Inspection day. Yosuke went straight to the store after school, slipping on the happi and doing some last-minute organization and cleaning. Last night, his father told him plainly how important this was for the future of Junes and drilled him on everything he needed to do. And it was huge. This was his dad's chance to prove how good of an idea and worthwhile investment the store was. His dad took it dead seriously and so Yosuke would too.
For once, his dad was wandering the aisles, pushing employees to their proper places. He wore his best suit and trimmed jacket with a top hat. Yosuke thought he'd never see that on his dad before!
The entrance still retained a greeter, a happy teenage girl. Next to that were rows of vegetables and fruits, all packed in two rows of wood crates. A little ways away was the huge food area with long rows of benches and tables. There were several stalls encircling that, selling drinks, meat, vegetarian, whatever. Other aisles Yosuke spent less time in sold silverware, furniture, textiles, and oil umbrellas. The front had a wooden counter with the store's one cash register, and in the center was a half-wall draped with a black blanket, a bronze-colored tripod camera across from it. Their photography studio.
"No floor coverings?" The inspector peered at Jiro as Yosuke ran back over to the cash register.
"Junes is based off outdoor markets, so I try to keep everything as natural as possible!" Yosuke's dad responded smoothly. "We treat it like any other floor though and keep it clean."
"Where do the drinks come from?" The inspector wrote some things down. Yosuke thought his face looked pinched.
"The tea's made here in the store. The cola and milk come from the Yokohama foreign settlement, shipped here in ice on trains."
"The meat?"
"Also cooked here, the meat ships from the Kobe area,"
Yosuke started ringing up a few customers, hiding the fact he was listening in. Had he organized everything correctly? Were the prices right? Oh no, were they? Sometimes he mislabeled prices and sold things for less or more their actual price, like when he accidentally labeled a singular cola bottle to be worth twenty coins and not the real price of just two. Why did he have to be so stupid-
"Are you going to pass out?" Chie's familiar voice broke through, holding a basket.
"Can you not be here right now? Today's stressful enough without you here." He grumbled. The inspector's pen loudly scribbled away.
"Right now I'm a paying customer!" She scoffed in mock offense. "I'm buying the last of the spring vegetables for my parents!" She motioned to her basket, only having a few carrots and radishes in there.
Right, in just another day or two, they'd get a new shipment of produce in to match the summer season. He'd have to put everything away then and make sure they didn't get mixed-up. He tapped his foot behind the counter as he rang Chie up.
"Besides, I don't want to go home." She mumbled under her breath, so quiet Yosuke almost missed it. "It's too loud there." She took the vegetables and shoved them back into her basket. Yosuke motioned over another employee and stepped away, guiding Chie over to the photography studio and motioning for her to sit down. She sat on one of the provided blocks and leaned back slightly, putting one hand behind her. She swung her boots slightly. Yosuke went under the tarp and tried to keep her in focus, waiting as she sat there.
"Satonaka-san?" An unfamiliar voice asked, boots crunching on the dirt. "Didn't think I'd see you here? Wearing hakama, damn, really embracing your boyish self, huh? Bet you still eat meat a bunch too."
"Takeshi-kun?!" Chie asked in surprise. "I haven't seen you since middle school!"
"Hey, did Yuki-chan get hitched yet? No? Maybe I'll propose. She's the prettiest girl in town by far."
"Okay."
The boy walked off and despite the camera being ready, Yosuke pulled off the tarp curiously.
"That guy seemed like a pompous dandy." He said bluntly, making Chie whirl around in surprise.
"Huh?!"
"I"m just saying, he seems like a loser. Maybe we should turn him loose on Amagi-san."
Chie just stared down at the ground. "We used to play together, growing up, me, him, and my brother. He never cared back then and thought it was cute, almost, how I wanted to be a warrior. Now he's just….weird." She pulled on her braid and spun it around in her hands, the same nervous tick Yosuke had. She shook her head and sat down again, posing. Yosuke snapped the picture, deciding he'd color it and keep it for himself. He really didn't want to forget her bright green kimono top. He'd even write on the back Schoolgirl 1888.
"Sorry for….all that." He tried to shrug an apology. He knew they were being too intimate for her tastes, like now he knew she had a brother. She never mentioned that before!
"Like I said, I don't want to go home." She adjusted her basket. "Junes provided a good enough distraction for me." She left then, forcing Yosuke to deal with the usual stream of customers on his own.
That night, Yosuke was reading while his mother Haruna redid her hair, both startled by the front door suddenly slamming closed.
"What?!" They ran in to see Jiro standing there with a huge grin on his face.
