Volume 1 - CH 1

Guess the Name of the Sleeping Beauty (1)

Translated by LyraDhani

Edited by LyraDhani

A new world begins

The world of Kowa, where the Emperor resides

Shine brightly, land of Yamato!

Let there be light in the new Tokyo…

The Great Kanto earthquake that occurred in the late Taisho period (1912-1926) inflicted great damage on the Imperial city, Tokyo.

Not only did buildings collapse due to the tremors, but the severe fires that followed caused even greater damage.

The number of dead and missing exceeded 100,000, and Tokyo was devastated.

Under these circumstances, a new cabinet was organized and the Imperial Capital Reconstruction Agency was established.

Interior Minister’s reconstruction plan adopted the latest urban planning from Europe and the United States. The construction of a modern city that could compete with Europe and the U.S. progressed, with an increase in the number of earthquake-and-fire-resistant buildings, and roads running east-west and north-south through Tokyo were built in anticipation of the automobile age.

The streets that had retained vestiges of the Edo period were partially destroyed, replaced by Western-style banks, department stores, and orderly streets with buses, and the modernization of the city progressed.

In the midst of the ongoing reconstruction, Emperor Taisho passed away and was succeeded by the young Crown Prince.

The new year was changed to “Kowa”, and the reconstruction of the Imperial city became even more intense.

In the spring of the 5th year of Kowa, six and a half years after the earthquake.

Most of the reconstruction work was completed, and a grand festival was held to celebrate the restoration of the Imperial city.

Tokyo, which had become a modern city in both name and reality after the civilization of the Taisho eras and modernism of the Meiji eras, was now in full bloom.

“Wake up, Senzaki!”

With a thick, resonant voice, the uncomfortable blanket was pulled off.

Senzaki Masato, disturbed from his morning slumber, resisted by burying his face in the kimono that covered him under the blanket, but within a few seconds, the blanket was also removed with great force.

The morning light shone on his closed eyelids, so he had no choice but to open his eyes in the dazzling light.

“…Good morning, Ichiya.”

While greeting with a thin voice, which was the opposite of the thick voice, he scratched his disordered chestnut-colored hair and got up.

The cold morning air was coming in through the bust of his worn-out yukata, and he pulled his collar up while cowering from the cold.

Looking up from under his long bangs, he caught his friend Ichiya Takamasa standing with a stripped-off kimono in his hands.

Standing nearly six feet tall, he stared down with an air of power befitting a police officer, his profession. He had short-cropped black hair, a dignified brow, and a slightly misty look in his eyes, but he was a very strong and resolute young man with a good manly appearance.

Despite his stern face, he also had a sensitive heart that was secretly hurt when children cried because they were afraid of him.

“Really… If you’re that rough, women won’t like you. You need to be gentler.”

“Hmm, I guess that means I don’t have to be nice to you, a man.”

“What you do on a daily basis will come out when the time comes, especially in front of a woman. Come on, think of me as a woman.”

“How can I consider a man bigger than me as a woman? Stop talking nonsense and get ready.”

“I don’t know about getting ready.”

Masato scratched his white cheeks and let out a wry smile.

Unlike Ichiya, who was dressed in a light rat-colored suit, he had no plans to go out today when he got himself ready.

No, not only today, but tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, he had no plans to go out.

Since he didn’t have a regular job, he didn’t have to get up early in the morning to go to work.

Last night, he was asked by the waitresses at a cafe in Ningyocho to work as a waiter for the day, but the owner of the cafe quickly kicked him out because the waitresses were making eyes at Masato, who was a waiter, while neglecting the customers. The owner also said, “Please don’t come here anymore.”

Well, after that, the familiar female waitresses gave him some pocket money, so he had enough money for three days’ worth of meals. He wouldn’t have to work for a while.

Ichiya let out a deep breath as he sat there scratching his head and making his calculations.

“…How long do you intend to keep doing that?”

“Well, I’ll show my face somewhere the day after tomorrow.”

“You do realize that’s not what I meant, don’t you?”

Ichiya’s voice was laced with bitterness.

Masato certainly understood what he meant, but he didn’t intend to get it. So, he only put a vague smile on his mouth.

Ichiya must have also sensed this.

He wrinkled his brow for a while and kept his mouth shut, but then he said in a low voice.

“The government building I was supposed to enter…”

“Oh, I believe it caught fire before you got in?”

The government building was later rebuilt without incident, but because it was a new Western-style apartment complex, there was a rush of applicants, and Ichiya, who could not get in, stayed in an apartment for two years.

“The other day, I was informed that a room is finally available.”

“Oh, that’s great.”

“I’m going to leave this apartment next month. I can only let you stay here until the end of the month.”

“I see.”

Masato nodded, not particularly surprised.

Hongo in Masago town, an apartment built around the beginning of the Meiji period, near a university and high school, was the place where Ichiya had lived since he was a student.

Many students still lived in the old Japanese-style building, which withstood the violent shaking of the earthquake six years ago and survived the fire.

As a university graduate with no money and no job, Masato was grateful to have been allowed to stay at Ichiya’s apartment.

It was cramped for two large men around six feet tall to share a room on a four-and-a-half-tatami mat, but Ichiya did not kick him out, despite his complaints.

Masato thought that the fact that he had to live in an apartment for two years because there were no vacant rooms in the government office building was also an excuse for Ichiya. He stayed in the small, old apartment for the sake of his friend who had nowhere else to go.

But at last-he seemed to have grown tired of it.

When Masato easily accepted the situation as a matter of course, Ichiya looked away awkwardly with the wrinkles between his eyebrows deepened.

Masato smiled inwardly at the apologetic look on his face, and said that he was as good-natured as ever. Well, it was Masato who had taken advantage of the good nature.

Masato reached over and picked up the pocket watch on his bedside table and opened the lid to reveal a dial.

“Ichiya, if you don’t leave early, you’ll be late.”

Ichiya’s eyes peeled back as he saw the time indicated by the hands of the clock. He grabbed his hat and bag from the desk in a panic.

He was about to leave the room with a clatter of the old tatami mats, but just before the sliding door, he turned around and yelled.

“You too, get ready and find a job! Listen, you have until the end of the month!”

“Yes, yes, I understand.”

Ichiya turned away and walked out, a bitter look on his face.