My, My, Imai! Redux (2019)

When Hatori awoke the next morning, he was still on the porch of his study where he had fallen asleep the night before watching the snow fall. The ground was white and everything was covered with snow, even Hatori’s eyelashes had frosted together from the cold he had slept through.

Stiff and completely numb, Hatori had a hard time standing up and kept the blankets wrapped tightly around him. His nose and cheeks were red, his lips were a pale shade of blue, and he was certain that he would have gotten some sort of frostbite were it not for the extra blanket that had somehow found him in the night.

Squinting some, it took Hatori a great deal of effort to roll the chair through the door that had been left open, which left his entire office the same temperature as outside. Thankfully, the main estate had an exceptional heating system and the frost would be knocked off of everything within a matter of minutes.

Only about an hour after Hatori had awoken and loud knock sounded on Hatori’s front door.

“Oh, Ha’ri! I have a surprise for you!” Ayame called out through the door. He had no idea that Hatori had been out in the cold all night as he had been far too busy that morning finishing things up with Imai’s new dress. The snake was getting along much better with Imai, now, though things were still a tad rocky.

Imai felt strange as she stood with Ayame outside of Hatori’s door. Really, she felt so uncomfortable in such an extravagant dress that she almost didn’t want to wear it. Imai didn’t like the idea of getting too much attention, but she was eager to let Hatori see it. Imai hoped that Hatori would like it, despite how flashy it seemed compared to her typical bland robes.

Hatori winced, wrapped up tightly in the blankets still as he turned his head toward his front door. Even through two closed doors and one hallway, he could still hear Ayame’s loud voice. It hurt to move even though it had been a few hours since he’d returned inside and cranked the heat up, but at least the color had come back to his face and he wasn’t shivering nearly as much. Overall, Hatori was a bit on the cranky side and made a face at the doorway.

“Can it wait?” Hatori grumbled, closing his eyes again and snuggling deeper into the blankets on the couch of his office.

He felt completely run down, as anyone would having spent the night outside on the night that hosted the first snow of winter.

“Ayame-san,” Imai’s voice was half-muffled by doors and halls. “Maybe we should leave him be for now. It’s still a bit early.”

“Nonsense!” Ayame replied, and loudly. “The surprise we have for him will make his heart leap with joy!”

“I kind of doubt it.” Imai responded, her voice considerably quieter than Ayame’s. “Maybe we should let it stay a surprise until Christmas. It’s not fair to everybody else, right?”

“I won’t hear such a thing! We’ve gone through so much trouble already! Ha’ri! We’re coming in!” Ayame trumpeted as he flung open Hatori’s front door and marched Imai down the hallway to Hatori’s office.

“R—really, maybe he just wants to be left alone...?” Imai tried to argue but was pulled unceremoniously into Hatori’s office behind Ayame. Imai looked thoroughly embarrassed, but utterly stunning in Ayame’s finished creation; the snake’s “surprise” had been to show off his newest model to the only available set of eyes that might appreciate it.

Imai was dressed in a modern style, emerald green qipao, which set off her hair in the perfect colors of Christmas. The sleeves of the dress were long and made of sheer chiffon that belled out at the end, designed like the petals of a flower. Imai’s hair had been pulled up into a stylish bun at the back of her head and was decorated with a highly decorative, black lacquered comb with tinkling gems.

Imai felt like she was going to suffocate in the tightly fitting qipao, but Ayame had assured her that she looked beautiful.

Hatori didn’t have any particular reaction when the girl was suddenly pulled into his office. Hatori’s eyes squinted still as he stared out from the folds of the blankets he was wrapped in still. Really, it was too bad that Ayame hadn’t finished a night sooner so that Hatori would really be able to appreciate the beauty.

“It’s nice,” was the best that either of them got. Hatori gave up on squinting and simply closed his eyes instead. The light of the room hurt, and Hatori’s head felt as if it were being held under water.

Imai was, of course, a bit disappointed at Hatori’s obvious lack of interest, but saw that he looked a bit under the weather.

“He looks sick.” Imai said softly to Ayame, turning to him in preparation for escorting the snake out of Hatori’s office. “I told you we should’ve waited until Christmas.”

“What? The doctor can’t be sick!” Ayame’s voice was, as usual, a bit loud.

“He’ll be fine!” Imai whispered to Ayame, taking him by the elbow now as she pulled him out of Hatori’s office. “He’s a doctor. Come on, let’s leave him alone!”

“But…!” Ayame protested, as he followed Imai out of Hatori’s house and back out into the cold. “If he’s sick, somebody should take care of him!”

“… … …” Imai said nothing as she pulled Ayame along behind her. The two were getting along better, at least. Imai shot an apologetic look over her shoulder to Hatori before she and Ayame completely left his house.

Hatori hadn’t even been looking at Imai when she turned back to look at him, having rolled back over on the couch. He wasn’t exactly sick, but simply didn’t feel like himself and didn’t want to have to deal with any unnecessary noise that people like Ayame and Shigure brought with them, no matter how dearly he loved them.

Hatori waited a few more moments on the couch, waiting for everyone to be gone before he stood and left his office. With the blankets in tow, he made his way down the hall and all the way to his bedroom. He would feel guilty for brushing Imai off later, but only after he wasn’t too tired to have done so in the first place. Quietly, he lay down in the comfort and warmth of his bed, watching the snow fall against the window outside.