A/N: Sorry this update was so so slow! I got pretty badly ill over xmas and new year and I've still been recovering. Thankfully I feel much better now, so updates should be a bit faster. This chapter took a while because I had to do a lot of research about pre-war Japan (cos it's something I knew very little about). I intend to get this fic completely finished by the end of the month though, so wish me luck!

Disclaimer: I don't own Zombieland Saga or any of its characters.

Chapter 3: Yugiri

I have to say, I am enjoying this Christmas experience more than I thought I would. My last experience of December ended with me being beheaded, so I don't have fond memories of this time of year. But that was so long ago, and I've seen so many new and wonderful things since I was brought back to life. For instance, this is the first time I've ever seen a Christmas tree. Apparently it's not an actual tree, but a model of a tree made to look like the real thing.

I was actually the first Franchouchou member to see the tree, although I didn't realise it at the time. You see I was the only one awake when Kotaro-han, covered in snow and out of breath, dragged a damp and dented man-sized box through the front door early in the morning. I've grown so accustomed to his strange comings and goings that I didn't think anything of it. I wondered for a moment if perhaps he'd acquired another corpse to turn into a member of our group. I was mulling over how I felt about such a plan when he barged into the bedroom and woke the rest of the girls up to announce, with his usual frantic, screaming demeanour, that he wanted Franchouchou to have an 'official celebration' of Christmas together. The details of how we were to celebrate Christmas were left up to us to decide. The only stipulation was that we had to put up 'the tree' as a team. At first I was confused, as I couldn't recall seeing him bring in a tree of any kind. However, no one else seemed surprised at the mention of the tree, so I thought it best to just wait and see what happened.

Well we all sat down to discuss Christmas, and in no time at all Saki-han had decided that she would construct the tree, Ai-han and Junko-han would do the 'tinsel and lights', and Lily-han, Tae-han and Sakura-han would do the decorating (presumably of 'the tree'). At first I wondered why Saki-han didn't assign any tasks to me; after all I'd done plenty of flower arranging during my time in the Shimabara district of Kyoto, although admittedly I had never decorated an entire tree before. But then I was made aware that the tree wasn't like a traditional bonsai tree, nor was it a towering maple, and that decorating it didn't involve flowers at all. I asked her if it was made of wood, and she said no. I asked her if it was painted, and she wasn't sure. I simply couldn't visualise it. Of course now that I can see it in front of me I understand completely.

In the end Saki-han decided I should join her as a 'supervisor'. When I was still learning how to be an Oiran I had many 'supervisors'. I learned everything from flower arranging, to dancing and music, and of course I learned the secrets of the trade, so to speak. I didn't experience much of that side of things (unlike the other women in Shimabara), though I had to learn how to satisfy clients in my own way.

Speaking of satisfied clients, another unusual Christmas tradition I learned about today was Santa Claus. Lily-han recounted the legend to me with great energy while Saki-han built the tree.

"-and he comes down the chimney!"

"What if a house doesn't have a chimney?"

"Then he comes in through your back door... I think?"

Suddenly Saki-han burst out laughing.

"Did he come in your back door, Shrimpy?"

"Ugh, Saki! That's not what I meant!"

I thought about it for a moment, then,

"Oh, you mean-"

"No Yugiri-chan! Don't say it!"

"SAY IT YUGIRI! COME ON!"

At that moment the tree fell on to Saki-han's foot.

"FUCK!"

The legends people of today believe in are so different to those of Edo, but the idea of receiving presents for Christmas isn't so foreign to me. In fact I once received a present from a customer on Christmas Day itself. The customer in question, named Suminokura Heizo, was an old samurai who was a regular around Shimabara. I played the shamisen and danced for him sometimes, but we usually spent most of his visits just talking.

He had a colourful past. Although he'd retired from military duty by the time I met him, in his youth he was a solider for the Imperial Court. He fought for Emperor Meiji in the Japanese Revolution, but almost switched sides to join the Satsuma Rebellion when the Emperor made it illegal for samurai to carry their swords around town. He was very attached to the old ways. I used to make fun of him for still referring to Tokyo by its old name, Edo, but he insisted that Kyoto would always be the true capital of Japan, and that renaming Edo to 'Tokyo' was just pretentious.

I had a lot of visitors in my working life, but he was different. Our relationship went beyond that of just courtesan and client. We were so close that he allowed me to call him by his given name, Heizo, without any honorifics attached. I half expected him to ask to marry me - several other courtesans had received proposals over the years and moved on from Shimabara, but in the end he never did. He was a free spirit, as was I, which is why we got along so well.

But I digress.

