Adaption is Key (An Aza Chobei Fanfic)

Chapter Twenty-Four: How It All Began

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"You want me to... what?" asked Mizuho in disbelief.

"Need I need to repeat it?" mocked Jikka. "In the midst of this chaos... I want you to kill Shugen. Chobei is too obvious, so he'll be on guard against him. This also includes Toma, since he's not very fond of the boy. Besides, Shugegn getting killed by his crush who fell in love with the Bandit King would give him the most pain."

"He... he likes me?"

Chobei grew a little nervous with his expression. Not only were he and Mizuho in a relationship now under Shugen's nose, but the second-ranked Asaemon

"You... you didn't know?!" cried out Jikka, astounded by Mizuho's obliviousness. "A lot of guys tried to court you! You were an oiran... heck the tayu of your brothel for crying out loud! You should've known the signs."

"Yeah but as a former oiran, we were often told lies that our 'loves' would rescue and marry us so I would they were just joking with me. Even though he proved that he freed me, I thought he was only thinking of me as a friend until I found someone else..." she looked at Chobei as Toma noticed.

"Fair."

"But, Sir Jikka..." asked the ravenette, "why would you want to kill Shugen? is it because of the amount of times he had to discipline you?"

"Ah no, it's just it would give me-- the number three guy-- at a higher chance of becoming the next clan leader. When I achieve that, I'd love to put all this fieldwork behind me... and live a life of luxury. This is the best chance I've got to make this happen. Specially since number one already died here...."

Sir Eizen... is dead...?

Sensing Mizuho's grief, Chobei held her hand a bit in order to comfort her as Jikka continued rambling.

"Don't get the wrong idea, though! It's all just a happy coincidence. Besides, once I'm the head, I can send a boat full of your sisters after you three. Now that that's settled, are you willing to kill Shugen for them?" 

Mizuho shivered with hesitation as Chobei and Toma notice her indecision.

"Mizuho-san?" asked Toma, "are you alright?"

Not knowing what to do, she reflected on her experiences with Shugen, starting with the very beginning.

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A sixteen-year old Mizuho was meeting an interesting customer. A regular customer with a stubbled chin had brought him to the brothel in order to calm his stress, despite using the experience of as an excuse to laze around with the other oirans. In order to sell the lie even further, he had his junior go through a waiting room for the tayu, the highest-ranking oiran. As of this time, this was his third visit. The young man had dark eyebags and black hair, wearing the Yamada clan uniform. Meanwhile, she was wearing an elaborate, yet flamboyantly layered kimono colored in royal blue with red dragon patterns all over it. The tayu was even wearing eight hairpins holding up her datehyougo, and white foundation with red lips and eyeliner. Although the woman looked elegant, her shy personality shined through a lot.

"So... e-excuse me for my question, Mister..."

"Shugen." He replied bluntly. "You can just call me Shugen if you like."

"Sir Shugen, but w-why do you visiting this place? You s-seem uninterested."

"To be honest, I'm kind of forced to, considering my senior keeps pressuring me during my free time. What about you? Why do you keep allowing me to visit? I heard that oiran could choose to allow if a customer could continue visiting."