She is gone.
The thought shakes me.
She has seen me. She has seen the existence of Battousai clearly, and she has seen me killing.
Thoughts rush past me.
Bakufu, the wolves of Mibu, the existence of Battousai, the location of Kohagiya—I run through each of what is at stake.
How could I be that careless? Me?
It's as if I cannot believe it.
I rush out of the room, rushing through each room on the first floor to find where she is frantically, and as I am rushing downstairs to the ground floor, I smell white plum.
I slow down. The rush inside me subsides.
She is still here.
I step down and see the woman passing by. She is carrying trays.
The situation is odd.
The young woman has seen the strongest Ishin Shishi, Hitokiri Battosai, who is called a "demon". She witnessed a gruesome murder, a dismembered body. She was bathed in the blood of his doing. She has slept in the room with that terrifying being.
And now she is doing what? Carrying a tray as if nothing ever happened?
The irritation that started to appear when he saw her for the first time does not show any sign of subsiding.
"Oi," I say to grab her attention.
She stops and slightly turns her head to look at me.
I see that in her eyes again—the deep, overpowering nothingness.
"You're okay now?" I ask.
She says in the same suzu-like voice that I heard yesterday, in the same tone.
"I'm sorry."
"I was drunk it seems."
"It seems I have troubled you."
She turns around and simply starts to walk off with the trays.
The fact that she started to walk off before I could finish the conversation irritates me again.
What's wrong with this woman?
I try to calm down.
"Oi."
"Your name."
She doesn't stop or look back.
After a short span of silence, she once again speaks in her small suzu-like voice.
"Tomoe."
"Yukishiro Tomoe."
And stops speaking yet again. I realize that my irritation is increasing.
I speak again.
"Tomoe-san."
"What're you doing?"
"What do you think?" She speaks in the most nonchalant voice without a trace of emotion.
"Helping out in the kitchen?" I respond.
"So you do know." She once again speaks stoically.
Honestly, I am at a loss for words. What is she? Fearless? A fool? Where does she think she is? Does she not realize that she is in a Chōshū Ishin Shishi hideout? Why does she not have a tinge of fear?
I cannot read her intentions.
I cannot read her emotions.
The thought of having someone around whom I cannot understand to that extent irritates me. It is dangerous for the Ishin Shishi. I need to talk to her and throw her out as soon as possible.
I find myself walking after this elusive woman who continues to work as if I do not exist.
Picking up the trays from the kitchen, leaving the empty trays in the kitchen. I find myself walking back and forth with her. On my trips, I am even caught by Okami-san once, who looks at me with a very satisfied expression, saying,
"Despite the appearance, your girlfriend is a very good worker."
It seems that within a span of a few hours, she has settled in, and Okami-san has somehow become fond of her.
The ridiculousness of the situation is pecking at me so much that I completely ignore the fact that Okami-san thinks that she is my woman.
The situation is getting worse and worse.
"Tomoe-san."
"I need to talk to you."
I tell her, and I am sure that my voice holds a certain mixture of irritation and desperation.
"Later. I'm busy now."
She shuts me off.
I have never been treated like that.
Just as I am about to think that, the face of a certain someone appears in my head. One more person who has irritated me till no end - my master.
She walks to the dining hall of Kohagiya with layers of trays in her hand.
She places herself in a perfect seiza posture, opens the shoji door without a sound, and introduces herself to the Ishin Shishi members in a manner of incredible refinement.
"I am called Tomoe. It is my greatest pleasure to be acquainted with you all."
She says in her soft voice that holds unwavering confidence and an undeniable sense of poise.
She places her beautiful hands on the tatami and bows with impeccable grace.
Within a few seconds, the room full of Ishin Shishi patriots pours over the door and starts gushing over her.
"So beautiful!", "Graceful!", "Classy!"
The adjectives do not stop as she remains unphased with her expression unchanging but with evident disinterest.
She does not seem surprised or flustered being fawned over like that. Perhaps she is used to being in that situation.
My thought process gets cut off when Iizuka-san speaks out in a mischievous tone,
"So, how does she taste?"
"Okami-san told me you kept her in your room all night."
His face morphs to paint a dirty grin.
My hand immediately goes to my Katana, and I unsheath it to expose the Habaki. I am annoyed.
The room immediately falls silent; you can even hear the breaths.
I quietly go over to my low table and sit to wait for the meal.
"Hakubaiko." A familiar manly low yet gentle voice speaks, and it continues,
"Even the greatest warriors have time for love. I have Ikumatsu after all."
"Katsura-san..." I call his name to express my distress, but he has already begun eating as if what he said is not out of place at all. As if that is the most normal conversation that would take place between the young leader of the Ishin Shishi patriots and his key warrior.
I have to talk to her and make sure she leaves.
I think to myself once again.