Chapter 38
"I am the red in remembered. Why am I red? Because I'm embarrassed." ― Jarod Kintz, The Merits of Marthaism, and How Being Named Susan Can Benefit You
"So, how is everything coming along with the plan?" I whispered to Kyoko-chan while both of us were sitting on the bench outside the small teahouse we constantly visited together.
"Give it a few more months or a few more outrageous acts from Serizawa and Aizu will order the assassination of Serizawa." Kyoko-chan whispered back before stuffing her mouth with the rest of her dango. "Hey, what about that Ibuki guy that Kosuzu-chan is always going on about?"
"What about him?" I asked.
"What are you guys going to do with him after Serizawa's dead? Usually when you assassinate someone, you need to kill off his followers too."
Shoot, I really didn't think about that. Ibuki-kun was a good guy who was just caught in a bad situation. He didn't deserve to die along with Serizawa, like Niimi did, but at the same time the Roshigumi couldn't just let him go. Ibuki-kun already knew too much. He would be a loose end with the Water of Life if we just let him go, but at the same time, if he stayed, then he would get caught up in the brewing maelstrom. Despite originally starting off hating Serizawa, Ibuki-kun was starting to get attached to Serizawa and that would be a problem if he got in the way of the assassination. And not to mention, Kosuzu-chan was completely smitten with him. If Ibuki-kun got killed then Kosuzu-chan would suffer greatly.
"I was really just hoping that Ibuki-kun would leave Serizawa's service before the assassination occurred." I explained. "But it looks like that's not going to happen, so we're going to have to find a way to remove him before the plan comes to a full."
"Hmm…" Kyoko-chan said while chewing on the empty skewer. "Can't we just convince the Ibuki guy to runaway with Kosuzu-chan before then?"
"But the Roshigumi can't just let him go now. He knows too much and we can't have a leak. Plus, will he even run away with Kosuzu-chan in the first place? He hasn't really gone to see her. The only contact they have with each other is when they run into each other in the city during the day."
"He won't be totally unwatched if he chooses to run away." said Kyoko-chan.
"What do you mean by that?" I asked curiously. If they runaway together then wouldn't they naturally be out of our reach?
"Listen here, Ibuki-kun has no money and Kosuzu-chan technically doesn't own anything, so if they do runaway together then life will be difficult without outside help. What if I get Kenji to set up a new life for him in a village in the Hira Mountains? The village there was once the headquarters of Kenji's ninja clan and everyone there is a part of his information network. There, both Kosuzu-chan and that Ibuki guy will be watched but, at the same time, they'll be able to start a comfortable new life easily."
That… That might actually work! The couple will be safe there and will be able to live comfortably without the worry of Ibuki-kun leaking the secret of about the Water of Life. Now the only problem was…
"How will we convince them to runaway together if they rarely see each other?" I asked.
"Kosuzu-chan's a maiko, isn't she?" said Kyoko-chan. "Just get Ibuki-kun to visit her as a customer while she's working."
"He has no money." I pointed out. "And he rarely has time outside of dealing with Serizawa."
"Then have Nagakura-san take him. Serizawa likes him right? So, Serizawa won't say no if it's Nagakura-san taking him."
I sighed. It wasn't that easy. Each visit to Shimabara was expensive and there was no guarantee that we could convince both men needed to go along with what Kyoko-chan just said. If I was going to fund this plan, then my own personal emergency money would be used up.
"Then how will we convince Shinpachi-san to take Ibuki-kun with him go to Shimabara that often?" I asked my next question. Shinpachi-san would be all too happy to visit Shimabara nearly nightly, but having to deal with Serizawa when dragging Ibuki-kun… that complicated matters.
"I could help too by making situations where Serizawa would be too tired to say no to Ibuki going to Shimabara." A voice suddenly said from my right side. I jumped in my seat before quickly turning to the source of the sound. Kenji-san grinned at Kyoko-chan and me while leaning against the wall next to me. "I wanna go to Shimabara too. Shinpachi seems like a fun guy to party with."
"Oh, hey, Kenji." Kyoko-chan said nonchalantly as I tried to calm my pounding heart.
"Stop doing that!" I snapped at Kenji-san. "You're going to give me a heart attack one day."
"No I won't." said Kenji-san as he flicked my forehead. "You'll get use to me appearing like that before you can have a heart attack."
