could not endure, and gritting her teeth she surveyed the street, making sure nobody else was around.
With a sprint, the elegant young woman charged into the two butchers and knocked them out with her scabbard before they could react.
Instantly she turned and unsheathed her razor-sharp kodachi, pointing it at the throat of Hanabi, who had stumbled and fallen while recoiling in terror from the sudden attack.
In the light of the setting sun, the flaxen-haired girl's cold hazel eyes glared at the black-haired girl who was supporting herself on her elbows while the dagger that threatened her life prevented her from sitting up.
"You are Hanabi Yasuraoka?" Akane asked with a voice as frosty as the air they were breathing.
The other girl nodded.
"I am Akane Minagawa. You cowardly fled our hometown and now I see you got yourself into trouble with these things," Akane pointed at the Burakumin lying in the dust.
"It doesn't matter. Nobody else will hurt you. You are mine to kill."
Her voice was unwavering and resolute.
But to her curiosity, Hanabi was not afraid and did not resist.
Blushing slightly the younger girl slowly opened her mouth: "It's okay. You can kill me."
The pupils of the upright girl dilated.
"But I want to ask one favor. Can I?"
Hanabi smiled at the girl who held a sword pointed at her heart and calmly asked: "Can we stay here and be friends until the day we fight in the ritual?"
Akane frowned in surprise. She had been prepared for every kind of tactic, but what was she supposed to do with this? What was this girl saying?
The traditions of their ancestors did not allow one to escape from the ritual for divine selection.
If a girl would try to run away she was to be hunted down and brought back.
Instead of having this task performed by others Akane had been able to convince the arbitrator of the ritual of divine selection to allow her to bring Hanabi back herself.
Now she was being asked to suspend the retrieval of her future adversary and guard her in Tokyo for a prolonged time.
Akane pricked the other girl with the point of her sword. She drew blood from her skin, yet Hanabi did not flinch.
"Surely you do not think that you can deceive me with such nonsense?" The flaxen-haired girl sneered.
"Do you really think I will give you a chance to run away again?"
She scratched her blade down Hanabi's right shoulder, leaving bloody marks.
The other girl slowly shook her head.
"It's not nonsense. It's my heartfelt desire!"
Her beautiful honest eyes looked into Akane's.
Even though inevitable death was close to her, how could this girl innocently smile like this?
Akane was silenced, but Hanabi pursued her answer.
"Well, how about it?
You can stop whenever you change your mind. I am at your mercy in any case. You can take me back to Fujisawa town at that time.
So why not?"
Hanabi looked up at Akane's face.
"You are the most important person in my life. No other person can understand this wish," She pleaded.
Uzume Gozen's bright periwinkle eyes reflected the last light of the setting sun.
"Please support my proposition, Akane-chan!"
Hanabi's eager words brought Akane back to reality.
The voice that echoed in Akane's ears sounded like a nightingale. Akane wanted to hear more of that voice.
But she could not say so.
"Yasuraoka-san," She, at last, said, pronouncing the other girl's name with a threatening scowl.
"Yes?"
"I agree to your proposal."
"Oh! Thank you!" Hanabi smiled as the older girl lifted the dagger from her body and sheathed it in a white scabbard before hiding it inside the checkered dark teal kimono that suited her so well.
It seemed that all of this time Hanabi had found employment in a meat shop.
She had come out that evening to accept a delivery from the slaughterhouse for the nabe restaurant the meat shop was attached to.
As Akane helped Hanabi up the tall mustachioed owner of the meat shop came out of a door at the side of the house, alarmed by the noise of the fight.
To her great embarrassment and frustration, Akane was forced to apologize to the two burly men she had knocked down.
She didn't mind showing Hanabi by means of a savage glare just how much she loathed having to do this in order to protect the other girl's employment.
The next Sunday Akane wrote a long letter to the arbitrator and her parents about what had happened and made sure to properly motivate her decision by adding that this situation would allow her to study her opponent from nearby.
After returning from the post office and navigating her way through Tokyo's chaotic streets, dodging rickshaws and horse-drawn carriages left and right, she sat down in her room and meditated.
Mastering the rhythm of her breathing and listening to the soft rustle of her heart Akane shut out the cheers and calls of the busy shopping street in which the inn she had rented her room in was located.
