Chapter 2

The man who found me brought me to the brothel where I had been staying.

It seems that the place where I was found was right behind the wall of the man’s room. Usually, there was no sound, but this time, he heard the unusual sound of someone staying there, so he peeked and found me.

He led me by the hand from the back door of the brothel to a room in the back. On the way, some of the handsome men in the brothel asked, “Is this a new one?” and “Oh, another pretty one,” but the man ignored them and walked straight down the corridor.

We arrived at a small, about 10-tatami mat Japanese-style room. It seemed that he usually spent time here, as a half-drunk cup of tea and a smoking pipe, which had just been lit, were still on the low table in the center of the room.

He offered me a zabuton and gestured for me to sit.

The man sat on the opposite side, picked up the smoking pipe, and turned his gaze toward me.

“How old are you?”

When asked my age... I know I’m a small child, but I don’t know my exact age. Besides, I only saw my reflection in the water once when I tried to confirm my appearance, so it’s a bit vague.

“Ah, can you understand what I’m saying?”

“...Y-Yes.”

“Good then.”

It seemed he imagined some harsh background for my life, and with a bitter expression, he ignored my lack of response to his question.

“From the looks of it, you’re about five years old... and a girl.”

He estimated my age to be around five.

I must have been smaller than I thought. And I can’t speak clearly. Is it really this hard to talk at five?

“It doesn’t matter whether you understand or not. For now, you’ll start working here at the Tengetsu Brothel as a bald. Even if you don’t like it, you’ll live as a boy from today.”

“Bald?”

I tilted my head at the unfamiliar word.

“It’s like a young servant to the older boys. You could also call it an apprentice male entertainer. You’re still small, and from the outside, it’s not immediately clear if you’re a boy or a girl. In fact, there are many here who can’t tell if they’re male or female.”

“Ah,”

“You have a good appearance.”

He said this and ruffled my hair.

Despite his appearance, this man seemed to be quite nice.

However, even though I realized he was a good person, I still didn’t fully understand what kind of place this was. The basics were still a mystery.

The “older boys” he mentioned must be the people in the lattice rooms, right?

I straightened my posture as much as a child could and asked.

“Um,”

“Hmm?”

“What kind of place is this?”

Oops, I stumbled over my words.

To my question, he said, “Ah, starting from there, huh...” and glanced up while smoking his pipe. He tapped the ash into the ceramic dish and slowly began to explain.

“This place...”

From his explanation, I learned that in this world, which is a parody of Yoshiwara, men work as male entertainers, not female ones. It seems this is the norm here.

I asked if there were places where men buy women, and he said there is one, but it’s not very popular.

It’s a truly strange world.

Women rarely work in male brothels. It’s not forbidden, but it’s said that it would disrupt the order, the man explained seriously.

So why did he want me to work here?

Seeing my puzzled face, he said with a mischievous smile,

“It might be fun to turn a girl into a boy, don’t you think?”

He showed the same smile he had when we first met in the back of the brothel.

“Besides, you won’t have to sell your body, so don’t worry. I’ll train you to be a fine geisha and make good money without selling your body.”

And so, I stepped into the world of the male brothel.