'Shima-sensei[1], are you the Shima Sakon?'
Yoshitsune rolled his eyes pointedly — even knowing no one could see him as he was sitting at the farthest desk beside the window.
"Go on, Shimazu, let's disrupt the lesson. It's fun to bully new teachers, isn't it?!"
'I am,' replied Sakon in the meantime, unperturbed. He'd been standing at the teacher's lectern since the principal had introduced him and gone away.
Carefully, Yoshitsune at last dared to look at their new Japanese history teacher. "Please, keep it together," he reminded himself. The fact that Yoshitsune and Mitsunari were given a notice about Sakon in advance by their high school psychologist was one thing, but him actually standing here… The sound of his name pronounced by the principal had been enough for Yoshitsune's heart to start pounding so hardly as if willing to pop out of his throat.
It seemed like they had seen each other just the day before… Nonetheless, he was a little bit different — first and foremost now — Shima Kiyooki[2] standing in front of the class. Apparently younger, in well-ironed shirt, no scratch on his face. One could hardly believe he'd spent his previous life on exhausting military campaigns. Hadn't it been for his eyes, so familiar in their sincerity, friendliness, and… attractiveness…
'Wouldn't you tell us how you defeated Tokugawa at Mikatagahara?' Yoshitsune was so lost in thought he suddenly flinched at Shimazu Yoshihiro's sharp exclamation. "Well, just keep it together, please…" Unconsciously, Yoshitsune looked at the first row, particularly at the centre of it, where Mitsunari was sitting… well, he'd already stood up.
'How outrageous, Shimazu!' Mitsunari uttered indignantly. 'The suggestion that Shima Sakon took part at Mikatagahara has yet to be proven, you know!'
Sakon raised his eyebrows, while Shimazu snorted.
'The last thing I need is your opinion, nerd,' he said acidly. 'Obviously, I was right when I refused to fight for you at Sekigaha—'
Yoshitsune managed to poke him with the back end of his pencil just in time and precisely between his shoulder blades. Shimazu ouched, cut off, and turned back angrily, ready to take his revenge… but froze as soon as their eyes locked.
'Okay, I remember,' he mouthed before sitting down back at his desk. But then he added more loudly, 'I do remember what a delicate flower our Ishida is.'
Yoshitsune's whole body stiffened when Mitsunari half-turned towards Shimazu, looking daggers, and growled, 'Was it my fault that freaking Kuroda…'
"Shimazu, damn it!" Yoshitsune almost swore out loud, preparing to jump up and dash towards Mitsunari.
But he suddenly got paralysed by Sakon's soft voice, '"He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight"… was said by the great Master Sun Tzu. "He will get the best marks who knows that lessons are not suited for verbal battles"… is said by not so great me. Well then, I would suggest to discuss the problem later,' he nodded conciliatorily. 'Shimazu-kun[3] and… my lord.'
Yoshitsune, who'd already calmed down, nearly fell off his chair.
Sakon seemed to realize his mistake himself, since his palm reached the lectern and lay over his cellphone, just in case. Both Yoshitsune and him were looking at Mitsunari now, whose face was frighteningly tense, but too unreadable to find out if it was necessary to call the ambulance, or it would be enough to comfort him with words…
Mitsunari, however, suddenly blushed, bowed to Sakon and said, his voice shaking just a little, 'Shima-sensei. We deeply regret we've almost disrupted your lesson.'
So, he just sat down after that.
Yoshitsune was sure both him and Sakon sighed with relief simultaneously. Despite the obstacles, the trigger could have turned out too risky for Mitsunari. No one but Sakon had called him his 'lord', so warmly, so reverently…
Jealousy slashed the chest like a blade.
"You got totally insane with your schoolbooks, Ishida… Seems like no trigger can get through to you…" Yoshitsune began to turn the pencil in his hands in order to calm down. "But actually, what could one expect? That they'd see each other, exchange a couple of words, and memories of the past would pour into Mitsunari's head, all at once?" Such things happened, and not always, to thread-seers only. Besides, it usually had consequences, mostly negative. Mitsunari, meanwhile, wasn't even a thread-seer; Yoshitsune had found it out in their previous life.
'Nonetheless, you haven't disrupted anything,' said Sakon to Mitsunari in the meantime, and touched the textbooks on the lectern with his finger so that they would lie precisely upon each other. 'That means there's nothing to apologize for, Ishida-kun.'
Then, he smiled with the corners of his lips…
Yoshitsune didn't even notice at first that something snapped. Only a moment later, he realized there are two halves of one pencil in his hands.
