When Yata passed through the door of the bar HOMRA, he was greeted by Anna, rushing to him with some red cloth in her hands. Drawing right before him, she came to a sudden halt.
Yata blinked. “…Hey, Anna. What’s the matter?”
“Huh?”
“…Ask Totsuka-san or Kusanagi-san do that for you”.
Yata stared at Anna in bafflement. “Why do you even wanna put on a kimono?”
The one to answer this question was, again, not Anna but Kamamoto, drawling out, “Yata-saan”, in a slightly astonished tone. “Today is the Dolls’ Festival*, you forgot?”
“Well, in the morning, he said he had some minor business to take care of and had Kusanagi-san give him a ride. That’s why I’m making sushi rice for the party in his place, see?” Kamamoto lifted a big rice bucket, showing it to Yata.
Yata twisted his lips, staring at the rice, then looked down at Anna.
There was no one else in the bar - the others all were either out or hadn’t come just yet. Kamamoto had his hands full with cooking, that was probably why Anna decided to ask Yata. On his part, Yata, although a little bewieldered by such treatment, considered Anna someone important to him and wanted to comply with her wishes to the best of his ability. But putting a kimono on her equaled having to change a girl’s clothes…
Anna, holding the bright red kimono in her hands, regarded Yata, who still didn’t give her any kind of answer, somewhat anxiously.
Saying neither yes or no, Yata mumbled, “…What’s with that kimono anyway? Since when do you have something like that?”
“Totsuka-san made a kimono? Did he take up yet another new hobby?”
Yata frowned, at which Kamamoto raised his finger. “Don’t you remember? When we went to buy Anna some clothes, Totsuka-san said he suddenly felt an onslaught of creative urges and bought some cloth to make a dress similar to Anna’s”.
“But the same evening, he happened to watch some historical drama and got excited about kimonos, ‘Kimonos are nice, don’t you agree?!’”
“In the end, he made a kimono out of the cloth he bought for a dress”.
“Kamamoto, you’re coming too”.
“I said come!” Yata dragged Kamamoto, who held a carrot in his hand, away from the counter by force, because, being terribly insecure, he felt that staying one on one with a girl and changing her clothes was definitely out of question.
***
“Doncha underestimate me, Kamamoto. I was a part-timer at a supermarket for some time in the past”.
“My job included wrapping the end-of-year presents, and I got fairly good at it, if I say so myself”.
“And that’s what we need”, Yata stated resolutely, but Kamamoto squinted his eyes, not really getting it. “Yata-san?”
“Your ways of thinking are so unconventional, Yata-san!”
Yata, Kamamoto and Anna went to the second floor to Anna’s room. To Yata, the entirety of the bar HOMRA was something akin to his home, but he’d almost never been to Anna’s room. A bed with red curtains canopy, small cute things lined on the shelves - the room was decidedly girl’s, and, finding himself in its space, Yata was assaulted by uneasiness, but, resolving himself, he rolled up his sleeves.
“W-Well then, first…” Yata stopped mid-sentence, stiffening.
Kamamoto looked at him questioningly, tilting his head to the side. “Yata-san?”
“This… This is no good! Absolutely and totally no good!” Once in the corridor, Yata lowered his voice and pressed Kamamoto vehemently.
“That’s what I’m saying!”
“N-Nothing” Yata replied nervously, averting his eyes. “Wrap yourself properly in the front”, he continued, taking the obi lying on the bed.
When Anna asked him to help her put on the kimono, she probably meant that she could not tie the obi herself. That is, all Yata needed to do was to tie that obi around Anna’s midsection.
Except Yata froze again for a while, this time with the obi in his hands. “…Kamamoto”.
“Take the end of this obi and wrap it around Anna”.
“…Can we even say we put it on properly…?”
“Yata-san, as I said, we did it the wrong way from the start. Look, the hem is dragging along the floor”.
“No, that’s not the point. Usually a kimono is adjusted in accordance with a person’s height when they put it on, as far as I know”.
As Yata and Kamamoto were talking, Anna suddenly turned to look back at them. Her already white skin even paler, she was pressing a hand against her belly as she said in a weak voice, “My belly hurts”.
“Oh no, it won’t fit! It won’t fit through the bar’s door, Kusanagi-san!”
“Because I want it to be a perfect debut, and for that it has to be fully assembled when they see it! And anyway, I don’t remember you protesting to my setting it up on the street, Kusanagi-san”.
“Heheh, nice, right?” Totsuka proudly puffed his chest out, and at the same time Anna peeked from behind Yata. As she raised her eyes, sensing the strange unmoving presence outside the bar, a light sigh escaped from her. There stood a beautiful doll stand with ornamental dolls on it.
The seven-tiered doll stand was covered with a red carpet. The dolls, sitting on it, looked a bit old but well-kept and lovely. They made the whole set, too - with three ladies in waiting, five court musicians, the minister of the right and the minister of the left.
“Where did you get it?”
“Tanaka-san… Who’s that?”
Totsuka, who casually made friends wherever he went, had numerous acquaintances they hardly knew anything about.
Kusanagi smiled wryly and shrugged his shoulders. “He just came to me first thing in the morning and demanded to drive him somewhere outta the blue. I had no idea what he was planning”.
Yata looked down at Anna. She was staring at the doll stand with her big eyes positively sparkling and her perpetually emotionless face showing evident signs of joy.
“By the way, Anna. You yourself look like a doll”, Totsuka said with a grin and Anna gave a nod, cheeks stained red ever so slightly.
“Hehe, the taste is guaranteed, Kusanagi-san!”
“I took this one because I don’t like sweet sake”.
“Greetings! I bought the cake for the Dolls’ Festival!”
“San-chan said he was gonna buy crackers, nose glasses and stuff like that”.
“…Anna’s getup, redo it”.
“Happy… Dolls’ Festival?” He murmured while trying to remember if that was the right thing to say on the day of the Dolls’ Festival.