Yumeko wanted to get her self-esteem back by leaving a better image to the young man who saw her in a sloppy, messy look. If she would be successful, she could move forward and enjoy every morning fully. That was her greatest goal for tomorrow.
Koharu then moved towards Yumeko’s black antique vanity mirror. Attached below it were countless drawers that Yumeko did not realize. Koharu opened one drawer for her. It was full of ornamental combs. They were very elegant.
“You don’t own one my lady because you possess many. You can finally use them. Your mother will be glad to know this, if she was still alive,” said Koharu with a heartfelt emotion.
The moment Koharu mentioned about her mother, Yumeko felt as if a string was pulled inside her heart. She wondered about her—how she looked like or when she passed away. She thought that before she lost all her memories she might have been sad, for her mother was not there anymore. However, now having no memories of the past, she could only listen to stories.
“Wow, I didn’t know I have this much,” she said in astonishment as she looked closely into it.
Yumeko then looked at Koharu and asked,
“Koharu, may I know your age? We are the same, right?”
“I was born a year younger than you, my lady. I’m fifteen years old.”
Yumeko finally learned that she was sixteen. She closely looked at Koharu’s innocent face and wondered why she had to work in an early age. She was almost at the same age as her and she must have had dreams too, but she had no other choice but to give them up.
Yumeko was heartbroken thinking about these thoughts and decided to take care of her secretly like an older sister.
Yumeko then grabbed a piece of her ornamental comb.
“Take this Koharu and I won’t take a ‘no’ for an answer. Thank you for looking after me every day. Please don’t you ever forget that you are a beautiful young woman, too.” A sweet reminder from a fellow pure damsel.
Yumeko gently handed her ornamental comb to Koharu’s palms. At this moment, she could not hold back her tears, for she had never received a present her entire life.
“My lady, I am out of words. I am grateful. I will take this gift and treasure it. I promise to look after you forever,” she uttered in a tearful yet honest tone.
“That wonderful promise is better than a ‘thank you’,” Yumeko added as she smiled at her.
Hereafter, Koharu’s loyalty to Hosokawa household strengthened.
***
The first flush of morning came. Yumeko woke up earlier to do her plan—to retrieve her self- esteem back and enjoy the sunrise wholly. She washed her face then used her ornamental comb as it gently ran down her long black silky hair. She looked at herself in the mirror. She saw a couple of bangs standing as if they were some antenna. She tried to comb them but they would still remain the same. Annoyed, she just gave up.
“Yosh! The-no-longer-tangled-morning-look plan begins!”
The young heart breathed in and out, then instantly opened the window. She was firstly shocked not feeling the warm sunlight touching her face. It turned out it was a very cloudy day. Her face became gloomy, too, forgetting her main purpose at that time.
Just seconds before, a teenage boy in a fringe haircut, with his bangs longer than the length of his forehead, opened his window. He had broad dependable shoulders. His innocent face and neat appearance clearly stated that he was a fine young man.
He glanced outside, and slightly looked upward to check at the clouds but he unintentionally saw Yumeko.
It was then that their eyes met, as the cool breeze passed by. It seemed that the world turned mute for a few seconds—just for them.
Yumeko was frozen and could not take her eyes off of him right away. It was an unexpectedly awkward morning for her. When the fine young man was about to smile at her, to break the awkward scene, an intense strong wind came in between them. Her long black silky hair tagged along the forceful wind as it strongly blew eastward. Her hair quickly covered her entire face. And for a moment there, she looked like a hair in a human form. It took her time to notice another embarrassment from the same person. As her hair was about to calm down, she found out that the young man was still looking at her with his brown eyes like pools of honey.
Then he slowly smiled at her, to break another awkward scene for real. Yumeko’s face swiftly turned red, she was humiliated yet again. Then, without thinking Yumeko tautly shouted at him,
“Stupid!”
“Oh no! What did I say?” Yumeko whispered to herself, shocked. She was taken aback.
Yumeko wanted to say it to the strong wind out of frustration and not intended to the young man.
“Is she talking about me?” the young man said in confusion.
He had silvery voice, a pleasing manly tone. He looked around if anyone was there, but he found none. He was puzzled on how he became stupid right after the strong wind blew.
Yumeko could not find the words to say so she just quickly slammed her window as she closed it. It was loud that the young man took a step back.
“I just wanted to see the clouds but suddenly a crazy girl from the neighborhood called me stupid. But, honestly for a moment there, I thought I saw a yurei ,” he chuckled and then walked inside.
“I had a strange morning for the first time,” he added and smiled.
The young man then sat on his chair and got his notebook as his black inked pen started to follow the flow of his hand. He suddenly stopped.
“Will I see her again tomorrow? I don’t think I will have peaceful moment to watch the sunrise after what happened today. She looks troublesome. Haaaa”, he complained, as he rested his head on the table…smiling.
Meanwhile, Yumeko helplessly sat on the floor by the window. She did not have the courage to go back to her bed. She was hopeless realizing her plan failed and another embarrassment added to her list—calling a stranger “stupid” and the hair she perfectly did with her new ornamental comb did not go along with her.
“From now on, I will just let Koharu open my window. I’ll just find a perfect place to see the sunrise...Ahh!” she tearfully said, as she tousled her hair out of frustration.
“But honestly, I didn’t mean to tell him stupid. But I hope by tomorrow he would transfer his window somewhere I won’t see him. It isn’t that hard! He just needs to cover his current window and break another portion of his wall!”
To be continued.
End Note
Yurei - a Japanese term used to refer a ghost that has a very long black hair, wears white robe, and does not have feet
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