After Story: Dyed in His Color

 

 

 

After Story: Dyed in His Color

 

WHILE preparing for their move to Fosdan, Yuuri occasionally returned to the shop to pack up.

After she left, Simon would take it over, but she still wanted to bring her clothes and mementos of her grandparents.

Ernest and Simon often came along to help.

“Wow, look! This brings back memories.” Simon held up a box he had found while organizing the supply closet.

“The spinning tops? Those really do bring back memories.”

It was a toy from Hinomoto. The box contained several different tops and the cords necessary to spin them.

One day, Simon had snuck away from home and come to play at his grandparents’ house. He had left his tops there that day and there they had remained.

It had only been half a year since the siblings had started to repair their relationship. Their mother’s adverse reaction to them spending time together had pushed Yuuri away from any kind of relationship with her brother and father. That icy gaze her mother gave her had forced her to seal away her happy memories with Simon, as he shared their mother’s grey-blue eyes.

Her relationship with her mother had not changed, and it never would. But her relationship with Simon was slowly but surely getting better. While the memories of her pain would never fade, she at least had stopped associating everything her mother did with Simon.

That was all thanks to Simon’s kindness and Ernest’s presence.

“Oh, that looks fun! How do you play?”

Ernest had been sitting in his usual spot, reading the paper. But now his eyes shifted to the spinning top Simon was holding with great interest. He had genuinely intended to help with the cleanup, but his curiosity kept getting the better of him and he would get easily distracted. He had questions about everything he found and ultimately, Yuuri deemed him a nuisance.

But to him, the witch’s shop was like a fantastic toy box, full of treasures from a far away land. It was of course different for Simon, who had spent a lot of time in Xingka and Hinomoto, and Yuuri, who had received so many gifts from the East over the years from him.

“We compete to see who can get them to spin the longest. Alternatively, you can have the tops fight to see whose top can knock the other’s over.”

Simon wound the thin thread around his top and let it go with gusto. The harder one pulled the string, the faster the top spun.

“That’s interesting. Here, let me try!”

Ernest grabbed a spinning top and cord out of the wooden box and copied Simon’s movements. He let the top fly. But his top barely got one good spin in before toppling over on the floor

“Just because this is a child’s toy doesn’t mean the game is easy. Here, watch me. You can’t just let it fall like that.”

His face awash with pride, Simon patiently gave Ernest a thorough explanation of how to play the game.

“You have to wind it up good like this. It’s like you’re winding up a clock. If you don’t put enough force behind it, it’s going to fall over.”

He wound his own top as he explained. When he let it go, it swept about the floor in whirlwind patterns.

Ernest listened intently to Simon’s instructions and then picked up the top again. He released it much quicker this time, letting the top fly.

“Like this?”

The second time was a success. His top slammed into Simon’s, which was still spinning even as they clashed.

The two men completely lost sight of why they were even here.

“Oh, Simon, not you too. I thought you came to help me? Or did you just come to play with toys?”

Yuuri wondered how grown men could still be so childish. But the sight of them both crouched on the floor, spinning tops, made her smile.

Her grandfather had been the same way. He had been fascinated with the very top that Simon was playing with now. Memories of her childhood came flooding back.

Not long ago, Yuuri would have tried to shake off any memories of her grandmother and grandfather. They brought nothing but sorrow and longing for a distant past. However, knowing that she had someone by her side who supported and loved her enabled her to change, slowly but surely.

She knew she had the two men who were gleefully spinning tops to thank for that.

“Sorry, but we have to finish this match first.”

That match was unlikely to end anytime soon.

From the very first time they met, the two young men in her life had been at odds. Or rather, Simon had a one-sided grudge against Ernest. But it made her happy to see that her brother was getting along so well with the man who was to become her husband.

“What is it, Yuuri?” Simon noticed her gaze and tilted his head quizzically

“I was just admiring how well you two are getting along. You really are like brothers.”

“Simon was just being protective because you had brought another man around. It wasn’t personal.”

“I still hate your flippant manner. Argh, why do I keep losing!”

Maybe they weren’t exactly as close as Yuuri hoped. Then again, brothers tended to fight. Either way, she went back to cleaning and packing.

The first floor was almost completely cleaned out, so all that remained was the second floor, where her bedroom was.

The only clothes left in her bedroom were her winter clothes. But she knew that eventually, she would need them, so it was best to grab everything and store it at the Selden manor for now.

She opened the paulownia bureau and checked inside. This bureau had been brought over from Hinomoto, so it also contained many things Simon had given her.

She took out each item, one by one, and remembered that the bottom drawer had some of her grandmother’s things. Her grandmother normally wore Hylantian-style clothes, but in the drawer were several of her grandmother’s Hinomotoese kimono.

“These are…”

Yuuri picked up a black piece of fabric and froze.

It was a long, jet black kimono with vivid red flowers and folding fans painted onto it. The flowers and the fans were connected by yellow thread that would grab anyone’s attention. And that raw ebony material was second to none. Black fabric was highly valued in Hinomoto, as it required a great deal of skill to produce.

Cheaper black fabric ended up having a red tint, as the color had not completely set in.

But her grandmother’s kimono truly was black as the night. Her grandmother wore it only on rare occasions, so its color had not faded over the years.

“Grandmother’s black furisode…”

Remembering what her grandmother had used the kimono for, Yuuri stood in front of the mirror and tried it on.

She looked like a younger version of the woman who had raised her. Surely, the kimono would look just as nice on her as it had her grandmother.

Her grandmother was likely the same age she was now when she had worn this. How had she felt back then?

