To Lyger 0: There are a lot of possibilities…
To Guest: They certainly could use their abilities for something more. But Kamimizu is so wrapped up in her own fear and self-pity that she cannot see a way to break free.
Her mouth clenched tightly, steeling her resolve and forcing herself to walk as smoothly as she could, Yuki walked straight past the sign declaring this place to be "Tanoshi Endingu" and stepped inside the building, her back ramrod straight. Her movements felt stiff and wooden, without the smooth grace that she had been trained to employ. Maybe she should have sat this out. But as she entered the building, it was too late to turn back now. The overwhelming stench of cheap incense assaulted her nostrils, even as the gaudy decorations did the same to her eyes. In the early evening, the work day only having barely ended minutes earlier, there were only a handful of people in the reception area – three men of varying ages sat anxiously, who stared at Yuki as she strode inside. A woman a bit younger than Yuki herself sat at the receptionist's desk. As the door closed, the woman looked up at Yuki with a smile that barely concealed her boredom to Yuki's trained eye. The boredom almost immediately vanished, however, as she caught sight of Yuki and started, jumping halfway out of her seat. Staring at her in shock, the woman studied Yuki's face and hair intently for a long moment before she found her voice.
"Um… yes… er… how can I help you…"
"'Geisha Hana'," Yuki introduced herself primly, her mouth set in a thin line. "I am here from the kenban of the Akasaka hanamachi." She looked around the reception area with a small frown and let out a tsk, shaking her head. "This is a rather unflattering demonstration of your okiya's skills. If your okasan wishes for us to give her consideration, she will have to put on a far better show than this."
The woman cocked her head in confusion. "I'm sorry?"
"Your okasan," Yuki explained with a show of exasperation barely constrained by propriety. "She contacted our hanamachi last week to apply for formal recognition and licensure as an okiya. However, it took until today before I was free to come and fulfill that request. My office called ahead to arrange for my visit, of course."
"Of… course," the woman agreed, nodding hesitantly. "Yes, of course, Geisha Hana." She coughed, examining something on her computer before looking back up at Yuki nervously and rising to her feet. "I… am so sorry for keeping you waiting. Please, how may I assist you? May I show you to the, um, okasan's office?"
Yuki hummed, looking around the reception area curiously. The communicator bead in her ear, hidden by a lock of her hair, squawked.
"See if you can find Kamimizu's sister," instructed Kamikaze. "Her name is Ayaka, I believe."
Yuki cleared her throat and stood up with her back as straight as possible, trying not to allow her weakness to show. Ronin and Kamikaze and Kunoichi had all tried to dissuade her from this mission, so soon after her hospitalization. This was the best plan they had come up with, but it could still work with Kunoichi on the inside, they had assured her. But no. Yuki couldn't just let this go; she couldn't just sit and wait while the people who had poisoned her were doing even worse to these innocent girls. And she could not put this on someone else to bluff her way in. Kunoichi might understand some of the intricacies of geisha activity, but she would never have withstood a real test, should anyone inside have challenged her. Her stomach clenched, pushing herself forward. Weakened though she was by the poisoning, she had recovered – at least enough in the past day for this. Yuki fixed her gaze on the receptionist. "No; I will not disturb the okasan more than necessary," she told her. "At least not yet. I will wait until after my inspection to interview her. But first, allow me to speak to your geisha."
The receptionist blinked and looked around the room hesitantly. "I… uh…" she faltered.
Yuki pursed her lips. "Simply point me toward the women's quarters and I am sure I can find my way around."
Mutely, the receptionist pointed down the hallway.
"Please see to it that I am not disturbed," Yuki instructed her primly, her eyes drifting toward the clients in the waiting area. "No men are allowed in the women's quarters of a proper okiya." Without another word, Yuki strode down the hallway, her ears attuned to the sounds around her. The smell of a familiar incense pervaded the air and seemed to have infused into the walls and floor, leaving a perpetual haze near the ceiling. She swallowed, trying to suppress her nausea. She could only imagine the stenches being masked by the incense, and what the girls living in these rooms must have undergone here. Every fiber in her being screamed to flee, to never return to somewhere so vile. And yet, there was no going back now. Quickly, scanning the hallway in either direction with her peripheral vision, Yuki rapped on the first door she came across.
