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“I knew this would be a huge hassle, but I’m totally exhausted…”
“You poor thing. I can escort you somewhere for a rest if you’d like.”
“The biggest problem was you, actually. But never mind.”
As they stepped out of the final secondhand clothes shop (ruthlessly combed through by Akari), she shot a reproachful glance at Tomohito, who lolloped along beside her.
The shopping trip had actually been quite successful. The advance pay packet was generous, and while she couldn’t afford to go overboard, she was able to buy the things she wanted without hesitation.
But being accompanied by a strikingly handsome young man drew too many stares her way. She’d forgotten to worry about that. In his smart three-piece suit, Tomohito looked as if he might have been the son of some aristocrat. Or at the very least, a high-end butler at some rich man’s mansion.
And here was Akari, in her shabby silk kimono, being followed around by him and addressed as “Mistress.”
Of course people were staring and doing double-takes. And shooting Akari suspicious looks, surprised that it wasn’t the other way around, with her as the servant. She’d made Tomohito wait outside while she was buying new undergarments, but the rest of the time she felt under constant scrutiny in his presence. It made her cringe.
“Face powder, brow pencil, and rouge? You don’t look like you need any of that, Mistress Akari.”
As they walked away from the cosmetics store, Akari felt exhaustion wash over her as Tomohito commented on her purchases.
“A woman needs to wear makeup. It’s proper manners for any decent member of society.”
She supposed she should be glad he hadn’t made a comment like that in front of the beauty counter saleswomen, whose gaze had made Akari nervous. Should she just take it as a compliment?
She didn’t really feel like challenging him on it, after all.
Akari had chosen extra-white face powder and a lighter brow pencil, as well as the current fashion: rouge. Recently, women had been emphasizing blood flow to the cheeks using artificial rouge, and when Akari tried it, she’d liked the way it looked. And so, she bought it.
While she’d been consulting with the beauty counter staff and trying out samples, Tomohito had waited silently, never complaining about being left out.
Instead, he’d watched her shopping bags diligently like a proper servant. When Akari looked up at him now, he suddenly met her gaze.
As if realizing something, his eyes widened, then narrowed again. “Oh, but that ‘rouge’ looks very nice on you, Mistress Akari.”
Being praised so openly made Akari’s cheeks grow so hot, she doubted she even needed the rouge. How many compliments had she received that day already? He’d said something similar when she’d purchased her new kimono too.
Thanks to all the samples she’d tried, Akari was sporting a full face of makeup and was feeling quite pretty. Being complimented on it by someone else made her feel prettier still. How could she help blushing?
And Tomohito had waited so patiently for her. How could she crush his feelings after that?
“You seem to be in a good mood…”
The words just slipped out, but Tomohito blinked and smiled at her softly.
“Yes. Walking around town with you like this makes me very happy.”
“I mean…all you’ve done is watch my bags for me.”
“Precisely! Being useful to you is my number one joy!”
As he beamed at her, traipsing along with a spring in his step, Akari tried to keep at least a full arm’s distance between them. His behavior had her feeling on edge, still. They’d known each other less than twenty-four hours, and Akari wasn’t sure yet how to take his eager displays of servitude toward her.
Perhaps she was overthinking it, but Akari wasn’t the kind of woman who was used to people catering to her. She was more annoyed than anything else. Not even slightly thrilled.
Nodding mildly, she decided to change the subject.
“Are you sure you don’t mind carrying all of that?”
All her purchases had been wrapped up in a cloth bundle, which was now slung over Tomohito’s shoulder. He looked strange, dressed in a fine suit while carrying a sack of possessions like a commoner.
But Tomohito only smiled and readjusted the bundle.
“It is no burden at all, Mistress Akari. After all, you’ve got Kotogatari to carry.”
Akari touched the bag she was wearing slung across her body, lost for words for a moment.
Tomohito’s and Mayoi’s Kotogatari were inside. The bag was made of sturdy amber-brown leather and had some weight to it. She could still carry more, though.
After Tomohito had announced he would carry all the bags, she’d offered to split the load. But he’d refused, point-blank.
In the end, the only things he’d let her carry were a few cosmetics.
“Our Kotogatari volumes are of vital importance to us Kotogami. So if something were to happen, I’d certainly appreciate your full efforts to protect it. The leather won’t spoil, so if you could carry it close to you at all times, that would be splendid.”
“…As I said before, I am NOT wearing this thing to work.”
“Are you quite sure you won’t?”
Tomohito turned his puppy-dog eyes on her again, but she refused to back down on this one.
Even as his eyes glistened, Akari knew she couldn’t take something like that to the office. It would stand out, and people would ask questions. And what if it was confiscated?
“If it’s that important, it shouldn’t be taken out and about where anything could happen to it.”
“I see. In that case, I understand.”
Tomohito finally sighed and nodded in resignation.
He doesn’t seem to understand at all, thought Akari as they passed a kashihonya, a lending library.
Commoners couldn’t afford to just pick up the latest publications the moment they came out, so instead they rented almost everything they read from the myriad lending libraries available all over the city.
Akari couldn’t help noticing it. Perhaps because she was presently in the company of a book spirit. But there was nothing remarkable about this one—bookstores and lending libraries were a dime a dozen in the capital. And up-and-coming Shinkuju was no exception to the rule.
Reading books without having to own them. That might be a good arrangement for the readers, but Akari wondered how the books would feel about it.
Her mind wandering, she recalled the scowl on the face of the little girl Kotogami.
“I wonder what Mayoi is getting up to at the house. I hope she’s not moving all the junk into my bedroom to spite me.”
“No, Mayoi’s right there.”
Akari blinked.
Tomohito was looking at her leather bag for some reason.
“Wait, what are you talking about?”
“Kotogami always return to their designated Kotogatari after being separated from it a certain distance. Also, you didn’t manifest her with the power of a narration spell of your own, so the moment you removed the book from the Bookhouse, her residential spell dissipated. Mayoi is asleep inside her Kotogatari as we speak.”
“…So that’s why you wanted me to bring it along with us…”
Akari had left the house fully prepared for a world of trouble when she returned. She almost felt disappointed.
Akari should have been pleased, but she felt uneasy. Tomohito was watching her with a hesitant look on his face.
“Uh, about Mayoi…”
“You should mend relations with her as soon as possible.”
“Ah… Mistress Akari, you seem to believe the fault lies with me. But I dare say it goes deeper than that.”
His tone had softened now, and Akari looked at him shrewdly as he continued, his expression humble.
“I always intended to follow no other orders but yours, Mistress Akari, and so I have kept my distance from the other Narrators that have taken up posts at our Bookhouse. But Mayoi followed the orders of each of them. And not just because they held her Kotogatari, but of her own will.”