Before the girls went out onto the street to attract customers as they had done every day before, they were called to a meeting in the tea house.
Passing through a curtained doorway, Misao arrived at a wide, open yard full of servants. Kazushi was beside him, fighting back a yawn every few minutes. Sometimes Misao caught the yawn, too.
Various girls stood on the wooden floor above the yard, some leaning against pillars fresh from their baths and dressed in robes, all looking disheveled. The director had smacked their bottoms many times and yelled at them to straighten up, but none of the girls wanted to stand straight and tall at an hour like this.
“I know some of you girls were working all night. So thank you, girls, for your dedication.”
A woman sitting next to the owner challenged the director in a clear, authoritative voice. She was fresh-faced and looked to be in her early thirties. Her hair was done up in a Western style, but she wore a staid kimono of gradated violet and an obi with a bamboo motif. But the thing that really made her stand out was that her face was as flamboyant as a Western rose.
The owner appeared to have been in a good mood for some time. He cleared his throat to draw everyone’s attention.
“As you all know, the lady of Oumi Tea House has been absent.”
The owner’s slack jaw tightened slightly as he addressed everyone.
The owner’s wife had borne the burden of managing the tea house’s affairs, but lately she was confined to her bed and had been away from the pleasure quarters. He seemed to be leading up to the announcement that the person who had replaced her was the woman with the commanding presence who sat beside him now.
“I’m sure you’ve all noticed already, but this is Miss Gikuyo, who’ll be coming to stay with us for a while to help around the house.”
The owner’s face filled with joy as he introduced the woman. In contrast, Gikuyo didn’t even smirk.
“Hello everybody,” she said briefly, as she stared down at the assembled faces.
Misao’s eyes locked with hers, and in that moment he decided that it was better to avoid approaching this strong-willed woman. He had no choice but to give a polite smile. Gikuyo, on the other hand, seemed to be sizing Misao up from head to foot. She thrust her pointed chin out and veritably snorted. It was clearly a derisive laugh.
Misao’s anger flared.
“That old hag,” he whispered poisonously.
Kazushi’s shoulders trembled in amusement beside him, but when Misao glared at him out of the corner of his eye, he gazed innocently up at the sky.
The tinkle of a bell was their signal, and the girls who were going into the street checked their shoes.
That sound was the signal to let the public in the streets know that the workday had begun in the tea house.
Those girls who didn’t yet have any appointments that night streamed onto the porch that they called their office, and sat down all lined up in a row. The office was open to the street, separated by a lattice. The girls sat and took elegant poses to be silhouetted against the lattice by the large lanterns behind them.
On the other hand, those girls who had had their customers arranged by the introductory tea house each left the brothel to go meet their respective clients. This travel was called being “on the road.”
“Misao! Misao!”
The owner called out to Misao urgently just as he was heading up to the second floor.
“Yes?”
Misao had gone halfway up the stairs and lazily came back down. It seemed the owner couldn’t wait for such a leisurely pace to bring Misao to him, so he ran up and grabbed Misao’s arm.
“Mister Sakai is coming back!” he declared joyously, as he pulled Misao into the yard.
“But hasn’t he retired?”
Misao’s voice was slightly brighter as he asked this.
Sakai was the customer who had been so nice to Misao when he was younger, an authority in forensic medicine. Now that he had reached his sixtieth year, he had left the field of medicine and was leading a leisurely life of retirement. For several years, Sakai had consistently been Oumi Tea House’s best customer. But he’d been having back trouble for the last few months and hadn’t been by for some time. If this long-standing customer of such great influence was making his return, it was understandable that the owner was dancing for joy.
“I sent Ukigumo out to meet him, and you’re going to meet him out in front of the display girls. Got it?”
The owner climbed down from the platform and disappeared into the curtained doorway. Misao waited at the entrance as he had been instructed, until he saw the director bearing a lantern with the name of the tea house and leading a line of people. Behind her, leaning on a cane, was Sakai. He wore a bowler hat, a short-sleeved kimono with loose pants, and two layers of jackets. Behind him came more girls, carrying lanterns with the letter “U” inside a circle, then came Ukigumo in her best regalia, surrounded by her maids and apprentices.
When the head of the line reached the front of the tea house, Misao bowed and held the curtains aside for the guest.
“It’s wonderful to see you again.”
He greeted Sakai as he approached, then lowered his eyes.
Sakai stopped in the doorway and peered at Misao, with a white beard like a mountain goat.
“I bet you thought I dropped dead, eh? I’m not that old yet!”
His eyes arched happily.
Misao was glad to see that the old man was still as cheerful as ever.
“I’ll be there to stand at your wake,” he answered with a charming, playful smile.
Sakai’s gruff voice was raised in laughter and he went into the yard. Ukigumo floated after him and her maid Sazu scurried along in the rear.
“Come along.”
The new manager Gikuyo greeted Sakai in the yard and took his cane.
“My, my.”
Sakai scrutinized Gikuyo’s face, then blinked blearily.
“Here’s another face I haven’t seen in a while.”
“I’ve just begun working as the manager for Oumi Tea House today. My name is Gikuyo. It’s wonderful to meet you.”
She bowed and Sakai nodded to her, then tottered onto the platform, wheezing with the effort.
“Sir, sir—is everything all right?”
Sazu ran up beside Sakai and tilted her head at him. Sakai found that amusing and just laughed and patted her on the head. Sazu was happy to be petted like this, and grinned toothily at him.
Misao watched their exchange out of the corner of his eye as he affixed pieces of string to the customers’ possessions in the coatroom. When Sakai and Sazu joined hands to frolic, he saw his younger self in the same scene.
It had been more than ten years since their first meeting, but Sakai hadn’t changed at all. Whenever Misao saw him, he was a completely carefree old man, like an inscrutable cloud floating in the sky, enjoying every day of his life.
“Come here, Misao.”
Sakai beckoned Misao over as he began climbing the stairs. He wanted Misao to come to the tea room with him.
Misao glanced over at Gikuyo for her approval.