"Yes?" After a moment, the door opened, and a girl several years younger than Yuki looked out at her, her eyes somewhat unfocused. She blinked in confusion, staring up at Yuki. "You don't look like my normal client…"
Yuki's mouth set in a thin line. "I am not a client," she answered, glancing quickly up and down the hallway and placing her hand on the door. "May I come in?"
The girl shrugged, stepping back to allow Yuki to enter. "If that's what Saijo-san expects, that's what I give."
Entering the room, Yuki took in the state of the bed, the makeup strewn across the vanity, the corner of a kimono which had been hung up askew. The girl waved vaguely toward the bed before sitting down on one side, looking up at Yuki expectantly. Yuki let out a breath and perched on the edge of the stool in front of the vanity, keeping her back straight and resisting the urge to relax the slightest bit. "I am not here for that," she told the girl quietly. "I am here to talk to you – you and the other girls here. First, what is your name?"
The girl cleared her throat, looking around anxiously. "A–Akalita."
Yuki frowned, furrowing her brows, and stared hard at the girl. "Your real name, not your Japanese name."
Her breathing hitched, her eyes widening, and she looked down at the floor. "It's Chalita," she finally whispered.
"Where are you from?"
She gulped nervously, eyeing the door nervously. "I–I came here from a small village, in Thailand," she explained. "They offered me work, offered me a new life, something more exciting than living and dying on a rice farm… But they lied." Her shoulders slumped.
"And this has been your life for how long?" asked Yuki, examining the girl's features carefully.
"I – I arrived here in April – you remember when that monstrous Beast appeared?"
Yuki's breathing hitched. "You are one of them…" she whispered. Chalita cocked her head, and Yuki started. "Are there others here who arrived with you?"
Chalita nodded. "Most of the girls came then… but not all. A few have been here longer. Why?"
Yuki let out a breath, her eyes drifting across to the closed door. "Chalita, how would you like to leave here? Would you prefer your home, the fishing village, to this nightmare?"
Chalita's eyes widened. "But… there's no way to make that happen!" she yelped hoarsely. "They–they would never let me leave! They say I must stay here until I repay them… but they never say how long that will be."
Yuki's mouth set in a thin line. "You let me worry about that," she told her curtly. "But if you wish to leave, I will get you out of here – you and anyone else who wants out of this life. Will you join me?"
Chalita looked down at the floor, studied the walls of her cell, and finally nodded hesitantly, giving the door another anxious look.
Yuki let out a breath, her knuckled turning white. "Very well. Now, I am looking for another girl who should be here, who has been here for some time. I believe her name is Ayaka?"
Chalita looked around the room, her brows furrowed in concentration. "I think her room is two down from here," she answered slowly. She frowned. "What–" she gulped "–what do you want me to do?"
"I'm going to find Ayaka," Yuki told her. "While I do that, go to all the other girls here who might want to leave – all the ones who came with you, and any others you think you can trust. I want to save all of you… but we can't take too great of risks – not yet. Whoever will come, bring them back in here. By the time you do that, I will have a plan."
"I–I will." Chalita nodded firmly. "And… thank you."
Yuki placed a hand on her shoulder. "Save your thanks until we succeed."
As Chalita crossed the hall to the room across from hers, Yuki quickly rushed down two doors and knocked urgently, glancing down the hall toward the reception area as she did so. A door opened and shut from that direction, but Yuki couldn't afford to waste time worrying about that – not yet. It took a moment for the door to open, and a girl a little older than Chalita leaned against the doorframe. She opened her mouth to say something, caught sight of Yuki, and froze, her jaw falling open. Before the girl could speak, Yuki all but pushed the girl into the room, putting a finger over her mouth to silence her. The girl complied, confused, and Yuki shut the door. "Are you Ayaka?"
