Chapter 3: Forgiving the Sinner

Saitou entered the room with the girl in question behind him.

"Sit," Saitou told her and she did so. She disliked being ordered like a dog, but obedience was a wise choice in this case. Everyone in the room introduced themselves. The red-head is Harada. The small boy is Heisuke. The muscular man with short hair is Shinpachi. The man with glasses is Sannan. The who was with Saitou during the operation is Okita. The man with long black hair in a ponytail is the vice-commander Hijikata. She already knew Saitou. Their commander was currently absent, so Hijikata was to give the verdict.

"So what's the report?" Hijikata kept it on a business like tone.

Saitou quickly explained to him what Akira told him early in the room. A look of frustration spread across the room. No one was fond of the explanation given, they were more confused as to why someone would chose to say that of all things.

"I guess you won't be surprised if I said I don't believe it," Hijikata said as he turned to face Akira.

"I'm not. I can hardly believe it myself," a short pause, "it was only supposed to be a game," she murmured the last part. All she was doing was fooling around with her friends with a book they found. She didn't want to believe this was real, she really didn't. It wasn't until Okita pointed out her phrase that she regretted saying it.

"What was 'supposed to be a game' Kotetsu-chan?" Souji grinned; happy he had caught the girl.

All of the men's eyes were focused on her, they too wanted an answer.

"It involves more ridiculous things. Are you sure you want to hear it?" she held the vain hope that they would refuse and tell her no.

"Of course," said Hijikata.

Akira sighed. I should have known. She went on to explain that she wasn't from this era, but from the future and she wasn't even from this country. She knew Japanese because her father, who was of Japanese descent, had insisted she learn it. She was from the country side of a small European country. She told them she found a book and her friends pushed her to read one of the texts, making up a scenario they thought was going to be fun. When she read it, she fell from the sky to the ground here at this time and this era.

Okita couldn't contain his laughter. It was very amusing to him. The other members either looked angry, or confused. They didn't know what to make of it.

"So you're telling us to believe all of that, that's quite brave of you." Harada looked at her with scornful eyes. To him it was obvious she was lying. Heisuke and Shinpachi shared the same scornful looks.

"What happened to the book?" asked Hijikata, "You said it came with you, yes."

Akira couldn't hold back the tears that formed in her eyes. Crying was expected at interrogations, so they waited until she finished. Between sobs and hiccups she managed to say, "I-I lost it. My only way back home, the only way, was lost."

"Why did you let go of something as important as that?" Heisuke's voice was cruel, disapproving. He was right though. Why did she let go?

The girl stopped sobbing, but the tears still ran down her face. She wanted them to stop; she wanted to wake up from this horrible dream. Neither of those would actually happen. "Will you kill me?" she asked. She kept her voice low but steady, almost afraid to hear the answer.

Hijikata furrowed his brows, thinking intensively. "We should, but we won't."

The girl's eyes widened in shock, as did everyone else's. She froze in place, now she didn't believe the words he had spoken. Shinpachi asked Hijikata, "Are you sure? You mean you actually believe her?!"

"How much of it is true, I don't know. I do believe she has nothing to do with this case, otherwise she would have said so earlier."

"But she does know something," Okita added fuel to the flame. Everyone turned their heads toward his direction. "What? You don't remember?" His question obviously directed at Akira.

She slowly shook her head. No, she did not, but she hoped it wasn't anything too troublesome.

"Gu-ra-di-o to-mi-ni-su ni-hi-su e-to se-ra-sa," Saitou cooperated.

"I'm sorry," she said, "I can probably guess that it's Latin even so, I can only make out a few words."

"Then make the out," commanded Harada.

"To-mi-ni-su is probably dominus and se-ra-sa cerasa. E-to is most likely et, but I can't make out the other two words."

"That's great and all, but we want to know what it means," Shinpachi told her impatiently.

"It's not fully translated so it wouldn't make sense. Right now it's gu-ra-di-o the Lord ni-hi-su and cherries."

"That's not very helpful," Okita gave her a sheepish grin, feeling slightly guilty for putting her on the spot.

"No it's not," she agreed, "but over time I may be able to make out the words." She let out last few hopeful words slip out of her mouth, expecting that their verdict wouldn't change.

Hijikata agreed and even allowed her to stay. She put her under Saitou's charge as he was the only one who remembered the strange words she spoke. He also warned her never to go out alone, as their enemies will still come after her. Akira nodded and as Saitou was taking her to a room closer to his, she couldn't help but smile.

"We can kill you at any moment if we see fit," Saitou reminded her coldly, but the girl kept smiling. Happy she was now free of persecution for now.