'To hell with me, the thread… and these two idiots!' angry, Yoshitsune zipped his schoolbag open to take out a wet wipe. But even so, and even from where he was, he could see Mitsunari blushing a little bit harder.
Suddenly, Yoshitsune wanted to kick him.
'We'd prefer you loved each other with the passion you express when insulting one another,' blurted out Nagiko[4] with a hint of disdain in her voice. She deliberately leaned her elbow on the desk and rested her chin on her hand. 'By the way, are you married, Shima-sensei?'
Yoshitsune couldn't see her face but he knew exactly she was interested in relations between Sakon and Ishida. Damn. Those. Shippers… No doubt, Nagiko was going to post information about their new 'super' teacher and a pile of suggestions about his relationship with his former-lord-and-current-student by today's evening. Being none other than a contemporary reincarnation of Sei Shōnagon, she transformed her famous 'Pillow Book' into 'The Blanket Blog'.
'I am not,' replied Sakon, and Yoshitsune really started to hate himself when he felt happy about the answer. His face was burning now as hardly as Ishida's one, so he desperately tried to get immersed into brushing crumbs of the graphite off the desk and onto the wipe, so that no one could notice anything.
No one, especially Yoshimori — him being too observant and already growing suspicious, since the other end of the thread was now disturbed with unrest.
'I'll tell Ta-chan[5] everything,' said Nagiko in the meantime, mischievously.
'K-Kiyohara!' growled Ishida.
'I don't think I said anything offensive,' Nagiko pretended she was upset.
Of course, the news would be spread first not through her subscribers' feeds, but through private messaging with Ishida's third daughter, Tatsu. She attended the same school but was from a different class. So one could expect yaoi dōjinshi[6] starring her father and his retainer spread everywhere. With the setting likely being a high school. What else could be expected from an artist's granddaughter, except for innate talent and great accomplishments… in the sphere of male-to-male relationships?
Yoshitsune would have laughed, hadn't it been for sharp pain caused by jealousy. And for shame — before his first and only, till their life in the Sengoku Period[7], soulmate, whose anger was nothing short of building up. So, Yoshitsune couldn't help sighing, though barely audibly.
With one of their classmates sitting beside the desk between theirs, he leaned back then to see Yoshimori, who, unsurprisingly, looked back deprecatingly.
"I do remember Sakon must belong to Ishida," said Yoshitsune with his eyes only. "If I hadn't realized it, I wouldn't have sacrificed my inner peace."
Yoshimori squinted, "Would you?" Raised his eyes to the ceiling, "I did warn you, my lord." Shrugged his shoulders, "Nonetheless, there's no use in arguing with you." Sighed, "Okay, I'm not going to intervene." Looked pins at Yoshitsune; sat straight, "But I am going to watch you. That's it." Yoshitsune sighed and sat straight as well. Anger the other end of the thread had been burning with disappeared, with a little bit tense tranquility remaining.
'When are you going to tell us about Sengoku, Shima-sensei?' as usual, Baka[8] Murasaki[9] — this nickname was given to Murasaki Shikibu by Nagiko — tried to keep up with her eternal rival.
Yoshitsune propped his cheek with his hand. One who attended literature classes could easily conclude these two graceful court ladies had been squabbling since their first lives. But was it worth it to keep squabbling today, for no reason? There was reason, on the other hand, in Yoshitsune being hated by his elder brother, Yoritomo. Not only had their notorious father divorced Yoritomo's mother to marry Yoshitsune's mother, but their past kept haunting both of them, imprinted in their personalities. Some time later Sakon would elaborate on the Genpei War[10]; on how Yoritomo had accused Yoshitsune of plotting against him (when, in fact, he'd most likely been afraid of his younger brother, who actually was a thread-seer, being 'possessed by a mononoke[11]'); finally, on how Yoshitsune had been compelled to escape to Mutsu[12] and, together with his comrades, ended up being besieged by Yoritomo's people, so that he'd had no choice but to commit seppuku. It had seemed at the time that Yoritomo had punished a rebel, but today people mostly sympathized with wronged Yoshitsune. As well as people now mostly sympathized with Mitsunari, who'd been unjustly accused of rebellion and executed. Yoshitsune, who'd been 'fond of history even before he started attending school', had used their shared tragedy as the main proof he and Mitsunari 'had to become friends.'
So, given their past, no way could Yoritomo become a politician, despite him willing to follow the footsteps of his grandfather, who was a member of the National Diet[13]. Thankfully, Yoritomo was a year older and studied on another floor, so he could rarely see and, more importantly, mock Yoshitsune… But he couldn't understand at all why Nagiko and Shikibu were ready to fight for teachers' attention almost to death.