The girl nodded, her brows furrowed in confusion. "Who–who are you?"
"There's little time," Yuki told her urgently. "I am a friend of your sister; I'm here to get you out – you and anyone else who wants to leave this life. Will you come with me?"
Ayaka's eyes widened in shock, and she stared at Yuki, blinking repeatedly. "I – no – that–that's not possible–"
"If you wish it to be so, I will make it possible," Yuki assured her curtly. "But we do not have time for debate. Will you come?" Finally, Ayaka nodded jerkily. Yuki let out a relieved breath. That was the hardest part. "Good. Now…" she furrowed her brows in thought, looking around the room for inspiration. Her eyes settling on the makeup on her vanity, Yuki nodded slowly. "Put on your nicest kimono – do you have one with flowers?"
Twenty minutes of frenzied activity later, Yuki strode down the hallway of the brothel toward the reception area, over a dozen girls trailing behind her, all of them dressed in brightly-colored kimonos, with white makeup covering their faces, bright red lipstick on their lips, and their hair pulled back tightly on top of their heads. Yuki's stomach clenched. Several of the girls' makeup was smudged; one had gotten a spot of white on her kimono. None of them had what she could consider a proper wareshinobu – if Miyoshi had ever caught her with so many hair strands out of place, she would have made her get her hair redone entirely. Their posture – particularly in their facial expressions – would not fool anyone for long. If she had had more time, she could have completed the look properly. But the thirty minutes she had spent in the brothel had already dragged on far too long; any longer and this might all have been for nothing.
There was nothing for it but to make the attempt.
Yuki walked out into the reception area to find the receptionist speaking animatedly with a woman who appeared vaguely familiar, while a small group of men sat or stood around impatiently. The three clients who had been there when she arrived had left; these men appeared far larger and more muscular. Yuki straightened her back to hide her nervousness and discomfort, examining the woman more closely. Something in her eyes felt far too familiar to be coincidence…
"Who are you?" the woman demanded, folding her arms and glaring at Yuki.
Yuki steeled herself, her jaw set firmly. "As I have already explained to your receptionist, I am Geisha Hana from the–"
"Yes, yes," the woman interrupted, her eyes narrowed suspiciously. "That story. And you say that I sent for you?"
"To inspect this potential okiya," Yuki confirmed, not pausing as she walked through the reception area. "I have completed this part of the process, but I must bring your hangyoku to the kenban for proper registration. Now, if you will excuse me–"
"I think not," the woman growled, as two larger men separated from the group and approached Yuki from either side, towering over her. The woman stood less than a meter from Yuki. "You are not going anywhere with these girls. They are mine." She raised an eyebrow to the two men.
As one, the two guards grabbed for Yuki's arms. A chorus of gasps sounded from the girls behind her.
Sliding to her left and avoiding one pair of arms, Yuki kicked her foot into the instep of the man opposite her, knocking his leg off-balance. As she did so, she pushed off of him and drove her bladed hand into the other man's throat as hard as she could. That man stumbled backward, clutching his throat and gasping for air, as the other man regained his balance and lunged for Yuki. The woman shuffled backward, reaching into her pocket. Yuki slammed her other hand into the second man's throat and elbowed the first in the gut, sending him tumbling to the ground. With a flick of her wrist, her kaiken, already loosened in its sheath, flew out and into her hand, and she raised it to the woman's throat, just as she drew a blade of her own. Yuki held up her free arm to catch the woman's wrist, stopping the blade centimeters from her shoulder. Her eyes narrowed, and she gritted her teeth, forcing herself to hold the kaiken steady. "Drop it."
The blade clattered to the ground. The woman's eyes narrowed dangerously. "You will not get away with this."
"I could say the same to you."
Glossary:
hanamachi – geisha district
kenban – registry office
