His mouth seemed to have run away with his interest. Masaomi gasped, and cut himself off. Misao watched the man collect himself once more before turning to him and inquiring more politely.
“That means she will talk to me some day.”
Misao stared at Masaomi wordlessly.
Masaomi seemed unsure of how to interpret Misao’s silence and let out a short, nervous laugh in his embarrassment.
“I’m sorry. I must be keeping you.”
“Not at all.”
Misao shook his head slightly.
But he couldn’t very well continue standing there when he had been given permission to go.
No...
The man standing before him was somehow similar to the old customer who had been so nice to Misao when he was young, but they were also completely different.
The customer who had treated him kindly had done so because he understood how brothels worked. He had always conducted himself skillfully in the tea rooms. He was what might be called a connoisseur of the pleasure quarters.
But Masaomi had just finished his very first visit and understood nothing. He was an amateur.
Misao knew that if this generous man were to enter a tea room with his utter lack of knowledge, he would end by paying out all the money in his pocket.
“Um—I’m sure this is very forward of me to say, but...”
Misao felt annoyed at himself for his stuttering speech.
This was the first time he had ever felt concern for a customer’s well-being.
Masaomi looked at him curiously.
Misao let out a sigh of relief that his motives hadn’t been discovered, then hardened his heart.
“If you’re not yet familiar with the tea house, would you like for me to explain some of its finer points for you?”
“You?”
Masaomi asked, then immediately seemed to notice something and looked down into a corner of the garden. Misao followed his gaze. Standing on one of the garden bridges, one of the night watchmen had raised his lantern and was looking suspiciously up at them.
“Ah,” Misao murmured, feeling fatigued. “He thinks I’m one of the girls.”
It was a common mistake after dark. Misao wasn’t particularly short, but his long hair blurred the line apparently.
“He’s watching us to see if we’re planning to run away together.”
“You and I?”
He probably hadn’t meant anything by that. But Misao was unusually taken aback by his words.
For a moment, he saw the image vividly in his mind: running with Masaomi, hands locked.
At nearly the same moment, they both turned their eyes from the watchman’s lantern to each other’s faces.
Their eyes locked.
Misao gulped and Masaomi smiled at him gently.
It was like a soft spring breeze, Misao thought hazily as the night air played through his hair.
Masaomi moved slightly away from the railing and turned his back.
“Then it appears we should go somewhere else.”
He looked back at Misao once more, echoing his thoughts, and tilted his head ever so slightly with a gentle expression.
“Even if you’re only going to flatter me.”
There were small butterflies drawn on several of the thin paper lanterns, and the flames inside caused their shadows to flutter on the walls.
They were in a room that could hold two beds, walled off by folding screens with cushions scattered about its wooden floor. It showed no sign of having been used.
Misao felt a little uncomfortable at the fact that this was one of the rooms where the girls slept, but perhaps that was because the room was so tidy; or then again, perhaps because there was a man sitting so formally right across from him. Masaomi was someone who was buying women with money, but at the same time he gave an impression of refreshing cleanliness.
“The second time you come, they will do the same thing.”
Masaomi nodded wordlessly at Misao’s explanation. The light of the lanterns cut a sharp relief on his serious face.
“The courtesan will speak to you more familiarly, but just as tonight, you will have to sleep alone. A courtesan will only loosen her sash for a guest after he visits three times.”
Misao informed him about all the various methods of payment such as the tip, the monetary gift, and even the courtesan’s flower money, with the utmost propriety. Masaomi would occasionally raise a question and Misao would answer, until finally he finished explaining the basics. It had taken more than an hour to cover it all. There was no means to tell the time inside the room, so they didn’t know the exact hour, but it must have been near four in the morning.
Masaomi never shifted his position during the entire discussion. He had barely even taken his eyes off of Misao the entire time. The intensity of his attention was almost frightening.
Misao pretended to have just remembered something and glanced at the screen, fleeing Masaomi’s direct gaze.
“When is the tea house bringing you back?” Misao asked without returning his eyes to Masaomi.
The tip was typically paid upon leaving the brothel and often the tea house would send someone to escort the customer home.
“I requested first thing in the morning,” Masaomi answered.
At the brothel, “first thing in the morning” meant four in the afternoon.
Misao turned his face back to Masaomi. He was still looking at him. It was a perfectly relaxed look, devoid of excitement.
“Then they should be coming for you soon. Would you like to change? I can help you.”
“Oh no, it’s still much too early for that.”
He refused the offer assuredly, as if he carried a watch inside his head.
His calm seemed to radiate oddly into the environment. Misao had begun to stand up, but at the sound of the man’s voice, he sat back down and gave an easy sigh.
The last thing he wanted to do was disturb him.
“Do you need anything else?”
Misao knew that they needed to somehow fill this time, but Masaomi only shook his head slightly. The next moment, he looked more relaxed.
“You’ve been a big help. Thanks.”
Misao blinked slowly at this gratitude.
What a strange man.
He had no flaws.
It troubled Misao why someone like him would come to a place like this. He had wondered about it all night.