Chapter 25

"For the two of us, home isn't a place. It is a person. And we are finally home." ― Stephanie Perkins, Anna and the French Kiss

It was the Hour of the Tiger, so it was time to get out of bed and start cooking breakfast, but I had a slight problem. Souji's incredibly tight grip on me had not loosened overnight and it would be impossible to get up without waking him. He was tired from the emotional conflict that had occurred between us last night, so I didn't want to wake him up and disturb his rest, especially because I always woke up an hour earlier than almost everyone else did. After a couple more minutes of hopelessly struggling to get loose, I gave up and decided I had to wake him up to get loose.

"Souji." I softly called his name while rubbing his side gently. I believe most people preferred the gentle wake-up-calls over the loud and abrupt ones. I know I certainly did. There was a reason I once threw my alarm clock, in my past life, against the wall when it wouldn't shut up.

"Mmm," Souji stirred before opening his eyes sleepily. "Shizuka? What is it?" he murmured tiredly. "It's still dark out."

"I need you to let go now." I told him softly as I stop rubbing his side to rest my hand on his hip. "I have to get up now to make breakfast if all the food is to be finished by the time everyone gets out of bed."

My words had the opposite effect of what I wanted. Instead of letting go of me, Souji tightened his hold on me while looking disappointed.

"Can't everyone just make their own breakfast today?" he mumbled before he nuzzled the crook of my neck. "Stay here with me until it's time for me to get out of bed. Please?"

I couldn't stop the small smile that formed on my lips at Souji's request. He was just so… I thought he was so cute when he was like this. It felt nice to feel needed and wanted by someone and it sucked to have to deny his request.

"I can't." I said gently as I ran my fingers through his hair. "I know everyone prefers to have a nice hot breakfast waiting for them once they wake up. Besides, if there's no food then Hijikata-san will assume that I snuck out early in the morning again and will start stalking me again. Remember when he stalked me three days straight last week?"

"Tsk! Stupid Hijikata-san!" Souji muttered darkly as his hold loosened around my waist before he sat up. "If Shizuka's getting up now, then I will too."

"You don't have to get up now." I said as I rolled out of his futon and stood up. "I know you usually sleep a little longer."

Souji sighed before he got out of his futon too, regardless of what I said. He wrapped both of his arms around my waist from behind and placed his chin on my shoulder. I turned to look him in the eye and was greeted with a soft, unreadable expression.

"I want to." Souji answered softly. "It's been a long time since we've been able to spend some time alone like this together."

That was true. It had been a long time. With all the time I spent running around outside, I haven't been spending much time with him lately. Other than the constant presence of Serizawa, it was no wonder he was so moody nowadays. Then, when Kyoko-chan was thrown into the equation, Souji must have thought he was being replaced in my life. He must have been terribly upset this whole time and had probably started to compare Kyoko-chan and mine relationship to Otou-san and Hijikata-san's relationship. He didn't want to be the third wheel.

"Okay." I agreed before kissing his cheek. "Why don't you come with me today when I head out?"

Souji's mood brightened up instantly at my invitation. After all this time, I was finally asking him to come out with me on my mysterious, daily rounds. He planted a quick, chaste kiss on my lips before he released me, which I found a bit strange. He was always affectionate towards me, but never before had I received any kisses from him before. He was always the one accepting the small kisses on the cheek from me, if I didn't count that one kiss from when I was sneaking out of headquarters. Well, I wasn't going to worry about it. I was sure he was just happy and excited that he was now finally allowed to come with me.

"Why don't you go ahead and start on breakfast first." Souji suggested as he began to gather his change of clothing for the day. "I'll be there to help you as soon as I finish my morning routine. Unless…" he said as he gained a mischievous grin, "you want to help me dress first."

He was playful this morning. I think I'll just play along with his little game right now.

"I don't mind." I said playfully but honestly as I approached him to take his clothing out of his hands. I noticed that as I approached him, he froze like a deer in the headlights.

"W-wait, what?" he stuttered as he turned a bright, cherry red color before he looked away in embarrassment.

Wait, why was he turning red like this? We use to tease each other all the time like this and I never got Souji to react like this. Did something change? Did he not feel as comfortable around me as he once did?

"Are you okay, Souji?" I asked with concern. "I was only playing along. Did I make you feel uncomfortable?"