Like gentle waves the air flowed in and out of her lungs, unhindered by the clatter of wheels and horses hooves.
Akane's soul, like a drop of water in the ocean, expanded and merged with the rest of the world. Accepting its shortcomings and her own she experienced the peace of mind it had taken her so long to find.
The gentle creaking of the floorboards in the hallway alerted her that someone was approaching.
Her visitor stood still before the white shoji that bordered Akane's room and gently called out to her.
"Akane-chan? Can I come in?"
'What's with that impertinent way of addressing me?' Akane thought irritably. 'It was the same when I confronted her at the meat shop.'
She slowly got up, walked to meet her guest, and opened the sliding door.
"Sorry for disturbing," The smaller girl bowed before she came in and her host closed the door behind her.
Akane watched the gentle curve of the blackette's shoulders in her blue kimono and let her eyes slide down Hanabi's arms to the package she was holding up in a cream-colored linen cloth.
"I wanted to talk to you and so I prepared lunch for the both of us," The young woman timidly declared while bowing. "Please accept this humble show of gratitude for accepting me into your home."
Akane eyed the younger girl with a cold stare but took the package from her with a nod.
"Thank you. I am sure we will enjoy it," She curtly replied.
"Please sit down and join me in eating these dishes."
"Thank you," Hanabi softly replied and following the older girl's example she sat down at the low wooden table in the middle of the room.
Akane unfolded the cloth that was decorated with golden cranes from the plain wooden box it contained.
Sliding the lid out of the partitioned box revealed several pale blue lacquered cups filled with pickled cucumbers, cabbage and soya beans in vinegar, soba noodles in a red sauce and meat in a brown sauce.
"That is sauce bolognese and beef stew," Hanabi enlightened her when she kept staring at the last two cups."
Akane separated the top of the wooden box from the bottom and placed the cups it contained - intended for Hanabi - in front of her, poured miso soup and tea from a pair of green lacquered decanters that were also contained in the box, and placed chopsticks on the table in front of them.
"Thank you for the food," Both young women nodded.
The dishes were very enjoyable. The sauce bolognese tasted sweet and sour and complemented the beef stew very well.
Akane had to admit that the burakumin who delivered the meat to her guest's employer were very good at their sinful profession.
She was delighted at the savory taste of the beef stew. Hanabi evidently was a very good cook.
"The food tastes excellent. But this seems rather extravagant for lunch," She dubiously complemented the blackette.
"Thank you. As I expected, you think too highly of my cooking," Hanabi slightly bowed. "As to the extravagance. Think of it as brunch."
"Brunch?" Akane raised an eyebrow.
"In the west people don't eat breakfast before they go to Sunday service. So when they come back home close to noon they eat a more lavish meal they call brunch," The young woman in front of her explained.
The flaxen-haired young woman chewed her pickled cucumber with a grimace.
She hadn't taken Hanabi for a modernist.
In truth, she had no opinion on the matter of western cuisine and western customs herself, although her teachers had always stressed a sober traditional diet.
The country seemed to have benefitted greatly from the westerners who had been employed by the government, so western influence didn't seem especially bad to her.
But she didn't see any point in courting western ways beyond what was useful.
She looked at the blackette who was eating her food with downcast eyes.
"You are the most important person in my life," Hanabi had said that evening.
What did she mean by that?
Certainly, Akane acknowledged that they had a relationship no other two people on earth shared.
It was their fate to battle each other on the day of the ritual of divine selection.
She had assumed Hanabi had wanted to flee that fate and shame her ancestors, but now it seemed the younger woman had a different motive for coming here.
"Yasuraoka-san, What did you mean by becoming friends?" Akane asked as she gave the surprised blackette an intimidating stare.
Hanabi swallowed the piece of meat she had just picked with her chopsticks before she had been addressed and hemmed.
"I want to have fun during the last handful of months of my life. I ran away from home to see new things."
"You are working in a meat shop," Akane retorted with a malicious grin.
"I need a way to sustain myself and not stand out obviously," Hanabi pouted.
"I do lots of fun things on Sundays. Tokyo possesses so much more attractions than Fujisawa-Osaka. And since you are here to take me back my only hope is to persuade you to join me in my little rebellion against the arbitrator."
