Author's Note: What do you know, I was able to update on time. Anyway, I don't really know what to say, so let's get to the story.
Chapter 22: The String Begins to Unwind
A week after Shinta and I had our anniversary, things were once again very slow. Yeah, I know that's what I've been saying for the longest time now, but I don't want to get into every little detail about each battle I've gone through. The Ishin Shishi has had the Bakufu and it's forces on the run for a while, all thanks to people such as my brother and Shion. Things were kinda peaceful now, Shinta and I only had to patrol every two days now and there weren't that many people that crossed with our swords. Anyway, the real meat of my story began during practice that morning, and as usual, I was getting my ass kicked by Shinta.
"ORO?!" I stood shocked as Shinta suddenly disappears from my sight.
Suddenly the sound of oak began whistling in my ear, the winds were swirling from above. I tilted my head upward for a mere second and I soon found it face first in the freezing white ground, along with a throbbing pain on my right shoulder.
"Oro..." I muttered as I tried to return to my feet.
"Mina, are you okay?" Shinta quickly hurried to my side, dropping his bokken in the process.
"Yeah, I'm okay," I answered, practically dragging my body back to it's feet.
I was pretty used to Shinta beating me all the time during practice that I eventually got used to the pain...to a degree anyway. Actually, come to think of it, there was another factor during my losses to Shinta that week, it was difficulties in breathing. For some reason, I was having trouble, I would be fine during the early parts of the fight, but after a prolonged period of time, my chest suddenly felt constrained or something like that.
"Shinta...," I called to him as I tried to regain as much of my lost breath as possible, "will I ever be stronger than you?"
I had said it, will I ever be stronger than you. I was beginning to get tired of being the wakezashi of the daisho, I hated being the weaker one. Wherever we went, it was always something like "look, it's Kenshin and Mina", or "it's the Battousai!" and then a few seconds later "and the Kensai!". I wanted to have my own name, my own reputation without being in Shinta's shadow, even if it was for something as horrible as murder. I wanted to be a great woman, I still do, I want my name to be remembered by all for all the great things I've done.
Anyway, where was I...oh yeah, Shinta began to help me to my feet, it didn't seem like I was going to regain anything with my head just inches off the ground. He placed my arm over his shoulder, angling my body so that my eyes met his when I looked forward. He wore his trademark smile as he held me, his lips stretched across his face and his lavender eyes shielded with their lids.
"Mina, if you wish to be strong," Shinta spoke, the lids over his eyes stretching back as he talked, "then be strong in your own way, that way you can be stronger than me."
"Be strong in my own way?" his words left me puzzled. "What exactly do you mean, Shinta?"
"Mina, you can't expect me to teach you everything," Shinta's smile melted into his serious look, "there are some things in life that you must learn on your own, that there are, you can't expect me to teach you all of them," Shinta said as he slid the door to our room open. "All I've really taught you are skills with the sword and the joy of having a family, I don't know if there is anything else I can teach you."
"So you're saying I'll never be stronger than you?" I asked him as he set me on my futon.
"I didn't say that, Mina," Shinta answered, "all I'm saying is that you should find out in your own way."
After saying those words, he left the room, his smile stretching across his face again once he had reached the door. He just stood there for a few moments before he turned back to the door, sliding it shut as he left.
I didn't understand what he meant when he first told me those words. I knew I was strong back then, but not stronger than my brother. I was strong because of the skills he had taught me, because he was always the for me, and because I was probably born with the heart of a warrior.
"'If you wish to be strong, be strong in your own way', how am I supposed to do that?" I asked myself as I lay in the cotton mattress.
I began contemplating over his words for a few moments until slumber overcame me. It wasn't very long that I was freed from it's hold though, within moments I was shot back to reality with the laughter of my former rival and friend.
"Ah ha ha ha," the laugh of my former rival echoed from the entrance of my room.
"Ugh...what's so funny, Shion?!" I spat as my head quickly jumped forward from the cry of her laughter.
"My my, aren't we grouchy," Shion smiled as I rubbed the crust that had dried over my eyes.
My skin seemed to be slippery as rubbed my fingers against it, something definitely wasn't right. After rubbing against my eyes for a bit, I turned my palm toward my face to find a black substance smudged all over it.
"What the hell?!" I jumped at the sight of ink on my hand, quickly putting the mirror to my face with my clean hand.
