Play 45: As You Complain It

I tried not to think about what happened last night.

I was feeling better, and when the Byakko twins came back from their futile search, they said that I would be fine. However, Dr. Matsumoto was sent to examine me once again just in case those twins weren't right.

But they were, so here I was, cleaning up the hall. I wanted to be busy so that I wouldn't think about how I almost kissed Souji and ended up breaking something.

Yuri told me that if I chose to reject my powers, I would have to control my emotions better. If I chose to embrace them, I could be trained to use them whenever I wanted.

I was at loss though--both solutions seemed bad to me. If I reject them, everyone around me would be put into danger. If I accept them, it would mean that I accepted the fact that I was a succubus.

Which I didn't want to.

Perhaps I would be more willing to face that fact if I didn't have such powers, since I could just pretend I was a normal human being. With these powers in the way, however, everyday would be a consist reminder that I was something different.

I yawned, stretching after I was done with the hallway. After I rinsed the dirty cloth in the water bucket, I got up and went to clean myself up.

"Good morning," I greeted as I stepped into the common room. In the corner, Yamazaki and Inoue were talking about Shimada, and I scolded myself for forgetting about him. It seemed that he was fine other than a few bruises, so I sighed in relief, reminding myself to apologise and thank him later.

"Oh, Jun." Yamazaki glanced at me. "Shimada-kun wanted to apologise to you for not doing a better job."

My eyes widened in disbelief. "What? I should be the one apologising!"

Kondou walked in before I could say anymore, and everyone in the room quietened. I stared at the chief as he sat down, his face stern.

"Uh oh." Inoue smiled good-naturedly. "What's happened? You've got a scary enough face to begin with, Kondou-san. Now you're just terrifying." I held back my giggle, and my face must had looked weird for Inoue gestured at me. "Look, you're even scaring her."

"I-I'm not!" I tried to say with a normal voice, but ended up snorting loudly. The men in the room laughed as I blushed beet red.

Kondou took my reaction seriously and apologised sincerely. After a pause, he proceeded to announce some bad news. "Nishi Hongwanji doesn't want the Shinsengumi here any more."

"They're telling us to leave, you mean." Yamazaki spoke, breaking the heavy silence.

"Well, they didn't say that in so many words, but...yes."

The room soon buzzed, discussing on what they should do as Yamazaki pointed out if it was because of the previous night. Kondou nodded, and I looked down.

"Sorry, it was my fault..." I trailed off, wondering if it was a good idea to leave with Sen after all. Kondou shook his head, telling me that it was the Shinsengumi's fault to begin with.

"We'll be provided with a new site, courtesy of the Nishi Hongwanji temple." Finally, there was a good news hidden among that bad news. Those monks must really wanted us gone, but it wasn't exactly a bad thing, if you looked at it a positive way.

The Nishi Hongwanji temple used their funds to build us another new compound, and when it was constructed, all of us moved out. I was rather sad that I would have to leave a familiar place, but we hadn't got a choice.

Because of the fuss about moving to a new headquarters, I didn't think too much about Souji, which was good. I had enough of causing glass around me breaking. It was really bothersome to clean up the mess, and on top of all it was really embarrassing.

I was patrolling with Harada, and commented nonchalantly about the cold weather.

"Are your hands cold? Would you like me to hold them?" Harada's eyes lowered in mischief and I flushed.

"No thank you," I said as politely as I would. The only person who talked to me this way was Daisuke, and he wasn't here. I began to get lost in my memories with my best friend when Nagakura appeared.

I remembered that Heisuke and Saito had left the Shinsengumi with that what's-his-name idiot, and felt disappointed. When I looked at Harada and Nagakura I couldn't help but to miss Heisuke. Of course, Saito's silence was comfortable whenever I patrolled with him, and I missed that too.

Harada and Nagakura had started bickering for some reason, and I giggled softly. At least they hadn't changed much, even when their friends were no longer with the Shinsengumi.

A few peaceful days passed, and I heard from one of the Shinsengumi soldiers that Harada was accused of assassinating Sakamoto Ryoma. I was shocked for it seemed that someone was trying to frame him, and was struggling to control my anger when there was a loud thud.

"Ah." Eri sighed. "You did it again."

The twins were behind me, except that Yuri was on the floor as if someone was sitting on her back as she tried to get up.

I raised my eyebrow at her strangely. "What are you doing?"

"She's trying to lick the floor, ignore her." Eri smirked at his sister, as if he was trying not to laugh.

"I-I'm not!" It seemed that it was hard for Yuri to talk. "Jun, you have to be the one controlling your emotions, not the other way round!"

I looked at her apologetically. So it was my power, forcing her to be pinned on the floor. I tried to relax, and it was beginning to work when Souji appeared, sliding the door close in front of us.

Talk about bad timing--my heart skipped a beat before it started aching, and Yuri groaned in pain.

"You gotta be joking, Jun!"

I tried to hide my blush as I looked away. Suppressing my emotions, I closed my eyes, trying to calm down trying to take deep breaths. I could feel myself relaxing again when he spoke.

"Good morning, Jun."

My heart almost jumped out of my chest as my eyes shot open. Souji was standing in front of the twins, but I could see Yuri's face planted on the floor.

"G-good morning," I muttered as I stared at Yuri in astonishment. Was she okay? Beside her, Eri sighed, looking as if he enjoyed this, and mouthed something to me. I didn't get it, but it had to be something that could calm me down. Soon, Eri gave up and dragged Yuri away by her leg, her face still on the floor.

I glanced at Souji, studying his face as he watched the twins. As if he could feel my glimpse, he turned to give me one of his smiles. I gulped, looking at the ground nervously. Should I talk about the previous night? There were many things I was confused about him.

"You look like you have something to say."

As expected, Souji read my expression easily. I sighed silently--was that a sign that I should speak?

Screw that--I'm going to say it. I looked up to him in determination. It was now or never.