Usuba estate (薄刃家宅邸, Usuba-ka taku-tei?) is an estate where the Usuba family resides under their public-facing identity of Tsuruki.
Description[]
The residence is located in the Imperial Capital, a few minutes away from the family's Tsuruki Trading office. It is a modern, detached wooden house that is painted white. The name plate out front read TSURUKI.[2]
While the facade looks modern, many of the rooms inside are lined with traditional flooring. The place is a skillful fusion of Japanese and Western styles:[2]
- The first floor mainly consists of chambers lined with tatami flooring. There is a parlor about ten tatami mats in size that serves as a reception room for guests.
- The second floor is styled after Western homes. Miyo's room is one of these Western-style rooms. Complementing the high-quality navy-blue carpet are white walls, painted with a touch of yellow so as not to be too bright. Almost all the furniture is wooden, but their detailed designs make them look like Western-style pieces. A spotlessly polished glass lamp illuminates the interior, imbuing the room with a relaxed atmosphere. There is a raised bed and chairs.
From the inside, the hustle and bustle of the city outside is barely audible, even when it is completely quiet. Despite the house being a stately home and having an decent exterior, it is considerably empty inside, lacking in both people and belongings. The house started to decline a long time ago. There used to be more people, with plenty of furniture and belongings, but both slowly began to disappear as time went on, with the final nail in the coffin coming twenty years ago[2] when Tsuruki Trading was on the brink of bankruptcy.[3]
The estate also has a garden that is surprisingly large for a house of its size. Gravel is spread out in the garden and there are few garden plants. It is a dreary place, and looked as though it has been constructed for dueling.[2]
A room within the estate serves as the warehouse. Despite being a warehouse, it is not messy. The large number of items placed inside are all arranged in order. Most of the things are stored in neatly arranged old wooden boxes, so it is easy to immediately discover where certain information one is seeking might be placed. A large amount of paper that is discolored due to old age is placed in piles against the wall. Some are tied into bundles with ropes, some are rolled into cylinders, and some are simply stacked on top of each other. Judging from the degree of deterioration, it seems that the ones above are newer and the ones below are older. Perhaps because it has been neglected for so long, the surfaces of these papers are all covered with dust.[4]
Currently, the estate is inhabited by Yoshirou and his grandson Arata. The chores in the residence are skillfully handled by one or two servants.[2]
References[]
- ↑ Novel, Volume 6 Chapter 2
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Novel, Volume 2 Chapter 3
- ↑ Novel, Volume 2 Chapter 2
- ↑ Novel, Volume 6 Chapter 1
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