Yuzu didn't really remember much from before. She'd been too young then.
There were flashes here and there - a memory of warmth, of being rocked back and forth within a pair of frail arms. Something hard poking at her through the squishy feeling of her own fat. Her mama had been fairly pretty, she remembered. Big eyes, not like the squinty little beads she wasn't allowed to look at. She hoped that she had big eyes too. And blond hair, the kind that shone like silver when the light bounced off it.
She was glad she didn't have that.
The day before there'd been a new man. He was fat, like everyone who came to visit, but he'd been different. He was sitting on a man as though he were a horse, and with every movement rung a clanging sound because of his chains. There were men in armour behind him too, like the knights she'd seen in her storybooks. The strangest thing had been the bubble around his head. She'd wanted to know why, because it seemed rather unnecessary to her, but Annie had pushed her down to the ground before she could. Her head had collided with the ground, and it had hurt, and she'd wanted to push big Annie down too afterwards but Annie had already fallen. And everyone else had too, so she decided to stay there.
Then the Bubble man had walked up to this other girl whose name she hadn't been bothered to ask. She was new, so she always cried, and she didn't stop crying. Yuzu found her annoying. And ugly - she was pretty on a good day, but most days her face was blotchy and it was even worse because of her flaming red hair. Otherwise when she finally stopped, Yuzu thought that she looked a little bit like Ariel, the mermaid she recalled her Mama talking about.
Anyway, Bubble man had gone to Ariel, and then he'd lifted a few strands of her hair before twisting them around his glove-covered fingers.
"I want this one," he'd said. Ariel had started shaking. Yuzu already knew that she was going to start sobbing again.
"O-of course, Saint Parlo. A wise choice, as expected of Tenryuubito-sama. We'll prepare her to the highest standard, for sure. Do you have any special instructions?" Sweaty Bob was practically drenched in his own sweat, and Yuzu saw Bubble man's nose wrinkle. She understood. Sweaty Bob was shaking, too. It was confusing to her. Did Bubble man have some special power? She'd heard the stories before, of strange men who could turn into animals and split seas into two. Maybe Bubble man was one of them.
"Condition her hair, then shave it. I want to make a coat for my beloved Maria-chan! This colour seems to be the trend these days, my, Maria-chan will be pleased!" Bubble man squealed. With her face hidden, Yuzu frowned. Hair was important. It kept her warm. And it was fun to play with. Poor Ariel, she'd probably end up freezing without her tomato hair. Bubble man was awfully rude. Most people just came and took someone to clean. This was the first time she'd heard of someone taken for their hair.
On the bright side, Yuzu was fairly sure she wouldn't be used for a coat. Her hair was black. People like her wore black coats. People like Bubble man did not.
Yuzu noticed that while she'd been lost in thought, Ariel had started raising a racket. Typical Ariel.
"NO! Please! Please, Tenryuubito-sama! I can cook and clean and crawl and- I can do anything! Pl-" Then there was a loud crack. Yuzu flinched. Ariel finally stopped talking, but she started gurgling. Then she stopped making any noise at all.
"Exactly how do you train them, you peasant? Do all of them bark and yell like this one?" Bubble man was red in the face, and he was screaming at poor Sweaty Bob. Yuzu immediately flickered her gaze down, because she didn't want to get screamed at next. Or stop talking like Ariel.
Bubble man continued for a while, before he finally left, and the guards took Ariel away to shave her hair off.
Once he and Sweaty Bob were both gone, Yuzu turned to big Annie. "Why'd she suddenly start yelling? Wasn't it just hair?" She asked.
Big Annie stared at a red splotch on the ground. Yuzu thought that it was because big Ariel would probably have to clean it up later, and big red splotches like that never really came out.
"You're still young, kid. But remember this, Maria-sama hates ugly things. She sends all of the live, ugly ones to the guardhouse, and the dead ugly ones to the incinerator. Sometimes they get mixed up. Luckily for you, kiddo, Maria-sama would never come to a place like this," big Annie sighs after she says this, before walking off to get the scrubber.
Yuzu doesn't really understand, because guards are supposed to be good, but she nods anyway because adults are weird and they never explain things. Then she goes to find some work to do.