Gazing into the glass before me, I found a black fluid painted all over my face. Two circles over my eyes, and "X" on my forehead, and a mustache above my lips. I couldn't help but slam the mirror onto the tatami after seeing my own reflection, the glass shattering upon touching the floor.
"Shion...," I growled as I balled my fingers into a fist.
"Hm hm," Shion just stood there with that usual mask of happiness over her face.
"Goddammit, this isn't funny!" I yelled at her.
"It was just a joke, Mina," Shion snickered, the back of her right hand covering her mouth as she spoke, "here, clean yourself off," Shion wiped off that smirk as she threw me a handkerchief, "we have a meeting downstairs."
I wiped away the inky residue within seconds and hurried downstairs with Shion. Our entire forces must've been visiting today, the entire dining hall was loaded with soldiers. I couldn't help but notice Shishio was in this meeting as well, sitting in the east corner of the room, behind the masses of grunts. If he was here, then that must've automatically meant that something big was going on tonight because I've never seen Shishio in our meetings before. There was no room for Shion or me to sit, so we had to stand at the end of the room just as Katsura, Saigo, and another individual I've never seen entered the hall.
"Good day everyone," Katsura had greeted us as he took his usual seat in front of all our soldiers, "I hope you are all doing well."
"Katsura, are you always so formal with your men?" Saigo sighed. "Can't we just get to the point?"
"I agree with Saigo-sama," the unknown individual next to Saigo nodded, "I'm afraid we're wasting even more time if we continue with idle chatter."
There was something about that individual, I don't know what it was, he just seemed different from the other soldiers I met. He had long brown hair, as dark as an oak tree's bark, eyes of the same color, and he seemed to be growing some kind of mustache. That sword he was carrying was also odd, it wasn't a katana, and there was no wakezashi of some sort that went with it. The blade was still curved, but it was the handle and scabbard that were different. They weren't made of oak or pine like most swords, but these were made of what looked like silver. There was also a piece of metal that went over one part of the hilt, connecting with the guard. Other than these small differences, he looked like a typical Ishin Shishi soldier.
"Hey Shion, who is that guy?" I whispered to her about the unknown individual.
"I don't know," Shion answered after she took a small glance of the individual, "I've never seen that man before to be honest."
"That man is Yamigata Aritomo," an old voice from who I haven't from for the longest time answered.
"Tetsu?" I turned to my right side to find my old friend sitting there.
"Yamigata is a samurai from the Cho Shu area, he hasn't seen the frontlines too much as he prepares most of the battle strategies for the Ishin Shishi," Tetsu informed us. "I heard that man has been learning some tactics and strategies from the Western world, as well as their weaponry, technology, and even culture."
"So then I'm presuming that sword he's carrying is a Western sword then," I turned back to Yamigata's weapon.
"From what I've heard it's called a saber," Tetsu explained, "it doesn't look too durable when compared to our katanas though."
"I see," I nodded as I turned back to the meeting.
"As you all know, the Bakufu have been giving us little trouble lately," Katsura spoke as soon as I turned my attention back to him. "At first we believed that we have had them on the run, but it wasn't until recently that our spies have learned the real reason of our enemies."
"The truth is, most of the Bakufu have been learning to use Western weaponry such as guns and cannons," Saigo continued.
"Nani?!" the word suddenly sprang up from the entire hall, along with mass conversations of panic.
"Silence, all of you!" Saigo ordered.
"From what I've heard one of you individuals managed to sink the ships carrying that technology," Yamigata brought up the Sanada Ninja incident from a few months ago, "it was a person named Himura, correct? Which one of you is Himura?" Yamigata called to all of us.
"That would be me, Yamigata-dono," Shinta raised his hand.
"You're the one who sank the ships?" Yamigata asked my brother.
"No sir, it was my sister, Himura Mina, that it was," Shinta answered, diverting everyone's attention toward me with the point of his finger.
"You're the one Katsura spoke of?" Yamigata asked.
"H...hai," I stuttered, "it was I, but I don't see the real relevance of why you ask this, that I don't."
"I would like to congratulate you on the matter," Yamigata explained, "you were able to set the Bakufu's original plan back by about half a year, if you had not succeeded, our forces would've fallen by now."
"Arigatou, Yamigata-dono," I bowed.
