Volume 1 - CH 3

Guess the Name of the Sleeping Beauty (3)

Translated by LyraDhani

Edited by LyraDhani

The owner of the house, Otogi Fumiko, aka Mrs. Otogi, was a well-known businesswoman.

Her family name before her marriage was Onomura.

She was born as the eldest daughter of Onomura Kimihiro, the founder of “Onomura Shokai,” a trading company that was currently expanding its business with a focus on trade to Europe and South America.

Founded in the Meiji era (1868-1912), Onomura Shokai was an overseas trading company and was now well-known as Japan’s foremost importer.

By the time of its current president, Onomura Kosuke, Fumiko’s brother who was five years older, the company had amassed such vast wealth that it was even included in the Imperial Japanese Empire’s Directory of the Rich and Famous.

Several decades ago, Fumiko was bewitched by Baron Otogi at a garden party, got married, and changed her family name to “Otogi”.

However, within three years of their marriage, the Baron died suddenly, leaving Fumiko a widow. Although she had to give up her baronetcy because she had no heir, Fumiko Otogi was called “Baroness Otogi” by those around her.

After her husband died, Mrs. Otogi used the property she inherited and the dowry from the Onomura family to open a café and milk store in Ginza.

At first, it was ridiculed as a rich lady’s indulgence, but she had a plan.

Through the Onomura Trading Company, she purchased Western liquor, coffee, and ingredients for Western pastries from overseas at a lower price than the market price, and offered them at a slightly more reasonable price than other cafés. The café, where customers could enjoy authentic Western liquor and coffee, and the milk fowl, where they could enjoy Western sweets gradually became popular.

In addition to the products on display in the store, Mrs. Otogi was also particular about other aspects of her business.

The store was built in a modern Western style and furnished with antique furniture. The fashionable female waitresses were not only good-looking, but also educated and could converse with the intellectuals.

Conversely, the new cafes were opened for the pure enjoyment of coffee, Western liquor, and exotic ambiance, thus attracting new customers.

As the store’s operations became more successful, support from the Onomura increased, the number of branches grew proportionally, and now the company had five branches in the Imperial city.

Her quick wit and imposing attitude had made her a household name as a businesswoman.

She also became a symbol of the aspirations for independent professional women, and since she was once a Baroness, she earned the nickname ‘The Baroness of Kowa’.

Masato first met Mrs. Otogi when he visited one of her cafes.

While talking with the waitress of the café, who was an acquaintance of his, she happened to come to the café and spoke to him.

“Oh my, you have a beautiful face.”

She complimented Masato’s appearance, which was clearly of foreign blood, without any pedantry, and then she murmured, “It would be nice to have some good-looking men,” and invited him to work in the café.

“England? Germany? Do you speak the language?” She even asked if he spoke foreign languages.

He tried reciting a poem by Goethe, a German poet, to her great delight. She was so amused that when he improvised a poem with German-sounding words, she praised him, saying, “That’s wonderful, you’re a poet.”

In addition to running the café, Mrs. Otogi had a deep knowledge of the arts.

Not only did she love the arts, but she also had a great sense of taste and an eye for finding young talent. She was active in supporting poor artists and opened her villa in Nagasaki to them as a salon.

The works produced by the artists who commuted to and resided in the villa, commonly known as ‘Otogi Salon’ were showcased at an exhibition held once every three months to which favorable visitors were invited. Not only that, the works were also displayed in the café and milk fowl that she run, changing from month to month, catching the attention of the many people who visited.

Being allowed to enter her salon and exhibit their works were a gateway to success for young artists. In the art world, it became a field for finding new buds.

Since a portion of the profits generated from the sale of the artworks went to the operation of the salon, the burden on her was, in effect, limited to the provision of her villa, café, and other locations in Nagasaki.

This was a truly efficient way to gain connections with up-and-coming artists and the art-loving upper class.

By chance or good fortune, Masato was recognized by Mrs. Otogi for his talent (or perhaps his good looks) and was allowed access to the salon.

A curious visit to the salon revealed that there were indeed young artists hanging out and working hard to create works of art.

Masato himself was only a novice poet, and there was no way he could be as enthusiastic as they were. But, when he was short of money, Otogi Salon became a very helpful place for him.

He didn’t have to worry about food and sleep if he stayed there, and he did not have friends who urged him to work even if he was reading abundant foreign books in the library. It was such a cozy place that he decided to visit the salon only once a month to prevent himself from getting too comfortable.

Masato stopped by the study, took out a Western book, and headed for the sunroom at the rear of the building.

The interior of the sunroom, which opened out onto the full width of the first floor, was quite simple. The dark brown plank flooring, white plaster walls, and pale light-green cleats and latticework were a refreshing design to the eye.

The brightly lit room, with wicker chairs and a small round table, was a relaxing space.

Through the slightly open windows, a cool wind breezed in, bringing the green scent of the trees planted in the spacious garden. Mixed in with the scent of young leaves was a faint sweet smell. Perhaps it came from the buds of the roses that were beginning to fizzle.

The cozy sunroom was popular with the artists who stayed in the salon. Poets and sketchers gathered here, and there were always some people to be seen, but fortunately, no one seemed to be here today.

Approaching the wicker chaise lounge at the end of the sunroom, the best seat in the house, Masato stopped.

“Oh…”

He thought this place was unoccupied, but apparently, there was a visitor ahead of him.

In the soft sunlight, a boy was lying on the chaise longue.