"We passed! The inspector said Junes was an exemplary example of food sales and health. He hoped to see more of my work in the future!"
"That great news!" Yosuke cheered, before suddenly remembering his proposal to Yu. Dad seemed to be in a good mood, so Yosuke followed after him into his office. "I want a bike!"
"A bike? You have one already!" Jiro laughed.
"An old one! Don't you think I deserve a new one?"
"This is what I'm always talking about. I don't mind spoiling you, but you can't just buy whatever you want just because you want to. Money can't solve all of your problems." He started organizing some papers.
"But the girls want to see a guy with the latest stuff!"
"Then maybe you should instead look for a girl who likes you as you are." Despite the smile, Yosuke knew that was his dad making a final statement. He groaned and left the room.
Even though he couldn't get a new bike, at least he did still have a bike. That already put him leagues above pretty much everyone else at school, so his plan of trying to pick up girls in the city would still work out.
After school, he reminded Yu of their plan, and he got on his own bike and rode off, awaiting Yu in the city.
"A sociable bike?! That's lame! That's all your uncle could get you?!" He demanded once seeing Yu rolling up with one side slightly tilted.
"He said I could ride with a girl!" Yu said defensively. "I like it!"
Yosuke crossed his arms. Nothing could possibly be worse than a sociable bike, except maybe-
"Guys! Don't forget about me!" Kanji's voice rang through the air as he skidded his bike with a shriek on the dirt. Yosuke stared at it in disbelief, his eyes wide.
"No. Absolutely no way."
Kanji's bike was a much older model that Yosuke still remembered seeing in the city, ridden by only the most fearless daredevils. The entire bike was held up by one giant wheel, and Kanji had to jump down from it.
"What? What's wrong with my bike?" He asked innocently.
"It's lame and old! You can't seriously expect people to think you're cool with that, do you?!" Yosuke snapped. "Nobody rides those anymore!"
He rubbed his neck. "I did ask for a newer one, but Ma said mine was perfectly fine. So I didn't argue. Ain't worth my time."
So, the two of them were in the same boat, somehow.
"Anyway, I ain't got time for whatever it is we're doing right now. I came here to buy some…stuff. Yeah. Later." He wandered off, making Yosuke collapse back on his bike.
"Don't be like that, we just got here! Maybe if we pose, the girls will come to us!" Yu suggested. "Show off the bikes and stuff."
"That's a great idea! You're always full of them!" Yosuke grinned and leaned back in the seat, smiling at any girls who walked by. Most didn't even spare him a passing glance, but a few giggled meanly when they saw him. They didn't even look at Yu, and others pointed and whispered about Kanji's bike.
This wasn't going well at all! But what could they do? They were just some teenage boys with money, surely that…
Wait.
What about-?
He whispered the idea to Yu, who gave him a weird look in response.
"What?! What's so wrong about that?! We're men, we have needs, why not head to a place designed to fulfill those needs?" He adjusted his cap.
"What about Kanji-kun?"
"What about him? He's not a monk, he can join! It'll do him some good to finally see a woman!"
Once Kanji returned, he didn't even tell him of their plan, instead dashing down a dark alley past doors reeking of alcohol before stopping at a purple curtain at the very end of the damp street. Kanji raised an eyebrow.
"I thought you were going to pick up chicks with your bike." He said in confusion.
"Change of plans." Yosuke whisked open the curtain and found himself in a deep violet sitting room with cushions everywhere and a heavy scent of flowery perfume and opium. The drug lay heavy in the air, making Yosuke's eyes droop as he wandered through the fog to the front counter, where a woman stood looking very put together and suspiciously Eurasian.
"Yes?" She leaned against the counter at him. Yu was staring at the flowers in the room, while Kanji looked mortified.
"Yosuke-dono! This is a brothel!" He shouted way too loudly, making some people stare at him. Yosuke shushed him.
"I know, just work with me here, okay? We can still get women here." He turned his attention back to the woman, who was still smiling a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "Uh, three, I'm paying." He tossed the money on the counter and her eyes glittered.
"Any preferences?"
"Uh, cute ones."
She bit one of the coins and nodded, pointing to a stairway. "Up there."
He wasn't sure what proper etiquette was for a brothel madam, so he just ran up the stairs and looked at the different doors, unsure of who to take.
Well, did it really matter in the end? A prostitute was a prostitute, after all. He chose a red door with the name Asa and walked in.
"Afternoon, sweetheart!"
