I was surrounded by the leaders of the Shinsengumi. Again.
This time, however, I was in a state of confusion. Do they know Yukimura Koudou? If they do, will they know that his daughter Chizuru is missing, and an imposter is currently taking her place? If they knew, I was sure I would be executed for lying to them, and going home would be impossible.
"I did think you were rather pretty, but to think that you were in fact a girl..." Kondou broke the silence first.
"I sort of forgot the fact that I'm dressed like a boy too, until a certain someone exposed me," I mumbled under my breath, eyeing Souji in annoyance. As usual, he gave me his signature smile, which made me want to sock his face.
Toudou looked over me for the hundredth time. "Once you know she's a girl, she really doesn't look like a boy at all, does she?" His curious eyes were almost gleaming in amusement, and I wanted to cringe away.
"Then we bounded a girl and left her for an entire night? Oh dear..." Inoue looked as if a boulder had suddenly landed upon his shoulders, and I felt guilty for once ever since I came into this world.
Waving my hand off, I shook my head quickly. "Y-You didn't know, so it's okay. Unlike a certain someone..." My eyes automatically shifted to Souji again, and I turned away, my chin in the air. That didn't seem to upset him--it made his smirk widened instead.
"Well, 'she' claimed to be a girl, but it's not like we have any actual proof, right?" Nagakura's eyes were filled with suspicion.
Beside him, Harada laughed. "Proof, really? Is it not obvious enough for ya? All right, will you feel better if I strip her down?"
Without thinking, my hands went to cover my chest, my face burning. "No! I mean, I'm flat-chested, but--" Admitting this somehow made me face even hotter, and I wanted to bury my head into the ground like an ostrich.
"No!" Kondou exclaimed. "You absolutely will not! Even suggesting such a thing is preposterous!" His face red, he shot up from his seat. He looked at me as if apologising for Harada's rudeness, and I suddenly felt like a guest rather than a prisoner.
"At least someone's a gentleman in here," I said to myself, and Saito's eyes flickered at me for a moment. I realized what I just said, and hastily tried to explain myself. "I-I mean, Saito-san's a gentleman too--" I stopped abruptly, frowning. Why am I bothering to explain myself to someone who knew the truth and yet hid it from others?
"Well, if you are really a girl, then killing just feels kinda...wrong." Nagakura interrupted me, and I unwillingly let out a sign of relief. So now they wouldn't be killing me now, huh...
"It doesn't matter; if we have to kill her, she dies." Hijikata's cold voice sent tension to my heart, and I shifted uncomfortably.
"Gender is irrelevant. Killing in general is wrong." Sanan smiled as if we were discussing about a tea party. "Also..." His emotionless eyes settled on me. "You mentioned Yukimura Koudou, am I right?"
I nodded slowly. "I remembered my name, Yukimura Jun, but I don't recall anything about his face and the like..."
"Since you have the same family name as Dr. Yukimura, I assume that you are his daughter, or at least his relative." Sanan said. "And the other name you have mentioned..."
"Matsumoto Ryojun, right?" Nagakura murmured.
"A-according to my written diary, he's out of town..." I said uncertainly--I didn't know whether I should give away such information. "So, where is Yuk-my father now?" The term tasted weird in my tongue, since I had never called my dad 'father' ever since young.
"The Shinsengumi is currently attempting to determine the whereabouts of Dr. Yukimura Koudou." Saito spoke, and I felt my insides ran cold. Could they be after him? Are they actually enemies of Yukimura Koudou? If so...I might get killed.
Reading my face like a book, Souji said, "Oh, no, we're not, uh, after him. Neither is he our enemy."
I exhaled in relief. "Then...what is it?"
"He's a fellow supporter of the shogun, but...he kind of disappeared a little while ago." Souji smiled at my easy-to-read expression, and I turned red.
"W-What do you mean?" I folded my arms, making a lousy attempt to look serious.
"There's a reasonable chance that the enemies of the shogun have identified him as threat. Another possibilty is that he's still alive. Doctors trained in western medicine are valuable and rare." Saito spoke over Souji's chuckle, and my stomach sank.
"Oh, no..." My vision blurred, and I thought I was about to faint until Kondou spoke in a panicked voice.
"Ah, please don't cry! We promise to find your father as fast as possible."
I didn't dare to speak for fear of my shaky voice, but nodded solemnly. I was not a crybaby, yet the thought of not returning home to the present made me want to bawl my eyes out. I quickly wiped my tears away and sniffed.
"I have a portrait of my father," I said, swallowing the lump in my throat. "It'll help you." I felt my eyes welling up in tears again. "Sorry I'm not that much of a help..."
"Well, since she's somehow related to him, we can't really kill her, can we..." Hijikata sighed as if he thought it was a pity I didn't die. "If you swear you'll forget about what you saw last night, then we'll look after you until you can find your father. Fair?"
"Fair enough." I nodded.
