Volume 31 Chapter 9 (1/2)
”That's right If I remember correctly, in the room on the first floor there's … ”
shi+mako-san left the room as she spoke, so Yu, ”What's going on?”
The room on the first floor of the Rose Mansion was normally used as a storeroom When required, they'd tidy it up and make use of it for some other purpose, but there hadn't been any need for that recently
It was into that room that shi+mako-san sloalked Occasionally she'd bend down, and occasionally she'd stand on tiptoes, as she slid boxes that were blocking her field of vision out of the way
”What are you looking for?”
Lacking patience, Yoshi+no-san asked the question instead of waiting for shi+mako-san
”The sewing machine”
”Sewing machine!?”
”And the iron too”
”Iron!?”
Yu
”Do we really have those in the Rose Mansion?”
”I haven't used theo and, out of the corner ofthat could have been the else”
That was an exceedingly vague recollection Still, shi+mako-san believed they were somewhere in the room
”We don't have to use thes easier, and the end result will probably be neater too”
Quite right And so, Yumi and Yoshi+no-san joined in the search
”It's an electric sewing ht?”
”That's right The case is about this big”
shi+mako-san used both hands to indicate the size About the sa er Given the size, Yuht it should be fairly easy to find
”Whereabouts did you see it?”
She asked, looking for a clue
”I can't reround”
”Why's that?”
”It's a sewing ht? And usually you don't put heavy things on top”
Just like shi+ round It was underneath an old desk, and behind a cardboard box, so it had been quite difficult to locate
The words, ”Rosa Chinensis - Donation,” ritten on the sewing machine's case When they opened the case, they saw a fairly old sewing ht new by a Rosa Chinensisht in from home Since ”Rosa Chinensis” was the only name written there, it wasn't possible to tell when it had been brought in
The iron was beside the sewingwritten on it, but soht it in froinally had ”OO - Donation” written on it, but the letters had been coe of time
”They should still be good to use”
At any rate, they decided to take both the sewing machine and iron to the second floor
After plugging the iron into an outlet and waiting a while, it heated up Siin a needle or thread) it made a healthy up/down motion over and over, so it looked like both were usable
”I didn't see an ironing board, but I think we should be fine to use the table”
With that decided, they commenced work It was decided that shi+mako-san would make one first as a test, to see how it turned out
The first step was ironing all the scraps of cloth, to straighten out the wrinkles, and then cutting the that, a double mountain fold was applied to the sections that would form the mouth of the case, then this was ironed to form the sleeve for the cord
Perhaps because it was hindering her work, shi+ather all her hair together behind her head
”shi+mako-san, may I braid your hair?”
Yu to touch that fluffy, flowing brown hair
”Leave it alone while I' machine, okay?”
Whichthe iron Although that was probably a reluctant acceptance, since it involved finding a loophole in the refusal Yoshi+no-san joined in h too, since so It re with dolls
Starting at the hairband, Yuers weaved shi+mako-san's hair into a braid Since shi+er than it looked Since it was starting to get too long, Yumi took the end of the braided hair and used a ribbon to tie it next to the start of the braiding In other words, the shape beneath the ribbon was a loop of braided hair
”I've seen that hairstyle somewhere before”
Yoshi+no-san said, watching on from a short distance away
”Now that you mention it”
Yumi nodded too
”I don't remember where exactly, and it wasn't a photo but a black and white drawing”
It was shi+mako-san herself who provided the answer