Chapter 9
It was a beautiful morning with the sun shone gently upon the earth. The birds were dancing in the sky as if they owned the sky. The clouds were white and innocent without a single hint of gloom. There was peace in the air and no disturbance at all.
Waking up to the smell of left over sake, I opened my eyes only to see a problem. My eyes grew devouringly large as the face of the demon leaned close to me. Three inches, and our noses would have touched. Holding my breath, I scanned around and found myself unable to move as well. Why is his arm on my waist?! That moment, his hand moved and successfully tickled me.
Screaming at the top of my lungs, I woke the demon up. Due to my screaming, Hijikata jolted in surprise and reflexively shut me up with his palm, pushing me back onto the floor. He sighed in relief.
"Ssh!" He glared.
"Ghe dha he uff meh! (get the hell off me)"
"Ssh!" Hijikata warned again.
Struggling to free myself, I grabbed his wrist strongly that my nails dag into his skin. Hijikata groaned in pain loudly causing me to shut him up with my palm. As the result, he was pushed onto the floor. Due to my retaliation, he also retaliated by letting my back touch the floor again. With my nails reflexively sank into his flesh, he groaned again. To shut him up, I got up and pushed him down. When we were finally silent, we found our position…odd. Our eyes met and we ended up staring at each other. Only our breathing was heard. Feeling my blood rushed towards my face, I was certain I was blushing. After all, Hijikata's handsome face was just there; in perfect position that my eyes could etch his image perfectly.
"Sayo—"
"Toshi! Are you alright? I heard some noises!" Kondo called from the door. Surprised and flustered, we let go of each other. No matter what it took, we had to make sure Kondo didn't find us together. Desperately looking for place to hide, I initially crawled to the cupboard where I had hidden before. However, a hand pulled me by my ankle causing me to land face first on the floor with a 'bump!'
"Toshi? Are you alright?" Kondo asked with a concerned tone.
"What are you doing, Hijikata-san?! I must hide!" Getting up, I whispered.
"Not there!" He whispered back.
"Why not?! I had hidden then before!" Protesting, I kicked his hand off my ankle and proceeded to crawl towards the cupboard.
"Wait!" Hijikata pulled my ankle again, causing me to fall onto the floor but this time I managed to prevent my 'face fall' with my arms propping my torso above the floor.
"Toshi? I'm coming in!" Kondo said.
"If it's about the lousy book of poems, I know about it already!" Kicking his hand away and crawled into the cupboard quickly seemingly of a lizard, I managed to reach my safe zone. Sighing in relief, I found the narrow place nostalgic. I slid the door open a bit so I could peek at how Hijikata was doing.
"O-oh! Kondo-san! W-what brings you here?" Hijikata asked, pretending as if nothing had happened.
"What? You are alone. I thought you're with someone." Kondo chuckled as sat down.
"W-who else is here other than me? My room is mine." Hijikata scoffed. He folded his arms on his chest…His style. Rolling my eyes as I heard their conversation, I found the book of poems belonged to Hogyoku still in the cupboard. This belongs to Hijikata-san…huh? He's bad with this. He has neat writing but he has no literature skill at all…
"Uh? Sake? You were drinking?" Kondo noticed and asked directly.
"Last night." Hijikata sighed.
"Oh? Good morning, Hijikata-san and Kondo-san!" Souji's voice rang. It was unknown for what purpose he came so early in the morning but there was nothing weird about his tone so I supposed he was just in the mood to tease Hijikata. It was a good thing that I managed to hide in the nick of time. If it were Souji who came first, he might have sensed something was off. With Kondo speaking casually with Hijikata, surely Souji wouldn't sense anything wrong.
"Sake? Don't you hate sake, Hijikata-san?" Casually sitting beside Kondo, Souji asked. "Were you drinking with someone else?" He asked again.
"No. Just me." Hijikata replied bluntly.
"But…there are two cups lying on the floor there…" Souji pointed at the cups. The moment he finished his question, Hijikata's cheek twitched. Oh no. Our morning wake up was weird at the start that we didn't realize that the cups could be an indication that 'someone else' was here with Hijikata—drinking with him last night.
"S-so what? I formerly thought of inviting Kondo-san to drink along but…well…that…" Hijikata stuttered making me anxious at how he was trying to cover up. He scratched the back of his head, not looking at Kondo and Souji.