"Ouch!" I cried. This man seriously had some strong fingers.
"Well, I'm stealing Kyoko for the rest of the day now." he said while picking up Kyoko-chan. "See ya!"
"Bye Shizuka-chan!" Kyoko-chan waved.
And with that, Kenji-san seemed to instantly vanish with Kyoko-chan from that spot, leaving me all alone. I stood up from the bench and dusted off my lap before I started to walk back to the Yagi house. I guess it's time to start working on that plan. I didn't get very far from the teahouse when the loud and busy street I was on grew silent. The townsfolk had stopped what they were doing to cautiously watch the Roshigumi squad patrol the area. Heisuke and Saito-san were leading this patrol.
"It's the Wolves of Mibu!" a man whispered loudly to the woman next to him.
"I heard they put a ronin's head on display."
"In Osaka?"
"They frighten me!"
The reputation of the Roshigumi had recently tanked due to orders from Serizawa. After the rasetsu from a few nights earlier was slain, Serizawa had ordered the head of the rasetsu to be cut off and put on display in Osaka. Before that man was turned into a rasetsu, he was a ronin that was arrested for using the Roshigumi's name to steal money and Serizawa wanted the people to know the consequences of such actions. In turn, the people began to think even more poorly of the Roshigumi afterwards. They believed the Roshigumi was composed of savages that punished too harshly. In the local's eyes, the Roshigumi were just lawless ronin that had authority granted to them by clan Aizu, not protectors. Heisuke, who was next to Saito-san, took the man's words poorly and instantly became depressed. A whole organization's name tainted just by a single man's actions.
I frowned at the people's words before I started to approach Heisuke. Maybe I could cheer him up a bit before returning to headquarters.
"Wait! Shizuka-chan!" Asami-obaa-san, an elderly woman I had once treated for a dislocated hip, cried as she grabbed one of my arms to stop me. "Those men are dangerous!"
Asami-obaa-san, like all the other people I had treated medically were not aware of my relationship with the Roshigumi. To the townspeople, I was just that talented friend of Kyoko-chan. They all knew and liked Kyoko-chan and warmly welcomed me when Kyoko-chan introduced me as her friend and as the people came to know me, most grew fond of me as well. Everyone was certainly in for a giant surprise when they find out my relationship to the Roshigumi. Heck, I was even married to one of the scariest Roshigumi captains.
"They're not dangerous." I replied with a smile. "All the men in the Roshigumi shouldn't be judged based on the actions of a certain few."
"How would you know?" Asami-obaa-san whispered harshly back to me. "Men like them would take advantage of trust from a pretty girl like you. I don't want to see you get hurt."
"I know because I grew up surrounded by all the captains." I said gently as I watched Asami-obaa-san's eyes grow wide. "Besides, you know that I am married, but did you know that my husband is the First Division Captain? I can safely say that I know them very well and that the only one that you need to fear is Serizawa."
Asami-obaa-san's grip on my arm grew limp as I pulled away to approach Heisuke. The other people, who did not hear my conversation with Asami-obaa-san, watched while holding their breaths as I neared the patrol group, fearful for what might become of me. Time to show the people that the Roshigumi was not composed of horrible people like they thought it was.
"Heisuke! Saito-san!" I called out to the captains cheerfully.
The entire squad paused as Heisuke and Saito-san stopped at the sound of my voice. Saito-san frowned at me when I stopped in front of them.
"I believed that the Vice Commander told you not to leave the headquarters alone." Saito-san scolded me.
"But I didn't." I pointed out. "Kyoko-chan came to the headquarters to pick me up, but she had to leave a bit earlier."
"Then you should return to the headquarters immediately" Saito-san said.
"I'm going." I said to Saito-san before turning to Heisuke and pulling on his cheeks with a slight frown. "What's with that depressed look?"
"Ow, ow, ow! Shizuka-chan, that hurts!" Heisuke cried as he pulled his face away from my hands. "What was that for?!"
"The citizens of Kyoto won't believe you can protect them if you walk around depressed all the time." I scolded Heisuke like a child before giving him a small smile. "Hang in there. Things won't be like this forever. It'll get better."
"Shizuka-chan…" Heisuke said speechlessly before grinning and grabbing me in a headlock. "You little—" he said while ruffling my hair playfully.
