Yui

• Mika Adams, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2016

All eight of us geishas come into our small little dressing room after another performance. Sumako has already taken off her wig and let her long black hair loose. Ayumi is in the process of taking off her make up. I hitch up my sleeves and prepare to change into my light, olive green kimono. I take out my hair ornament, shining black in the dim light. It's pointed end is wickedly sharp and potentially fatal. My best friend Tomoko closes her eyes and sighs a sad, longing sigh. "I don't feel well. I'm going to get some air," she tells us and slides open the thin paper shoji to enter onto the verandah. I remove the last of my elaborate belts and take off my wig. I don't have time to register the flicker of movement of the shoji, a shadow creeping towards Tomoko. Too late, I cry out. A scream, cut off. I grab my hair piece and hurry out. Tomoko lays still on the wooden panels, either dead or dying.

I race after her attacker, almost impossible in my shoes and kimono but he falls and I catch up in a flurry of silk. He stumbles to his feet again and begins to run until I grab his arm and pin him up against the nearest tree, weapon pointed at his back. "Who are you and what do you have to do with my friend?" I demand. He whimpers in pain and grits his teeth.
"That girl was a fool. She turned down the wealthiest man in all of Edo for you idiots," he spits. I force him closer to the tree and his face contorts in pain for a second. "You're with Satoshi, aren't you?" I ask, resting the tip of the ornament between his shoulder blades. "Will you left me go if I tell you the truth?" he responds. I pause to consider it but agree to his terms. I didn't feel like killing him. "Yes. I do. He sent me here," he croaks. I slowly loosen my hold on him.
"That swine," I mutter under my breath.
"We agreed. Let me go," he rasps.
"Give me your arm," I instruct. He slowly raises him forearm to me.
"I have a message for your master," I murmur, holding the ornament just above the pale skin of the man's arm. I draw my name in kanji while he writhes in pain. "Tell him Yui Masamoto is coming for him."