Chapter 1: Princess Snowdrop Makes An Entrance!
A month had passed since the fashion show debuting Tsukimi's Jellyfish line. Amamizukan's living room floor was covered in sheer fabrics. Tsukimi's face was completely red.
"Why is this happening to us?! I thought we were going to make wedding dresses!" Tsukimi said, sounding beyond embarrassed.
"That's a whole new level of fashion. For now, we'll have to try the Victoria's Secret way!" Kuranosuke said, smiling. He picked up the fabric, smiling. "Think about it as—honeymoon material!" Steam blew out of Tsukimi's ears.
Dear Mom,
I can't believe I'll be making lingerie! After all of that hard work making a boy into a princess… I don't think I'm even old enough to wear things like this! It's so unfair… But maybe I can make one look like a Rhizostoma. That would be nice, I think… Mom, did you become a jellyfish at night too?
Tsukimi, wearing her usual grey sweats, began drawing. Kuranosuke, as usual, was cross-dressing. He was wearing a long, wavy blonde wig, a red chiffon top with petal sleeves, a black mini skirt, and tall brown boots. Of course, he had his fake eyelashes on, with smoky, grey-blue eye shadow. He had been hit on by some high school boys on the way there, but he knew what to say and walked out of their faces like he was on the runway.
"Oh? You have an idea already?" Kuranosuke said, sounding excited. He sat down next to her, watching. He would look over at her face once and a while, watching her unkempt brows furrow. "You know, you should let me pluck your eyebrows soon. They're really branching out."
"They are?" Tsukimi said, stopping to look at him. Kuranosuke blushed.
"It's okay! For now! Go ahead! Draw! Draw!" Kuranosuke said. "Sometimes I can see her eyes as if there aren't any glasses hiding them. I mean, the glasses are charming, but her lashes are so long! They're so pretty…" he thought.
Suddenly, Chieko entered the room with a book in her arms. Her face suddenly turned red.
"WHAT IS ALL OF THIS?!" she screamed. Mayaya, Banba, and Jiji entered behind her, all holding the same book.
"It looks like the very sacred silk for the concubines in the Book of Wu!" Mayaya cried.
"Where did all of you go?" Kuranosuke asked.
"To a book signing. We took a newer model than usual home. It was so fast..." Banba said, smiling, thinking about the train they rode.
"Yes, to get a book signed written by a handsome, older man…" Jiji said, blushing.
"It's about the kimonos of the Meiji era," Chieko said. "Are you… making… underwear?" Tsukimi's face turned red again and she flailed her arms.
"No! No! No! Just nightgowns! I promise!" Tsukimi cried, dropping her sketchbook.
"So, why are they so… sheer?" Chieko said, raising a brow.
"Don't you know? Sheer is in! It's far more… affectionate, you know?" Kuranosuke said, smiling. All of them suddenly turned to stone. "What? It's true!"
"Well! I don't want any of this in the living room! We are expecting a guest! Well, she won't be a guest for too long… She will be the new member of the Sisterhood!"
"Another member?" Tsukimi said, looking a bit unsure.
"Yes. She'll be staying in the cursed room down the hall."
"The c-cursed room?" Tsukimi said, peeking her head out of the living room and looking down the dark hall.
"Yes… A ghost lives there… Before you lived here, Tsukimi, we had people moving in and out of that room. No one ever stayed in the room longer than a month. By the time they had settled, they were moving out."
"Is that why it's so dark over there?" Tsukimi said, feeling a little uneasy. Everyone had turned blue in the face.
"Well, no… I'm just too short to replace the light bulbs… I mean, Mayaya could do it…"
"Are you joking?! Something will come hopping at me!" Mayaya cried.
"When is this new girl supposed to be here?" Kuranosuke said, gathering the fabric.
"Sometime in the afternoon, actually," Chieko answered.
"We should make them a 'welcome-dinner!'" Kuranosuke said, smiling.
"But we don't have any good meat," Banba said.
"We could use those onions, zucchini, and mushrooms that we have to make something…" Jiji said quietly.
"We still have some rice, though we'll have to use the small bowls in the closet…" Chieko said.
"Alright! Then it's settled! We'll go vegetarian tonight! Buddha will be happy with us!" Kuranosuke said, posing with his thumb up. All of them sighed.