"Hey! You're going to mess up my hair!" I complained as I flailed in his grasp. Heisuke let go a few seconds later to let me fix my hair.
"Thanks." Heisuke said looking more cheerful. "Even though I always felt like you were my imōto, you've been acting like my ane-ue lately. Alright! Time to act like your onii-san again!"
I giggled at the slight show that Heisuke had put on as he returned to good cheer.
"Okay, I'm going to head back home now. Work hard and stay safe!" I called back with a wave as I started back towards the headquarters again.
"Sure!" Heisuke called back as the squad resumed their patrol. Saito gave me a small smile with a nod before returning to patrol with Heisuke.
The people who were watching that exchange continued to stare at me and the Roshigumi patrol as I left the scene, not believing what they just witnessed. Good, I hope I gave them something to think about.
"Damn, every time I go on patrol people keep callin' us 'Wolves of Mibu'!" Shinpachi complained while swinging his sword angrily during practice. "It's such a pain!"
Much to my dismay, that display I had a few days earlier with Heisuke had little impact on what people already came to believe about the Roshigumi. It was difficult to change what people already believed, even with sufficient proof that that went against said belief. Serizawa had told Hijikata-san that a bad name was better than no name, but I seriously disagreed with that statement. It's easier to build up the name you want if you start with no name but damn near impossible to change people's perceptions about you if you start off with a bad name. Heisuke was so upset with the way things had been going that he hid in his room instead of gathering with the normal ranked captains, like he usually did.
"Are you sure you don't want me to wash it for you?" I asked Saito-san, who had tied his sleeves back to wash his laundry.
"No, it's fine." Saito-san replied, continuing his washing. "It's my own fault for not getting my dirty laundry to you on time. I will wash my own laundry this time."
Souji wrapped an arm around my waist from his spot next to me as I was about to reply, causing me to stop to look at him.
"If Hajime-kun said it's alright then it's alright." Souji gently scolded me before replying to what Shinpachi-san had said earlier with a teasing voice. "Shinpachi-san, you're fragile enough to let something like that get to you?"
"Not me." Shinpachi-san answered as he stopped swinging his sword and placed it against his shoulder. "Heisuke's actin' all depressed. I can't stand this annoying mess."
"It looks like it's getting to our younger members as well." Sano-san said while leaning against the wall next to where Souji and I were seated.
"Oh, jeez." Souji said a tad bit condescendingly. "What a bunch of wimps. The locals are so scared of us that they open up a path. It's easier to get around, so what's the big deal? Right, Hajime-kun?"
I frowned at Souji before tapping him on the forehead.
"It may seem unimportant to you, but high morale is essential for an organization like the Roshigumi." I rebuffed Souji. "Morale wins wars and solves crises. The outnumbered, ill-equipped, or even the out-maneuvered may triumph if their morale is markedly higher. Such examples of victories include battles in the French Revolution and with the armies of Joan of Arc. The Roshigumi falls under the category of outnumbered. Morale is very important, contrary to your belief."
Souji stared at me with a surprised expression when I finished speaking. Saito-san sighed as he stood up to hang the scarf to dry.
"In short, we must find a way to increase troop morale." Saito-san said.
"A night at Shimabara might cheer everyone up." Kenji-san suggested as he dropped down to join us from the roof.
"When did you get here?" Sano-san asked, surprised at the sudden appearance.
"A while back." Kenji-san answered with a shrug of his shoulders. "I was messing around with Yamazaki under the guise of training."
Oh, poor Yamazaki-san. No wonder he was so strung up lately. I better ease off the work I've been giving to him before he ended up having a nervous breakdown from having to deal with being Kenji-san's source of entertainment all the time.
"So!" Kenji-san continued. "Let's all go to Shimabara tonight. Oh, and Ibuki should come too since his life sucks right now. My treat!"
"Oh! Let's go!" Shinpachi-san adamantly agreed at the suggestion. "I'll go get Heisuke and Ryunosuke!"
"I'll come too!" Kenji-san grinned as he threw an arm around Shinpachi-san's shoulder and walked with him. "So, you seem like a fun person to party with. Why don't you and this Ryunosuke guy come with me every time I go to Shimabara?"
Hmm…with Kenij-san's help, maybe it won't be so hard to get Shinpachi-san to bring Ibuki-kun to Shimabara so often.
