• Chapter 1: Money maker

    Kuzuku, Onii, Kage, Kuon, Taichi, Aki, Yuzumo, Hideaki, and Ayaki were at the end of an ally, sitting on boxes and barrels. They were in Baker town; the most crowded yet the calmest place around. The main streets are wide while the walkways around homes and small shops are thin. Fresh smells of bread and coffee fill the air with the kind of warmth you get at home when you drink hot chocolate on a snowy day. The moon here is so large that it fills almost half the sky. It’s also a citrus orange color, so its glow sweetens the town even more, giving it an autumn feeling.
    Everyone’s stomach growled, their faces clouded with despair and hunger.
    “If only we had money to buy food…” Kage whined. He was the leader of the group.
    “Whose fault was that?!” Aki hissed. “You’re the one who burnt it all at Mt. Fall!”
    “I was cold…”
    “That’s no excuse to make us all starve to death!”
    “Well—” a gust of wind blew a piece of paper into Kage’s face. He groaned as he removed it, “What the heck is this?” the paper read ‘Looking for young maids with a spunky attitude’ below that was an address and a picture of a mansion, then another saying, ‘will pay 10,000gs an hour.’
    “That’s more than enough money for food” Taichi says with a grin. He was reading the paper over Kage’s shoulder.
    “Yeah, but who’s going to be the maids? We’re all guys!”
    Onii and Kuzuku froze stiff, already knowing the answer to their leaders’ question.
    Kage turned his gleaming, mischievous eyes to them and spoke with a wicked grin. “Ready for dress up?”
    Onii was the first to respond. “No way! Plus, we don’t even know where the place is, so—”
    “I know where it is” Ayaki says with a solemn expression. “I also know a clothes shop nearby for natural cross dressers”
    Onii and Kuzuku gaped with shock and shame at the words ‘natural cross dresser’.
    “But we have no money to buy the maid dresses” Taichi notes.
    Onii and Kuzuku’s hopes flew high. No money meant no dresses and no dresses meant not having to look like girls! Kage and all them always made the two cross dress because they’re the only ones that could pull it off. Onii was really short for his age and he looked young too. Kuzuku was normal height so the only thing that made him look girlish was his long hair.
    Then their hopes died as Yuzumo says, “I have money. I took some when we were still at Mt. Fall because Kage looked like he was going to do something strange with it” he leaned against the brick wall, arms crossed, not making any eye contact. “Enough to buy the dresses” he holds out the money.
    Aki glances over at Kuon who was abnormally quiet. He was always the loud mouthed of the group. “If we get enough money for food” Aki says. “Don’t feed Kuon. I like him better silent and starving”
    Kuon just slowly sways left to right, his stomach screaming to be fed.
    “Well then” Hideaki steps forward and looks toward Onii and Kuzuku. “Ready ladies?”

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