Bamboo Rain

	Name	Bamboo Rain
	Family	Costume
	Rarity
	Item Source (Ingame)	Purchased from the Shop
	Description	Formal wear prepared by the Feiyun Commerce Guild for Xingqiu. The bamboo prints are refined and the cut is most flattering, but Xingqiu's favorite aspect of the outfit is its inner pockets, into which a thinner novel might be stuffed.

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Item Story

"What? Meowndering Hero's gone missing!? At this juncture, of all times!?"
The troupe leader's furious voice echoed backstage.
"And right when Feiyun Commerce Guild's having important guests from Fontaine over for an evening banquet? Come on! If we run our reputation into the ground here, it's is going to be disaster for our shows on both shores of the sea!"
The actor playing the "wandering hero," head shrunken back in a panic, looked nothing like the part.
"Th—There's still time before we take the stage. I'll go look for it right now!"

Outside the backstage window, sitting leisurely on a corner eave, was Xingqiu.
"I see, I see. So it is a matter of saving face, then, that no one from our Guild was asked to join the search? That complicates things... How, then, am I to tell them that you're here, Mr. Cat?"
Standing up, Xingqiu peeped down the chimney mouth next to him — within, a black cat in swashbuckling garb stared up at him, eyes vigilant.
To say nothing of his own chicanery in secreting himself away from the banquet making him ill-suited to meet others directly, someone known as the "second young master of the Feiyun Commerce Guild" finding this 'Meowndering Hero' would make things terribly awkward for the opera troupe.
"I guess I'll just have to rescue you and take you backstage in secret, huh... Ugh, I hope I don't get these clothes dirty, or my brother's going to ask some pointed questions about where I've been again..."
Xingqiu reached cautiously into the chimney, but the cat ducked into a corner, rejecting his proffered helping hand.
"Spooked by the unfamiliar environment? Or are you just not fond of the banquet atmosphere? Either way, Mr. Cat, getting others in hot water is not quite what a cat with your title should be doing."
He grinned wryly. No getting this kitty to come along without getting his hands dirty, huh?

The night went as planned, and the troupe took the stage without a hitch.
Meowndering Hero twirled and flipped to the strict rhythm of the gong, seemingly endless applause breaking out.
"Amazing! Most amazing!" Xingqiu exclaimed while grabbing onto his older brother. What grabbed said brother's attention, however, was Xingqiu's new attire.
This Fontainian-style ensemble's well-tailored lines were adorned with elegant bamboo patterns. Clearly, the work of a master...
And yet, when he had first received it, had this little lad not complained that it "restricted movement" and "made it hard to conceal oneself," wearing it but once before folding it up and putting it back on the shelf? Where was this sudden love for it coming from?
As if reading the doubt written on his brother's face, Xingqiu smiled softly, saying: "I came across this line while reading last night: 'One should make guests feel at home'... Changing into these clothes to welcome guests from Fontaine is a form of courtesy too, is it not?"
The doubt knitted into the elder brother's brows dissipated, and he looked Xingqiu up and down once more. His clothes were quite clean, so he certainly didn't seem to have snuck out like he had last year...
Perhaps his kid brother really had matured a little this year, he thought with some relief.
...Still, there was a faint smell of ash in the air. Where was that coming from, exactly?

"No need to trouble yourselves. I'll change by myself."
When the banquet was over, and the servants were sent away, Xingqiu would take his coat off, revealing his dust and dirt-stained inner garments.
"Phew... That was a close one. Good thing this was in the cabinet. There was no way I was fooling my brother otherwise..."
Perhaps his next novel could be about a chivalrous thief from Fontaine, then?
"Hmm... Let's start with this: All know the common wisdom that damasked dress makes a deficient disguise, but none realized that celebrity was the cloak of this chivalrous thief..."