'About Sengoku? It depends on how fast we are going to work,' replied Sakon. He wiped his name off the chalkboard and continued, 'Let's proceed to the roll call.'
He took the list from the lectern and began to say everyone's names. Upon hearing his, Yoshitsune raised his hand, and Sakon said, eyes fixated on the piece of paper, 'Benkei-dono asked me to convey his congratulations on your new school year.'
Yoshitsune lowered his head and kept silent. Sakon had pronounced 'Minamoto-no Kurō[14] Yoshitsune' in a voice so soft, so familiar… Well, no. Sakon's voice was ordinary. Or-di-na-ry. It was. Yoshitsune closed his eyes when he felt Yoshimori looking at him. His eyes still shut, he folded his hands above his lowered head to apologize. When he opened one eye, he saw Yoshimori waving off.
'Let's start the first topic,' said Sakon at last. 'Today we are going to talk about the Japanese Paleolithic period…'
Yoshitsune winced. Here we go again… The first human settlements appeared on the Japanese islands at that point; there's still some debate on the issue, of course… Yoshitsune felt so intrigued he couldn't help yawning. He looked at Ishida, who was, as usual, writing down everything — literally everything. He just couldn't behave otherwise, being their class president; being one of the best students; being so. Irritatingly. Nerdy… Yoshitsune sighed and half-closed his eyes. It was only the thread to blame. Mitsunari was a good person, despite him being a meticulous perfectionist even in the past, that part of him driving most of his potential and real enemies crazy…
Yoshitsune started flipping through the textbook not to feel boring but it turned out even more boring after all. Himiko was mentioned virtually everywhere — as a ruler of Yamatai; interacting with the tennō's[15] family; plotting against the Taira Court… Yoshitsune never doubted ancientry and power of this decider… but he knew everything mentioned in textbooks from herself — and thank to her brother Izanagi's[16] diaries.
Besides, given the fact they'd been told as early as in the primary grades how she had founded this very school for thread-seers and famous reincarnations… and how she'd created the soulmate search agency — 'Sourumeito' — together with Izanagi… Concerning medieval times, she had been gathering thread-seers — including Yoshitsune himself — from all over the country and sometimes had manipulated the most dramatic historical events. In one of his interviews, Tokugawa Ieyasu-senpai[17] had spoken of Himiko first putting an end to the Muromachi bakufu[18] by proxy of Oda Nobunaga and then prompting Tokugawa-senpai himself to create the Edo bakufu[19]…
Yoshitsune sighed and tried to pay attention to the lesson but failed. It was enough to look once towards the lectern for his thoughts to start floating far far away, so much like when Sakon had just entered the classroom accompanied by the principal. Their eyes had met then so much like they did now… Sakon stammered in the middle of a sentence, and Yoshitsune averted his gaze instantly as he realized he wasn't the only one staring. Ishida seemed to be merely listening to the lecture but Yoshitsune's chest suddenly started burning with such infernal jealousy he wanted to break not only his pencil but his whole pencil case. He had to do something about the bloody thread and these two before it was too late.
However, he had to be careful. Although Mitsunari's memory was blocked, Yoshitsune seemed to walk down the road strewn with poison-smeared arare[20]. One wrong move could cost him his life while Mitsunari could well lose his sanity. They were only thread-seeing psychologists who were allowed to dig into one's memory directly, and only those who were experienced enough, and only in mental institutions, with sedatives at hand and so that one could easily call for assistance. So, it was quite risky… But Mitsunari couldn't confess till he got back memories about his love towards Sakon. Which was doubly unfortunate for Yoshitsune who could easily lose his own mind if his passion lasted for too long…
During his second life, Himiko had told Yoshitsune about the most reliable method to get memories back safely. One had to interact with their soulmate. Yes, Sakon and Mitsunari's souls were still disconnected… but they actually loved each other anyway. Yoshitsune just needed to make them do things together. So that both of them could get accustomed to each other — and confess at last, thereby tying their souls with a love thread.
Yoshitsune and Yoshimori had been lucky enough to be born in Tōkyō, so they didn't have to struggle with settling in the school dormitory every year. Nonetheless, both of them had got used to accompanying Mitsunari to his accommodation after classes. So did they today, and Yoshitsune decided to test the waters before moving on to any decisive actions. He did know Mitsunari's memory seemed to be tightly sealed, as if an ancient boulder blocked the way to it. However, he didn't know for sure how Mitsunari felt about Sakon… and he had to know it just to estimate how much time it would take to make them confess. Not because he was jealous, not at all!..