The compound was quiet after the guys left for Shimabara tonight. Only Otou-san, Sannan-san, and Hijikata-san remained from our Shieikan group to finish up some work. I didn't quite feel like sitting alone in mine and Souji's room, so I went to Hijikata-san's workspace to help him organize his documents.
"Nothing to do because Souji isn't here tonight?" Hijikata-san asked without taking his eyes off of the document he was working on.
"No, just the fact that everyone else is gone too." I replied while filing the finished documents. "Well, Niimi and Serizawa are still here, but we get along sooo well that I have to avoid them to prevent an affair from occurring."
Hijikata-san snorted at my last sarcastic statement before handing me another document.
"Here, go put this one over there." he said pointing to another pile of documents. "So, how—"
The room's doors suddenly slammed open, effectively cutting off what Hijikata-san was going to say.
"Shizuka-chan~" Kyoko-chan sang as she plowed into my side and enveloped me in a tight hug. "Let's go have some fun now!"
"And what is this 'fun'?" Hijikata-san asked calmly as he continued to work through the rude interruption.
After being unable to stop Kyoko-chan from breaking in all the time, Hijikata-san stopped trying. It almost seemed like some part of him just died when it came to dealing with Kyoko-chan. Now Hijikata-san just tried to ignore Kyoko-chan's break-ins when he could. His façade wasn't perfect, of course. He still always had that small twitching vein when Kyoko-chan randomly appeared in his space in headquarters.
"We're going to join the other guys at Shimabara while dressed as geisha!" Kyoko-chan said cheerfully before dragging me away.
"What?!" Hijikata-san cried as I was dragged away. "Get back here!"
"Haha! Too slow!" Kyoko-chan taunted as we exited the compound.
"This is really heavy." I commented as I tried to walk around in the hikizuri, the traditional kimono that maiko and geshia wore for work.
"But it looks good on you." Kyoko-chan said as she finished up her makeup. "Now let's go to the banquet hall that everyone's in. They'll be in for a nice surprise!"
"But we're really just here to spy on Kosuzu-chan and Ibuki-kun, right?"
"Of course! Why else would we be here?" Kyoko-chan said with a grin and opened the door to the banquet hall.
"Kyoko-han? Shizuka-han?" Kosuzu-chan asked, being the first to see us enter the room.
"Kosuzu-chan!" Kyoko-chan called out cheerfully. "We came to visit you at work~"
"What took you so long?" Kenji-san asked with a big grin as he patted the vacant spot next to him. "Over here, Kyoko."
"EH?! NO WAY!" Heisuke cried when he spotted us. "W-What are you two doing here dressed like that?"
"It was Kyoko-chan's idea." I said while pointing to Kyoko-chan before I went to go take a seat next to Souji. I think I'll leave her to answer all the questions.
"Kyoko-chan's idea, huh?" Souji asked while eyeing me as I took the small saké flask from him to pour him saké. "Well, I won't complain. But I still prefer it when you're wearing nothing at all."
"Of course you do." I snorted. "I think the real question is: Why do I bother getting dressed at all anymore? Everything always ends up on the floor anyways."
Souji shot me a smug grin before drinking his saké. Saito-san, who was sitting next to Souji, turned bright red when he heard snippets of our conversation. Saito-san was still extremely awkward when it came to the subject of romance, women, or anything related. I shot Saito-san an apologetic look before taking a small sip of saké from Souji's cup.
"Because," Souji answered with his grin before coming dangerously close to my ear, "it's so much more fun to…unwrap you."
"Souji, you shouldn't tease her so much in public." Sano-san butt in to our conversation while closely watching Ibuki-kun and Kosuzu-chan with a smile. "You know how these things always end."
I flushed red at that comment. Was Sano-san suggesting what I think he was? Furthermore, how did he know how they always ended?
"You can be surprisingly loud, ya know." Sano-san said while drinking another cup of saké.
"L-Loud?" I stuttered. If I was red before, then there were no words to describe how bright red I was now. Souji was always complaining that I wasn't loud enough. D-Did that mean everyone could hear me on those nights? I quickly turned to Shinpachi-san to demand an answer.
"Well…" Shinpachi-san said while scratching the back of his head, "Loud enough to know how often you two do it. Damn, it's enough to make me jealous of how regularly Souji gets some."