"Anyway, that technology has returned to Japanese shores," Saigo continued, "the Shogunate had changed the new shipment's destination to Edo so our forces wouldn't be able to learn of their plans until recently. The new weaponry has just arrived in Kyoto about a week ago, when the patrol units of the Shinsengumi dropped. We have learned that all the weaponry is being stored in the country fields north of Kyoto, we don't know the exact location."
"Your mission is to find where these weapons are being stored and to bring back as much as you can to our forces or to destroy them," Katsura explained, "we don't have much time, so we must all act starting now. Travel in small groups in order to cover more ground."
"I have a question, sir," Shion raised her hand, "if we need to destroy the weapons, just how would we go about doing that?"
"Western gunpowder is the same as Japanese gun powder," Yamigata explained, "simply set the powder on fire to cause the weapon to explode, the explosions should cause a chain reaction that would destroy every rifle and cannon they have in their possession, but be sure to be a great deal away before the powder actually explodes."
"Understood," Shion nodded.
"Okay people, let's move out!" Saigo ordered and suddenly I found myself being pushed outside along with the masses of soldiers.
Unlike the rest of our men, Shinta, Tetsu, Shion and I didn't run to the north as soon as we reached outside, the four of us just stood in the entrance of the inn devising a plan on what to do.
"So it seems like they were just toying with us this past week huh?" I asked as I took a puff of my pipe.
"Yeah, it does explain quite a bit," Tetsu agreed.
"Hey Mina, do you remember that fight you told me about that you had with Saito a few months back," Shion reminded me of my battle with the Wolf on my birthday of that year.
"What about it?" I asked as I tapped the contents out of my pipe.
"I recall you told me that another Shinsengumi soldier had told Saito something like 'it's time' before he left the duel," Shinta reminded me.
"Now why are you guys bringing this up?" I was left clueless on what they were talking about.
"Mina-san, what Kenshin-san and Shion-san are trying to say is that perhaps a majority of the Shinsengumi were sent to Edo that month in order to train with the Western weaponry, or something like that," Tetsu explained.
I gave it some thought for a moment. Tetsu must've been right because I couldn't recall ever running into or seeing Saito or Okita during any of my patrols since that incident, as well as any other key patroller in the Shinsengumi.
"If that's true, then the Shinsengumi might be patrolling with Western guns now," I concluded, "and if the shipment has reached Kyoto, then all of the Shinsengumi could be carrying these weapons by tonight."
"That's right," Shinta nodded, "so we have to act quickly."
"But where will we start looking?" Tetsu began to wonder.
"Yamigata-sama said that fire is the key to destroying the weapons," Shion brought up, "so I'm sure that accidents are bound to happen when the Bakufu are practicing, so in case there were an accident, they would need water to put it out, and a large source of water would be needed if a chain reaction were to occur."
"In other words they need to have their base by a river or a lake," I summed up Shion's words.
"And Lake Biwa isn't too far from Kyoto," Tetsu added, "so the weapons must be stored in the Southern part of Lake Biwa."
"We should head to Lake Biwa as soon as possible, that we should," Shinta suggested before taking off.
"Hey, wait up," I ran after Shinta as Shion and Tetsu followed close behind.
Lake Biwa was in the same location of Otsu, the very same place Shinta had told me about where he had lived with Tomoe a year ago. I'm sure it must've been difficult for Shinta return there after a year of absence. He didn't seem to display any sadness or anything once we had arrived, he simply wore his serious expression. At first I thought this was Battousai that was currently in his body, but looking into his eyes, they were their usual lavender color so there was no reason to worry. The sun was beginning to set as soon as we arrived, the entire sky was a bright crimson, the clouds had lost their white complexion, replaced with a yellowish-orange tint. It didn't take long for us to find the weapons base, all we had to do was ask some villagers about it, and the first person we asked knew what we spoke of. I guess the old man that told us didn't like the Shogunate too much if he told us the exact location. The location was very close to the lake, on it's beach in fact, below a small hill. It was very easy to spot the weaponry, who could miss the large black pipes of the cannons atop of the light grayish sands of Lake Biwa.
'So this is what Misanagi was going after,' I thought to myself as I witnessed some of the Wolves firing the rifles into a circle of canvas perched on the rocks.
"We should wait until nightfall before we act," Shion suggested, "in the meantime we should devise a plan."
"Yeah," Tetsu nodded.
