Reborn into Hakuouki!? (Hakuouki Fanfiction)

Play 3: Persuasion

Someone was shaking me gently. Rolling to my other side uncomfortably, I moaned in irritation.
  "Leave me alone, Yamada-san..." I mumbled. "Just ten more minutes..."
  The gentle yet annoying shaking didn't stop though. After a moment, I groaned loudly in resignation.
  "Fine, fine, I'm getting up..." I tried to get up using my hands to prop myself up, but soon realised that they were tied up tightly. I was fully awake by now , noticing that my ankles were bounded too. I struggled within the ropes' strong grip, stopping when a kind voice spoke to me.
  "You're finally awake." I glanced up to see a kind-looking man, his expression apologetic. "I am Inoue Genzaburo. I'm sorry that we have to treat you this way..." He paused to smile as I became aware that I was in a weird position. Squirming, I managed to sit upright. "Please hold on as I loosen those ropes..." His mouth twitched in amusement as he removed the ropes at my legs. I blushed in response when I recalled my mumbling in a half-asleep state.
  When he was done, I wiggled my toes and exercised my stiff ankles. "Thank you...but how about my wrists?" I asked when he stood up. With a surprising amount of strength, he pulled me up to my feet.
  "Sorry, I can't loosen that yet." Inoue gestured to the door. "Now, if you please follow me..."
  Everything that happened the day before returned to me, and I pulled a face. "They're going to kill me, aren't they?"
  Inoue shook his head, looking unsure. "Though they've been discussing about it since morning...Now, they want to hear your side of the story."
  Nodding, I followed him quietly, studying the surroundings around me. I was dazed, staring in surprise at how tranquil the entire place looked.
  "This...atmosphere doesn't seem to suit those violent people." I realised too late that I had said this aloud. Inoue chuckled as if in amusement.
  "I know they seem scary, but they're all really very nice."
  "Doubt so." I thought back at the cold green eyes that seemed to pierce through my soul and grimaced.
  Before I could say any further, Inoue had led me into a room, and I found my hair standing in a familiar way. For someone who had been performing on the stage for more than ten years, I could tell whether or not the audience had their attention on me. I saw myself in the same situation now--except that most of their stares were cold, not admiring.
  Swallowing nervously, I put on my best pokerface 'mask' and sat down without a word.
  "Good morning! I hope you slept well?"
  I turned and almost cowered in fear. Nothing about the man was familiar--except his green eyes. Gulping, I murmured, "I guess so."
  "Really." His handsome face twisted sideways into a grin. "Because when I went to have a look at you earlier, you didn't budge no matter where I poked."
  "I see--what!?" I almost let out a squeak, but quickly regained my composure. "What...Where did you..." I wished I had some way to hide my blush, but my hands were tied.
  A man let out a familiar sigh beside him, and I deduced that he was the one with this pervert yesterday night. "He's only teasing you. Souji didn't go anywhere near your room."
  So that man's name is Souji. My eyes narrowed at him, who was smiling playfully as if toying with the most interesting object on earth.
  "Aaah, I just wanted to see your reaction. Not very nice of you, Hajime-kun..."
  I gritted my teeth. God, why am I caught up this crap again? Oh, yeah, some jealous freak made me fall down the stairs. "You mean that it was not very nice of him to spoil your fun," I hissed before ignoring him.
  A man who had his black silky hair in a long ponytail reproved, "Shut it, we have things to settle."
  "Ehh...so this your witness huh? Seems like a kid to me." A boy with brown ponytail who looked about my age gazed at me from head to toe.
  "If I'm a kid, you're a kid too," I shot back harshly, glaring. The boy's eyes widened in shock, and I couldn't blame him. I was clearly at a disadvantage here, and yet still had the guts to retort.
  "I apologise for all this frightening behaviour. Please, don't give them the pleasure of unsettling you." A man in round glasses smiled kindly, and I relaxed a little.
  The one with the black ponytail smirked. "Are you serious? You are the scariest out of all of us, Sanan." I tensed up upon hearing that. Everyone in the room were nodding in serious agreement, and I studied the man called Sanan. He didn't seem that the kind of man they were talking about, but one can never judge a book by its cover.
  "Oh? How crude...I can understand their feelings, but even our demon of a commander think so..."
  In conclusion, all of them in this room are demons. I cleared my throat impatiently. "Maybe you should be focused at how to...handle my situation. But first, can I at least know who you people are?"
