Disclaimer: All credit goes to Shingo Nanami and フクロウ. Here's the final part for this story. Enjoy.

噂

Rumor

Part Three

Kasane x Nobunaga

"Ah."

After parting ways with Gorouza and the others in order to do laundry, Kasane raised her voice when she suddenly bumped into Nobunaga in the corridor.

"..."

Uwa….

He looks super pissed off….

Observing the heavy crease on his brow as he glared down at her, Kasane muttered that in her mind.

Though she had no clue what was the cause of his bad mood, however it was worse than of all the times she had seen him in.

"...You seem to be in a really bad mood, what happened?"

…..Uwaaaa, he's glaring at me, he's giving me a really big glare!

In that instant Kasane regretted for opening her mouth as Nobunaga continued to scowl down at her.

"...Huh?"

Kasane quietly raised her voice.

Nobunaga frowned.

"What."

"Somehow, I thought I heard a cat…"

"There are plenty of cats in this castle."

"I know, but it sounded kind of faint... Ah!"

Searching for the source of the cry, Kasane went on her knees and looked under the porch.

When she did, Kasane raised her voice in surprise.

"Look, Tono-sama! A cat gave birth to some kittens!"

She happily told him.

Nobunaga also followed Kasane's example and peered under the porch.

And there, he saw the mother cat with four of its kittens.

They must have been just born several days ago, Kasane's face melted at the scene.

"So cute~! I never knew they would be in this place!"

"..."

"Uwa, so cut-... ouch!"

Just as she reached out a hand to touch one of the kittens, the mother scratched her.

"I got scratched…"

"Because you thoughtlessly tried to touch them."

"I see… The mom was desperate to protect her kids, huh…"

Kasane murmured.

Nobunaga stole a glance at her form. From his view, she was smiling.

"...Once you become a mother, you'll be like that."

"Me? Ahaha, that's still a long way for me."

Kasane wryly smiled.

Surely the day when she will become a mother will come.

However as a freshman in highschool, that thing was still out of her hand. That sort of reality has not yet formed in her mind.

Observing her profile, Nobunaga blankly thought.

If asked if he had feelings of love towards this woman, truthfully he had no clue how to respond to that question.

To wave it off as love seemed so frivolous, however the feeling he felt toward her weren't of a lord and his retainer.

As Ikeda told him if he made her pregnant by force and have her give birth, that kind-hearted woman wouldn't think of abandoning her child her while she would leave for her former world.

However, is that what he really wanted?

To forcefully make this woman his, and use a child as an excuse to keep her at his side?

Like plucking a flower that he so patiently waited to bloom, did he truly want to have this woman?

To have her smile wither away-...

"Such foolishness…"

Realizing that he was thinking of this seriously, Nobunaga laughed at the irony.

Ikeda was just spouting out rubbish.

There was no need to take it seriously.

"What's wrong, Tono-sama?"

Kasane curiously questioned at Nobunaga's enigmatic state.

"..."

Those big brown eyes looked up at him.

He averted his gaze from those honest eyes.

Nobunaga place his hand over her cheek.

He savored in the expected softness of her face.

"...Eh, wha-what…?"

With her eyes opened wide, Kasane felt a loss of what to do.

"Ow! Ow, ow!"

Putting much emphasis onto his fingertips, Nobunaga pulled her cheek as hard as he could.

"You're full of openings."

"What was that for!?"

Kasane shouted as she shook off his hand. Nobunaga acted as if nothing happened.

"If this was the battlefield, you'd be dead already."

"From that!?"

Kasane stared up at him with bewilderment.

Nobunaga stood up and looked down at her.

"...Don't show this sort of vulnerability in front of men. If you get attacked, I won't hear any complaints from you."

"...Heh?"

Just as she was massaging her sore cheeks, Kasane looked up at Nobunaga.

"In the first place, you have no caution whatsoever. If I were some other man, you would have been dragged off to some place."

He frowned as if the words he said were unpleasant.

"...Could it be that you were worried for me?"

Nobunaga raised his brow at her question.

"Don't get ahead of yourself."

"...You're sure not honest."

"..."

After giving her a displeasing look, Nobunaga began to turn his heel and prepared to leave.

"Ah! Um, Tono-sama…!"

"...What."

Averting her gaze away from his, he replied back carelessly.

"Um... well, that rumor… You spread it for my sake, right…?"

Kasane said in an unusually modest manner.

"Well… um, thank you."

"..."

Hearing her thanks, Nobunaga unexpectedly widened his eyes.

"I have no clue what you're talking about."

Nobunaga faintly smiled as he walked off.

Though Nobunaga noticed that the bad mood from before had completely vanished, he believed the cause wasn't because of that girl.

Watching his retreating back, Kasane wryly smiled.

"Amanojyaku."*

Who knows whether or not if Nobunaga ever heard those words.

*Amanojyaku can mean perverseness, cross-grained/contrary person, and also demon. However the demon.. is more like a small oni that is thought to be able to provoke a person's darkest desires which then leads it to do wicked deeds.

Well then... the next several? stories will all focus on Nobunaga... Ehehe... (^_^;;) He has the most stories after all and some of those stories play as a sort of prequel to the other stories. Eh... I guess it'll be nice for the audience to pick once in a while. Which title intrigues you more: Cold or Hair Ornament?