Not wanting to risk getting caught, the four of us went to the closest inn and got a room for the day. It took us until nightfall to devise a plan, although it was a very simple one now that I think about it. The plan was very simple, Shinta and I would simply take care of the guards in front as Shion and Tetsu went in and try to steal some of the guns. Shion would take care of any guards that came their way as Tetsu carried as many weapons as he could. Once Tetsu was in a safe range, Shion would set fire to the gun powder as Shinta and I cleared a path for her to escape. Sounded easy, but it was harder to act on than it was to plan.
Luck was on our side that evening, there was no moon. Blackness engulfed had engulfed the entire village, not a flicker of light, even the inside of the houses were pitch black. It was cold that evening as well, ice was practically frozen over my eyes, it was too cold to blink. We had trouble heading back to where the guns and training area were, each one of us tried our best not to trip over the old logs and loose rocks when we dashed over there. When we came within close range of the storage area, light had painted over the black canvas, faint images of three men in the front of the base stood before the dancing colors of red, orange, and yellow. Each of them were holding an object I had never seen before. It had a long tube made of metal and at one end there was a large hilt. There was some kind of curved device where the tube and hilt met, as if a finger could pull on it. It didn't take me long after I got a good look of the device to figure out what it was; a gun.
"Does everyone remember the plan?" Shinta asked the three of us as we huddled within the darkness.
"Yeah," we all nodded.
"Remember, stealth is of the utmost importance," Shinta reminded Shion and Tetsu.
"Hai, leave it to us, Kenshin-san," Shion nodded as she and Tetsu took their places.
"Mina, are you ready?" he turned to me after.
"Hai," I nodded, taking a small pebble into my palm.
I took a short glance at the tiny stone, tossing it in the air and catching it in my palm a second later, I did this about three times until my wrist decided to flick it in the direction of the guards.
"Hm?" one of the guards awoke from the drowsy posts.
The pebble was merely a foreshadow of what followed next; a barrage of debris newly cut from the earth thanks to my Do-Ryu-Sen attack. The giant rocks quickly found their way into the chests of two of the men, a flood of red erupting from their chests as the debris buried themselves into the bone. The remaining guard pulled out a small silver rod from his sky blue coat, quickly bringing it to his lips. A loud screech emitted from the small tube, and suddenly an inferno of light, each flame held by one of Mibu's Wolves, poured into the entire area where Shinta and I stood. Everywhere I looked, every crevice of my eye had spotted at least one of those dogs, all I could see were their bright blue furs and steel fangs, each that seemed to have been rusted due to lack of quenching their swords' thirst for blood.
"You kids shouldn't have come here," one of the wolves spoke as Shinta and I stood our ground.
"Che, don't lecture us old man," I spat at the wolf.
"Why you little...!" the slab of steel on his arms began to pull back.
The metal curve sprang forward without warning, it's fine tooth flying in the direction of my eye. It was so predictable; before he could even blink I was able to release my katana from it's oak restraint. He stood there frozen for a moment as I stood there with one hand on my sheath and the other pointed to the east with my arm fully extended. The second I moved again, a small river of ruby began to slide down his temple, and a web of dark lines began to etch onto his rusted blade. Another second passed, suddenly his sword was split in two and a fountain of blood began to emit from a newly formed crater between his eyes.
"How the hell...?" I overheard one of the wolves' reactions as they all stood frozen.
"How can a girl...?" was another reaction I heard.
"You idiots, those aren't any ordinary kids, it's the Battousai and Kensai," one of the wolves finally realized.
There was a mixed reaction between the Wolves once they learned of Shinta and my identities. Some began to pull back, other began to lurch forward, and I believe I heard a few run off calling for the mothers. I wanted to make short work of these men, so I had to let Kensai bask in this bath of blood. I took little time to remove the boundary between our psyches, the soft silk easily slid in the gaps of my fingers as I pulled one end of the material, freeing my hair and the monster within me. She wasted little time to begin as she swung my katana at the closest Wolf. A splash of crimson illuminated the entire area for a brief moment, and again, another look of disbelief on their faces.
"Heh," Kensai grinned as the sound of Shinta's blade sliding out of it's case echoed into my ear.
"Kyah!" Shinta yelled, triggering Kensai and him to spring forward into the fray at the same time.