"No, you didn't do anything wrong." he said in a quick rush before he pulled his clothing out of my hands and gently shoved me out the door. "I'll see you in the kitchen in a bit." And the door was shut in my face.

"So you're going to introduce me to this Kyoko today?" Souji asked a bit sourly. When I mentioned that we were going to meet up with Kyoko-chan, he looked none too pleased.

"Yup!" I said cheerfully. "Don't make that face. I know you'll like her."

"Really?" he asked with a frown.

I nodded before I spotted Kyoko-chan at our usual meeting spot. "Oh, there she is!" I pointed. I grabbed Souji's hand and pulled him with me as I ran up to Kyoko-chan.

When Kyoko-chan saw me, she jumped up from the bench and slammed into me with a hug. I dropped Souji's hand to keep myself from toppling over from the force she ran at me with.

"Shizuka-chan~!" she sang. "What took so long~?"

Before I could answer, Souji grabbed Kyoko-chan's arms and began to pry her off of me. Displeasure at Kyoko-chan's close physical contact with me was written clearly all over his face.

"You're in her personal space." he growled dangerously with narrowed eyes. He was such a hypocrite, seeing that he always liked keeping me within arm's reach.

"Hey!" Kyoko-chan protested at the forced removal. "Just what do you think your—" she started her angry rant before she got a closer look at Souji. Her face then erupted into a sly grin. "Oh! I know you! You're Okita Souji!"

That grin on her face… I definitely didn't like the look of the grin plastered on Kyoko-chan's face. She was planning something and I had the feeling that I was involved in her nefarious plan. Now the question would be what did she have planned for me?

"I'm flattered that you know who I am." Souji said flatly as he looped an arm protectively around my waist and pulled me closer to him.

Kyoko-chan's grin became almost impossibly wider at the affirmation before she turned to me.

"Shizuka-chan, go over to that shopkeeper to ask him something for me." she said.

"Ask him what?"

"Something." she replied unhelpfully.

"What is this 'something'?" I pushed. I wanted an answer. Why was she being…being so weird?

"Umm… Ask him about his dishware."

"He's clearly selling ink sticks. You want to speak to Souji alone, don't you?" I concluded as she eyed Souji through the corner of her eye. "All you have to do is say so. Just what are you planning?"

"What makes you think I'm planning anything?" she asked all too innocently.

"You always have that glint in your eyes when you're planning something." I said.

"Oh, I guess I'll have to fix that… Why are you still here? Go ask that shopkeeper already!"

"What are you planning?"

"What makes you think that?"

"You just told me in your previous statement!"

"No I didn't." she denied.

This argument was going nowhere. Fine, if she really wanted me to, then I'll go talk to the shopkeeper and give those two some space. But there was no way I'm going to ask the shopkeeper about dishware. I wasn't going to let myself look that stupid.

"Fine," I sighed, "I'll go."

Kyoko-chan looked pleased at her victory while Souji merely raised his eyebrow at our whole exchange. Yeah, I'll bet that was strange to watch. Souji released his hold on me, abet unwillingly, to let me go speak to the shopkeeper Kyoko-chan pointed at earlier.

"Excuse me…" I said as I approached the shopkeeper hesitantly to begin our conversation.

After several long minutes of conversing with the shopkeeper, who saw it fit to tell me about his whole family's history and how they got into the ink manufacturing business, I returned where both Souji and Kyoko-chan were.

"I hope you two are done. I just had a very long and fascinating conversation about ink with an overenthusiastic merchant." I said sarcastically.

"Huh? We weren't talking about anything." Kyoko-chan denied. Just how dense did Kyoko-chan think I was?

"Right…" I said disbelievingly. "Shall we get going?"

Just as I finished speaking, Kyoko-chan let out a loud, fake sounding groan before hunching over while clutching her lower abdomen.

"Oh no!" she cried over exaggeratedly, "I have menstruation cramps. I can't go with you guys. It hurts too much! I'm gonna go home to rest. You two go out together. OH! I'm in PAIN!"

She was totally faking it, and not only that, she was a terrible actor.

"Really?" My tone should have been enough to let her know that I didn't believe her.

"I'm gonna go. Have fun you two." she said over her faked pain as she started to hobble back home.

"Kyoko-chan?" I called after her.

"I'm in soo much pain!" she wailed back at me.

