In chapter 152, we return to the side of O!Ciel, except we follow the actions of Meylin and Ranmao.
Meylin and Ranmao are headed for North Yorkshire, a place 211 miles away from London. Once they get off the train, a man with a humble carrier arrives to collect them, asking whether the ladies are the ones who had come to apply for the position of maid as advertised in the newspaper. Before long, they arrive at the mansion of Baron Heathfield.
Without further delay, the ladies are taken to an older woman who is in charge of employing new staff, Miss Abby. Meylin and Ranmao introduce themselves as Mei and Ran, as a pair of Chinese sisters.
They are asked why they had come to England, and “Mei” explains that she and her sister had come to England with their father on a tea clipper when they were young children. She further explains that disease had robbed them of their parents, and afterwards they worked as maids in London. Unfortunately, the trading company of her former employer had gone bankrupt and fled, deserting the servants. Now having lost their job, the sisters had come to seek new employment.
Miss Abby seems somewhat suspicious as to why the sisters had come all the way to a deserted place from London, a place with many more job opportunities.
Meylin explains that it is because only the current household accepts coloured servants under the age of 30. As she explains however, the older woman notices Meylin’s imperfect English, and “graciously” not reproach middle-ranked servants for having a foreign accent. “Can you two read?” the woman asks, and Meylin replies that they have basic understanding. With this, “Mei and Ran’s” contract has been signed.
“Thank you very much!” - Meylin
“We need anybody we can get” - Abby
At Miss Abby’s words, as though on cue, Meylin makes it unambiguously clear for the reader that she is on a ‘special mission’ in this household.
As “Mei and Ran” are being escorted to their rooms, the maid by the name of Jane explains that there is a shortage of staff because the manor is very large. At present, there are 35 employees, among whom 20 are maids. At this information again, Meylin seems to think something is up.
Once in their new rooms, Jane explains the rules of the household, among which a particularly peculiar one: “Lights-out at 22:00, a strict rule to which all must abide strictly.“
Mei questions the abnormally early hour, and Jane explains that this is the well intention of Lord Heathfield; that all servants should be well rested and well taken care of. Among other ‘mercies’, the servants are obliged to have three meals a day, bathe once every two days, and will even get large carriages arranged for them to explore the streets on their days off.
The Heathfield household does not provide for uniforms; instead, Meylin and Ranmao change into the maid-dress which they brought from ‘their previous employment”, the Phantomhive maid uniform!!
Without further ado, “Mei” is assigned the position as housemaid, while “Ran” is made a laundry-maid. In order to familiarise the new employees in the household, Jane takes the two ladies on a tour through the house.
“Let’s go, Ran” - Mei
“Yes, sister” - Ran
Herewith, chapter 152 comes to an end.
Chapter 152 was rather uneventful; it functioned more like a very long introduction to a new sub-arc. Though uneventful, the location does provide for very interesting open possibilities.
It is most unlikely that the Heathfield household is just any place. Conceivably, O!Ciel deliberately sent Meylin and Ranmao there, exactly because they are persons of colour, and can use England’s institutionalised racism to their advantage: “who would doubt “stupid, coloured women” anyway?”
Another important clue to the future developments of the story may lie with the location of the current setting, and the name ‘Sutcliffe’.
As pointed out by some in the Japanese fandom, the new setting Yorkshire is a place once linked to a notorious name: Peter William Sutcliffe - the Yorshire Ripper.
The Yorkshire Ripper case did not take place until the 1980s, but the fandom is well aware of Yana’s love for references to real historic events (and some time anachronisms).
If I should entertain this highly interesting hypothesis, then it is perhaps possible to say that the Heathfield household is one of the ‘bases’ for R!Ciel’s blood-supply, which could be an indirect reference to the serial murders of women in the 1980s.
The coincidence of Grell’s surname ‘Sutcliffe’ to the location should probably also not be written off as ‘sheer coincidence’. We have previously seen that Grell and Othello are both involved in the current case. Perhaps we can expect some major actions by Grell, Meylin and Ranmao in the next chapters.
How is Japanese part of the fandom doing? I mean are they becoming dead like Western part or becoming more popular and bigger?
I’d say it’s neither? It seems just about the same. If anything, I’d say the English speaking fandom seems more active and appears to be shipping Ranmao and Meylin; it is active enough for me to have seen the shipping without looking for it. This cannot be said for the Japanese side.
This is just me personally, but except the speculation about Yorkshire I posted about in Kuro 152 Summary & Thoughts, I did not keep myself updated about the current status in the Japanese fandom.
