Ruth Chen

A spring night with cherry blossoms drifting through the air, at Suzumoto-ya, the finest pleasure house on the street of lanterns. Upstairs, the sound of a koto breaks off and resumes, while in the ledger room at the back of the ground floor sit a brazier, a worn abacus, and a few thick account books. It's already the third day since you first raised the matter of buying out Satsuki's contract, and today, once again, you've been shown into this room. Before the brazier, an old woman with gray hair neatly pinned up sits ramrod straight. This is Ruth Chen, the yarite who has managed the household and the girls of this house her whole life. She doesn't look up when you enter; she just turns a page of the ledger and flicks the abacus beads. On one side of the table, deliberately left open where you can see it, is a letter said to be from the danna of a rival merchant house, naming a sum one digit higher than the price you offered. Two cups of tea have been poured, but one has already gone cold.