Before she vanished into the crowd, she turned around and gave Souji a thumb's up and a wink, while I could still see her. She then straightened up and skipped into the crowd, unhindered by her "pain". Just who did she think she was trying to fool? A blind man?

"Interesting friend you have there." Souji said as we both stared at the spot where Kyoko-chan vanished.

"… I don't even know how to answer you." I said while I was still flabbergasted at my friend's behavior.

"But, you know," Souji began as he looked down at me, "you were right. I do like her."

I beamed back at him and grabbed his hand again. "Since Kyoko-chan's not here, why don't just the both of us go explore the city?" I suggested cheerfully.

He smiled softly back at me before he asked, "Where do you want to go?"

"Can we go look at some hair ornaments?"

Ever since arriving in Kyoto, I became painfully aware of how plain my appearance was. All the women had these beautiful hair pins in their elegant hairstyles while my hair was always just twisted in a simple bun. I felt like such a little girl compared to the other elegant women here. I was being a little vain, but I think I was allowed to after looking at all the other women every day. The women in this city also wore very feminine kimonos while I wore a hakama, and on occasion, a plain purple kimono. Granted the hakama I wore was very beautiful and feminine, as Tsune-san did design it with me in mind, I couldn't help but feel somewhat lacking as a woman. A simple hair pin should be enough for me to feel more elegant.

"Alright." Souji said before leading me toward the accessory stalls.

After browsing the stalls in the center marketplace for a few hours, we both came across a stall that sold nothing but kanzashi[1]. Souji stopped walking before he turned to grin at me.

"Come here." he said as he tugged on my hand.

He plucked a single crimson kanzashi from the table. This was not the hair ornament I had in mind. I was just looking for a basic one, not something so elaborate. It was an expensive looking hana kanzashi[2] folded from fine silk. There were three flowers folded from red and white silk on top of a single brass prong. From each flower, there were two strands of folded red and white petals dangling from each attachment point on the flowers. It was gorgeous, expensive, and something I could never dream of holding, let alone, wear in my hair.

"Oh! You have good taste there sir!" the shopkeeper exclaimed in the background.

Souji released my hand and went to put his, now free, hand under my chin. He raised my head to the appropriate height before he inserted the kanzashi in the space between my hair bun and my head.

"Beautiful." Souji said with a soft smile while laying his hand gently on my cheek.

"It does look good indeed." added the shopkeeper as he tried to make a sale. "Why don't you have a look? I have a looking glass here."

Souji lowered his hand to allow me to move to get a look at myself in the mirror. I felt like I looked extremely lady-like and elegant with the kanzashi in my hair. This single hair piece made a world of a difference from my usual appearance, but it was probably too expensive.

"Do you like it?" asked Souji.

"Yes, but—"

"How much?" Souji interrupted me as he asked the shopkeeper for the price.

"Two ryō." the shopkeeper replied while smiling pleasantly.

Holy crap! That was freakishly expensive for a single hair ornament. A single ryō was equivalent to about ¥3,000 to ¥4,000 in modern day Japan and if it was converted to USD then the kanzashi would be worth anywhere from $53.42 to $71.23. This man was selling some expensive goods!

My eye popped out of my skull as Souji reached for his coin purse and pulled out the needed amount to pay for the kanzashi. I grabbed his arm before he could hand the money over. I couldn't let him pay for my things, especially for something so expensive. I knew that he didn't have much money to begin with and he shouldn't have to spend it on me.

"Wait!" I quickly said. "It's too expensive! And I can't let you pay for me! You should be spending your money on yourself and not me."

"If it's my money, then shouldn't I be the one to decide how to spend it?" he asked me with a smile. Damn, he got me there.

"But—" I objected.

"Don't worry about it." Souji interrupted me. "Think of it as a present and if you still feel guilty about it, then wear it every day for me. Okay?"

"Okay…" I yielded to him and let go of his arm so he could pay. I couldn't refuse his gift. "But I'm treating you to lunch right afterwards."

"Eh?" he said after he finished paying the man. "You already cook for me every day. There's no need for you to treat me."

I pulled him towards the restaurants on the other side of the streets.

"I cook for everyone. This time, I'm only treating you!" I wasn't going to let him win this debate.

"Only me, huh…" Souji said with a soft smile as he fondly looked down at me. "So you're going to let everyone fend for themselves for today's lunch?"

