Nameless Doll 7

Mika: ...Hm. Well I get how Oshi-san and Maddie met now.

But that don’t clear up nothin’ about what kinda doll Maddie is.

Shu: Yes, it really is a shame.

I had asked my grandfather to have an appraisal of her, and I also implored my older siblings to help me sift through documentation and information about her online.

I was able to uncover an approximate year in which she would have been made, but the artisan remains unknown.

Supposedly, this doll was made in the West, during the Victorian era.^[1]

It was a considerably long time ago, and the doll maker appears to be anonymous. There is no record of them.

Mademoiselle, herself, is unsigned, so details are unclear at best.

Mika: Really? Maddie’s so pretty... so I thought she’d’ve been made by some famous doll maker.

Shu: Hmph. No matter how skilled the artist, no matter how sensitive their aesthetics—if their work does not match the trends of the time, it will be overlooked.

Such is the world of art. There are as many talented, nameless artists as there are stars in the sky.

We know of only a few, those who happened to have been lucky in life.

The masses are forever blind, and their passion for art is abysmally low.

Mademoiselle: “Fufu. A nameless doll made by a nameless artist... The world is full of things just like me.”

Shu: Especially so since industrialization began. Nevertheless, even if they do not go down in history, it’s sufficient that they are special to someone.

I believe this now. It is vexing, but compromise is the ruin of art... I can aim for that, at least, now that I’ve fallen so low.

In any case, I came to terms with the unknown and ceased my search for Mademoiselle’s history—her true identity.

So I must say that I’m bewildered to have stumbled upon a clue, here of all places.

Now, of all times.

Well, it’s impolite to call her Mademoiselle forever; it would be nice to know her name, at least.

To think that I’ve been calling my family and friend “little girl” for so long.

Mademoiselle: “Fufu. I’m not sure how I’d like being told now, after all this time, that my name is something like Vivienne or Dorothy.”

“Really, I don’t think I’d ever be able to consider anything else my name.”

“Human or doll: it’s not a matter of how you’re born, but rather how you live, no?”

Shu: Still, it wouldn’t hurt to know.

Certainly we can live in ignorance, but mankind is a species which has developed science, has dissected itself and analyzed all that it is.

We are beings which have no choice but to do so, and such is the reason we gave birth to art.

...Now, then. My mind is clear, so I’d like to go see the Nameless Dolls exhibit. I wonder what it will actually contain.

Mika: Oh, yeah. I wonder~ Naru-chan talked to the person runnin’ the whole thing.

Apparently, some well-to-do done died a li’l bit ago...

So the family took an’ donated this collection they left behind to the government.

Most of ‘em are gettin’ appraised, an’ they give the ones with a lotta historical value to museums an’ the like.

But there’s a ton of stuff they don’t know where it came from.

Looks like they’re puttin’ those nameless dolls on display here.

It’s not enough to fill up a museum, but they didn’t wanna just leave ‘em in storage, neither.

But if you line ‘em up, they look sorta weird an’ interesting, so they borrowed some others from the museums an’ throwed ‘em all together for a little exhibition.

Guess they thought it might attract some visitors?

Mademoiselle: “Ahaha, you’re right about it being thrown together.”

Shu: Well, that would be why it’s being displayed in a department store and not a proper museum. It’s a cheap, tawdry excuse for an exhibition.

I suppose it’s just a trifling spectacle with no academic value.

Mika: Ngahh... but if you see a doll ya like, you can buy her, too.

The owner of ‘em left somethin’ like that in their will.

Puttin’ all that art in a museum would cost a buncha money to keep ‘em nice, so that argument don’t hold up.

An’ now they’re sellin’ the ones not worth too much to help raise funds, I guess.

Shu: Hmph. So the exhibition is an accumulation of junk deemed to be of little value. It rather suits myself as I am now...

However, this is good news. I can buy whatever piques my curiosity.

I’ll snatch up all of the dolls that resemble Mademoiselle; it’s far better than allowing them to remain here, exposed and humiliated like this.

Mademoiselle: “Wherever will you get the money for that, Shu-kun?”

Shu: If needs must, I shall ask my parents. Before entering Yumenosaki Academy, I spoke harshly to them, demanding that they not give me any money to fund my idol work...

However, buying these poor dolls has nothing to do with idols at all. It’s a charitable endeavor.