The moment the cash exchange was done, Yasutaka made a beeline for yet another counter.
Mani-hime asked, puzzled:
"What are we doing next?"
"Looking for new work. Whatever's up on that board there is what's going."
Yasutaka said, and made to go looking for a job, but Mani-hime tilted her head and asked again, puzzled.
"You don't need that, right? Once this job's done you're coming home with me, aren't you?"
"..............."
Yasutaka found himself falling silent.
He had no intention whatsoever of going home, and though that left him unsure what to do, he knew all too well that once she'd made up her mind there was no arguing with her, so for now he simply let it pass.
He resolved to take a job later, then stepped out of the magistrate's office.
The street outside the magistrate's office was the very same Kabukimono Street where he'd started the day drinking, and with evening coming on it was packed with patrons out for a cup.
Pale-skinned blondes were Europeans; the dark-skinned folk, Africans.
There were beastfolk with animal ears, fish-folk with finned ears, and even sharp-eared Elemental-folk mixed in among the crowd.
Kappa carried shells on their backs, Tengu sported long noses, and Oni-folk bore horns upon their heads.
Being the seat of the greatest shogun on the Musashi continent, the street saw all manner of people passing through.
Amid that crowded bustle of Kabukimono Street, Mani-hime asked:
"Where are we going?"
"For now, drop off our bags, then the bathhouse I guess? I want to wash off this sweat."
With that, the pair headed into Lion Row.
Lion Row was something like a monthly rental apartment, the sort of row house convenient for long stays.
Being that era, of course, there was no bath in the room and the privy was shared, but it came with everything needed for daily life, making it a favorite kind of Kabukimono Row among traveling Kabukimono for hire.
But when Mani-hime tried to step into that very Kabukimono Row, the landlord came rushing to stop her.
"Ah, this row is men only, no women allowed! The women's row is over there!"
The landlord said, pointing at the building next door.
That building was built sturdy, ringed with iron bars and mud walls, and Mani-hime tilted her head at its oddly grand construction.
"Why can't I go in?"
"Isn't that obvious! Plenty of Kabukimono are ruffians, you know! If you got violated, you couldn't even complain! You are not going in!"
It was only natural, really. Kabukimono were vagabonds who made their living by violence, so plenty of scoundrels ran among them.
That was why Kabukimono were housed in separate wings for men and women.
An inn where you stayed a night or two was one thing, but in a row house it didn't take long before word got around that a woman lived there.
With people constantly coming and going, plenty of men figured, "I'm leaving Edo tomorrow anyway, might as well have my way with that woman first and slip off. Even if she comes after me, I'll be long gone."
No matter how seasoned a woman warrior might be, she was defenseless while asleep, so there was nothing to be done about it.
Granny Moon, who knew the situation well, rushed in to stop her too.
"Lady Mani. However skilled you may be, you are defenseless while you sleep. Let your guard down even once and your flower could be plucked before you know it. Let us wait out here."
"Fine, I guess."
With that, Mani-hime stayed behind at the row's gate, and Yasutaka and Mōha went inside without her.
Inside stood two-story row houses lined up along either side, each room coming with an upper floor.
That said, the upper floor was really only good for tossing odds and ends or, when there were too many people, for everyone to sleep in a heap, so it hardly got used.
Being so convenient, migrant laborers from the countryside often bunked here as well.
That said, this particular row house catered to the poor, so it was, on the whole, filthy.
There were, incidentally, somewhat higher-grade row houses for large-scale merchants and people of some standing, and those tended to be mixed-gender.
Setting that aside, the two of them stepped into their own room and set down their bags.
Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah...............
Yasutaka let out a deeeeeeep sigh.
"Finally, I can breathe..."
Mōha frowned, looking troubled, at Yasutaka's utterly worn-out face.
"So what was it, in the end? The reason you ran off?"
"To get away from Lady Mani-hime."
Yasutaka confessed, plain as that.
"With her being like that, I never even had girl friends, and hell, I want to fool around with women too. Plus there was another problem."
"What's that?"
"Looking like this, the other retainers had their eye on me too. That brought on some nasty jealousy, got me bullied and everything..."
"Ah, I see."
The Three Great Yanderes of the Realm were famously beautiful to begin with.
And the reason they made poor matches for political marriage came down to "loyalty to the family they were born into": marry them off, and they'd throw themselves so completely into serving their new household that they'd turn against their own blood without a second thought, siding with their husband's side however things fell.
Take one in as a retainer, though, and it was a different story entirely.
Taking on a troublesome daughter of some lord earned a man real favor, and it put him squarely on the fast track to promotion.
Normally, a wife of higher rank than her husband would lord her family's status over everyone and make herself insufferable, which was why plenty of retainers dreaded such a match. But the Three Great Yanderes were devoted, one-track creatures who served their husbands faithfully forever after, making them wives who were beautiful, good-natured, and nothing but a blessing.
In short, none of the usual headaches came with them, which made taking one in something of a bargain.
That said...
"We'd been together forever, that's the thing. Ever since I was a baby, apparently, I'd bawl my head off if she wasn't around, so they just kept us together after that. Whenever I trained at home, whenever I studied, she was always there watching, like some kind of live-in wife. Having Lady Mani around all the time was just, you know, normal for me. I couldn't even look at a dirty picture book, living like that."
"That old, huh... So what happened?"
Asked that, Yasutaka's face soured, and he began to explain the reason.
"I don't remember it all that well, myself..."