Reborn into Hakuouki!? (Hakuouki Fanfiction)

Play 37: Feelings In The Dust

"When we left for Kyoto, Mitsu, his older sister, asked me to look out for him."

I was pulled out of my own dark thoughts. His older sister? Really? I heaved a loud sigh, and Kondou glanced at me. I scratched the back of my neck awkwardly, laughing hastily and asking him to continue.

It was his turn to sigh now. "If I made her mad, I...well, I shudder to think what might happen to me." Kondou shivered involuntarily. "The very thought is terrifying."

"Is she that scary?" I tilted my head to the side. Kondou might have a softer side for women, so he didn't dare to retort anything back. It turned out that Mitsu was frightening as I listened to the older man describe her character. I even shook uncontrollably knowing that such a person exist. Even so, I giggled at him, finding it hilarious that even Kondou, the man leading the dreadful Shinsengumi, had a rather...mundane fear.

"Hey, this isn't a laughing matter!" Kondou exclaimed seriously when I burst into tears of laughter. "I'd rather fight off ten ronin than try and ague with her. She's...quite something." I stifled my titter and wondered curiously how Souji's childhood was like.

"That makes two of us."

I jumped a foot in the air and saw Hijikata with an exasperated expression on his face. He looked slightly bothered, as if the thought of meeting this Mitsu again was very disturbing.

"You met her before?" I asked, suddenly excited to hear more about it.

Hijikata nodded, and Kondou's face was full of worry. "I hope everything will turn out all right, but if something should happen to Souji, then I would like you to be the one to tell Mitsu, Toshi."

"Like hell I will," Hijikata mumbled, furrowing his eyebrows. "That kinda crap is what we have a chief for, chief." He said the last word almost mockingly, and I had to cup my mouth before another laugh escaped me.

Instead of pushing the blame back to the vice-commander, Kondou exhaled. "Easy for you to say..."

"Oh," I blurted out. "This is funny, but I can suggest something." I cleared my throat dramatically and whirled my body once on the spot before pointing at them. "The both of you could just talk to Mitsu-san!" I laughed without constrain as Hijikata glared at me and Kondou wondered if it was a good idea.

Ignoring me, Hijikata turned serious and fixed his gaze at Kondou. "Oh, right. Did you hear about the notice board over by Sanjo Ohashi Bridge?"

"The board set up by the shogunate?" Kondou scowled.

"Some assholes pulled it out and tossed it into the Kamo."

"Yes, of course I heard about that," the older man spoke, nodding. "Havent they already replaced it?"

"They did. Same thing happened. I think they're gonna ask us to keep an eye on it pretty soon." Hijikata's expression mirrored the same as Kondou's.

"It got torn down at night, didn't it?" Kondou nodded slowly, a hand to his chin. "What do you say to use Sanan-san's Fury Corps, then?" When Hijikata frowned at that, he raised his eyebrow. "You think it's a bad idea?"

"They work hard enough, but..." He spoke slowly and carefully. "They tend to get a little excited."

I let out a soft snort. "More like a lot too insane."

Hijikata, like before, pretended that I wasn't there. "Whatever we give them to do, they end up slaughtering the other side. That's not enough for them, though. They go in and hack the corpses to bits. Most of the time they're not even recognizable."

I shuddered when I heard that, and not wanting to listen further, I left the courtyard to let the other two men discuss matters.

"Ah, Jun-chan!"

Yuri came out of nowhere, clinging onto my leg. Eri appeared too, and grabbed onto my other free leg. I blinked in confusion at them as their eyes sparkled innocently—a little too innocently.

"Oh, Jun." Heisuke walked up to me. "The twins missed you."

I looked down at the both of them, feeling very suspicious. These two little demons missed me? I would rather believe a conman. The corners of my lips twitched into a fake smile as I thanked Heisuke for taking care of them. When he left, I stared at them.

"Can you please let go now?"

The two of them loosened their grip simultaneously and smirked at each other, as if they just accomplished the mission of making me angry.

"Erase those crazy smiles of your faces." I began to stroll down the corridor. "By the way, what do you think about furies?"

Yuri and Eri followed closely behind. "That was random." Yuri whistled as if it was normal for a little girl to do so. "Personally, I think they're disgusting. I mean, they can't be compared to us pure-blooded demons."

"A shame to the entire demon existence," Eri added helpfully.

She nodded. "I would wipe out the furies, if I wasn't a Byakko demon," Yuri muttered under her breath, almost regretfully.

"But don't you feel that furies are quite...pitiful?" I thought of Sanan's case.

"Sure they are, but most of them chose how they live." Yuri rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "It's kind of like...Serves them right?" She snapped her fingers when she remembered the phrase.

"It is true, but..." I sighed, wondering how I should feel about this. If Chizuru was in this situation now, what would she do? Would she try and...kill those furies with her demon blood?

Yuri sighed. "Really, Jun-chan, you worry too much. Back in the modern times, you only cared about acting, plays and scripts. Now..." Her eyes turned dark with amusement. "Because of the Shinsengumi, you've changed."

"Is that a bad thing?" I asked after a moment's hesitation.

"It's not, but you care for the Shinsengumi too much." Eri murmured. "It's not going to be fun when you need to leave."

"What if I stay here forever?" I blurted out, and silently cursed myself for talking about my feelings too bluntly.

Yuri laughed, much to my surprise. "That's impossible. Quit acting so selfish and childish." Her green eyes glimmered and I found myself unable to tear my eyes from them. "Have you forgotten? You don't belong here. Chizuru is the one who was supposed to meet the Shinsengumi." She chuckled. "Simply put, you're a replacement for her existence in this world."

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