"I still wish we had good meat," Banba said…
Kuranosuke was busy in the kitchen, cooking, while Cheiko prepared the dining area. She set down one of her cushions from her room. Tsukimi had resumed drawing.
"You know," Kuranosuke said, bouncing the vegetables in a pan, "you should all dress up! This is a dinner after all!"
"Unless it is the armor of Huo Jun, then I will remain the same, thank you!" Mayaya cried. Banba was sitting on Jiji's shoulders, trying to change the light bulb down the hall. Both of their faces were blue.
"J-just a little bit longer…" Banba said. Once the light lit up, Banba jumped off of Jiji and they both ran down the hall to the dining room, panting.
"Are you okay?" Tsukimi said, looking up from her notepad. Banba and Jiji were still blue in the face. They both nodded, silent.
Suddenly, there was a ring at the door.
"Coming!" Kuranosuke said in a chipper voice, leaving the kitchen.
"No, allow me," Chieko said, standing before the door. Kuranosuke nodded. All of the girls walked over to the front door, curious. Chieko opened the door, revealing the new girl, who was shining like a bright light before them. Once they were able to realize what they were looking at, everyone turned to stone except for Kuranosuke.
The girl had a petite figure. She had fair skin. Her hair was white, cut into a bob. Her eyes were a light, mint green. She was wearing a pale yellow spaghetti strap dress.
"Hi-yo!" She said. Kuranosuke blushed lightly. Suddenly, the girl saw Kuranosuke and blushed as well, her eyes immediately darting down to the floor. The tone of her voice completely changed to a gentle one. "I am Grace Snow. Are you Chieko?" she said, speaking Japanese with an American accent. Kuranosuke suddenly raised a brow.
"I've heard that name somewhere before…" Kuranosuke thought. Chieko, though still made of stone, spoke up.
"Y-yes. You look different from what I expected…" Chieko said.
"Oh! Well, the picture you saw of me was taken in the fall, when I was wearing my navy cardigan! I like wearing lighter things for the summer!" Grace answered. She stepped inside, stepping out of her white flats, and picked up her suitcase, a bag, and her purse for a moment, only to put it all down by their shoes. She smiled at all of them. "Please be kind to me!" she said, bowing.
"Mom! I've met another princess! But now she's going to be living with us! I don't know how to feel! Is she… an otaku like us? Or a hipster like… Or maybe she is something completely different? I don't know what to do! I've turned to stone! How did Chieko decide on letting a princess live here?!" Tsukimi thought.
"Oh! Chieko, I remember you told me that there were five other girls living here. Are these them?"
"W-well, four of them live here. The other—"
"I'm a friend!" Kuranosuke said.
"Oh! Well, I'm glad I brought enough for everyone…" she said, reaching into her bag. She pulled out two large boxes of green tea kinoko no yama. The girls returned to normal and all of them shouted "SNACKS!" at the top of their lungs. Mayaya snatched them and held onto them tight.
"Share! Share!" Banba said.
"I will! But for now, I will guard it like one of the great forts of Liu Bei!"
"Hey Grace! We've made dinner! I'm sure you're hungry, so why don't we all sit down and eat before you unpack?" Kuranosuke said, taking Grace's hand. Grace flushed.
"U-um! Sure!" she said, being pulled into the dining room.
"Kuranosuke sure is excited about meeting our new 'sister.' Maybe it's because they're both princesses…"
Soon, all of them sat down to dinner. Grace opened her purse and suddenly took out a fork. All of the other girls froze. Chieko suddenly smiled, looking mildly uncomfortable.
"That's right. Americans eat vegetables with forks…" Chieko said.
"She's American?!" Tsukimi said.
"This is my first time meeting an American. They're kind of similar to Japanese hipsters. Maybe they influence each other? I would have never guessed that someday we would have an American living here…" Tsukimi thought.
"Oh! I can use chop sticks too! I just didn't want to trouble you and borrow someone else's chopsticks…" Grace said.
"Oh! So polite!" Kuranosuke said.
"Well, that is one thing I noticed when you filled out the Sisterhood's Test. You have very good manners, even though you're foreign," Chieko said, smiling. Grace smiled back. "We all must respect each other."
"So, what made you want to move to Japan, Grace?" Kuranosuke asked. Grace's eyes fell.
"U-um… Can we talk about something else?" Grace replied, sounding a little uncomfortable.
