The city wasn't exactly the most western one in Japan. Yes it had the occasional McDonald's and the theater would play the movies that just came out of America, but it was still Japanese at heart with the Shinto shrine on fourth street and the tea house right beside the old train station. At the end of the day the small toy shop with the candy striped awning and small hanging sign just seemed so out of place. It looked like it was supposed to belong to some old fashioned European town or tiny American city. However the owner was Japanese with a love for all things western and as such he plunked the toy shop in the middle of the city and called it a good investment.
And it was.
Plenty of people came to that place to get old stuffed animals, wind up soldiers, newer electronic toys that required batteries, and even the occasional video game. However the most impressive thing in the entire store was there dolls. Lovely things made of glass with hair that felt like silk between your fingers and smiles too cute on their painted faces. Doll collectors all over the city came to that one shop to get their dolls and could rely on the owner to provide them. He was, of course, happy to oblige and made dolls his primary stock in the store.
This usually resulted a crowd during the new shipment days that would wrap around a street corner. The man's toy shop was simply well marketed, well stocked, and it didn't hurt that the owner, Mr. Kichida Hiraku, was a nice man that had the patience of Job and the good will of old saint Nick.
However this constant crowd and attention didn't sit well with one of the customers. He would often come in when the store was just about to close and Mr. Kichida had long went home leaving his daughter behind. The boy was a curious one who had a preference with the old fashioned toys and didn't bother much with the newer ones or the video games. Holding the old stuffed teddy bear close he walked down the linoleum aisles of the store, his grey eyed gaze taking in the neatly arranged rows of dolls that were shipped in last week. They were pale faced and wore pink cherry blossoms in their dark hair and white kimonos. All of them shipped in time for the cherry festival in the spring.
"See anything that interests you, Kanato-san?"
The boy looked back at the girl leaning over the walnut counter, her hands laced together in order to prop up her chin on her long fingers. "Not yet..."
"Hm. Well we just got a shipment of a bunch of spring related stuff. I told my old man that it wasn't a good idea to just fill this place up with spring stuff but you know how he is." She shifted positions, maneuvering herself to stand up properly showing off her tall height. "If you want I could go check out the back to see if I have anything else."
Kanato shook his head as he picked up a small stuffed rabbit that was a snowy white that had an interesting checkered pattern along its back. Going up to the counter he put it down carefully, allowing the girl to scan the colorful tag that was stuck to the long floppy ears. With a shrill ding a group of numbers appeared in a digital green on the cash register screen. "That'll be 20,000 yen. "
He shoved a hand into his red checkered pants and dragged out a black wallet. Opening it up he soon took out a blue card and handed it to the girl who dragged it over the slider the screen lighting up. "Alright, everything is up and ready to go. Would you like me to put it in a bag? We have some cool eco ones my Dad just bought."
Kanato nodded while the girl eagerly opened up a drawer and pulled out a brown paper bag and carefully put the stuffed toy in. Turning she ripped off the receipt and stuffed it into the bag before gripping the edge of the counter and vaulting over it. This bit of work was something she always did when he was finally done shopping. Getting some keys out of her pocket she walked with Kanato to the door. "Well I guess I'll see you in a week or so."
"I had a new stuffed bat ordered." Kanato looked down at his bear. "It looks just like the ones we used to play with, right, Teddy?"
"Wow, that's an interesting choice." They reached the door and opened it, a strong wind immediately blowing through and ruffling up their coats.
The force of wind was so strong that a bit of paper slipped out of the girl's denim jacket and fluttered across the street. Cursing under her breath she moved to get it, but frowned when she saw Kanato standing next to her with the bit of paper in hand.
"It's a ticket?" He said, holding it closer to his face so he could read the small block style print.
"Yeah," She took it from him and stuffed it back into her pocket. "I'm going to the wax museum in Tokyo. They have lovely dolls there and I wanted to go see them with my Dad."
Kanato stared at the girl for several moments, the cogs in his head turning. Ever so slowly a smirk spread across his face as he brought his teddy closer to his face, his eyes taking on a menacing gleam that the girl noticed.
Shutting the shop door behind her she quickly locked it before giving a little nod, some of her curly dark brown hair getting out of the low braid she had it in. "Um, I'm gonna go now, see you next week, Kanato-san."
Kanato watched the girl walk down the lonely and almost empty road until she turned a corner. Without any effort on his part he felt his body go warm and tingle before everything shifted around him and he was standing inside an airy and well decorated foyer. The tall columns and dark wooded furniture practically leaking out all the money it took to pay for them.
"She was interesting, ne, Teddy?" He stood quietly as if listening to what the doll had to say. "You're right I should bring her back here so she can see my collection. Of course those dolls aren't made of wax...That's a good idea, I'll have to get a needle and thread."
...
Elizabeth opened up the door to the small house and quickly got inside, her body doing its best to stop shuddering as she shut the door and tried to adjust to being warm again. "H-Hey, Dad I'm home!"
She kicked off her tennis shoes and ambled into the small living room. It was filled with small matyroshka dolls sitting on shelves that were nailed into the cream brown walls. There was a bright red leather couch wedged in front of a TV that had a large man sitting on it who was jotting something down in a dark green notebook with a pen. He didn't even seem to notice the girl as she sat next to him and leaned her head against the stiff back of the chair. "Hey, Daddy."
The man blinked and looked over, his brown eyes widening slightly when he caught sight of her. "I'm sorry Elizabeth-chan. I was just going over the books and noticed how many shipments I need for the new puppy dolls that are coming out this May. How was the evening shift?"
"The shift was good," She said. "I saw that boy again, Kanato Sakamaki."
"And...?"
"Well he bought something."
The man gave a little nod. "That's good, I can always count on my business to survive thanks to him. He comes to our store faithfully every single week!"
"..." Elizabeth shifted on the couch, angling herself so that she could look at her father while she talked. "Um Dad, can I ask you something?"
"Go ahead."
"Do you want to go to the wax museum in Tokyo?"
Her father tapped his pen for several moments, his bushy eyebrows furrowed. After a while he set down his book and gently took his daughter's hands. His large meaty ones completely encompassing her own smaller and scarred ones. "I told you that we would take a vacation but...Business is good, I want to get past the spring season without a hint of trouble. Besides, wouldn't you want to go visit your mother during the sakura festival? She was bragging about the nice yukata that she bought for you on the phone yesterday."
Elizabeth opened her mouth, but nothing proper came out of it. She didn't want to go see the cherry blossoms with her mother, she didn't even want to stay in town, it was obvious though that her father was once again brushing this off.
Letting go of her hands her father stood up and pushed up his glasses with a finger. "Now, I'm going to go make our nightly tea. Set the TV on to the news and then set out the dolls so we can sew them together, alright?"
Elizabeth just nodded and put on a smile. That was all she could do before the force that was her never changing father.
...
A/N: Yes, I'm new to this fandom. I actually got here after watching plenty of HNKNA vids and then moved onto six new otome games that I'm gonna order. Anyway, thanks for reading and put your own thoughts into the comment box. If not then please click out with a good opinion of this story.
