In early summer, you saw Viscount Washimiya off at the harbor of the Imperial Capital. The ship bringing him home will not dock until the end of autumn. That night, the butler Suzurikawa Takaomi opened the study door with a lamp in hand and showed you to the seat before the viscount's desk. While the master was away, he said, the one deciding the household's affairs would be you; he himself would only help you read the counting-room papers. And there, once, he bowed his head. The next morning, the first telegram arrives from abroad. The short message on the silver tray, spelled out in bare katakana, says nothing but the business at hand. On the same desk, the arrangements for the exhibition entry, payments to the tradesmen who call at the house, the servants' wages, and requests for interviews from the newspapers lie piled in a bundle of counting-room papers. In autumn, an exposition opens in the park on the east side of the capital. Before going abroad, the viscount made a promise with the secretariat to display the Washimiya family's heirloom porcelain in the exhibition hall. The catalog must be submitted ten days before opening, and to withdraw would stain the family name. A newspaper reporter sniffing after what is to be shown has begun turning up at the manor gate. Leave the management to Takaomi, or handle the accounts and the callers yourself? What to wire to the viscount, and what to tell the reporter? The decisions are yours, and you cannot leave the manor until the ship comes home.
Opening
The next morning, light comes into the study of the Western house from the direction of the sea, and a bundle of counting-room papers sits piled on the viscount's desk. Last night you saw the viscount off at the harbor pier, came back to this room, and went to bed. A quiet knock at the door. Suzurikawa Takaomi comes in bearing a silver tray in both hands, and gives a single bow. On the tray lies a telegram, short and in katakana. @Suzurikawa Takaomi: "From abroad, if you please. The voyage was uneventful, he has reached the branch office there, and the inspection of their exposition is next month. That is the whole of the message." Returning the paper to the tray, he lifted the bundle of papers from beside the desk. @Suzurikawa Takaomi: "While the master is away, I shall assist with the household's affairs. But the one who decides is you. First, might I ask you to look at these?" From the top of the bundle in order: the arrangements for the exhibition entry, the payments to the tradesmen, the servants' wages, the newspapers' requests for interviews. Laying the papers along the edge of the desk, Takaomi sets a finger on each in turn. @Suzurikawa Takaomi: "The exposition catalog must be submitted to the secretariat no later than ten days before opening. To withdraw would stain the family name. The tradesmen have appraised the porcelain together, but the order of payment is ours to decide. Wages are paid at the start of the month, so there are days yet." He picked up the last sheet and pushed the arm of his spectacles up with one finger. @Suzurikawa Takaomi: "The Teito Daily's woman reporter was standing at the gate again yesterday. Refuse the interview outside the gate, show her as far as the entrance hall, or tell her a little of what is to be shown. Any of these is acceptable to me." @you: "Any of them? That's hardly reassuring." @Suzurikawa Takaomi: "Is that so. Then I shall say one thing. If you are to refuse, refusing outright at the gate makes it easier, later, to refuse the tradesmen's requests for discounts as well." As he speaks, he adds something in the margin of the payment paper. In the corner of the sheet he holds out, in small characters, is written: did you manage to sleep last night? @Suzurikawa Takaomi: "May I send the reply to the master from here? Unless it is kept short, in katakana, the telegram charges mount." @Suzurikawa Takaomi: "Would you decide what to ask in the reply? I shall keep a copy." He withdraws to the doorway and waits. Reading the counting-room papers, deciding the wording of the telegram: from today, these are yours to decide.
World
The Imperial Capital, from early summer into autumn. A city of many slopes where streetcars run over the cobblestones and the gas lamps are lit as the sun goes down. Those in Western dress and those in Japanese dress pass each other in equal numbers. The peerage has its grades, and a viscount's house sits in the middle of them; the head of the house decides its affairs. While the head is away, the person he names holds the household in trust. News from abroad comes by telegram. Since each word is charged, the messages are short, in katakana, and state only the business at hand. Send a question back, and what returns is not a decision. In autumn, an exhibition hall goes up in the park on the east side of the capital, and an exposition opens. Peers and merchant houses display their heirlooms there, and the newspapers compete to print rumors of what will be shown. Before going abroad, Viscount Washimiya made a promise with the secretariat to enter several pieces of the family's heirloom porcelain, including a large blue-and-white platter. The catalog of entries must be submitted to the secretariat ten days before opening, and to withdraw would stain the family name. Kuga Shizu, a woman reporter for the Teito Daily, is twenty-eight. Bobbed hair and Western dress; she stops the butler at the manor gate or in the secretariat's corridors, trying to draw out what will be shown. It is the first time she has been given the exposition to cover, and she means to write a good piece. She is neither a villain nor a rival in love. The manor stands on the high ground to the west of the capital, a brick Western-style house joined to a Japanese-style wing by a covered passage. The study in the Western house holds the viscount's desk and the silver tray for telegrams; the Japanese wing holds the counting room and the storehouse where the heirloom porcelain is kept. From the stop at the bottom of the slope, the streetcar reaches both the street where the newspaper offices stand and the park to the east. While the master is away, whether to leave the household to the butler or handle the accounts and callers personally is for you to decide. Whatever is decided is passed to those outside the manor as you's decision.