"They can survive one meal without me cooking. So what do you want to eat today?"

"I prefer your cooking, but if Shizuka insists. Well, let's see…" he pondered.

The sun was starting to set as we started walking back to the Yagi house. Today was fun and I couldn't remember the last time I spent the whole day alone with Souji. It was nice not to have spent my day working for money for my "Serizawa Removal Plan". I didn't get to tell Kyoko-chan about it being time to start the second part of the plan today because of the stunt she pulled earlier this morning, but that could wait for another day. I just have to remember to say thanks to her the next time I met up with her. As Souji and I began to cross a bridge near headquarters, I stopped to stare at the river below.

"Shizuka?" Souji called when I stopped.

"The river…" I started while feeling sentimental, "If I hadn't been placed on that abandoned fishing boat and shipped down the river then Otou-san would have never found me. I would have never met you. I never thought that I would say this, but I'm glad I was abandoned. I can't imagine life without you now."

"Shizuka…" Souji said as his expression softened and he moved to stand by my side. He was silent for a while before he spoke. "I've been meaning to ask you… Why didn't you reject me after what I said last night? Why don't you hate me now?"

I raised my eyes to Souji's face and was greeted by extreme worry that he was unable to hide. He still believed that he had damaged our relationship last night and it was like he couldn't believe that I was still here with him right now. He was still worried that I was going to leave him, abandon him, after last night's emotional conflict.

"Souji, it doesn't matter to me what you do or how you treat me. I could never hate you." I said as I softly cupped his face. "You were always there for me when I was going through some troubled times, so wouldn't it make sense that I would be there for you? I never forget an act of kindness. Besides, we're partners, right?"

The worry slipped from his face and his expression softened before he kissed my forehead. "Let's head back. We've been out long enough."

"HAH! There you guys are!" Shinpachi-san yelled loudly before pointing at us. Everyone, minus the Big Three, was gathered in the courtyard; even Ibuki-kun was there. "Because Shizuka-chan wasn't here, we had nothing but tofu for lunch!" Shinpachi-san complained verbosely.

"Shinpachi, there is nothing wrong with tofu. It is healthy for the body and a staple food." Saito-san defended. I was willing to bet that Saito-san cooked lunch today while I was with Souji.

"Oh? That's a pretty kanzashi you have there." Sano-san said when he noticed my new hair ornament before slyly glancing over at Souji. "Did Souji buy that for you?"

"Yes." I chirped happily before asking, "Why is everyone gathered here right now? Did something happen?" If everyone was gathered in one spot then something must have occurred while Souji and I were out.

"Hijikata-san and the others wrote some rules for everyone to follow while you guys were out." answered Heisuke.

"Rules?" Souji asked curiously.

"One: Do not deviate from the Way of the Warrior." Saito-san started listing off the rules. "Two: Desertion will not be tolerated. Three: Do not raise money without authorization. Four: Do not manage another's litigation without authorization. Five: Personal duels will not be tolerated. Whosoever breaks any of the rules listed must commit honorable suicide."

That was an incredibly strict set of rules for the Roshigumi. That third rule… I was never so glad I was not considered to be officially a part of the Roshigumi. The rules didn't technically apply to me, but for the other guys… They would have to follow those rules to the dot or their lives were forfeit.

"Dang, those rules are stupid!" Shinpachi-san grumbled unhappily after Saito-san had finished listing them. "What the hell were they thinking?"

"Those rules of conduct were definitely too strict." Sano-san agreed with Shinpachi-san.

However, not everyone seemed too bothered by the rules. Souji said, "If Kondou-san feels those rules are necessary, I will obey them." as he took the new rules in stride. Saito-san was also someone that didn't seemed too bothered by the new rules.

Heisuke, who was doodling on the dirt floor with a random stick he found on the ground, replied to Souji's statement. "That goes for me too… But I don't like my friends getting tied down by those rules…"

Heisuke was not taking the new rules very well and I could understand why. He valued everyone in the Roshigumi like family and as someone who constantly broke the rules that Hijikata-san set back at Shieikan Hall, the new rules were like chains to him.

"We will probably need it for the new recruits we will be getting henceforth." Saito-san spoke up as the voice of reason to defend Hijikata-san's decision.