"I promise that the Shinsengumi will do whatever they can to help you find Dr. Koudou!" Kondou's enthusiasm was really contagious, and I found myself brightening up.
"Thank you so much!"
Noticing my smile, Souji decided to dumpen the mood. "You must be pretty glad we won't be killing you, huh? Well, won't be killing you just now, at any rate."
I glared at him for a moment, and thought that I shouldn't feel threatened. "Of course I am glad. Who wouldn't be?" I grinned at Kondou, who smiled back, looking relieved that I wasn't sad anymore.
"I'd prefer to place you in the custody of the Judiciary Commissioner or the Aizu rather than keep you in a house full of men, but..." He cleared his throat seriously.
"I don't mind," I said, tilting my head a little. "I don't actually see any problem with that." I was thinking that it would be a good chance to observe how the men in Shinsengumi act. When I was thirteen, I acted as Saito Hajime, who was a man of few words, because according to my drama teacher I wasn't good at potraying Hijikata. In the future I might have another play on the Shinsengumi, and this incident could be a great lesson to learn from.
I must be staring at Hijikata a little to hard, because he met my look with a glare. Wincing, I glanced away, and then Saito spoke beside me.
"Should you require anything, you need only ask. We will do what we can to accommodate you." He looked so serious and kind that I blushed, my heart beating wildly.
"A-ah, thank you."
"W-well, I guess we'll have to be nicer to you now that we know you're a girl," Nagakura said a little awkwardly.
Toudou laughed, nudging his arm. "You're always nice to the ladies, Shin. Sure didn't take you long to change your tune once you figured out she was a girl though, huh?" Nagakura looked as if he wanted to hit Toudou's head out of embarrassment, but Harada stopped him.
"Ah, whatever. Having a lady here at the headquarters is sure gonna brighten things up huh?" Harada smiled at me kindly.
"Uhh, I doubt so..." I mumbled as I fiddled with my thumbs. I couldn't be called as a lady--maybe more like a prince, but definitely not a lady.
"Still, we can hardly treat her like one of our soldiers. Something else must be done with her." Sanan pointed out, his smile never wavering.
Hijikata narrowed his eyes at me as if I was a bother. "Then make her a page or something. You want an assistant, Kondou? How about you, Sanan?"
Pissed off, I glared at Hijikata for the first time. Even if I was a burden or whatever, he shouldn't treat me like this, pushing me around like I was some object. Even objects have their uses.
Out of the corner of my eye, I thought Souji's mouth twitched, and he chuckled. "Oh, come on now, Hijikata-san. It's your idea, so you can't just pawn her off on someone else."
Kondou clapped his hands as if to settle everything. "Ah, excellent! I believe we can trust Toshi with her!"
My eyes widened in shock as Sanan smiled at both Hijikata and me. "Well, there you have it, Hijikata-kun. I hope you'll take good care of her." I thought his smile was a little different from the rest though--a little mocking.
"You sons of bitches." Both Hijikata and I glared at Souji, with only him cursing under his breath. I looked at him, frowning.
"It's not like I want to, though you should be honoured." I huffed through my nose, and he turned to glare at me. Souji was laughing as if I just told the funniest joke in the world, and the rest except Saito had a smile on their faces.
Hijikata recovered, and spoke to me firmly. "The Shinsengumi will look after you, but we can't have a woman running around our headquarters."
"Technically, I'm a girl, since I'm still fifteen," I interrupted. I just entered high school as a freshman, but Daisuke, who was at my same age, called me senpai because he said that I was a much better actor or performer than he was.
Hijikata glared at me for interrupting him, and I shut up. "If rumours were to spread that we are keeping a woman in the compound, tongues will wag. Not only that, enemies might come to get you." He paused for a moment to look into my eyes. "In other words, we need you to keep pretending to be a man. I doubt that's what you wanted to hear, but you do it or you're out on your ass. Clear?" When I agreed, Sanan took over.
"I doubt you would do so intentionally, but the presence of a woman could...ah, disrupt morale, so to speak. For that reason, only we, the Shinsengumi's leadership, will know the truth of your situation."
"Okay. So what do I do here?" I asked, a little excited to start observing the Shinsengumi members.
"Nothing. You're gonna get a room, and you're gonna stay in it." Hijikata looked at me for a moment, and my face fell.
"Ehh, nothing?" I then recalled that I was supposed to find some way to go home, instead of treating this as some sort of field trip.
"Really? I could have sworn we decided she was going to be someone's page..." Souji's smirk seemed to irritate Hijikata.
His eyes narrowing, he hissed, "Souji, keep your tongue in your mouth or I'll cut the fucking thing off."
I laughed hoarsely at what he said, and sighed, impatient. I really really needed to get home if I didn't want Satoshi and Daisuke to worry. What is happening back in the present too? I was really curious to know. How did I end up in Yukimura Chizuru's house, and where did she go? The questions in my head seemed to pile up endlessly, and I had not a single answer to any of that.