Book 2: Chapter 33: Missing Girl

Perhaps s.h.i.+mizu and I differ from the patrons of Kabukicho. Just how many faces have this dimly lit, gaiety street, filled with dissolute patrons, marred with tears?

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Lily gazed at that bare-breasted woman again, who had no more tears left to shed after a long life of prost.i.tution. She wore a business smile on her dry-skinned face and a.s.sumed an overly seductive expression. Yet none of the patrons pa.s.sing by showed appreciation for her.

A woman has abandoned all the shame in her heart. Is this not a protest towards this pitiless world?

Lilys sight suddenly focused on a dark lane in the corner of the street. She pulled s.h.i.+mizu and walked over there.

A girl donned in crimson clothes laid on the ground in this dark, secluded lane. Her empty gaze reflected the sky in them, her clothes torn, dyed in clotted blood from the ma.s.sive wound on her chest. The blood had coagulated, implying that she had no life left in her.

s.h.i.+mizu crouched down to inspect and said, She didnt get violated, but has a lot of bruises on her body. It seems like her clothes got ripped apart forcefully, but this really isnt a s.e.xual a.s.sault, and feels more like a brutal mugging.

The purse is still here, though it isnt much money, the a.s.saulter didnt take it. No matter what they took, they still killed her, s.h.i.+mizu continued, The wound is at the hearts position. Just what kind of weapon has produced such a terrifying wound?

Lily stated, I know what they took from her Its her heart.

s.h.i.+mizus complexion turned paler after hearing this, Its neither an a.s.sault nor a mugging. They dragged a woman forcefully to this corner, in such a central area, and carved out her heart. This doesnt feel like a crime a human would commit.

A monster, Lily also arrived at such a conclusion. Have the monsters claws already reached Kamakura? s.h.i.+mizus expression turned grave.

The As.h.i.+kaga samurai neared them from close-by.

Lets go. It will be a pain to explain things to them here.

Lily and s.h.i.+mizu withdrew from there.

Only a few hours have pa.s.sed since that womans death. The monster is perhaps still lingering near Kabukicho, s.h.i.+mizu muttered.

But there are thousands of people here, how will we find it?

Theres no hurry. There are two things to mull over. First, why did this monster come to Kabukicho, which has powerful samurai, to kill a girl? Second, if it wants a human heart, why does it specifically need a girls heart? s.h.i.+mizu pondered.

They suddenly heard a ruckus from nearby.

An old man got thrown out from the entrance of a gorgeous-looking building by two men.

Yuuko! Return my Yuuko! Unwilling to give up, the old man crawled while trembling, intending to crawl inside the building if he had to.

But he got beat up midway. A few kind souls dragged him to a nearby street corner.

s.h.i.+mizu stepped forward and looked at the battered old man who kept mumbling the name Yuuko even as he bled from his mouth. She asked him, Uncle, who is Yuuko? What did they do to Yuuko?

Yuuko The old man spoke in a trembling voice, Yuuko is my granddaughter. Her parents left this world early on, so I raised her up, but I am just a common peasant She wished to break free from the poverty-stricken life, so she came to Kamakura to learn the trade of a geisha. Although I tried hard to stop her, she didnt listen to me.

Cough The old man coughed blood while talking.

s.h.i.+mizu poured some spirit power into the old mans chest to relieve his pain. He continued speaking, Yuuko is a good girl, but which girl of her age didnt pursue a vain life. She wanted to buy pretty clothes, beautiful jewelry and longed for a better life. Therefore, she left the village and came here to become a geisha. Three days ago, I even received a letter from her, but when I arrived here to look for her at the address it came from, they told me such a person didnt exist here! I searched everywhere, but I couldnt find Yuuko! I insisted on going inside to look for her, but they beat me up. Yuuko Where have you gone?!

s.h.i.+mizu took out a silver coin and said, Uncle, take this and return first. If we find Yuuko, we will tell her to look for you.

Can you help me rescue Yuuko?

Thats hard to say. You have also said it. Didnt Yuuko wish to become geisha willingly? If this is her dream, then she must hope to see you approve of it. She will surely return to see you if shes still

s.h.i.+mizu didnt finish her words. After handing the silver coin to the old man, she left along with Lily.

