Since he had only placed the advertisement in the newspaper that morning, Shade had not expected any visitors that afternoon. He thought there was nothing important to do today; he only needed to visit the Seer Association tomorrow to have Origin · Silver Moon appraised again. With nothing major happening this week, he had arranged to spend the afternoon reading and translating.
Shade considered himself fairly diligent, and the napping cat conscientiously refrained from disturbing him.
But this leisurely afternoon was soon disrupted by the sound of the bell downstairs at half past one. The half-asleep cat sprang up from the sofa, and Shade also rose in confusion, hurriedly putting away those sensitive textbooks.
"Strange. Who could be looking for me? Could they be here for Detective Sparrow again?"
Looking down through the living room window, he could not see the Visitor because of the angle and the awning over the entrance. He went downstairs and opened the door, only to find a young girl with brown hair standing outside.
The brown-haired young girl standing at Shade's door was perhaps not even eighteen. She wore a white blouse with a ruffled collar and two rows of silver decorative buttons across the chest, with an unbuttoned brown vest over it—a crisp summer outfit.
A black silk scarf was tied around her collar. She held a brown checkered handbag in her hand, and wore a delicate gold ring on her right hand. Her lower half was clad in a very simple skirt, its hem falling just above her feet in black leather shoes.
Although women wearing trousers had already appeared in this era, ladies still mostly wore skirts.
As she stood before Shade's door, he once again had the illusion that all the light in the world was shining upon her alone.