Yoshitsune locked his fingers behind his neck and said thoughtfully, 'It must be a shame when your own lord can't recognize you…'
Mitsunari pursed his lips grimly, and kicked one more small heap of sakura[21] petals carried through the schoolyard by the wind. Then, he grumbled, 'I've always suspected I'm not that very Ishida Mitsunari but just his full namesake.'
'Yep. And that very Kuroda Nagamasa is bound to you for no reason, isn't he?'
Mitsunari stopped. Yoshitsune regretted immediately he had spoken about this Kuroda and reached for the cellphone in his pants pocket, just in case, ready to call the ambulance at any moment… Fists clenched, Mitsunari squeezed his eyes shut; inhaled slowly, held his breath, exhaled and held his breath again. Then, he repeated the cycle, several times, following the precepts of the psychologist who'd been looking after him since birth. It was clear Mitsunari felt angry because of his hatred thread which could arouse rage so fierce it was enough to say the name of one's hatred soulmate to cause trouble. When interacting in person, the latter even could be killed. Kuroda was actually lucky they'd had to stay in the same school building just for a year: as early as during their transition from elementary school to secondary one, Mitsunari and Yoshitsune had to move to another building. But before that, Mitsunari had been constantly looking for a fight whenever he'd encountered Kuroda. So, it had been much safer to make sure for them not to see each other at all.
Having completed the exercise, Mitsunari looked at Yoshitsune. The latter could see pain in his eyes, and pursed his lips, ashamed of himself. He realized he'd started talking about Kuroda out of jealousy, after all. Well, now he had to comfort Mitsunari somehow.
'Actually, there's nothing wrong with you having no memories about him. You'll get them back anyway, sooner or later.'
'What do you know, Minamoto?' Mitsunari was frustrated. 'I don't need them "sooner or later". I need them now. I can't keep up with my peers; I can't recognize my former family; and then, there's him as well…'
Mitsunari seemed to purse his lips too nervously and hold a strap of the schoolbag on his shoulder too tightly now, when he had mentioned Sakon. Yoshitsune had expected his heart to ache — and it did, so he hastened to continue the conversation, 'Well, you wouldn't recognize Tatsu anyway, I suppose. She was a little girl when you were executed, but now you two are almost of the same age. You haven't seen your former parents so young, either, I think… Besides, one's appearance can change in each next life, at least a little bit. Do you remember the biology lesson about how "out of the gene pool of one's parents, the genes are selected so that they are as relevant to the original gene pool of the reincarnated person as possible"?..'
Mitsunari looked at Yoshitsune as if seeing a fool.
'You do know what I mean.'
'And I mean you wouldn't recognize them even if you remembered you past! Even Sakon… Have you ever seen him being twenty-five, with short hair and without his scar?'
"And how do you feel about his current appearance?" wanted to add Yoshitsune but restrained himself.
Mitsunari sighed.
'Let's say I hired him, as some sources claim, after the conquest of Shikoku. I was twenty-five at the time. If I really was born in 1560, of course,' as usual, he didn't want to say anything for sure. 'It means no, I haven't.'
'By the way, you've read so many history books you don't really need your memory back.'
'They are books all the same. Schoolbooks are constantly rewritten after each new interview with someone like Oda-san. Tokugawa-senpai, for example, has recently admitted he was three different shōguns[22] in three different lives… So, no one can be sure what's a myth and what's true.'
"Yeah, not to mention me… Concerning me, such facts can be revealed historians would chase me till the end of my life," Yoshitsune agreed silently.
'I wish I had someone beside me whom I can trust — and who knew me well,' Mitsunari kept on speculating. 'Like, for instance… Ōtani… Yoshitsugu?'
It took Yoshitsune all his willpower to keep his expression calm. Yoshimori looked pins at him immediately.
'But they say he never reincarnated,' Mitsunari sighed again. 'Neither did Konishi Yukinaga…'
"Your dear Yukinaga can't reincarnate; at least not in a way you and I did," Yoshitsune thought. "He had no soulmate. Neither did Sakon, but you love him, while I love you… as a friend. My soul could manage just one more thread, so I had to choose. We can only hope gods will allow him to be reborn as a thread-seer, since thread-seers can remember all their previous lives… So pray and believe, my friend." Unfortunately, Yoshitsune couldn't say all that to Mitsunari; neither could he tell the truth about his identity. It was dangerous for Mitsunari to know that Ōtani Yoshitsugu had in fact reincarnated and was standing in front of him now, smiling stupidly.
Meanwhile, Mitsunari's face reflected several hints at different emotions. After that, he almost blushed and said as if addressing no one, his voice tense, 'Anyway, Shima-sensei is just our new history teacher now. And I'm just our class president.'