They arrived in front of that gorgeous-looking building but then saw a notice there which had the words Building for Sale written on it.

s.h.i.+mizu stepped forward, bowed slightly, and asked the man standing at the entrance, Excuse me, may I ask if this place is for sale?

The man scrutinized s.h.i.+mizu, then looked at Lily. His sight lingered on Lily for a long time, staring at her with a fixed gaze. But when he saw s.h.i.+mizus expression turn sour, he moved his gaze away, If you wish to inquire about this matter, lord, I will go bring over my master.

Soon after, the geisha houses owner, a short and stout, pencil mustached man dressed in luxurious clothing exited the building, Which lord wishes to inquire about purchasing the building?

s.h.i.+mizu advanced forward, h.e.l.lo, I hail from Mutsu province and wish to do some business in Kamakura. I felt this building in this flouris.h.i.+ng district possesses elegance and is also at an excellent location, so I wished to inquire about it.

The geisha houses owner had seen countless people. One look at s.h.i.+mizu and Lilys smooth skin and ornate clothing had made him conclude their ident.i.ties were far from ordinary. Hence, he smiled at them, saying amicably, Please enter, lets chat inside!

s.h.i.+mizu and Lily entered inside. It looked splendid since the floor, screen, and decoration were of top quality.

Seeing that the owner still held some doubts, s.h.i.+mizu took out a gold coin and said, Im not in a hurry to talk about purchasing this building. This is my first visit to Kamakura, so Im quite interested in the geishas performance here. I must ask you to arrange the best room for me. Its not too late to talk after drinking a few cups. Also, I wish to buy the geisha and servants here all together with the building.

A gold coin equaled one hundred kan! Although this place was one of the costliest ones in Kabukicho, spending one hundred kan for just a casual visit was too ostentatious! It was no longer important whether they had really come to purchase the building.

Although the geisha houses owner was a wealthy merchant, his eyes opened wide when faced with such a tremendous sum of money. The owner wondered which elite clans prince s.h.i.+mizu was. He had heard that Mutsu province was prosperous with abundant gold.

Is he a member of the Fujiwara clan?

The owner arranged the biggest and the most luxurious room immediately. He then invited s.h.i.+mizu and Lily inside. After that, he told the maid to serve the houses best beverages and desserts and also instructed the geishas to prepare.

May I ask what they call you, lord? Kitabatake s.h.i.+n, s.h.i.+mizu stated. So its a lord from Mutsus famed Kitabatake family! No wonder you possess such lofty ideals. And this G.o.ddess-like girl is s.h.i.+mizu glanced at Lily, Are you not going to introduce yourself?

Eh? Lily felt stunned.

s.h.i.+mizu is so bad. To think she wants me to say it myself. She gets respect for calling herself a member of a significant family. Meanwhile, I am stuck with this fabricated ident.i.ty of a geisha.

Im called Lynne, Lily didnt say much.

s.h.i.+mizu added to it, Lynne is a geisha I train and is also my woman. If I buy this building, she will become the head geisha here and also the proprietress.

Hah? Lily felt bewildered, What proprietress and head geisha? Is this considered as praise or sarcasm?

The geisha houses owner also showered praises for Lily, Lady Lynne possesses an otherworldly beauty. If Lady Lynne were to proclaim that she is second, no geisha in the Heian Empire would dare proclaim they are first, let alone this house.2

Hehe. Mister, Im unworthy of your praise, Lily smiled helplessly.

Soon after, six to seven women dressed in all kinds of magnificent kimonos, each with face powered white and red-dotted beside the brows arch, took the stage. From the perspective of womanly charm, although this wouldnt attract men, it possessed a unique elegance and artistic nature.

As members of the best geisha house in Kamakura, each of them had extraordinary talents such as singing, dancing, playing the harp, zither, lute, side drum, and so on.

A few of them performed for Lily and s.h.i.+mizu, while the prettiest geisha stepped forth to pour sake for s.h.i.+mizu. She had specially trained these movements of pouring sake.

s.h.i.+mizu asked, Mister. Before I arrived here, I heard theres a young geisha called Yuuko here. I wonder if she is present among these women?