Yuuri was happy that she had found someone who felt the way about her that her grandfather had felt about her grandmother. Though the fact that she was descended from vampires and was destined to cause pain and suffering to her beloved always lingered in the back of her mind. Her grandmother had likely felt the same.

Human hearts might change. But Yuuri and Ernest were bound by blood. She could never be with another. Just as the kimono had been permanently dyed black, so too had she been dyed in his blood. No other color, no other person, could erase him from her heart.

She loved him unconditionally. There was no question there. But she was still racked with guilt over the fate she had saddled him with. He held her life in his hands. She would die without him. It was as true emotionally as it was physically.

And yet, Ernest showed no signs of running away.

The furisode was the deep color of night. It was perfect for her, for many reasons.

“Yuuri! What are you doing in there?”

Yuuri jumped at the sound of Ernest calling her. He had left the spinning top game at some point, snuck upstairs, and was now standing in her doorway.

Their eyes met in the mirror and she looked away out of embarrassment.

“It’s my grandmother’s kimono. It was a rare find.”

It seemed Yuuri was just as guilty of getting distracted as Ernest and Simon had been, yet there were no complaints.

“Black? That’s such a rare color.”

In Hylant, black was the color of mourning. But the kimono Yuuri wore was covered in bright red flowers and gave off a more festive feeling.

Ernest was used to seeing Yuuri and Simon in most Hylantian-style attire. Seeing Yuuri in the furisode made it even more special somehow.

“But it looks nice on you. A bit different from those haori you usually wear.”

He stood behind Yuuri, staring at her reflection draped in the black robe.

“Long-sleeved kimono are called furisode. They’re worn by young women in Hinomoto who aren’t yet married.”

“I see. Soon enough, you won’t be able to wear that anymore.”

“That’s right.”

Yuuri put her hand on her chest in relief. It was true, furisode were meant for unmarried women. But she had one last surprise for Ernest. She was content to let him think she was just trying it on out of curiosity for now.

But then—

“Wasn’t that the kimono Grandmother wore on her wedding day?”

Simon blurted out. He had followed Ernest up to the second floor and robbed Yuuri of her chance to surprise him.

He knew far more about Hinomoto than Yuuri. Even if he never heard his grandmother mention it directly, he knew what the kimono had likely been used for.

He was right. This was the kimono Hana had worn on her wedding day and a gift from their great-grandfather.

Yuuri tried to imagine her wedding with Ernest and slipped the kimono on once more.

“A wedding outfit? I thought you said it was only for unmarried women?” Ernest looked back and forth between the siblings and tilted his head.

“That’s right, but some women wear their furisode on their wedding day as well.”

Yuuri had gone quiet in order to hide her embarrassment, so Simon explained in her stead.

“Really……?”

“Black is the color of mourning here in Hylant, but in Hinomoto, thanks to the difficult dyeing process, it signifies that the wearer won’t be ‘dyed in the color of another’, so many brides go for the black furisode. Some do choose white for weddings in Hinomoto, but I prefer black myself.”

Ernest already knew very well how Yuuri felt about him, so there was no need for her to be embarrassed about the kimono. But this was who she was. Obstinate, awkward, and unable to show her true feelings. So she had wanted to keep the color’s significance a secret, at least for now.

“So you won’t be ‘dyed in the color of another’ except for mine, eh? I like the sound of that!”

Yuuri was turning red and couldn’t even bear to look at him in the mirror any longer. He could always see right through her, and he knew it vexed her so.

“I wonder if that’s what the ebony color of your hair means too, my little witch? That you were always fated to love me and only me?”

He played with her hair. He was telling her that this was their fate. He didn’t need special clothes or words or other symbols to know that.

“…This is the hair I was born with. That’s all.”

“Oh no, you’re just saying that because I’ve figured you out. Just as you need blood to live, I need words.”

He was right, as usual. His human heart might easily be swayed, but it was useless to worry and suspect his motivations. Yuuri knew exactly what he wanted.

She wanted to be with him forever. Not because he was her food source. But because she loved him. And it was selfish to expect him to intuit that was how she felt without saying it.

“Uhm…I…”

It wasn’t a matter of sex or lineage. She loved Ernest and wanted to be with him. That would never change. And if he needed to hear it, then she would tell him, right here and now.

“Count Selden, you would really push my sister into public displays of affection right in front of her brother?!” Simon broke in, ruining the moment, his face redder than his sister’s. Yuuri backed away from Ernest.

As much as she knew he wanted to hear her words of affection, now didn’t seem to be the time.

“You’re the one ruining a perfectly good moment! You have no sense, Simon!”

“I was busy packing in here anyway, so please leave!”

Yuuri chased the two men out of the room. Her face was feverish, her cheeks red from embarrassment.

“See! You pushed her too far and now you’ve upset her! You better learn not to push your luck or else it’ll bite you in the butt!”

“As long as Yuuri’s doing the biting!”

“Oh gosh, spare me that horrible image!”

The two of them continued bickering all the way down the stairs.

Yuuri was suddenly overcome with exhaustion and flopped down on her bed with a sigh.

After her grandmother had passed away, Yuuri had been all alone. Her whole world had fallen into a hopeless silence. She merely existed from day to day.

But then Ernest had crashed into her world, shattering the silence once and for all.

Her home had become a bustling, warm, and comforting place once more. One that, no matter where she went, she knew would follow, so long as she had Ernest by her side.

Her life with Ernest was far from peaceful. After all, he, more than any other, possessed the ability to rattle her heart.

Their life together may not be a quiet one, but it would certainly be far from boring or bereft of love.