"W-What?!" I squeaked before turning to Souji. "Y-You're always saying I'm not l-loud e-enough!"
Oh, embarrassment, how long has it been my old friend? It's been years since you've come visit me like this! Unfortunately, it hasn't been long enough.
"You're never loud enough for me." Souji said with a teasing smirk. "I like to judge how well I'm doing by how vocal you are."
I don't think I've ever been this red before. Fine! Let's see how Souji likes it when I'm not in the mood later on!
…Even though I think that now, I'd probably just give in later if Souji asked… It was too difficult to say no to him.
"Where's Saito-san?" I asked Sano-san, Shinpachi-san, and Heisuke as I approached them on the temple steps.
I could see the men, that Saito-san normally instructed, swinging their swords in practice, but the man in question was nowhere in sight. It wasn't like Saito-san to ditch his responsibilities. So where was he and what was he doing?
"Saito said somethin' about someone being late to practice before leaving to fetch em'." Shinpachi-san explained from his seated spot next to Heisuke.
So I see. I guess the question should be changed to: Who is the person that was gutsy enough to be late for practice? Saito-san did take sword practice very seriously, after all.
"Oh, there he is." Sano-san pointed out as Saito-san returned with…Ibuki-kun?
That was strange. I always thought Ibuki-kun was someone who didn't want to learn how to wield a sword properly. Maybe he had a change of heart after a night out with Kosuzu-chan?
"Hey… is that Ryunosuke?" Heisuke asked while blinking.
"I guess so." I said as I took a seat next to Sano-san to see how things would turn out.
Saito had Ibuki-kun stand a bit to the side of the main training group before having Ibuki-kun pull out his katana. Ibuki-kun hesitantly pulled his sword in front of him in a shaky, incorrect middle stance.
"Since you have decided to begin training, you must first learn the basics." Saito-san stated as he began to instruct Ibuki-kun.
Seemingly displeased at being dragged outside to train, Ibuki-kun turned the other way while muttering under his breath, "Not that I decided to do this…"
Saito-san made a small sound of disapproval while raising his brow before Ibuki-kun quickly got back into position.
"Fine!" Ibuki-kun exclaimed with slight determination after hearing that sound of disapproval.
Not wasting any time, Saito-san quickly tapped on Ibuki-kun's knee with his hand to try to correct Ibuki-kun's messy stance.
"Huh?" Ibuki-kun asked in confusion at Saito-san's actions.
"Bring your right leg forward. Shift your left leg back." instructed Saito-san.
"Huh?"
"Have the sword pointed directly over your opponent's head like so." Saito-san said while getting into his own stance to use as an example. "This is the basic stance."
"Okay!" Ibuki-kun said while quickly following Saito-san's example.
"When holding your katana's hilt, put strength into your grasp starting from the pinkie fingers going up."
"Okay!" Ibuki-kun said before swinging his sword up and down haphazardly.
"Not like that."
"Like this?"
"Don't hold it from the side." Saito-san said, sounding a little disgruntled.
"Huh?"
"When you strike at someone, you would have to control it just with your thumbs."
"Okay, got it." Ibuki-kun said as Saito-san backed away to allow adequate room for Ibuki-kun to practice.
"There's no need to teach Ryunosuke swordsmanship." Heisuke commented after watching Saito-san instruct Ibuki-kun.
"Why not?" said Shinpachi-san. "He's finally decided to learn it."
"That's right!" Sano-san added with a smile. "If Ryunosuke is trying to change, why not let him?"
"Uh-huh…" said Heisuke as he turned back to watch Ryunosuke practice.
"Good." Saito-san commented on Ryunosuke's stance. "Now to start off, you can give me one thousand swings this afternoon."
"What?!" exclaimed Ibuki-kun.
Saito-san was a serious and good instructor when it came to teaching swordsmanship, but he might be a bit too serious when it came to dealing with Ibuki-kun. Feeling a bit more inspired after watching Ibuki-kun, I stood back up and twirled around to face the three men who were still sitting on the temple steps.
"Anyone feel up for a little practice spar?" I asked cheerfully. "I want to know how much I've improved after spending some time training with Hijikata-san."
Sano-san grinned at my infectious happiness and stood up.
"Why not?" Sano-san said while grabbing his spear. "Let's see how much the Roshigumi's princess has improved since coming to Kyoto."