  The men stared at me, astonished, before one of them recovered.
  "My apologies...I am Kondou Isami, Chief of the Shinsengumi." He smiled warmly, and I found myself relaxing again.
  "Shinsengumi..." I winced. Few years ago, I performed a play about Shinsengumi, and even then I knew they were...scary, to put it shortly.
  Kondou glanced over at the black ponytail guy and glasses guy. "That one's Hijikata Toshizo, the commander, and Sanan Keisuke, our colonel."
  "Kondou-san, why are you introducing us?" Hijikata looked confused.
  "Well, I would want to know the people who want to kill me before I die," I mumbled under my breath, but it seemed that everyone heard it.
  "Okita Souji, Captain of the Shinsengumi's 1st Division." The one with green eyes chuckled at my feisty attitude. "Saito Hajime, Captain of the 3rd Division." He looked over to the one with the familiar sigh.
  "I'm Toudou Heisuke, Captain of the Shinsengumi's 8th Division," the guy with brown ponytail said.
  "My name's Harada Sanosuke, Captain of 10th Division." The one with red hair spoke.
  "Nagakura Shinpachi, Captain of 2nd Division." The man with a green headband murmured reluctantly.
  "Thank you." I bowed, and looked over at Hijikata and Kondou expectantly.
  "Well then, let's get back to the business at hand." Kondou was the one who spoke first. "Can you tell us what you've seen last night?" He gave Saito a look, and he nodded in understanding.
  "Last night, we were on patrol when we encountered some wandering ronin. They draw steel, so we fought. Some of our men subdued the ronin, but in doing so, it exposed their failure." Saito looked at me, expressionless. I guessed that it was my turn, so I readied myself to say my side of story.
  "Failure?" Was the first thing I blurted out, and judging by the looks on the men's faces, I stepped on the forbidden territory. Quickly changing the subject, I said, "I didn't see anything."
  Out of the corner of my eye, Hijikata softened a little, but Saito had no reaction while Souji's smile didn't disappear.
  Heisuke frowned, doubting my words. "You sure you didn't see anything?"
  I put on my confident 'mask'. "Yup, very sure."
  "Hmm, if so, I don't see what's the problem here." I almost let out a sigh when Nagakura cleared his throat.
  "Hold on a moment. I thought Souji said you helped out some of our men or something..." He mumbled.
  I snorted softly. "Right. By fainting. I'm sure I slept through the whole thing. I didn't see a thing." I shot a look at Souji, who was still smiling. "Can I go home now?"
  "I'm sure this kid knows more than we think," Souji said. "She didn't faint until she looked at me."
  Blushing, I hissed angrily, "What do you mean, looked at you? I was staring at the blood--" My bounded hands covered my mouth without thinking.
  "Then...that means that you saw them right?"
  "S-saw what? I didn't see anything..." I avoided eye contact, but it was too late. I should have known that my big mouth would betray me.
  "In other words, you saw everything. You saw them slicing the ronin up." Harada looked as if he wanted to burst out laughing.
  "I-I...didn't see anything like that..." I repeated, this time with a weaker voice. I was convinced that if I said I did, I would be killed right there and then.
  "Why don't we just kill him?" Souji said as if proposing to hang out after this.
  I glared at his heck-care attitude. "I wouldn't say anything to others, I swear! Just release me..." I tried to swallow the lump in my throat.
  "Even if you don't intend to tell anyone about this, you could be captured; interrogated. I doubt you could withstand torture," Sanan pointed out a little coldly, and I gulped.
  "I don't think anyone would want to mess with me though..." I recalled how I acted in the streets, especially at night. No sane human would attack or capture someone who seemed to need a one-way ticket to the mental hospital.
  "It's easy enough to stay quiet, but if someone should try to..." Saito paused, searching for a nicer word. "Coerce you, you've no reason to keep our secrets."
  Souji decided to join in the 'fun' to scare me too. "We don't have any kind of guarantee that you'll keep your word, so it wouldn't be smart to just let you go."
  "True, but..." I trailed off, resigned.
  When Souji spoke again, his words sent shivers down my spine. "Let's just kill the kid. It's the only sure way to keep him quiet." His cold eyes shifted to me, causing me to freeze in panic.
  Maybe it was my destiny to die here, in this foreign world.