Chapter 6
"So Where Do We Go From Here?"
Ani: Hey everyone! I really missed writing so I got this done today, hopefully it is entertaining enough!
I used a lot of Japanese words in here, there is a little vocabulary list down below if you wanna skip to it and read it first~
kanxkawaii; I will absolutely update now!
Amu was slowly woken up from the back of the van; the drive was long, very long. She had been told to stay there and not to try anything funny. She had fallen asleep at some point during the drive without intention. A gentle voice called out to her,
"Amu-chan" the voice called, "Amu-chan, wake up" Amu opened her eyes, the light from outside black out the face that was over her. As her eyes were adjusted to the new light the face became clear, it was an unknown woman.
"Welcome home, Amu-chan," her high pitched voice called out to her in a sing song voice. Amu pushed herself up from the van's floor and was then fully awake.
"Who are you… Where am I?" She asked looking around. There was nothing but dense trees and a small dirt trail that lead off to the unknown. It looked like it was the middle of the day, the sun shown through the treetops and illuminated the under bed.
The girl smiled, "My name is Kawano Kiyomi, and it's nice to meet you Amu-chan. Welcome officially to 'Kawano's Tea and Hotel'" her smiled brightened.
Her eyes were a chocolate brown; her pale face was covered in scarce light freckles, with big almond eyes. Her hair was black and pulled into a messy bun with sections from the back let loose and it rested to her bosom. She had a kanzashi* of a red rose stuck into the bun on the side. She wore a red kimono with a golden obi.
Amu stared in wonderment at how beautiful this girl was; she couldn't have been more than twenty-five. "Come now Amu-chan, let me show you to your new home." She held out a hand for Amu to take, which she did. Kiyomi lead Amu down a small dirty path and within five minutes they reached a large wooden gate. Kiyomi knocked on the large gate and it immediately opened. Four women stood two to two facing each other on each side of a now stone walk way. They were all bowing and dressed in assorted kimonos.
A large traditional house sat in front of them. It was huge and stretch to the far of the property. There were a few steps leading up to the rouka* of the traditional home.
"Please take off your shoes" Kiyomi said and did the same at the bottom of the stairs. She stepped up the stairs and Amu followed suit. Shouji* covered the complete outside of the building, Kiyomi slide open the shouji directly in front of the stairs.
Amu followed her in and a servant closed the shouji screen right behind them. The inside of the house had tatami* floors and the room was decorated with vases of assorted flowers and artwork hung from the walls another women that looked a little older than Kiyomi stood behind a desk there was a cash register set up at the desk and a price board posted behind her.
"Ah, Kiyomi-chan! Welcome home, Amu-chan, Welcome home," she bowed to both of them Kiyomi bowed back and Amu hesitantly followed.
"This is the 'Welcome Room' this is where customers will pay before entering, there are different things that they can pay for, tea, snacks, entertainment, or a private session." Kiyomi explained. She walked straight across the room and opened a deep tan fusuma* door. They both walked into the room and the older girl closed the fusuma behind them.
A few men were sitting on zabuton floor pillows. The walls of the room were lined with the zabuton floor pillows; they were alternating from a red to gold. "This is the waiting room, since we only have five girls working in total, only five parties can be served at a time." Kiyomi smiled and bowed to the men and a lot of them gawked at Amu, since she was still in her school uniform. Kiyomi led her to the next room. It was quite large and had wall lamps on the fusuma that made up the room. There were five large kotatsu* that were spread in the room. Kotatsu futons were attached. A few men were sitting at one table with a beautiful young woman sitting in between them, laughing and serving them tea.
"Here is the entertainment room. Each table can seat up to eight customers. Since you are our newest girl you will get that kotatsu," She pointed to a kotatsu in the far right corner from them. You won't be getting any customers until you are trained some." Amu nodded at her and looked at her new assigned kotatsu. It had a black futon attached to it with eight red zabuton floor pillows sticking out from underneath.
"Follow me," Kiyomi directed Amu to the right side of the room and slid open the fusuma door. The next room was just a hall. The floors were wooden instead of tatami like the rest of the rooms Amu has been shown so far.
"Across the way here are the hotel rooms." She pointed, there were three obvious sliding doors there. "Three here and three more are accessed from the outside rouka. " She led Amu up the hall, "This room here is the library," She pointed to a door.
"And right next to it here is your room." She slid open a door and led Amu inside and closed it behind them. "This is your private session room." She said. There was a small kotatsu in the middle of the room with a light blue futon over it decorated with little dragonflies. There was a large shouji screen covering the whole left side of the room and another sliding door on the far wall. "Here you will serve tea privately and eat snacks with a customer for an extra cost. Your job would be to socialize with him. Only one customer is allowed in here at a time." She walked across the room and slid open the door. Amu followed her to the next room.
"This is your new bedroom!" She smiled and laughed a little, "Your closet is over there," Kiyomi pointed to a white large sliding door, "You will be fitted and all your kimonos will be in there. You have a futon in there are well." This room had a large shouji screen of the right of it was well. "And here" She opened it, "Your own private garden with a private hot spring in the far back." She pointed.
Amu looked it over. There was a little pond with koi fish and a souzu* tapped every once in a while. Rocks and small bushes and flowers were spread about. A small rock trail led to behind the garden and a few trees where the small hot spring sat. A tall wall surrounded the whole garden area that was at least eight feet tall.