"O-oh! Sorry! So, what are your hobbies?" Kuranosuke continued.
"Well… I like paper dolls…" Grace answered, smiling now.
"You mean the types you dress up?" Kuranosuke smiled. "I always liked those! I liked seeing the different types of clothes they had!"
"Me too!" Grace cried, sounding excited.
"So, she does have a hobby! And it's not a loud one! No matter why she passed the Sisterhood Test!" Tsukimi thought, smiling.
…They finished dinner and Grace went to her room, shutting the door behind her. She locked it. She then took off her white, bob wig, her long, wavy white hair falling. She took off her fake eyelashes carefully. She got undressed and laid on the bed.
"Now I'm Greg again. Gregory Snow." He closed his eyes. Suddenly, he heard a voice in his head.
"Gregory! Don't be so depressed! Remember! You're Grace! Owner of the Snowdrop Brand! Tomorrow, we'll show the world that an American brand can dazzle the Japanese!" the voice said.
"You're right, Grace," he said aloud, sighing. "But now I'm living under the roof of my very own competition. The Jellyfish girls work here… I can't believe it…"
"You were so confident in New York! What happened?"
"I don't know…"
"Maybe you can let me take over for a while?"
"No… The Sisterhood would never allow it. They already have that Jellyfish model around. They don't need another loud personality around. I understand that much."
"Why don't you unpack now?"
"I guess I could," he said, opening his suitcase. Suddenly, clothes exploded everywhere. Gregory laughed.
"You remembered to pack everything, right?"
"Of course!"
"Well, how about you put on one of those cute baby doll dresses and go to bed! It's been a long day… And you have a meeting to go to tomorrow!"
"Alright. I'll do just that…" he said, looking for his pajamas. He took out a sheer, pale yellow baby doll dress and put it on. "Oh, no. I'm thirsty… Hopefully everyone's gone to bed…" He said, opening the door. It was dark. He stepped into a pair of slippers that looked like snails and left his room. He quietly walked down the halls, heading into the kitchen. He got himself a glass of water and suddenly turned around to see Tsukimi standing there. Tsukimi instantly turned to stone.
"Uh oh…" Gregory said quietly. Tsukimi's mouth hung open.
"Y-y-y-you're a b-b-b-b—" Gregory suddenly ran over to her, tipped her head back, and poured the glass of water into her mouth.
"Yes, I am… But you can't tell the others! Promise me you won't tell! Or else… I'll tell on your friend!"
Tsukimi finished the glass of water, panting. "Wh-what? Wh-what friend?"
"That outgoing one that visits you. She isn't a she. I can tell," Gregory said, smiling cockily. Tsukimi gasped. Suddenly, Gregory spotted a fish tank. "Huh? What's that? It's pretty…" he said, wandering over. He put his hands onto the glass and leaned forward, smiling.
"Th-that's Clara! H-hey! You should go back to your room! Or else someone else might catch you!" Tsukimi warned, nervous.
"But you drank my water," Gregory said.
"But you—err…" Tsukimi walked into the kitchen and got Gregory another cup of water.
"Thank you, Tsukimi," Gregory said, smiling sweetly. Tsukimi blushed.
"How do you know my name? I think we forgot introductions…"
"Chieko told me everything on the phone when I was at the airport. If she wasn't home by the time I arrived, she told me who to ask for—a girl with glasses named 'Tsukimi.' I guess she trusts you a lot."
"Oh…" Tsukimi adjusted her glasses. "Um… Is 'Grace' your real name?" she asked.
"I don't understand what you mean by 'real,' but my birth name is Gregory—Greg for short! You, of course, can call me Grace." Tsukimi nodded. A moment of silence passed. "Well, good night!" Gregory said, winking. He left the hall, going back to his room. Tsukimi turned red and steam blew out of her ears. The door closed behind Gregory.
"I didn't expect to be discovered so quickly… but I have a feeling that I can trust that megane girl."
"I think so, too," the voice said…
Tsukimi got back into her bed and began to resume sketching the nightgown she started.
"I've met another boy princess, Mother! Can you believe it? Are they more common than I thought? Or am I some kind of… magnet? Greg—I mean—Grace seems nice. She was interested in Clara. Maybe I can even talk to her about jellyfish someday… For now…" Tsukimi thought to herself as she fell asleep on her drawing.