Akane grimaced. She wasn't exactly a fan of the arbitrator or the power he held over them.
In fact, she felt repulsed by the man's insinuating attentions.
Normally a man she had seduced would secretly court her attention for a while, but he would quickly fall back to the ordinary routine of ignoring her when forced to interact with her.
If not, his wife - to whom Akane made sure to regularly imprint the painful fact that the young woman who had always been treated as an outcast by the other women and men in the village had been able to steal her husband's devotion from her - would remind him that Amaterasu Gozen was a tainted woman.
The arbitrator of the ritual of divine selection, however, had a disturbing way of looking at her that made her feel more like an outcast than being shunned by the entire town of Fujisawa-Osaka did.
"I think we can agree I am not going to win the ritual of divine selection," Hanabi continued, squirming and casting clouded eyes downward before stealing a glance upward. "You are much better trained than I am. I know that. That is why I hope you will appeal to the arbitrator to allow us this diversion until the time of the ritual."
Akane observed the eager, submissive expression and bow of the girl who had just made her lunch.
For some reason, she could not say no to those eyes.
And anyway, she had already agreed. She merely wanted to know more about Hanabi's intentions.
"Then what is it you want to do for fun?" She asked.
Akane saw a tiny light explode in each of Hanabi's periwinkle eyes as the blackette returned her honest inquisitive look. It was quite dazzling. She wondered if it was just her imagination.
"For starters let me take you to the park. There's a beautiful park around the nearby shrine where we can go flower gazing once spring starts.
And there is one other thing I want to do first today," Hanabi said with an awkward look. "But can it be a surprise?"
"A painting?!" Akane gasped as Hanabi led her through a bustling street of two-story wooden houses with blue lacquered clay-tiled gabled roofs which with little exception had businesses off all kinds conducted from the ground floor.
"Yes. Now you are here I want to have a portrait made of the two of us," The blackette replied with a sidelong glance at her companion.
"Why would I agree to something so morbid?"
"It's not morbid. We are going to have fun together for the first time in our lives in a city where people know nothing of our fate. I want some kind of proof to exist that we weren't always adversaries."
Akane looked coldly at the imploring eyes directed at her.
A rickshaw narrowly missed them when she pulled Hanabi out of its way.
"Thank you for your care," Hanabi bowed and sighed before eyeing a bookstore displaying a variety of volumes outside the shop stacked on wooden crates underneath the blue tiled awning of the ground floor. "And I have a request... " She continued with her attention turned to the older girl again.
"Please keep the painting with you to remember me by after my defeat."
Akane swallowed as she stared wide-eyed at the young woman bowing low before her at the edge of the flattened earth pedestrian walk in front of a colorful toyshop.
'This girl can't be right in the head,' She thought.
"I am not wasting money on your morbid desire," Akane imperiously stated while trying to recover from the shock of the outrageous request.
"Akane-chan, look over there!"
The flaxen-haired young woman looked in confusion at the unremarkable umbrella shop the suddenly excited younger girl was pointing at.
Hanabi unexpectedly took her by the arm, and pulled her along, not allowing Akane an opening for refusal.
They went into a painters atelier after all.
"Please paint a picture of us together," Hanabi asked the master.
She pushed Akane into a dark-green cushioned western chair and stood behind her.
When the painter told them how much it would cost Akane tried to leave, but Hanabi put her arms firmly around her torso and restrained her.
"I am not spending that much money on this!" The struggling flaxen-haired girl protested. "Let me go!"
"I will pay two thirds!" Hanabi whined. "Won't you do this much for me?!"
"I entreat you to trust in my store. I will apply all my humble art to please your sensibility," The painter assured with an amiable grin as he came up from a low bow. "You and your friend will look as beautiful as you are in real life."
Friend.
Akane stopped struggling.
Friendship was not meant for her.
Still... The entire event reminded her of someone she had known as a child.
None of the children in the village wanted to play with her when she was young, because she was destined to fight in the ritual for selection by the Gods.
And she had trained hard from a young age, not allowing her much time for friends.
But there had been one girl that always sought her out.
A girl that for a fleeting, misguided period in her life she had considered a friend.
A girl that forcefully dragged her into the lake to swim together even though Akane was terrified of the fish.
A girl that took her along to play tricks on the other people in her village.