"How pretty" Amu spoke her first words once inside and tears started to fill her eyes.
Ikuto sat of the porch looking at the night sky. I was freezing outside but he had a blanket around him to help with the warmth.
Yoru floated out from the dorm and sat on his shoulder, "Are you still worrying –nya?" Ikuto ignored him. "Don't tell you you are –nya! Ha ha ha"
"Quiet Yoru." He demanded and Yoru stopped making fun of him.
"Her chara are getting on my nerves though –nya. How rude of her to be gone this long and not even take them! Without a word –nya!"
'That's right,' Ikuto thought, 'it'll be almost two weeks that she's been gone.' Ikuto stood up and pushed Yoru off of his shoulder. He went back inside, thankfully Ran, Miki, and Su were already asleep in their eggs, he wouldn't have to listen to them crying about Amu right then. He decided to resort to something he thought he would never do…
Amu sat the tray down on the kotatsu and sat across the table from three old men. She served each of them a piece of strawberry cake and made them tea.
"Come here, come here" one of the men called her over to their side of the table. She moved over and sat down next to him.
"Is there anything else I can get you?" She put on a fake smile. "Yes you can," He placed his hand on her ass and squeezed. Out of pure reflex Amu yelped and swung at his face, successfully punching him in the nose. He feel back and started hollering.
"How dare you!" He yelled at her and stood up, he swung but and arm stopped him. He looked, it was a young male that had stopped him. "What do you think you're doing to this girl?" the young male asked. The old man stared at him with a death glare.
Kiyomi rushed over and pick Amu off the ground, "I'm so sorry sir!" she yelled and bowed at him. "You will get a full refund tonight excuse us," She bowed again and pushed Amu out of the room. The young man let go of his arm, "You shouldn't treat the ladies her like that." He said and walked back to his kotatsu with his friends.
Ikuto stood in front of the house; thankfully it was still lit up. It wasn't terribly late, but late enough for guests to be a surprise. He slowly reached up and rang the doorbell. He wonder what sort of people lived here.
The door opened and Tsumugu answered. He had a blank stare on his face.
"May I help you?" He asked in a curious manner.
Ikuto didn't know where to start, "Is… Amu… here?" Papa's face melted.
"Amu-chan…. She has a boyfriend?!" He started madly waving his arms in the air and cried out. Midori quickly ran to see what was wrong at the door. Ikuto bowed his head a little at her.
"Hello, I'm sorry for coming so late but is Amu here?" He asked again. She looked at him.
"My name is Tsukiyomi Ikuto and I am her P.E partner at school. She hasn't been to class, in almost two weeks." Midori understood then.
"I don't think she will be coming back to school." Mama gave him a sorrowful smile.
"Do you know where I can find her?" He asked.
"Are you close to Amu?" She sent him a genuine smile this time. She pushed Tsumugu back into the house and closed the door so she could talk to Ikuto in private.
"A little." He admitted.
Midori told him the story of where she is a why. It filled Ikuto with so much anger. 'Why? Why would she put but in this situation?'
"Where can I find her?" He asked hurriedly.
"She lives in the country side. If you take the D-Train it will take you all of the way there. It's a teahouse, the only one in the town there." Midori smiled at him and walked back into the house to calm a screaming Tsumugu.
"Amu-chan," Kiyomi said harshly, "You can't do that to customers! When Kawano-san finds out she will be very angry."
"I am really angry," Her voice called from behind them. She walked up to Amu and grabbed her wrist and pulled her to her room and threw her on the floor. "What was that?" She demanded to know.
"He grabbed me!" Amu yelled at her.
"I don't care, you have to deal with it." Anzu was loosing her temper.
"Anzu, I want to go home. Please let me go." She begged. Anzu shot her a glare and stepped out of the room for a second after slamming the door. Amu adjusted herself and sat of her knees and waited for Anzu to return.
Shortly Anzu walked in caring a small stick. "Turn around," She demanded and Amu did as she was told. "That's twenty-five whacks for today, make sure it doesn't happen again." She demanded.
Ikuto sat down in his seat he had left Yoru behind. Watched the sky pass by quickly as it started turning lighter shades with the sun rising. The shaking of the fast moving train didn't really bother him.
'This is the fastest way for me to get there I guess' he frowned, 'it'll be another ten hours before I get there…' he sighed, 'I'll be there soon, wait for me Amu.'
He thought to himself. He closed his eyes and was soon taken by some much needed sleep.
-Vocabulary-
01. Kanzashi – Traditional hair accessories worn with kimonos or yukatas.
02. Rouka – Outside hallway of a traditional Japanese home. Hallways were on the outside and led to various rooms.
03. Shouji – Wooden and paper sliding doors.
04. Tatami – Bamboo flooring
05. Fusuma – vertical rectangular panels which can slide from side to side to redefine spaces within a room, or act as doors.
06. Kotatsu with futon – Kotatsu are low tables with an electric heater underneath. The Kotatsu Futon attaches to the table and reaches to the floor with a good amount of fabric left over to keep heat in.
07. Souzu – The bamboo device that is meant the scare away animals, it fills up with water and then spills and taps on usually a rock.
So what did you think? I really had fun writing this! Thank you to All my commenters already as well!