12. The Cure for Grief
Part Two: Sumire
The Education of Sumire Min is a previously unpublished novel by S. Jae-Jones. Chapters will be emailed to paying subscribers every Friday at 5PM EST. If you are not yet a subscriber and would like to read the rest of the book, as well as receive all sorts of behind-the-scenes access—including a Discord server—why not give it a try?
Sumire was not easily impressed by grandeur, but the sheer size and spectacle of the party before her was astounding. Instead of a teahouse, the Prime Minister decided to host it at the Kaburenjo Theatre, where they held the spring dances every year. Everyone who was anyone in Heian was at this banquet: businessmen, engineers, members of the government, members of the military, and members of the kazoku nobility, and the theatre was the only space large enough to hold them all. It was an occasion to celebrate Nippon’s entré onto the international stage as an imperial power. Every floor, every courtyard, every stage of the grand old building was filled with people: men in Western suits and kimono alike with beautiful women on their arms like bright ornaments in brilliantly coloured robes. Some were consorts and wives, but the vast majority were the geisha and maiko from what seemed to be all the flower districts in Heian.