With these words, Mitsunari turned around and, without saying goodbye, strode towards the dormitory. In his mind, Yoshitsune was screaming and yelling. What had been all the trouble for?! He should have let Sakon's soul get lost forever, so that he wouldn't have belonged to none of them both!.. Well, no, stop. It was jealousy speaking again, nothing more.
Yoshitsune and Yoshimori kept quiet as they went home. The latter's expression was as dark as clouds before a storm. Yoshitsune knew both of them were thinking the same thing. They had to break the thread — period. But before that, how the hell could they make Sakon and Ishida confess to each other for a new thread to appear? Without that, one couldn't get rid of any thread, even of an artificial one. As any famous reincarnation, Sakon was considered an embodiment of history, so not only Japan itself but also international soulmate rights and living heritage advocacy organizations were striving to make sure he had at least one thread connection. So, one could easily be prosecuted for breaking such a valuable thread without permission.
The cellphone vibrated in the pocket — a message came. Yoshitsune looked at the screen and wanted to hit his head with a history book. His — or Ishida's, who kept on asking stupid questions. "Minamoto. Any guesses whom I could love — and then lose because of Kuroda?" Yoshitsune rolled his eyes. Mitsunari's mind denied horrendous memories of the past so persistently it felt ridiculous… That said, it wasn't surprising. But Yoshitsune had been hinting at Sakon since Sengoku Musou 2[23] release! However, it was like whispering prayers in a horse's ear. Even the game makers had guessed, with Mitsunari still being a fool. He couldn't be that thick, could he? Yoshitsune sighed and wrote back, "AFAIK Kuroda killed one particular retainer of yours." "I don't think it's him. I didn't feel anything," Mitsunari replied instantly. "C'mon, not even the slightest shōjo-manga[24] doki-doki[25]?" couldn't help mocking him Yoshitsune, extremely jealous now. One minute later, the apparently angry "Screw you" followed. "Screw you. Just you look at him — he didn't feel… Then I'm going to make you feel," thought Yoshitsune but wrote nothing.
Yoshimori, who'd already gotten ahead, now returned and looked at Yoshitsune expectantly. The latter waved him off, threw his cellphone into the schoolbag and asked, 'Ideas?'
'Got one. They have to confess. You can't break the thread otherwise.'
Yoshitsune smirked: no one could read his mind better than Yoshimori.
'Just be mindful of it. It affects you both. Considerably, as far as I can see,' he sighed. 'If you succumb to it, just remember, please, that I warned you.'
'I'll be able to resist,' Yoshitsune assured him. 'And I think I've got a plan.'
[1] ~sensei — honorific suffix meaning 'teacher', 'master', 'doctor' or 'professor'.
[2] Shima Kiyooki — Shima Sakon's real name.
[3] ~kun — suffix used to refer to juniors by seniors.
[4] Kiyohara Nagiko — supposedly, actual name of Sei Shōnagon (medieval Japanese court lady authoring 'The Pillow Book').
[5] Tatsu — Ishida Mitsunari's third daughter; ~chan — suffix used to refer to a person (usually a girl) you are close with.
[6] Dōjinshi — term usually referring to amateur fan manga (Japanese comic books), with yaoi dōjinshi being devoted to male-to-male relationships and targeted at women.
[7] Sengoku Period — civil war period in Japanese history between 15th and 16th centuries.
[8] Baka — Japanese word meaning 'fool'.
[9] Murasaki Shikibu — medieval Japanese court lady authoring 'The Tale of Genji' ('Genji Monogatari').
[10] Genpei War — civil war between the Taira and the Minamoto.
[11] Mononoke — spirit.
[12] Mutsu — one of two northern Japanese provinces which belonged to Fujiwara-no Hidehira (Minamoto-no Yoshitsune's ally).
[13] National Diet — Japanese parliament.
[14] Kurō — the name Minamoto-no Yoshitsune took after genpuku (coming-of-age ceremony).
[15] Tennō — emperor.
[16] Izanagi — brother of Izanami, with both of them being considered deities who created the Japanese islands.
[17] ~senpai — honorific suffix meaning 'senior'.
[18] Muromachi bakufu — Ashikaga military government existing since 1336 to 1573.
[19] Edo bakufu — Tokugawa military government existing since 1603 to 1868.
[20] Arare — throwing weapons, often shaped to look like chestnuts.
[21] Sakura — cherry tree.
[22] Shōgun — military ruler.
[23] Sengoku Musou 2 — Japanese version of Samurai Warriors 2.
[24] Shōjo-manga — manga targeted at female teenagers.
[25] Doki-doki (ドキドキ) — sound used in Japanese to refer to one's heartbeat.