My Ikemen Sengoku Stories

Family Photo - Nobunaga

Among the other contents that were in her bag, I could see multiple of an object I had often seen her tie her hair back with, the marker as she had called it that she had marked me with at my birthday a couple years ago was also part of the collection. I fondly recalled the memories at that birthday when she had told me of her desire to live along side me for a long time.

The rest of the items were ones I had not yet looked at. There was some other rectangle made of a paper I thought, much more efficient than using scrolls. Next, I pulled out a square which opened, made from the same kind of material that we had recently started using to make our armour out of, leather as the nanban had called it. It was fascinating to think that this material was so useful that they would still be using it in her time.

I used my fingers to pry it open and a white square fell out of it and floated to the floor. Y/n stopped sewing and looked over at me as I went to pick it up.

When I turned it over in my hand I could see three people on this paper. I was taken aback by this. How did they get these people on this paper?. Y/n told me it was called a photo and that in her time and for over a century before that they could replicate people onto this paper using something called a camera.

I know her time is far ahead of my own so knowing that they can replicate people so perfectly for posterity does not even surprise me.

On this paper were three people sitting on some kind of clothed chair. On the right was a middle-aged man who reminded me oddly of my own father and on the left was a woman with slightly greying hair and who looked a lot like Y/n but older with a few obvious wrinkles. In the middle was a young girl holding the hands of the two people beside her.

I took a closer look at the photograph as she had called it and recognised someone. It was Y/n albeit a younger version of her but this girl was undoubtedly my fireball. I thrilled at the opportunity to see Y/n in her adolescence years

All her features were still there but now they were more pronounced. She still had a baby face but not as much as in this photograph. 

I took a longer glance at the others on the photograph. This must be her parents. I wish I could greet them formally.

While I was eagerly peering at this photograph, Y/n was watching me silently.

I flipped over the paper and on the back was some writing scrawled in a neat hand. Our ways of writing were very different but I could make out what it said. It read '20XX Family Photo'. Yet again I was reminded how vastly different and widely apart our times are.

Y/n looked at me just then and leaned over my shoulder to get a closer look but I didn't miss her expression of sadness in the corner of my eye. Of course, she misses them: her home, the people she met there.

Y/n went on to tell me that she had an assessment to test her knowledge of history the day after this photo was taken.

"My mother was a big believer in educational trips, not that it ever sunk in though" she told me staring fondly at the photo. "I think I was about 14 at that time and my mother dragged me and my father out the house to learn through our eyes and not through books" while she was saying this she had this large nostalgic smile on her face which reminded me of the family I had seen earlier.

"Where did you visit?" I asked, entirely curious in what buildings of our time had become in the future.

"ermmm... your.... grave actually, among over historical sites" she admitted awkwardly and embarrassingly.

To hear that she had visited my grave had left me speechless.

After I processed the shock I asked her the question I was most curious and worried about. "Do you miss them?" my question seemed to shock her to silence for a slow minute.

When she finally opened her mouth to speak she said this "It's only natural but my mother would want me to live my own life and follow my dreams" she paused again and took a heavy breath "and my father.... well he passed away about 2 years after we took that photo" she looked down and it almost looked like she was going to cry but she quickly pulled herself together and looked up at me.

"Home is where you make it" she smiled as she said it and I wrapped my arms around her tightly hoping to express how much happiness and love she gave me and how glad I was that she had chosen to be with me in this chaotic time.

I felt her body shake a little as I held her and at that point I knew she was crying. I rubbed her back softly and whispered words of comfort into her ear.

That night I kept her close by my side and vowed to myself that if she was ever saddened again by not being able to be with the people she loved in her time then I would reassure her of the amount of love she has in this world and that I loved her just as much.

AUTHORS NOTE

Another college library fanfic from June, seriously I love this one so much too. I've had this idea for awhile and it was supposed to be in celebration of Nobunaga's sequel coming out but I ended up writing it a lot later. The part about the marker actually happened in Nobunaga's B-Day Fest in 2019 if you were wondering. Please enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Stay safe.