"Ahahaha! Toshi is as shy as ever! You should have just called me!" Kondo chuckled. "…but I understand. Toshi, don't carry the burden by yourself. We are all sad for the loss."
Is it about Yamanami-san?
"Hijikata-san always tortures himself with sake he hates whenever he's sad anyway." Souji giggled.
"S-Shut up!" Hijikata shouted, banging his palm on the floor. His cheeks were slightly pink making me giggle softly too.
"Sayo-chan should know about this! It'll be funny!" Souji giggled again as he rose from his seat. "Ah, is Sayo-chan awake? She should be." Attempting to leave the room, Souji caused a panic within my heart and possibly in Hijikata's heart too.
"Halt!" Hijikata shouted, reaching an arm out.
"Hm? What is it Hijikata-san?" Souji raised his eyebrows; clueless.
"S-Sayo is…out for an errand." Hijikata made up a random excuse.
"Is that so? Does that mean she was here before? Why didn't you ask her to clean up the sake and the cups? She's your servant after all." Souji arched an eyebrow as he placed his butt back on the floor beside Kondo.
"I clean my own mess." Hijikata said.
"Then what's the use of having Sayo as servant? I know she owes you her—"
"—Souji!" Hijikata shouted, glaring at Souji. It successfully made Souji to shut up for a moment. Souji chuckled nervously as he apologized.
"A…Ahahaha…Well then, Souji s-should we just join the morning exercise?" Kondo suggested and Souji nodded vigorously. Hence, they took their heels out of the room.
Crawling out of the cupboard, I looked at Hijikata curiously. He faced his desk; unwilling to look at me. "Clean the sake and the cups." He ordered.
"I thought you would clean your own mess." Smirking, I muttered loud enough for him to hear.
"Clean those things up and get the hell out of my room!" Hijikata roared.
OmO/
Rushing out with the bottle of sake and two cups, I ran towards the kitchen. Stepping into the kitchen, I almost bumped into someone. To my greatest discomfort it turned out to be Souji. That moment I felt my blood was drained from my face, turning me into bloodless walking woman. Once again, I cursed my fortune.
"Oh, Sayo-chan! You surprised me!" He sighed in relief as he patted his chest.
"I-I'm sorry…what are you doing here?" Gulping my saliva, I asked. I seriously hoped he wouldn't question what was in my hands.
"I'm looking for you! Hijikata-san said you were on an errand and I thought it should be time that you return and I'm right! The morning training is finished and I came directly from the field." Souji said, grinning as always. True, he was sweating a bit. He must have ditched the morning training to play with the kids by the temple and joined in the exercise when Kondo invited.
"I-I see…what do you need?" Trying my best to calm my beating heart down, I found myself in a rather disadvantageous position.
"What do I need? I'm your cooking partner today! How could you forget?!" Souji pouted as he folded his arms on his chest. "Oh? Sake and cups? Aren't those the ones in Hijikata's room?" Placing his index finger on his chin, he seemed to recall it.
"Y-yes. He's so helpless!" Slowly turning the conversation… "I just came back from an errand and he's already ordering me around!" Slowly turning the conversation… "By the way, what are we going to cook today?"
"Sayo-chan, you smell like sake a bit…" Souji asked, sniffing a bit despite being two steps away from me.
"Are you sure it's not because I'm holding sake?" I asked, walking passed him and placed the bottle of sake and cups down. After washing the cups and the empty bottle, I placed it with other cups.
"No. The aroma is smelled only when you speak." Souji said. I swear only at this kind of situation he was as sharp as a hunting wolf. May God ease my sufferings. I prayed mentally.
"It's just your feeling—" I was going to deny that as naturally as possible but Souji decided to lean close to my face, causing me to hold my breath with my eyes as big as an owl's.
"Sayo-chan…" Souji whispered.
"H-Hm?" Without opening my mouth, I voiced a query. If only it was someone else, I could have been able to fool them. Why on earth was it Souji who i was paired with that day? For fresh radish's sake, free me from this mental trial!
"Why do you smell like Hijikata's room's tatami floor?"Souji moved away from me, staring at me for answer. Crap. What had I done in the past life that I deserved such lousy fortune? More like… Why did Souji know how Hijikata's room's tatami floor smelled like? For what purpose did he remember the smell? For what purpose did he always hide under Hijikata's room?
"And…I'm sorry to ask…but…have you bathed? Your hair is not as neat as usual and your clothes, is the same as the one you wore yesterday." Souji arched an eyebrow, still asking.