Akane was very different as a child.
Her nephews and nieces used to call her crybaby Akane.
But the girl she had regarded as her friend called her...
Suddenly Hanabi kissed her on the cheek. Akane looked over her shoulder in surprise.
"what?"
"Er? what, what?"
"Why did you kiss me?" Akane blushed.
Hanabi took a step backward over the tatami matting of the painter's shop because of the older girl's peculiar expression.
"I'm sorry," She bowed. "It seemed like you were relenting, so I was happy. I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable."
In spite of her casual apology, Hanabi's own cheeks turned red.
But Akane did not notice.
When Hanabi kissed her, something had changed inside of the tall young woman.
A warm uncomfortable sensation took residence in her heart.
It was as if a crack had appeared in Akane's frozen heart.
That evening, while lying on her futon, Akane looked up at the wooden ceiling of her room at the inn and remembered that kiss, thinking about Hanabi.
And that something did not disappear.
A few weeks later they took the train together to a hotspot in Hakone. Another of Hanabi's ideas to have fun.
Akane sat stiffly next to the younger girl in one of the dark blue cushioned luxurious wooden benches lined along the large windows of the dimly populated second class carriages.
She sneaked a look at the blackette from the outside view of the snow-covered rice fields and noticed her staring somberly at the green linoleum covered floor of the train carriage.
Hanabi's burgundy kimono and white obi contrasted starkly with the blue of the bench's cushioning.
Akane wondered what her opponent was thinking about with such an ominous look as they neared their destination.
The hotel they were staying at was very beautiful.
Quite the contrast with the traditional wooden, mostly single-story houses and the simple flattened earth road they had walked from the station to here.
Hidden between snow-covered elm trees it proudly exhibited the beauty and radiance of modern Japan with its fusion of traditional and western architecture.
Fujiya had just reopened after being rebuilt following a major fire in 83.
Akane looked up at the grand luxurious white wooden two-story hotel, seemingly existing out of nothing but near story-height Yorkshire sash windows, towards the powdered roof with its blue - almost silver seeming - glazed clay kawara tiles.
'Hanabi is being quite the spendthrift, and squeezing my funds in the process,' she thought to herself as they walked into the building after exchanging their clogs for slippers.
She looked curiously at a bespectacled man of about forty in western dress sitting in one of the leather fauteuils in the lounge while the blackette registered them at the oaken desk under the cream plaster ceiling of the lobby.
For some reason, he looked familiar to her.
From the way his left arm was draped over the fauteuil's arm-support she could discern the shape of a what to most people would have been a well-concealed firearm underneath the breast pocket of his vest.
Akane guessed he was a military officer.
She could swear she had seen that round angry looking face with the short brown hair and the protruding eyes and nose in Fujisawa-Osaka when she was younger.
"Ojou-sama? May I accompany you to your room?" A bellhop not much older than she and Hanabi asked her with a deep bow.
Akane turned around and just barely noticed that her companion was regarding the man in the lounge with as peculiar an expression as she had.
Then Hanabi nodded at the bellhop and followed him up the grand burgundy carpeted staircase to their room with the taller girl in tow.
Hanabi had the hotel recommended to her by the daughter of her employer.
"We are bound to have a good time because Kamomebata-san has good judgment in these things," She said as she shelved her belongings in the cabinet of their western styled room.
Akane thought she heard a pause before the last three words as she looked out of the almost room-wide and height window over the immense panorama of snow-covered Mount Hakone and Hayakawa river but it was probably just her imagination.
She had never been to a place like this.
Always training, always preparing for the ritual of divine selection had left her no time for fun.
She did not regret having had to follow her adversary here.
"That kimono looks good on you Akane-chan. I didn't know you owned such colorful dresses," Hanabi remarked with a shy smile that made the unnamed feeling in Akane grow.
The flaxen-haired girl looked down at her purple kimono with orange osmanthus and apricot flowers design while they entered the dressing room of the hotel's onsen and stood still on the shiny bamboo floor to undress.
It was a kimono she had bought with the purpose of going to a local festival in Fujiwara-Osaka town once, but she had changed her mind in the end and stayed home meditating.
It was very warm, so it was well suited for the season. But it was quite warm in the hotel contrary to the train that had brought them here.