He made himself look at the voice, somehow expecting someone ugly, but was pleasantly surprised to see the woman in question, though double his age, was pretty and energetic. Her kimono was bright gold and red with a green obi tied in front, not in the back like other girls he saw. She wore light makeup and her hair was tied back with a scrap of cloth to let it fall down her back. The room was dark, but he could make out a cot, a chest, some random drawings on the walls, some kind of pipe in the corner, and a chamber pot. This woman even had all of her teeth! This would be a cinch.
"I'm Asa-chan, called that because I love waking up to men at my side! What are you interested in today?" She stepped closer and ran her hands through his hair and down his neck, making him shiver. The honorific was jarring, but whatever. He leaned into her touch and she pet him harder.
"Whatever you like."
"Mmm, you look young. I'll give you something simple then. Lie down." She pushed him onto the cot and gently crawled on top of him, rubbing her hands on his jacket. "Big city boy? You love Western fashion, hm?" She sat on top of him and untied her obi, letting her kimono unravel and fall open, revealing her entire naked body.
"Wow, you're huge!" Yosuke blurted out without thinking, referring to her breasts. She laughed and ran her hands over them. She scooted a bit away from him, eyeing his pants, before she undid them.
What came next were moments Yosuke only ever saw in his favorite magazines, described in novels and on old art sketches designed to show people various positions of having sex. He wasn't even sure he had the right words to say what had happened. She used her breasts and her mouth, once together, otherwise separate, to pleasure his hard dick until he exploded right onto her breasts. She offered him a smile and let him rest his head in her lap afterwards, both of them still undressed, as she smoked tobacco and ran her hand through his hair again. She tapped the ashes onto her windowsill.
"Wait until I tell the others about this!" He beamed, making her laugh.
"Specify it was with an older woman too. Asa-chan loves being told she's better than a younger woman." She gently nudged him. "Sorry for not being ladylike, but I'm past that age. I have to take a massive piss." Without elaborating, she scooted over and opened up her chamber pot, which was brown and shaped like an oval cabinet. Pulling the bottom of her kimono up around her waist, she squatted over it and began peeing a hard stream, blowing smoke out of her mouth as she did so.
"I should probably get going anyway, who knows how long it's been." He definitely didn't want to give them the wrong idea if he was late or just never showed up. He started pulling up his pants, shimmying into them as there was loud knocking on the door.
"Asa-chan! Asa-chan! Open up!" An angry male voice shouted.
"Be patient!" She took another drag and finished her peeing.
The man burst through the door, looking at everything. He glared at her undressed nature, then focused solely on Yosuke in the middle of buckling his belt.
"You think this is funny?!"
"Huh?" Yosuke looked up. The man was nondescript, wearing a haori jacket over a Western suit, all in dark blue. He shoved Yosuke roughly, making him stumble.
"Get outta here! Bothering my bitch, do you know how much I pay for her monthly?! She doesn't have time to entertain snot-nosed brats like you! Get out!" He shoved Yosuke towards the door. He looked back and saw Asa-chan leaning against the window, still smoking, paying him no mind. "Go! Else I'll throw a punch!"
"I'm going, I'm going!" Yosuke tore down the steps in a flurry, running through the alley and collapsing on his bike. He frantically looked around to see if that man had followed him out, panting and gasping.
"Are you okay? You look like monsters were after you!" Yu asked, staring in concern.
Kanji nodded. "We were waitin' for a few minutes."
He sighed. "Well, I did get a session with a sexy older woman, but then her patron got jealous and chased me out! He threatened to punch me!"
"Well, at least you were lucky. Mine was dressed in dull clothing and made me pray with her." Yu relayed.
"Seriously?!" Yosuke laughed at the image. "Christian prayers or Shinto prayers?"
"Neither. She was something alright." Yu shook his head.
"Mine was a bit younger than me. She dressed in a long robe and only spoke Chinese. I felt bad so I didn't do anything, just sat there and talked to her for a bit. She was so happy to meet someone else who could speak Chinese, even formally. She gave me this, for the 'special lady in my life,'" Kanji pulled a small bell out of his kimono folds, letting it shine in the light. "Probably just give it to Ma or something."
"So today was…a bust." Yosuke sighed. "Nobody liked our bikes and we somehow managed to strike out with even prostitutes!"
"I had fun with everyone today though!" Yu smiled. "We should do this again sometime!"
Yeah, maybe. Except next time, he's thinking they should stay far away from prostitutes.
-Asa is a Japanese word for 'morning', hence the pun.
-Japanese prostitutes and oiran(courtesans) would famously tie their obi in front and not the back for easy access where they could quickly get undressed and redressed after clients.