Hearing Yuukos name, the owner felt shocked. But he covered up his expression and answered evasively, Yuuko is just an apprentice, so she isnt qualified to perform on the stage. Also, she disappeared two days ago.

Disappeared?

We also sent people to look for her and reported it to the As.h.i.+kagas representative official. But we still havent found her, The owner also appeared genuinely concerned about it. It seemed like he was anxious about Yuuko too.

A retainer entered inside at this moment and whispered into the geisha houses owner.

But Lily and s.h.i.+mizus sharp senses naturally caught them, Mr. Touzou, Lord Onigumo3 has arrived

The owners face changed colors when he heard the name Onigumo. He glanced at s.h.i.+mizu and Lily apprehensively and spoke in a trembling voice, Lord Kitabatake, please enjoy the performance here. Ill come right back.

Onigumo? Lily and s.h.i.+mizu looked at each other. They had heard the name too, and no matter how they looked at it, it didnt seem like a name that would usually appear in Kamakura. Also, the whispering made it even more suspicious.

After the owner left, Lily and s.h.i.+mizu continued enjoying the performance.

Lynne, how about having a cup? Perhaps s.h.i.+mizu was still putting up a pretense, but it placed Lily in a tight spot. If she refused, it would make the others doubt their relations.h.i.+p. Therefore, she picked up the sake cup and downed it in one go.

But after this one cup, Lily couldnt stop anymore. She had a few more cups in succession, and shortly after, her entire face flushed up.4

The singing and dancing never stopped, and Lilys breathing turned even more rushed. Her sight became a little blurred, and before she knew it, she found s.h.i.+mizu becoming prettier and prettier.

The rooms door got opened roughly at this moment, without the least bit of warning. This was a disrespectful action towards a high-paying patron like s.h.i.+mizu.

A tall, herculean man whose height almost reached as high as the door stood at the entrance. He wore the attire of samurai and wore a sword at his waist, a chokuto, the so-called straight sword. His dress had a spider embroidered on it too. A few ferocious-looking samurai followed behind him, and all of them possessed straight swords. As for the owner, he stood at the corner with his forehead covered in sweat, Lord, didnt I say it? There are already patrons in here.

That herculean man looked inside the room. His gaze fell on s.h.i.+mizu and then on Lily. After that, he walked inside directly and looked down on s.h.i.+mizu, who was drinking sake while sitting down as he questioned in a deep and rough voice, Who are you?

The owner rushed in to explain, Lord Onigumo, this is Mutsu provinces

Shut up! I want him to say it himself, Onigumo glared at the owner. Those eyes appeared human, yet also seemed lifeless.5

Im Kitabatake familys Kitabatake s.h.i.+n, s.h.i.+mizu replied without even lifting her head.

It didnt sound like a family of the Eastern Nations. Once he saw how weak s.h.i.+mizu looked, Onigumo pointed towards Lily and said, We want this room. Leave the woman behind and then scram!6

Robinxen: This chapter was fun because the other notes on it made me laugh.

Robinxen: I mean looks mean nothing if the service sucks. Girlfriends are like that.

Silva: This name literally translates to ghost spider. reminds me of a certain Night Monkey but yeah, that name sounds ominous is he the demon? Will the author really make it so obvious? Lets find out. soon(?) Immortal Dreamer: The names a pretty obvious hint imo, but yea. Lets see how it goes. In this context, its actually Demon Spider tho. Kinda reminded me of Inuyasha tbh. Robinxen: Hmmm yes. I see. Understood. I totally know all this stuff too.

Silva: Uh oh drunk Lily appears bad news, abort, abort! Immortal Dreamer: LOL. Dont worry. Author will ctblock her. XD Robinxen: My time to s.h.i.+ne? s.h.i.+mizu its your turn for lewds! #JoinTheDiscordToVote!

Silva: Mhm must be a demon, the author is even hinting at it Immortal Dreamer: Ye

Silva: CLIFFFFFFFFF Immortal Dreamer: Kek