Someone screw his memory please. I found myself speechless. There was no way to run anymore and there was no way to fool him anymore. There was no other choice than to tell him the truth and make him swear to secrecy.
"Okay…so, everything you think might be a possibility is true…" I began after inhaling deeply.
"D-Did Hijikata-san put his fingers on you?!" Souji gasped exaggeratingly.
"NO! ONLY THAT PART IS YOUR MERE DELUSION." Responding to his false assumption, I thought it would be wise to fight his drama with 'my' drama. Taking up the knife and placed it on my neck, I pleaded. "It's not like that…" Working my crocodile tears up, I managed to let a tear flow down the corner of my left eye.
"Hijikata-san did invite me to accompany him to drink…but we didn't do anything… Please, Souji… swear to secrecy."
"I…I understand! I know how weak Hijikata'san is to sake…tell me…how many cups had he drunk last night? He usually fell asleep after his seventh cup." Souji placed his palm facing me; a gesture to convince me not to cut myself.
Assuming it was best to dramatize things up… "He…He drank twenty cups!"
"Who the hell drank twenty cups last night?!" A voice exploded suddenly from the entrance to the kitchen. There stood the demon in his usual black attire.
"Hijikata-san! Are you sure you are okay to work today?! It's not normal of you to have drunk that much!" Souji gasped dramatically as he ran towards Hijikata. He circled his arms around Hijikata's waist and held his hakama tightly.
"Souji… you…" Hijikata also circled his arms around Souji's waist, grabbing his hakama and within a second, the kitchen turned into a sumo[1] battle field. Both men tried to flip each other. No, it had nothing to do with me anymore. It confused me as well. Blinking as I stared at them, I was sure Souji wouldn't spread any rumor.
"If you win, I'll not spread any rumor but you still need to buy a pack of manjuu for me. Hijikata-san." Souji said as he struggled to flip Hijikata onto the ground. However, Hijikata was not in position to lose. He couldn't afford to lose his reputation or he would condemn his men to cut their bowels.
"How dare of you to threaten me, Souji." Hijikata glared.
"It's business, Hijikata-san," Souji smiled.
"Where did you even learn to be a foul-playing merchant?" Hijikata smirked.
"From you." Souji showed his teeth; grinning.
"Can you two do the sumo outside instead of in the kitchen? Watch out for flying knives." I suggested as I chopped on some carrots. "Souji, you do the cooking tonight, alright?"
"Yes, madam." Souji attempted to lift Hijikata but Hijikata only budged an inch. Then, they got out of the kitchen walking like crabs with hands still on opponents' waists.
"Gather the men except those who are going for patrols, Souji. We will battle later on the field." Hijikata smirked. "Now, let go off my hakama."
"Aye sir." Souji replied with his smile. "You first, sir."
OuO/
"Uwoooohhhh!" Soldiers growled from the field. From the noises they made, it was obvious that they were doing sumo. There must have been something wrong with Hijikata to suddenly hold the sumo battle for everyone just because he did a bit with Souji. Well… as long as Souji forgot what I had said—as if he would forget his pack of manjuu. Souji was always sharp if it concerned to sweets or snacks.
"Sayo-chan! Cook extra today, we have hungry men to feed!" Shinpachi showed up, leaning by the door frame of the kitchen. After finishing his sentence, he hung his jaw open.
"Aren't you talking about yourself, Shinpachi-san?" Glancing at Shinpachi as I chopped the cucumber, I took a piece and aimed it towards his mouth. Fitting properly into his mouth, he munched it happily.
"It's so fresh!" Shinpachi cheered.
"Sayo-chan! Give me too!" Heisuke appeared from behind Shinpachi with his mouth open wide. Firing another piece of cucumber towards his mouth, he chewed it noisily as he cheered at how crunchy the cucumber was.
"Oh! Me! Me too!" Sano came too, opening his mouth as wide as the entrance to Shinsengumi HQ. Therefore, I sent a piece of cucumber into his mouth. The more he chewed the more hideous his face looked. Wondering what was happening, I approached close. Finally swallowing it down, Sano coughed a few times.
"What is it, Sano?" Shinpachi asked.
"O…" Sano muttered as he coughed.
"O?" I asked.
"Onion." Sano said. "Can you please give me some water?"
"Right away!" I ran to get the cup and filled it with water from a teapot. Running back to where Sano was, I passed him the water. He gulped the water quickly as if it was his only last chance to live.
