Jaxiekaii
After the war, all Köri wanted was Silence. Something to drown out the echoes of gunfire still ringing in his head. Instead, he's sent to a house meant for distraction, a place filled with laughter that doesn't quite reach the eyes.
That's where he meets Izumi, an Oiran known not for sweetness, but for her sharp tongue and unfiltered honesty. She doesn't pretend. She doesn't soften her words. And she certainly doesn't care about broken soldiers looking for comfort.
At first, Köri is just another client.
But the more he returns, the more he realizes Izumi is nothing like the world expects her to be. Beneath her bluntness is someone guarded, someone who refuses to be seen too closely. And somehow, without meaning to, he starts to look past the walls she's built.
Köri falls quietly, steadily, hopelessly.
Izumi, however, doesn't even notice.