All Beautiful Girls Want to Stick with Me

Upon spotting Ayani Kika, Kotomi Izumi didn’t hesitate or dawdle. She walked over with calm confidence.

To be honest, she was on a bit of a time crunch.

Though she had lulled Mashiro Shiina to sleep before heading out, Kotomi wasn’t exactly a hypnotist. She couldn’t guarantee that Mashiro would still be asleep by the time she returned.

She had already thought through a cover story in case Mashiro woke up early and questioned her whereabouts. Still, Kotomi had promised to stay put while Mashiro napped. So the most prudent thing to do now was keep her solo meeting with Ayani Kika under an hour.

Mashiro might be taking a nap, but even a short one shouldn’t end in less than an hour.

If I’m back in under sixty minutes, I’m golden—Kotomi thought to herself.

”Sorry to keep you waiting,” Kotomi said politely as she sat down.

To her, her relationship with Ayani Kika amounted to being somewhat-familiar strangers.

Especially given that the woman was Gion Hanamachi’s top oiran.

To avoid unnecessary misunderstandings, Kotomi figured it best to keep things courteous and distant.

It never hurt to be overly polite.

That was one of the first lessons Kotomi learned in her past life as Chen Changan.

”Miss Izumi, there’s no need to be nervous. I invited you here today simply to sit down and enjoy a quiet cup of coffee together. Strange, isn’t it? You’d expect a geisha to prefer tea, but I’m more fond of coffee.”

”Actually, not all geisha like tea. Some prefer milk tea, some like juice or soda. We’re just regular women with different tastes. But the elder women at the hanamachi are pretty strict. We’re not allowed to drink most of those things. If we’re caught sneaking a soda, we get scolded.”

Ayani Kika took a sip from her coffee and set her cup down gently. She spoke at a leisurely pace, as if chatting with a friend about her workday’s minor frustrations and amusements.

”So the geisha get along fairly well with each other?” Kotomi asked, following her lead.

”More or less. Have you heard that competition among geisha is fierce?”

Kotomi nodded.

”That’s not exactly wrong. But nowadays, the geisha profession is declining. The competition isn’t nearly as intense as it used to be. In simple terms... it’s more relaxed now. Relationships have gotten better too. If someone asks you to pick up a snack while you’re out, you help if you can.”

”Of course, once I bring the snacks back, I don’t personally deliver them. I let the girls come pick them up themselves. If we’re close, I might have my attendant deliver them. But rank matters. No way would an oiran run errands for regular geisha.”

”Your attendant—that was the young boy from before?”

”That’s right. The one I sent to invite you before. He felt really guilty when you turned and ran away, haha. His name is Ayani Sai. He’s my younger brother. We were both abandoned by our parents near the hanamachi when we were very young. The elder women there took us in and raised us. We grew up in the flower district.”

Hearing that both Ayani Kika and Ayani Sai had been abandoned by their parents, Kotomi felt a sense of shared pain rising within her.

There were times she truly wanted to ask her own birth parents why they had left her to die alone in a public park.

If not for sheer luck—and the timely appearance of the Izumi couple—Kotomi would never have grown up. She would’ve frozen to death in a cardboard box abandoned in a park, a lifeless little body.

By the time someone might’ve found her, it would have already been too late...

Suppressing the emotions quietly building inside, Kotomi smiled lightly and said, ”So that young boy is your brother, Miss Ayani? I thought he looked rather delicate—he even shares some facial features with you.”

”You mean he looks effeminate, right? Little Sai grew up in the hanamachi, so I suppose it’s rubbed off on him a bit. It’s a bit embarrassing to say, but quite a few first-time visitors to Gion mistake him for a girl and try to strike up conversations.”

”Some even go so far as to offer him money—insisting they want to support him, even after finding out he’s a boy. It’s not hard to guess their real intentions.”

”But here in Gion, we’ve always been firm about one thing: we sell art, not ourselves. The elders have always rejected such requests outright.”

As she spoke, Ayani Kika subtly covered her smile with her sleeve.

Even in everyday clothing, the years she spent as a geisha showed in her habits. A young woman without geisha makeup using such practiced gestures carried a charm of her own. Kotomi couldn’t help but widen her eyes.

After a few minutes of conversation, Ayani shrugged and said with a smile, ”Miss Izumi, you seem like a smart girl. I trust you already know that the reason I asked to meet today wasn’t just to have a quiet cup of coffee.”