The cold steel of my katana placed it's sharpened tongue at the base of the closest Wolf's neck, the icy metal sucked away the elixir that gave him life within a matter of seconds. Two Wolves from the north attacked next, their blades striking downward in unison as they raced for my skull. The metal met with the remains of their already dead ally as Kensai moved the corpse in their direction with the swing of my blade and arms, shielding herself from the onslaught. Her foot met with the abdomen of the dead soldier, pushing all of her force into the kick so that the corpse would lay among two of it's allies. The two Wolves fell on their backs an a flash of steel quickly followed the direction of their fall; the two never got up again as they lay with their dead ally. Left and right, up and down, Kensai swung my blade in every direction, and wherever my blade flew, a wave of red would follow. I couldn't keep track of time as this all happened, but it seemed to have taken only a few minutes until Shinta and her were standing before a wasteland of corpses.
"Is that all?" Kensai said disappointed as she returned the barrier of our minds to it's proper place.
"Judging from how long it took us to defeat the guards, I'm sure that Shion-dono and Tetsu-dono must be heading out of the base right now, that they are," Shinta said as he turned to the Wolves' den.
"What are you talking about?" I asked. "Doesn't gun powder explode when lit on fire? I don't see any explosion."
The next thing I know, Shinta and I are suddenly thrown into the air as a large blast of fire bursts from the Shinsengumi's training ground. Pain suddenly shot into my face and body as the icy ground caught my fall, luckily I was able to ignore it and return to my feet in the next second.
"Are you okay, Mina?" Shinta asked as he returned to his feet.
"Hai," I answered, brushing the dirt away from my face.
The entire place was set on fire, but Tetsu and Shion were nowhere to be found. I instantly knew that something had gone wrong. I tried to run into the inferno, but Shinta stopped me with a wave of his hand.
"What are you doing, Shinta?" I gave him a puzzled look. "We have to go in there and help Shion and Tetsu!"
"They'll be out shortly, that they will," Shinta assured me, "just wait a moment."
We did wait for a moment, and there was still nothing. The only things that left that blaze were burning pieces of lumber and grass and some soon-to-be charred Wolves. I'm Shinta could tell by then that something had gone wrong. I was few up with waiting by now, so I decided to rush in and try and find the two. Shinta tried to stop me again, but I pushed his arm away this time and began to make my way into the inferno. Red, orange, and yellow were everywhere, the three colors burning everything they touched. A few of the flames caught onto my hamaka, but they quickly died out with the brush of my hand. The air grew thin rather quickly, and again my chest felt constrained. The gray clouds caused by the fire began to flow into my lungs, choking me. I turned back to where I thought I had come from, it now seemed to far to travel back to. Things were beginning to go black as my body began to pull toward the ground, but suddenly, it was pulled into the air and suddenly dropped back into the cold ground outside the blaze. My lungs quickly removed the black clouds from my lungs through coughing as my sight slowly returned. I looked upward to find the ones who had saved me, all three of them giving a sigh of relief.
"That was a close one," Tetsu wiped away the liquid dripping from his brow.
"Are you all right, Mina?" Shion asked.
"Hai," I answered with a cough.
"Mina, don't scare me like that!" Shinta said as he put my arm over his shoulder.
"Gomen, Brother," I apologized.
"I'm sorry we couldn't get any of the weapons," Shion apologized to the two of us.
"It's no worry," Shinta assured her, "we accomplished our mission so that's good enough, that it is."
Shinta carried me back to the inn where we had checked in earlier, it was too late to travel back to Kyoto and all four of us were tired from the events that had transpired that evening. True I had regained my breath and consciousness after the blaze, but my chest still felt constrained even when we had returned to our room.
"Mina, are you okay?" Shinta must've realized that I was still having trouble breathing as we climbed the steps to our room.
"It's kinda hard to breath," I answered.
"Did you breathe in too much smoke?" Tetsu asked.
"I think I know what's wrong," Shion said as she walked me into the room, "you two wait out here," she ordered as shut the shoji door.
"So what's wrong with me?" I asked as I took a seat by the window.
Shion didn't say a word as she began to approach me. Her hands suddenly grabbed both ends of my kimono and pulled it down, exposing my upper body. Luckily I had those bandages wrapped around my bust so my breasts weren't exposed at all, but still, it was rather sudden and embarrassing what she had done.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" I yelled at her, my arms quickly covering the my bandaged chest.