As Hanabi undressed to wash herself Akane quietly observed every movement she made.
The way her hair rustled as she took off her kimono.
The scent it released.
The bulging of her breasts.
The smooth texture of her pale legs.
The gentle movements her hand made as she placed her clothing in one of the woven bamboo baskets and took two towels with her to the bathing area.
Hanabi's casual acts were burned into Akane's heart without thinking.
She slowly removed her own kimono and inhaled the incensed air before she followed the blackette and seated herself beside her to wash.
Akane blushed as she averted her eyes from her companions naked body.
Their current level of intimacy made her feel uncomfortable.
'You have been letting her get too close,' Akane scolded herself.
'You may be indulging her out of self-interest, but she is still your enemy. You cannot let your guard down.'
She quickly rinsed herself with water she collected from the brass faucet in the wall into the wooden bucket at her feet and stimulated her acupressure points in order to relax.
When she got up from her stool Hanabi was waiting for her to enter the bath.
They greeted the other customers with a friendly smile and carefully stepped over the grey stony bath-floor.
"Whoaa!"
Hanabi suddenly lost her footing and in surprise, she clung to Akane to save herself from falling.
Akane took her into her arms like a child. She felt the touch of Hanabi's skin on hers. Softness, warmth.
It was hotter than a summer sun and burned and burned mercilessly through Akane's skin.
Another crack appeared in the frozen heart.
Hanabi's cheeks dyed crimson and she leaned her face on the shoulder of Akane as if she trusted her with her life.
The pleasure numbed Akane's body through and through.
She wanted to respond. She wanted to hug her fiercely. But the next moment, shame and anger took hold of her.
'What is this?! How come this girl makes me feel like this?!'
Akane shook off Hanabi's embrace in a much rougher fashion than she had intended.
A couple of middle-aged women, one of them a dainty red-headed European furtively observed her with shocked expressions.
Akane attempted to proceed to the other side of the basin, pretending nothing had happened, but she still felt ashamed of the disturbance.
"Akane-chan?"
The quiet, sad voice arrested her and made her look back.
Hanabi looked up at her like a puppy, with tears in her eyes, shaking in surprise and embarrassment.
Akane's chest hurt. It was severely painful for some reason to see the blackette like that, even if she was her enemy and it was her goal to kill her in the ritual.
Hanabi's tears and look stung the older girl's heart.
"You are too hot. Leave me be," She muttered quietly, noticing the embarrassed looks of the other bathers.
She gradually immersed herself in the hot bath on the rocky floor of the basin and closed her eyes, aware of Hanabi sitting down next to her, careful not to touch her.
Akane didn't know how to apologize for her behavior. She felt too ashamed to talk about it.
But it seemed like Hanabi was too scared to ask her why she had reacted so angry all of a sudden anyway.
Akane peered through pinched eyelids and saw the smaller young woman wipe her eyes and lay back with her eyes closed.
The water was very relaxing and after a while, Akane, feeling her earlier unease subside, ventured to peer at Hanabi again and was happy to see the girl seemed to be enjoying herself.
The water was very soothing and sitting here outside under the wooden roof over the hotspot basin with the snow gently falling down at the foot of Mount Hakone to the left of them was a beautiful and magical experience.
A cute sound escaped from Hanabi's lips.
"Ah! This is so wonderful after having spent the entire week walking around and serving people," She whispered.
Akane saw her cheeks had grown red and slowly closed her own eyes.
The water was easing the anxiety she had felt earlier. She wondered when the last time was that she had felt so calm.
Her mind pulled her back to a time when she was not being so rigorously trained yet.
She remembered how she was sitting idly on the beach at low tide with the girl she had once considered her friend picking sea snails from the puddles of water left by the receding sea and sucking the meat out.
Then she remembered something else.
She never knew where Amane lived. The girl had never told her.
It seemed she had always managed to derail the subject whenever Akane tried to ask her.
And that day was the last time Akane had seen her.
Even though she was the only friend the flaxen-haired girl had ever had.
Even though she had made her so happy.
Even though it always made her feel special when Amane had called her...
"Akane-chan?"
Hanabi's uneasy voice pulled Akane back to the real world.
"what's wrong?" the younger girl asked with a concerned look.
Akane realized she was feeling agitated again.
