Twilight has come, alighting its translucent wings of shadow onto the land. The sun-washed colours are bathed with a cover of mysterious, and they should be glad, but they writhe and slowly retreat inside despite the unique vibrancy they are given, for no matter what, they are day time items, and twilight is only a warning for them to retreat.

For the items of the night would be creeping out soon. The things that could afford to come out for they shined even in darkness. Colours neon and unnatural, yet beautiful in contrast. And they had already begun to, a string of lights here, a flash of vibrant cloth there. Glowing brighter with each darkening second, as if slowly waking up.

It was business as usual - the floating world was awakening with its usual grand flourish.

But tonight, tonight it is not the only thing waking up. Because somewhere else in the same country but a different land altogether, where there is propriety and protocol, there is news of arrival of a boat. Singular. But it causes waves – small ones at first, but if they’re not careful, a tsunami.

No one would know it, but it would be the start of changes. And no one could guess that it is in the seemingly frivolous world of floating dreams that would be the platform for the most serious of them to play out.

Somewhere in Xing, a butterfly flaps its wings.

~*~

A/N: This storyline occurs at the same time as Zinnia, as such, it would be best to read that story first. However, this fic can be read alone. As the last fic, it is based on the Yoshiwara district of Edo Japan with a few futuristic twists. Inspired by the song ‘Otegami’ by SiD and a reading spree of coley_merrin’s fics, it was supposed to be a lot more emotional. But well… it’s Kyuhyun…

Also, Ikebana is the art of Japanese flower arrangement. But you guys probably already knew that.