"It was…killing my throat!" Sano chuckled as if he had been resurrected from the dead. He was then laughing out loud.
"Get back to the field! Train those men would you?!" Hijikata barked.
"Oh no, it's Hijikata-san! Run!" Heisuke said as he tugged Shinpachi's sleeve and ran. Off they went; back to the field.
"Hey." Hijikata spoke with his eyes on me.
"Yes?" I blinked confusingly, wondering what he was going to say.
"Come." Hijikata said, pulling me by my upper arm and dragged me to where those men practiced sumo. The panorama came to me as a nightmare due to those men appearing with naked torsos or just in their loincloths. Covering my eyes with my other free hand, I was too embarrassed to see. Feeling my face grew red, I bit my lower lip to endure the embarrassment.
"Oh! Sayo-chan! Ahahaha! Being bullied by Hijikata-san, eh?" said one of those men as they laughed.
"H-Hijikata-san! Release me!" I struggled to free myself.
"This is your punishment." Hijikata said, scoffing.
"I have no idea what you are talking about! Why must I be punished to such sight?"
"Isn't this bliss instead of punishment? Hahahah! You get to see men's bodies before marrying." Hijikata laughed evilly.
"Hijikata-san!" I shouted but he didn't stop laughing. His deliberated continuous laughter irked me so much that I couldn't bear the humiliation. Facing downward with my hand still blocking the view of muscular men, my eyes flew to Hijikata's feet and I decided to step onto his foot. After removing my geta of course, we wouldn't want a limping vice-commander, right?
With every force I could gather, I stomped on his foot. Screaming due to my hidden skill, there was a hint of pride surfacing on my heart. Running to the kitchen, I didn't glance backward. Who wanted to know how the demon was doing with his foot? Soon enough there was a round of laughter which turned into a held back laughter. Probably because those men were afraid they would be ordered to slice their abdomen for laughing at the vice-commander. It worked for them but not for me.
Finishing the preparation for lunch, I felt accomplished. Since I finish this earlier than I had thought… maybe I can visit mother after the cleaning duty. A smile crept up my face as I ran towards the closest bathroom.
"Why hello there, Sayo." Greeted the pervert—I meant, Itou Kashitaro. He came out of his room and approached me with a smile. It was a coincidence that the bathroom was near his room.
"Good morning." I said nonchalantly as I walked passed him; into the bathroom. After clearing the dirty water in pails, I began to scrub them with a brush.
"You are such a rare beauty. You can't even be compared to the stars in my eyes…"
"Excuse me? Stars?" My hands stopped and my eyes looked at him. "I am sorry, Itou-san. Why does a handsome scholar man bother to speak with a mere maid?" Truly, I felt guilty for I wanted to rush my job and return home for some halberd training. My status forced me to pursue the capability of self-defense. It was what I wanted as well.
"My, what a sweet girl you are!" Itou's eyes brightened up that moment upon the mention of 'handsome scholar man'. It warned me somehow that I had landed in a forbidden place.
"I'm working now. Could you not bother me?"
"Please don't say that. I am very interested to speak with you." Itou prodded.
"You can get permission from Hijikata-san first. Officially, I'm his personal servant although I also work as a maid." I continued scrubbing. Hearing so, Itou became silent. He seemed to be pondering about something.
"Aren't you interested in forbidden conversation, Matsudaira-chan?"
"You—" What he said caught me by surprise. To think that there was someone else who was interested in a poor maid's background… I thought only Hijikata and Yamazaki who knew about it… Certainly, I was wrong.
"Itou-san? What is wrong?" Another man came. He was foreign to me but he seemed decent.
"Ah, Tsukasa-kun." Itou greeted. "You came at the right timing. Would you help Sayo-chan with the chore? It must be tough for a girl to do all the chores by herself." He said.
"I understand." The man called Tsukasa faced me and bowed. "My name is Ibaraki Tsukasa. N-nice to meet you, Sayo-san." He smiled sheepishly.
"It's a pleasure to know you but…I don't need any help in my job." I rejected, smiling.
"Why not, Sayo-chan?" Itou asked, leaning ridiculously close. He had this mysterious aura around him causing me to wonder if he was flirting or not. It felt as if he was flirting but he wasn't.
"W-well…if it's found out by Hijikata-san…my…salary will be decreased?" Randomly making up the reason, i was worried if it would fool them.
