Chapter 76 Embarrassing Hobbies

Meanwhile, Rulu, Nosuri, and Ougi had arrived at a certain bookstore near the northern end of Shisayama. Many goods that were sold herE came from Yamato and Rulu was fascinated by the variety of books that she could now buy.

As the group walked into the bookstore, they could see that the wooden shelves were filled with a wide variety of books. Many were decorated with pressed flowers or hand drawn images made from a variety of colored inks.

This sight was due to how paper was a common resource created in the Empire and its nations. In the history of the Empire, it was gifted by the emperor as an innovation that replaced the previously used bamboo scrolls that were cumbersome and had little space for writing.

These were still used as a cheaper alternative, but it had no advantage over the invention of paper.

It was over a century ago since its introduction and since then the empire has had a boom in the variety of literature that could now be enjoyed. From old tales of the emperor's deeds or the fables of monster and evil spirits, the only limit was what a writer could think of.

While a typical day of book shopping would seem simple enough, it was a different matter for Rulu. The book she was interested in buying was from a very specific kind of genre and required a bit of stealth to procure.

Behind her, Nosuri smiled wryly and asked in a confused tone.

"Ummm, Lady Rulu? Why are you wearing such a large scarf around your neck? It is covering the lower half of your face."

Nosuri was befuddled by the sight in front of her, the usually well-dressed Rulu had taken the opportunity at Kajima's house to slip into a new change of clothes, but the attire was plain and helped to better blend Rulu in with the common populace of the village.

The long gray sleeved tunic and long gray pants she wore made her seem like a simple village girl but the red scarf around her neck made her somewhat standout. Thankfully, due to the scarf's size, the lower part of her face was hidden from view.

"Ahem, Nosuri I am not umm Rulu right now. Please, address me as just Lady R."

With a raised brow, Nosuri nodded in understanding as she was still confused by Rulu's get up, but as a senshokenshi she nonetheless kept to the code to honor the task given to her. With a bow she affirmed her resolve.

"Yes Lady R. Now. What are you looking .....for?"

Raising her head, Nosuri noticed that Rulu was already gone from her sight and began to panic as she scanned her surroundings. It was a first for her to lose track of her ward as Nosuri was a master of hunting and tracking.

She heard not a single noise that would indicate that Rulu had moved but to her amazement, the shelter girl had evaded her sharp senses.

It was only thanks to her brother Ougi that she was able to locate Rulu. He indicated with a pointed finger and drew Nosuri's attention to a certain portion of the shop that was curtained off a few paces away from the entrance.

It had the words "age restricted" written on it and Nosuri's mind reeled as she wondered if Rulu had really gone into such a place. Nosuri was apprehensive to enter such a place as it would somewhat stain her pride in being a "good" woman.

She also thought that, sure, Rulu was officially an adult at the age of 16, but for her to take an interest in age restricted content seemed far fetched for how polite and well manner Rulu was at most times. Unbeknownst to Nosuri, she did not know the depths of Rulu's curiosity and somewhat unusual interests.

Noticing that his twin sister was deliberating on whether she should go inside the age restricted area he offered a solution.

"Sister, if you prefer to not enter we can wait outside. I expect the security inside this shop is adequate and we are within reach to assist if anything unforeseen occurs."

This made Nosuri make a snap decision as she instead misinterpreted Ougi's words as a challenge to her pride as a senshokenshi. To keep her pride as one of her clan's honorably titled senshokenshi she declared as she walked ahead.

"I fear nothing brother. Come! We must accompany Lady R."

Ougi recomposed himself as he was taken off guard by his sister's word, but nevertheless followed her past the blue curtains. He was surprised by what he saw next, but it was not due to the "mature" content of the displayed books and their somewhat artistic recreations of very "intimate" acts.

No, Ougi was surprised by the sight of Nosuri stunned silent as she looked upon the figure of Rulu browsing a certain section of an artistically "cultured" space. Over the shelves hung the written words that said "Boy Love".

Under his breath, Ougi said to no one in particular.

"Oh my. How interesting?"

Nosuri on the other hand just stood like a stone in silence as she waited patiently for Rulu to finish her business. It was somewhat hard for her to keep a straight face as she glimpsed at the colorfully titled books that Rulu looked through.

They had the artistic depiction of shirtless men kissing or doing more intimate acts upon each other. The sight of it made Nosuri flush red but she nevertheless waited patiently.

After a good hour passed, Nosuri's eyes were somewhat red and her cheeks somewhat flushed. On the other hand, Ougi had begun to look through a selection of books that he fancied which made Nosuri ask herself.

'Brother? Just how shameless can you be?'

But before Nosuri could admonish her brother on his behavior and lecherous inclinations, she was interrupted by Rulu who had approached with a few books in hand.

"Come, I have finished."

Rulu then left the age-restricted room as she was followed by Ougi who had noticed that they were leaving. Nosuri was the last to notice that she was the last one of their group still in the room. With a somewhat funny look on her face which drew the attention of the other customers who started to give her odd looks, she quickly turned away.

Nosuri ran out of the room in a bit of a panic and rejoined Rulu and Ougi in the main lobby of the bookstore. It seemed that in the short time she was absent from the other two, Rulu had already purchased the books at the cashier's counter and was making her way out of the store with Ougi.

Nosuri hurriedly caught up with them but had to endure a very awkward situation as she could not broach the topic of what just happened since Rulu instructed both Nosuri and Ougi to never speak or think of whatever they just saw.

Rulu did not want anyone finding out about her hobbies which was why she had dressed up to blend in and hide her identity. Many people knew what Rulu looked like and she did not want to be found out.

Today's book shopping was also very important as it was a chance for Rulu to obtain a rare book from a famous author only found in the capital of Yamato. His or her pen name was Little Flower Bud and their work was famous for its invigorating and thrilling stories about a forbidden love between two men.

She had taken an interest in this genre of book as she mainly grew up with many older brothers who were somewhat handsome. One day, her heart began pounding in excitement when she saw the sight of her two shirtless brothers fighting and wrestling each other as a kind of hand-to-hand combat training.

Seeing their wet chiseled muscles and the puffs of steamy breath that caressed each other's faces made her somewhat faint and excited as a tingling sensation started to permeate in her womanly parts.

Luckily, no one noticed the expression she was making but her family were more worried about how warm her head was getting. Yashimu and Shizu, who were at the time supervising Rulu that day, had mistaken her warm head for a fever which prompted them to rush her to the apothecary.

She tried to resist as she wanted to continue watching, but her siblings insisted. Since then, Rulu was never the same and she would at times have moments where she would get overly excited when she saw very intimate interactions between two handsome men.