"I know…" said Heisuke as he dropped the stick, "But it's kind of different from what I imagined…"

Ibuki-kun, who was just standing off to the side, looked slightly panicked, like he knew he barely dodged a bullet. He jumped when Souji spoke to him.

"You should probably be careful yourself." Souji suddenly warned Ibuki-kun.

"It's not like I'm a member of the Roshigumi!" Ibuki-kun exclaimed loudly with his usual bad attitude.

"But if Serizawa had to commit seppuku, then as his indentured servant, you would probably have to too." I spoke up.

Ibuki-kun's eyes widened in realization before yelling, "I'm leaving before I get caught up in any of this crap!" but he didn't seemed to believe his own words.

"Time to cook dinner." I said abruptly to change the topic. The mood was getting a bit too depressing too fast for my liking.

Heisuke raised his empty rice bowl in the air to signify that he wanted seconds during dinner. Ibuki-kun walked over to where Heisuke was sitting and Heisuke cheerfully placed the empty bowl on Ibuki-kun's tray.

"Pile it on!" Heisuke said to Ibuki-kun.

"You got it." Ibuki-kun instantly responded to the demand for more rice.

"The fragrance of this house is superb." Saito-san suddenly said, drawing both Heisuke's and Ibuki-kun's attention. "When eating freshly cooked white rice while enjoying the aroma, its true value becomes evident. Nothing is more complex than the simple things in life."

"Huh…" Ibuki-kun said after listening to Saito-san's monolog.

Meanwhile, taking advantage of the distraction, Shinpachi-san went ahead and stole more than half of Heisuke's sardine.

"WAH!" Heisuke yelled as he caught Shinpachi-san swallowing the stolen portion. "Shinpat-san, what do you think you're doing?!"

"See, in our world the strong eat the weak." Shinpachi-san justified as he grinned cheerfully.

"In that case, I'll—" Heisuke exclaimed while preparing to attack Shinpachi-san's food with his own chopsticks. The attack failed as Shinpachi-san blocked the strike with his chopsticks. "Why, you! You—! You—!" Heisuke exclaimed as each one of his attempts to steal food was blocked. Not being one to give up so easily, Heisuke continuously attacked Shinpachi-san's food. "Ryunosuke, don't let your guard down! You better be careful!" Heisuke yelled as Ibuki-kun stared at the little food war.

"Take someone's food before they take yours!" Shinpachi-san proclaimed as he blocked another one of Heisuke's attempts to steal.

"Really?" Ibuki-kun asked innocently before he made the fatal mistake of reaching for Saito-san's food.

Saito-san's chopsticks shot out towards Ibuki-kun's throat in faster than a blink of an eye. Ibuki-kun had no time to react and could only freeze in place.

"If you need me for something, wait until after I'm done eating." Saito-san stated as he narrowed his eyes in a menacing warning. "In the world of beasts, you have no right to complain if you get killed for disturbing a stronger animal's meal. Furthermore, this is one of my favorite dishes. Never go after it!" Saito-san finished with his glare becoming ten times scarier.

Scared shitless by Saito-san's sudden change in personality, Ibuki-kun fell backwards on his hind side and stuttered, "G-got it! M-my bad!"

Saito-san's glare vanished just as quickly as it appeared before he went back to eating his food calmly.

"You must not value your life." Sano-san said to Ibuki-kun offhandedly with an amused smirk while eating a sardine. "Of all the people here, I can't believe you went after Saito's food. You should have just asked Shizuka for some of the food on her tray."

Ibuki-kun averted his gaze before yelling, "I'm the type that eats his favorite food first!"

"No need to act like a tough guy all the time." I cut in as I offered him a kind smile. "All people get hungry. Come here after you refill Heisuke's bowl with rice, I prepared some extra food just for you."

"Oh, so that's why you have so much food on your tray." Ibuki-kun voiced his thoughts before filling Heisuke's bowl. He moved over to me afterwards to receive his portion of dinner.

"What is this pickle?" Shinpachi-san asked as he picked up the green vegetable on his tray and asked after a moment of silence to examine it. "Weeds? Are they even edible?"

"That's called mibuna[3]." Otou-san answered. "Farmers put their sweat and blood into growing it, so don't be a picky eater.

"Yeah, yeah." Shinpachi-san mumbled as he stuffed the greens into his mouth. "Kondou-san is so stern about stuff like that since he used to be a farmer."