"Well, why don't I pay you then? Double what Hijikata gives of course." Itou whispered, smiling like a mother-in-law with his hands on my shoulders. His action further confused me on what he wanted from me. I couldn't help but to eye him suspiciously.
"Itou-san…Are you…flirting?" To be honest, he was a bit creepy.
"You can say that, dear." Itou replied bluntly.
"But…if you are flirting, then why won't you offer help on your own instead of asking Tsukasa-san to help me? Isn't it more gentle man to offer help by yourself?" I asked and there was a moment of pregnant silence with only the birds chirping.
"I was about to offer help but I remembered I have an important meeting with Hijikata so I asked Tsukasa-kun to help when he appeared magically like of a divination from the heaven!" Itou reasoned as if he had just thought of the excuse just now.
"I…see." Somewhat regarding to his speech positively, I nodded.
"Well then, I shall leave for now. See you later, Sayo-chan!" Itou buzzed off to where Hijikata was; perhaps.
"Uhm…Sayo-san?" Tsukasa called politely. "May I help you?"
"Ah, no thanks." I refused as I continued scrubbing the wooden pails.
"Then…may I accompany you?" Tsukasa asked, scratching the back of his head and shifted his eyes to the ground.
"What for? Why don't you join the sumo battle?" Asking purely on curiosity, I didn't look at him.
"Hijikata-san is on rampage." Tsukasa said, chuckling softly.
"I'm sorry." Laughing dryly, I apologized. Pouring clean water over the dirty pails, I finished my job.
"Why are you apologizing, Sayo-san?" Tsukasa asked, chuckling. He must have known why I apologized and found what I did to Hijikata something funny.
"I'm done. You should return to your unit." I suggested.
"I understand." Tsukasa said as he bowed and took steps away from me. He spun and looked at me. "Have you ever joined Itou-san's lesson?"
"Itou-san…teaches?"
"Yes. Calligraphy and literature. I'm sure he will be happy if you join the lesson." Tsukasa smiled.
"I don't think I suit. I'm just a maid."
"I don't think he mind about that. Do show up when you have time." Tsukasa said. He bowed for the last time before he went away for good.
If only Hijikata-san would be as polite as Tsukasa-san is… I sighed.
OmO/
Finishing my job, I walked towards Hijikata's room. Knocking on the door, no one seemed to be in the room. Wondering where Hijikata could be, I decided to visit Kondo's room instead. Indeed there were voices heard from the room. Knocking on the door, I excused myself into the room.
"Oh! Sayo! What is it?" Kondo smiled broadly.
"Hmph." Hijikata didn't even bother to look at me. He gulped his tea and cast his eyes anywhere except me.
"Hijikata-san, I want the permission to return to my mother for a while. I have finished my work." I bowed at him.
"Hm." He voiced. Was it 'yes' or 'no', I had no idea. This man had to make things clear to his opponent.
"Is that a yes or no?" I confirmed.
"Hm." He voiced again.
"…" Unable to get any answer from the demon, I turned to the kind-hearted commander instead. "Kondo-san, is it alright if I return for a while?"
"Ah, of course! Take your time!" Kondo smiled broadly.
"Thank you very much. I'll make sure to return before dinner."
OmO/
Returning home, I was welcomed by my mother warmly. She asked me what had happened but there was nothing particular that happened. When I requested her to teach me how to hold a halberd, mother seemed very happy. Hence, she taught me the basic of how to swing halberd and how to make sure there was no wasted movement. To be honest, mother wasn't very good in teaching with her babbling inserted in her speech. Still, I managed to learn the basics. After adapting a while, I thought it would be alright to have a mock battle with my mother. To my miscalculation, mother defeated me in two moves. After another mock battle, we finally rested.
"What makes you interested in halberd?" Mother asked.
"Oh… Actually when I was in Edo, I was so bored that I couldn't think of anything to do. Suddenly I recalled the halberd you usually train with. So, I practiced with a broom stick." I replied.
"So? What do you think?" Mother grinned.
"It's completely different. Halberd gives more thrills. It makes me excited."
"Glad you think so." Mother says. "Ah, why don't you have dinner here? I'll cook your favorite."
"Ah no, mother. I need to help with the dinner in Shinsengumi." I refused. "Oh my, look at the time. I have to get going, mother."
"I see. Be careful on your way back." Mother smiled as she sent me off.
[1] Sumo is a competitive full-contact wrestling in which wrestler has to push the opponent out of the ring or let the opponent touch the ground except for the soles of the feet.