When he visited me on Christmas day it was a night like any other. We were chatting in the teahouse as usual, enjoying the warmth of a kotatsu together. At that time, Christmas was almost unheard of. A few people had learned of it from Western visitors and celebrated it as a novelty, and the Christian missionaries celebrated it, but most people didn't even know it existed. I was one of those people. Heizo, however, had actually attended a Christmas party during his time as a samurai. He told me that the party was held at a naval base in Nagasaki, where American troops trained alongside Japanese recruits and samurai veterans. There was a huge tree, paper chains along the walls, Christmas cake, and of course, copious amounts of alcohol.

Heizo was no stranger to making merry over a few cups of sake, but he told me he was completely unprepared for the energy the Americans brought to the celebration. Within an hour soldiers were dancing on the tables in their underwear. Heizo didn't hold back on the drinking either, so soon enough he was joining the others in cavorting around the room. He locked arms with a marine, did a waltz across the mess hall and promptly tripped over a stray boot. His dance patner hit the floor. Heizo, however, went flying. He rolled to break his fall and and went straight into the tree. Naturally, the tree didn't stand a chance against a heavy-set samurai, and it fell to the ground, knocking all the decorations everywhere.

As he was telling me this story around the kotatsu, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a red bauble.

"It's the only decoration that survived," he said, placing it in my hands. "You could say it's one of a kind."

He looked at me with such warmth as he spoke those words. He'd always been dear to me, but it was in that moment that I truly fell in love.

"It's beautiful, Heizo," is all I could say in reply. A satisfactory response perhaps, but only half of what I meant. He must've known how much he meant to me, but my lips didn't have the courage to say what my heart felt. So many things were left unsaid after I died. If I could go back to the days when Emperor Meiji ruled...

In front of me, Ai-han and Junko-han stand side by side and admire their work. Lights in every colour glow from within the tree, and twinkle off the tinsel sitting on the branches. As they smile at each other, even their faces take on a rainbow tint. They seem to think their feelings for each other are completely secret, but I know better than that. I know a lover's gaze when I see one. The others do too, but no one says anything. A love that pure should be left undisturbed.

"My turn, my turn!" Lily-han cries, rushing over to the box of Christmas decorations. It's full of all sorts of beautiful, sparkling trinkets. As she tips them all out onto the floor, I spot a bauble. A bright, red, perfect bauble. No sooner does it catch my eye than Tae-han is rushing over to it hungrily. She picks it up, sniffs it, opens her mouth and-

"Tae-han, wait!"

She pauses. Everyone looks at me, confused.

"I'd like to put that one on the tree..."

Tae-han groans in approval and hands me the decoration. I glance over at Lily-han and I can tell by the look in her eyes that somehow, she understands.

"You go first, Yugiri-chan."

I thank her with a bow, then I kneel down in front of the tree. The bauble's string hooks nicely over one of the lower branches. An orb of red amongst a sea of green. I remember Heizo's words, you could say it's one of a kind, and smile to myself.

Suddenly Lily-han is leaning over me,

"These two will be perfect together," she says, placing a golden star next to the bauble.

"You have a good eye, Lily-han," I reply, "the bauble would've looked lonely by itself."

"You've gotta fill the whole tree with decorations! You can't have just one!"

Beaming from ear to ear, she quickly gets to work covering every inch of the tree in the decorations that Tae hasn't already eaten. Some Santa Clauses and a few snowmen didn't make it, but all in all most of the decorations survived. Perhaps that's a metaphor for my life, too. But as much as I have lost things to the sands of time, I have gained so much more in the friends I have now. Like our tree, my life is full to the brim with wonderful new experiences. I suppose in a strange way, I have Kotaro-han to thank for that.

"All right, ladies!" he yells from the other side of the room, "Good tree! But now it is time for the angel. Sakura...!"

She startles as he barks her name, "Yes?"

"I shall fetch the angel for you..." he replies, striding off into the hallway.

There was something strange in his voice just then. Moments later and from down the hall comes the sound of clattering and banging. Soon enough Kotaro-han is back with the angel. It's cracked in a few places, and looks quite old, but it's undeniably beautiful.

"I'm relying on you, Sakura," he says, handing the angel to Sakura-han.

"I'll do my best."

As she takes the angel from him I suddenly understand what it is that I heard in his voice. I should've guessed from the start. Everyone is watching Sakura-han put the angel on top of the tree, but I just watch his face. Yes, even without seeing his eyes I can tell he's in love. How long have you been keeping these feelings secret, Kotaro-han?

I decide then and there that I need to talk to him. I need to know whether my instincts are correct, and most importantly, if they are correct, I need to make sure Kotaro-han doesn't make the same mistake I did.

The only question is: how?

A/N: next chapter is probably gonna be Saki's perspective! Does she know something the other's don't? FIND OUT NEXT TIME