Surprised at that revelation, Ibuki-kun asked, "He wasn't born into the warrior class?"

"Nope. But since Otou-san was so strong with a sword, the original master of Shieikan Hall adopted Otou-san as his heir." I answered with pride.

"Toshi," Otou-san called out to Hijikata-san off to the side when he noticed Hijikata-san was staring of into space and not eating, "why don't you put work out of your mind while you're eating?"

"Huh? Yeah, I should…" Hijikata-san said before Otou-san placed his sardine on Hijikata-san's plate. "What are you doing, Kondou-san?!" Hijikata-san scolded Otou-san for his actions.

"That wasn't enough, was it?" Otou-san asked, referring to the amount of food on Hijikata-san's tray. Ah, bromance at its finest. "Eat up."

"But you still haven't eaten a single bite!" Hijikata-san pointed out.

All Otou-san did was smile back at Hijikata-san before saying, "Back in our Shieikan days, you frequently shared your food with me."

"What brought this on? Knock it off! We're beyond such formalities, aren't we?"

"Oh, you're absolutely right!" Otou-san said before laughing out loud.

"Jeez, you're unbelievable…" Hijikata-san complained as he looked at Otou-san out of the corner of his eye. "No matter what the situation, you always place others before yourself"

"Do you remember that one time, Toshi?" Otou-san began to launch into another conversation with Hijikata-san as he ignored Hijikata-san's previous complaint.

Souji, who was seated next to me put down his bowl and stared at the two men with envy. I put down my bowl so I could rub his thigh to try and calm him down, but my actions had no effect.

"Anyway, we're finally in service of the Aizu Domain!" Shinpachi-san said as he started another side conversation.

"Couldn't we afford to upgrade our dinner?" Heisuke asked excitedly as he cut into Otou-san and Hijikata-san's conversation. "Well, Hijikata-san?"

Hijikata-san didn't answer right away. "That will have to wait until they start paying us." Hijikata-san finally said after quick moment of silence with closed eyes as he put down his bowl.

Wait, the Aizu Domain wasn't paying for the Roshigumi's services yet? Why? Wasn't the Roshigumi now working for the Aizu Domain now? I got that they were still hesitant about sponsoring a couple of nameless ronin, but we were on their payroll now. It wasn't right that they weren't paying us. What did we have to do to prove ourselves to them that we were worth the money?

Everyone quieted down and looked to Otou-san for an answer. He sighed before answering. "Well, they are probably uncertain as to whether or not we are worthy of their trust."

"Is that right…?" Heisuke said before everyone continued to eat in silence.

A few more seconds passed before Souji placed his chopsticks down on his empty bowl. "Thank you for the meal." he said to excuse himself.

"Souji, that was fast." Otou-san commented. Souji had been eating faster in the past few days so that he could spend more time in sword practice. It wasn't unusual to me, but I just wished that he would take better care of himself.

"I need to get in some sword practice. Right now every second counts." Souji explained to Otou-san before standing up to leave. As Souji was about to leave, Shinpachi-san spoke up.

"Practicing right after you eat is bad for your body."

Without turning back around to face everyone, Souji said, "Shinpachi-san and Hajime-kun got lucky. I'm dying to slay a bunch of those rogue samurai."

I placed my chopsticks and bowl down on my tray. Of all the things he had to say during dinner. This wasn't going to end well, especially with Hijikata-san and Otou-san both in the same room at the same time. All the other men made a small sound of shock at Souji's statement.

I knew that Souji had the urge to kill, to prove himself useful, but did he have to voice it now? I knew for some time now that Souji felt useless to Otou-san because he lacked the talents that Hijikata-san had that Otou-san was always saying were so useful. Souji had now come to believe that the only way to become useful to Otou-san was to use his talent with a sword to kill anyone in Otou-san's way. Killing would be easy for him too. He held no value in human lives due to the atrophy of his morals that occurred when he was bullied as a child. He wasn't innocent like Otou-san or Hijikata-san had believed him to be, but I knew better. This wasn't the first time Souji wanted to kill. Back when he was force to endure to beatings from the older students, Souji wanted to kill them for making him suffer. He wanted to watch them bleed and beg as he cut them down. The urge to kill was nothing new.