"Ah ha ha ha, you're so sensitive," Shion chuckled. "Don't worry, I wasn't going to do anything, Mina," she assured me. "All I wanted to do was point out that your bandages are constraining your chest, thus, creating complications in breathing. In other words, if you want to breath as you normally would, you're going to have to remove them."
"You're kidding, right?" I asked.
"Would you rather die in battle from breathing problems?" Shion had me defeated. "Look, it's only natural that this would happen eventually, even if you are as flat as a board."
"I AM NOT FLAT!" I yelled at Shion.
"Not anymore at least," Shion laughed again.
"Her lack of brain cells is at work again," I mumbled to myself.
"But seriously," Shion returned to her serious face, "I recommend that you remove them, you'll feel better with those things gone, not to mention they can sometimes distract the enemy if you know what I mean."
'Kensai sure would enjoy you're way of thinking,' I thought to myself.
"All right, I'll do it," I sighed, "but turn around, okay?"
Shion was always the type to appeal to one's wishes, so with no questions asked, she quickly turned her back to me. With each layer that I unraveled, my breathing slowly began to return to normal. In no time, the linen was now free from my body, now cluttered on the floor. I returned my kimono to it's original place and sat there for a moment practicing my breathing, making sure there were no complications left.
"You can turn around now," I told her.
"Do you feel better?" she asked.
"Yeah," I nodded.
"You men can come in now," Shion called to Tetsu and Shinta as they waited outside.
"So what was the problem?" Tetsu asked as he and Shinta entered the room.
"Can't you tell?" Shion asked the two with a small giggle in her voice.
"I don't see a difference," Tetsu scratched his head.
I turned to Shinta to see his reaction. Was it just me, or were there bright spots of red filling up his cheeks. Within seconds, he quickly turned his head to the side, shielding half of his blush away from me.
"Well then, I'm going to go take a bath," Shion yawned, "Mina, why don't you come with me?"
"Hai," I said as I followed her out the door.
As I passed by Shinta, he did not say a word, he didn't even take a second to look at me as he usually would. I thought he was just embarrassed that he was actually able to see part of my figure, but I had not figured it out until now that he was really ashamed of me. No, what am I saying, he wasn't ashamed, he was shy. Was he shy, he was...he was... Oh I don't even know how he felt! All I know is this, our red string was beginning to unravel from that moment. Even if I had not done that stupid suggestion Shion recommended, our string would still have unraveled! Dammit, I can't believe I still get emotional from this event, even when I recall it today! Please, just give me a few moments and I'll continue...
Chapter 22 Liner Notes
A little bit about Lake Biwa- Lake Biwa is a lake a few miles to the northeast of Kyoto, and just as Mina stated earlier in the chapter, the village (I think it's a city now) of Otsu is located on the southwest end of the lake. Lake Biwa is famous for it's fishing spots and makes a good vacation spot, at least that's what I've heard.
A little bit about women in the Japanese military- During the Meiji Revolution and the wars before it, women were usually not allowed to join the military. In most cases, women would often disguise themselves as men by binding their breasts with bandages to conceal their identities, but of course, this would cause breathing problems just like in Mina's case. As a result, most women would be caught when they removed the bandages and then be kicked out of the military. However, during the Meiji Revolution, women were able to participate in the latter parts of the war as they were running low on soldiers. Many of the male soldiers didn't approve of this and thus, most female soldiers were looked down upon by their male peers. These women were still required to bandage their chests for they thought that doing so would "unsex" them. Of course, not all women followed this term, but there was no punishment for doing so.
(Next time: "Himura Shinta, how I love him so. I finally have the chance to be with him, just the two of us, my brother and I. No one can get in the way of my love this time, but the only thing that can is his heart..." -Himura Mina)
Author's Note: Well how was it? Why not leave me a review, and as usual, I don't take flames. I guess I can tell you readers that for the next chapter, there will be no action, it's time for the romance of Mina and Kenshin to bloom. Well, I hope you readers will be looking forward to it, because this story is almost over. About eight more updates and book one is finished. Oh, and suggestions for what should happen later are welcome, as well as questions for Mina herself for my "interview" with her at the end of the story. You can ask her about her acting career, her normal life, and her relationship with Kenshin. She will not answer questions about her love life, spoilers for future adventures, or any question I find unsuitable, I'll be saving some of the questions for her second interview in book 2. Anyway, that's it for now, later!