The awareness that Hanabi had been watching her made her feel more agitated.
'Has she noticed my thoughts? I cannot allow Hanabi to notice. Absolutely not. If Hanabi noticed...'
Just thinking about it, Akane shivered.
'Because I should not show weakness to enemies?
Probably, but that is not the only reason.'
Hanabi scratched her head in wonder.
"If you are feeling dizzy we should get out of the water," She tried.
Maybe you haven't eaten well this morning. They say eating beef helps against faintness."
"I'm alright. Thank you for your care," Akane smiled and nodded to ease her companion's mind.
"I was just thinking of something that happened in the factory this week."
"You seemed angry," Hanabi quietly observed.
Akane closed her eyes again.
"The overseers are very ruff to the girls who can't make the daily quota. It makes me want to interfere sometimes, but it is such a daily occurrence it hardly seems worth causing trouble over."
It was not a lie.
The way some of the other girls in the factory were sometimes treated had made Akane wonder whether she shouldn't speak up if things went too far some day.
Hanabi watched her with a gaping mouth.
"You really care about other people don't you Akane. I am the same.
I can't see people in pain. The daughter of the meat shop's owner often comes to me with her problems and I try to help her to the best of my abilities."
Akane looked aside and returned her adversary's smile. She could see Hanabi do that. Give advice to a friend in need.
Then she closed her eyes again and leaned back in the bath, listening to the silence around her.
'That's how we look to others,' She reflected. 'We look like any two friends engaged in casual conversation.
But the smiles and the joyful conversation are all lies.
It's just a game of deceit.
We are two girls who are going to kill each other. Yes, this is a nice time. But I cannot allow myself to be distracted from my goal.
No matter how friendly we get, I will kill Hanabi Yasuroaka at the ritual of divine selection.'
Both young woman tremendously enjoyed their stay in Hakone, but on their journey back to Tokyo on the train, Hanabi assured Akane that she didn't have any more such expensive pass-times in mind. She had just wanted to go to an onsen with a friend for once in her life.
The older girl was pleased her funds would be spared further extravagances, but secretly she enjoyed her outings with Hanabi more than she would admit even to herself.
She sat with a stern expression looking at the shabby houses of the villages between Hakone and Tokyo, reminiscing about her youth, and fell asleep just a few kilometers before they arrived.
Narumi Kanai sat smartly dressed in a grey vest and pantaloons, reading his newspaper and drinking a glass of port, in one of the luxurious leather fauteuils overlooking the staircase to the beautiful western style rooms of one of Hakone's most lauded hotels.
He greatly enjoyed the drink.
It was one of the more praiseworthy products introduced in his country in the last few decennia.
He smiled in delight as he poured another draught and the sour taste of the grapes and the touch of sweetness flowed into his throat while he read about the failed military uprising in Portugal.
Movement caught his eye as the man he was here to provide instructions from his Daimyo slowly walked up the stairway to the second floor.
Narumi observed the older man's grotesque eyes and pronounced nose with an amused smile as he turned the corner, reached the balcony and walked up the stairs on the right.
The arbitrator for the ritual of divine selection patiently finished his newspaper and glass of port.
Then he folded the newspaper and placed it next to the empty glass on the bamboo wooden table beside him.
He casually walked up the red-carpeted staircase, unnoticed even by the lobby clerks.
Blending in had always been one of his many talents. It was a great benefit of looking as bland as a person can look.
The young man leisurely walked through the hallway on the second floor with the oak panel walls and stopped at the door to the room the Colonel was staying in after looking left and right to see whether nobody else was around.
He quickly produced a neatly folded envelope from his pocket and slid it under the door, knocking two times.
Then he walked back as if nothing had happened and descended the broad stairs.
Within fifteen minutes Narumi Kanai was standing on the platform of Hakone station waiting to take the next train in pursuit of his prey.
When the train arrived he calmly took his seat on one of the wooden benches in the third wagon.
Nothing betrayed the excitement he was feeling in anticipation of his meeting with Akane Minigawa, scourge of men and lesser women alike.
Nothing but the satisfied, relaxed smile the arbitrator for the ritual of divine selection wore as he watched the blue winter sky through the rattling window of the train to Shimbashi Station in Tokyo.
End credits: Emily Barker And The Red Clay Halo: Pause
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