Kotomi nodded. ”If I really believed you invited me just for coffee, I might as well have wasted all these years of life.”

Hearing her blunt reply, Ayani was momentarily stunned—then burst into a soft laugh.

”You little thing... you talk like you’ve lived through forty years of life. I’m 27. I’m at least ten years older than you.”

Eleven, Kotomi silently corrected in her head.

”I’ve been intrigued by you ever since we first met. I wanted to invite you to Gion so we could talk more. But when you saw me, you turned and ran! I’ve been looking for you ever since, even if just to get your contact info.”

”And today, finally, we ran into each other by chance. Though... that blonde girl you were with—is she your girlfriend~?”

Ayani asked with a teasing smile.

Kotomi’s cheeks flushed pink. She couldn’t bring herself to deny it, but she wasn’t ready to confirm it either. Her mind was a mess.

”No need to be nervous. I’ve never been in love myself, but as the top oiran for so many years, I’ve gained some insight into people. When I greeted you earlier, the way that blonde girl reacted—like a cat guarding its food—was unmistakable.”

”She probably mistook me for your lover. Even after that misunderstanding was cleared, she kept gripping your sleeve tightly, still wary, still standing slightly behind you. The way she looked at you... it was different.”

”Come on now, don’t tell me you really haven’t noticed she likes you. If you still think she’s just a friend, I might just fall out of my chair—or feel smug that I, of all people, picked up on it before you. Does that make me smarter than you?”

Ayani giggled as she teased Kotomi but knew when to stop. She smoothly shifted the topic before Kotomi’s blushing face could get any redder.

Kotomi cleared her throat softly and pulled out her phone. ”You invited me out alone just to exchange contact info, right? I’m fine with that.”

”Sharp as ever,” Ayani Kika replied with a smile. ”Back when we met earlier, your little girlfriend was right next to you. If I’d asked for your contact info in front of her, she might’ve exploded on the spot. So I went with a backup plan: I slipped you a little note I’d prepared in advance.”

”Now that we’re alone, we can exchange properly.”

No wonder she’s eleven years older, Kotomi thought to herself, impressed.

She used to like people younger than her.

Then she went through a phase where she liked older types.

Eventually, she realized she just liked pretty people.

After exchanging contact information, Kotomi couldn’t help but ask, ”By the way, why did you have that little note ready in advance—the one that said ’I’ll be waiting at Meigetsu Cafe for one hour’? Don’t tell me you can predict the future.”

Though curious, Kotomi made sure to add a hint of humor to her tone, softening the mood and avoiding the seriousness that often creeps into Q\\A.

Ayani Kika chuckled. ”Of course not. If I could predict the future, do you think I’d still be working in Gion? I’d use that ability to earn some quick money—maybe not to become wildly rich, but at least I’d never have to worry about finances again.”

The two shared a laugh.

Then Ayani explained, ”To be honest, even if we had exchanged contact info smoothly the first time, I still would’ve handed you that note with a handshake. Because... I wanted an excuse to sit down and talk with you, just the two of us.”

”As for my motive—”

”I think life isn’t long, but it’s not short either. Not everything has to be done with a clear purpose. Sometimes, it’s nice to just chat with someone and pass the time.”

”I spend most of my days in Gion. It gets isolating. I don’t really know what’s trendy outside. I have no idea what normal girls are into these days.”

”Even when I do get to go shopping, I just buy some new clothes, pick up a few things for other geisha who asked me for favors... then I’m left with time I don’t know how to fill.”

”So when I ran into you today, I thought—why not use that time to talk to you?”

”Even if we’re just sitting here talking about nothing, I feel happy. Doesn’t that count as a reason?”

Kotomi was quiet for a moment, then smiled and nodded. ”Yeah. It does.”

An hour later.

Kotomi got up and said her goodbyes to Ayani Kika.

Though they had exchanged contact info,

Who knew when they might meet again? Kotomi probably wouldn’t return to Kyoto anytime soon—at least, not unless something unexpected happened.

So it was best to leave things to fate.

Ayani Kika remained seated, sipping her now slightly cooled coffee. She raised her gaze, watching Kotomi’s figure as she walked away, her expression unreadable.

”Suddenly, I feel like leaving Gion...” she murmured to herself.

A thought she had never entertained before.

Now, it wouldn’t stop growing.

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