| Azuma | Inner palace was a workplace that women in that era longed for. However, getting a job in that place was not easy. |
| As an okujochu[1], women were expected to have outstanding qualifications fitting to serve both the feudal lord and his wife. |
| Izumi | How do you know a lot about this, Azuma-san? |
| Azuma | Fufu, do you want to know? |
| Izumi | ...Maybe some other time. |
| Azuma | The truth is, I’ve always been very interested in inner palace. It looks like a pandemonium where the riff raff, the corrupt and the monsters crawl out. |
| Homare | I get you! I get you, Azuma-san! |
| Azami | ...I don’t get it at all. |
| Muku | I didn’t know inner palace was such a scary place... |
| Tsumugi | Don’t worry, Muku-kun. We’re not going to enter a real inner palace. |
| Azuma | Putting the jokes aside… |
| Izumi | (I wonder if he was truly joking…) |
| Azuma | When I was cast as a female character, I watched various movies to help me perfect my role. |
| First, a court lady in the inner palace must be able to sew. …With that said, I leave this to you, Yuki. |
| Yuki | Okay, guys. Take this. |
| Itaru | Sewing set and… our past costumes? |
| Yuki | Fix these. I’ve marked all the parts that need to be fixed, like the frayed part and the deteriorated fabric. |
| Each of you are gonna be in charge of your own costumes. That way, you won’t handle them carelessly. |
| Azuma | The court ladies in the inner palace won’t handle the feudal lord and his wife’s outfits carelessly, after all. |
| I think this is the perfect method to understand them better. |
| Izumi | I see… This will be a good lesson for them, indeed. |
| Yuki | I’ll start, then. This is how you use the needle. Watch and learn. |
| |
| Hey, Elite swindler! Your head wouldn’t even pass through the neck hole if you sew that part! |
| Itaru | Ah… so this is the neck hole? |
| Yuki | You too, Sakyo! You’re gonna ruin the cloth if you grasp it so strongly like that! |
| Sakyo | Tch… I’ve never sewed costumes properly before. If it’s disaster prevention hood or dust cloth… |
| Yuki | Tsumugi! Arisu! Your threads got tangled up! Do it again! |
| Tsumugi | T-This is difficult… |
| Homare | Mhm… Never would have thought this would be a spartan sewing class…! This is certainly a new challenge…! |
| Izumi | A-are they going to be all right…? |
| Azuma | Fufu, who knows? |
| Izumi | Azuma-san… are you enjoying this? |
| Azuma | Don’t give the others the wrong idea. I’m merely watching over their okujochu training. |
| Besides, the other three seem to be doing just fine. |
| Azami | Yuki-san, did I sew this part right? |
| Yuki | Yup yup. You’re pretty good in this, Azami. |
| You did well too, Muku. If I remember correctly, didn’t you say you’re good at sewing? |
| Muku | I could only do simple things like sewing buttons on, but… I don’t exactly hate doing this kind of work. |
| Chikage | I’m done. Check it, Yuki. |
| Yuki | ...It’s annoyingly perfect. |
| Izumi | You’re right… You guys are awesome…! |
| Itaru | Welp, now I ended up sewing the sleeves together. |
| Tsumugi | I couldn’t… make the thread... pass through the needle... |
| Sakyo | Tch! I stabbed my finger with the needle… |
| Homare | Jesus! I was planning to sew this fabric, but I ended up undoing the sewing! |
| Izumi | (Meanwhile, this side seems to be having a hard time…) |
| |
| Yuki | ...Well, that’s all for today. |
| Azuma | Good work, everyone. Did this lesson help you get a taste of how it feels like to be an okujochu? |
| Homare | Yes, and a lot at that. Being an okujochu is hard… |
| Tsumugi | My fingers are covered with band-aids… |
| Yuki | With the number of our repeat shows increasing, I’ve been having a hard time trying to maintain the costumes before the deadline, so this was helpful. |
| Thanks, Azu-nee. |
| Azuma | You’re welcome. |
| Chikage | ...Looks like we’ve been completely used. |
| Itaru | That was hella depressing. |
| Azuma | For the next part, I’ll teach you etiquette. |
| Tsuzuru | Can I have a moment before that, please? |
| Izumi | Tsuzuru-kun? |
| Tsuzuru | I’ve finished writing the script. Can you take a look at it? |
| |
| Sakyo | ...I see, so the story will revolve around the conflict between influential figures of imperial court and the military family. |
| Chikage | This is interesting. It shows the terrible relationships between the people in the inner palace. |
| Izumi | Yes, I think so too! |
| Tsuzuru | That’s great to hear! Thank you. |
| Yuki | ...How about the costumes, then? |
| Izumi | Now that you mention it… I think it’s pretty obvious that everyone is going to wear kimono. |
| Yuki | I don’t mind helping with the preparation. Looking at the plot, I think we’re gonna need proper kimono with classical patterns. |
| Sakyo | Just so you know, we don’t have the budget to prepare kimono for this number of people. |
| Izumi | I’ll ask the people from Edo Park to prepare it for us, then. |
| Azami | I need to think about what kind of makeup that will go well with the kimono too. |