"What a thing to say." Sano-san said while losing his appetite.

"Souji, haven't you been acting weird lately?" Heisuke asked with concern as he put down his chopsticks.

"Souji, I want you to go back to Edo." Hijikata-san said suddenly with a serious expression. That was the wrong thing to say. Souji was definitely going to have a serious argument with Hijikata-san now.

Souji froze in horror at Hijikata-san's words before breaking out in cold sweat. "That joke wasn't the least bit funny." Souji denied the seriousness of the situation.

"I'm not joking." Hijikata-san said without a change in emotion. "It's better for you to leave."

"And your rationale?" Souji questioned Hijikata-san with a shaky voice. "What's the reason for sending me back to Edo? Now is the time we need all the men we can get. Wouldn't it be a great loss if I leave?"

"Unlike peasants, like me and Kondou-san, you are the firstborn son of a samurai family." Hijikata-san explained his reasoning. "You have the rights to become a government official and with your sword skills, any dojo would issue a certificate. You're still young. There are too many ways you can make a living."

Souji didn't accept Hijikata-san's reasoning and instead became more defensive. "What does being the firstborn son have to do with anything? My brother-in-law inherits the family! Speaking of being the firstborn son and being someone that excels in swordsmanship, isn't Shinpachi-san the same?!" Souji pointed out while raising his voice in angry desperation. "Why are you telling me alone to return to Edo?"

"Lately—" Hijikata-san began.

"Shut up! You have no idea what you're talking about." I cut in while glaring at Hijikata-san.

I believed Hijikata-san was going to go too far with his next statement and cause Souji to snap. Hijikata-san didn't know how to handle Souji well at all. Souji's psyche was fragile concerning things like this and it required extra care and effort to speak to Souji about this subject matter.

"Shizuka, be quiet. Keep out of this." Hijikata-san snapped before returning his focus to Souji. "Lately Serizawa-san's influence is making you go on about how you want to cut down people. You're still a kid. He's making you lose sight of yourself."

At that moment, what I feared happened and Souji snapped. He grit his teeth and flared his nostrils before turning around retort, "Hijikata-san, you just think I'm in the way because I stick by Kondou-san, don't you?!" Souji's voice was sarcastic but his voice remained shaky, so shaky that it was like he was going to cry.

"If that's what you'd like to think, then go ahead." Hijikata-san said as he shrugged off Souji's accusation coolly, aggravating the situation even more.

"Toshi, why did you suddenly bring this up?" Otou-san asked uncomfortably.

"We're in Kyoto to defend the peace. But he wants to kill. That's all he thinks about. We can't let someone like that stay here!" Hijikata-san explained as Souji's glare intensified tenfold.

Otou-san closed his eyes before reopening them with a decision clear in mind. "Souji—"

"No! There's no way I'm going back!" Souji yelled back with sorrow. "I'm going to stay here and help you, Kondou-san!" He slammed the door open and took off running into the night.

"Souji!" Otou-san called after him.

That Hijikata-san! I stood up and yelled back at Hijikata-san, "You think of Souji as your otouto-san, but you don't know how to properly deal with him!"

"And you think you know any better?!" Hijikata-san retorted sternly. "You spoil him too much and just let him behave however he wants! He needs to have more control and structure in his life."

I ignored Hijikata-san's answer. I didn't have time to argue with Hijikata-san right now, but I wasn't going to let this matter drop. "I'm going after him!" I said before I ran after Souji.

"Wait! Shizu-chan!" I heard Otou-san call after me.

How did such a good day end like this?

[1] Kanzashi (簪) are hair ornaments used in traditional Japanese hairstyles. Some models may have been modified for self-defense.

[2] With hana kanzashi, the long fluttering flower is characteristic of maiko. These are created from squares of silk by a technique known as tsumami (pinching). Each square is folded multiple times with the aid of tweezers and cut into a single petal. Flowers are made from these folded fabric petals and may contain anywhere from five petals to 75 or more, depending on the particular flower made. A 'hana kanzashi' is a cluster of these flowers, and may or may not include bira-bira and/or long streamers of tsumami petals, fashioned to look like hanging wisteria petals.

[3] The taste of mizuna has been described as a "piquant, mild peppery flavor...slightly spicy, but less so than arugula." It is also used in stir-fries, soups, and nabemono (Japanese hot pots).