Volume 1 - CH 2

Guess the Name of the Sleeping Beauty (2)

Translated by LyraDhani

Edited by LyraDhani

Masato laid down on the futon again in the quiet room after the owner had disappeared.

His scrutinized vision revealed a ceiling with blackened stains floating on it in various places.

–It is in the shape of Egeles, isn’t it?

–No, no, it must be a western dress with a parasol.

–What? Hey, Senzaki, don’t be insolent.

–Oi, Ichiya, what’s insolent about it? You are the one who thinks so, aren’t you?

On nights when they drank together, they used to joke around, comparing the stain to something. Masato raised himself up with a sense of nostalgia and sat up heavily.

“Now…”

Masato first washed his face, shaved his beard, and freshened up in the communal washroom on the first floor.

He returned to his room and took a white shirt and suit from the coat of arms hanging over the doorway. The sober but elegant, Ryukyu rat-colored jacket, vest, and pants had been made by a well-known dressmaker in Ginza when he was in college. There was no hesitation in his hand as he tied his tie, creating a beautiful inverted triangle in blue.

He was taller than the average Japanese man, wore a suit that fit his long arms and legs, and lightly stroked his chestnut-colored hair with perfumed hair oil.

Just like that, he became a sexy man who women would say, “He looks like he belongs to some noble family,” or “He looks like he was raised well.” Well, it was not far off the mark.

When looking into a cloudy mirror, he saw greenish light-brown hazel eyes framed by long eyelashes.

He had a high, straight nose, clear, double-lined eyes, white skin, and thin lips.

A young man with a deeply chiseled, uniquely Japanese face was staring back at him.

“… Are you aiming to be an actor?”

The mirror only smiled back. Masato turned away from the hazel shadows and picked up his hat, which was hanging on the wall.

Senzaki Masato was not a native Japanese, as his appearance suggested.

His father was Japanese, but his mother was German.

While his father was studying in Germany, he met his mother at the residence where he was staying, and the two eventually fell in love.

Eventually, his mother became pregnant and came to Japan with his father to elope, despite the opposition of her relatives. However, the long trip and the unfamiliar environment in a foreign country damaged her health, and she died two years after giving birth to Masato.

After that, although raised by his father, his second wife seemed to have difficulty accepting a son who looked like a foreigner. Especially after his half-brother was born.

Unable to return to Germany, where his mother was born, Masato spent a lonely childhood with nowhere to go.

He finally left home when he entered high school and lived in a student dormitory. After graduating from university, he did not return home and did not find a job.

Even now, at the age of twenty-five, he lived in a friend’s apartment and spent his days idly.

After leaving Ichiya’s apartment, Masato boarded a train at the nearby Masago station.

Looking out the window, he could see the backs of students in black coats heading in one direction.

Just ten days ago, the city was crowded with visitors to the Imperial City Revival Festival, when the brightly decorated flower trains were running through the city.

The train, changing along the way, dropped him off at the Zoshigaya station. From there, he headed west toward Ikebukuro station on foot.

In Nagasaki, west of Ikebukuro station, rental houses with ateliers had recently been built for artists to live in.

Originally, a local woman built these houses for her grandson, who aspired to become a painter and his friends. Although there were not so many of them yet, young people who aspired to become artists were beginning to gather here, and the area was becoming a place where a new and free spirit was flowing.

Masato’s destination was also a mansion where such young artists were gathering.

In a corner on the outskirts of Nagasaki town, Masato stopped in front of a compound surrounded by an iron fence and hedges. Looking through the iron gate, he could see a lovely-looking Western-style house behind a front yard with green grass.

Pushing through the gate, which was unlocked during the day, Masato entered and saw a gardener tending to the hedges. He must have remembered the face of men who had visited several times before because he bowed lightly and went back to his work.

Masato also gave a slight bow and proceeded along the cobblestone pavement between the lawns to the house.

The two-story wooden building that came into view was new, built after the earthquake, and sprayed with white mortar to prevent fire. The contrast between the rough white walls and the dark green of the entrance door and sliding door, and the dark red of the roof tiles, was beautiful.

A knock on the front door was soon followed by the appearance of an old man in a black suit.

“Senzaki-sama, it’s been a long time.”

“Thank you. Is Mrs. Otogi here?”

“Mrs. Otogi is not here right now. She will be here at noon. Please wait inside.”

The old man, the caretaker of the mansion, opened the door wide and invited him in.

With a slight lift of his hat and a bob of the head, Masato stepped into the Otogi Salon.