Ikemen Sengoku: Nobunaga Oda

Chapter 5 + His POV

Mai: "Excuse me, Nobunaga?" When I arrived at the tenshu I found Nobunaga reading.

Nobunaga: "Mai? This is unexpected. Did you come to suffer more of my cruelty firsthand?"

Mai: "No, I came to ask you something." You're not getting rid of me that easily. Nobunaga's smile faded. I looked at him without emotion.

Nobunaga: "Fine. Sit down."

Mai: "All right." I have a lot of things to ask you, after all. I crossed the soft carpet and sat down, facing Nobunaga. "Hideyoshi came to talk to me, and told me an interesting story. He said the man begging for his life was going to kill me." The slight shift in Nobunaga's expression gave everything away.

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Assassin: "I'm sorry! I apologize for everything! I-I'll do anything you ask. Just spare me!"

Nobunaga: "Don't touch her."

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Mai: "You killed him to save my life, didn't you?"

Nobunaga: "What of it?" So it's true. Why didn't he say something?

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Mai: "He was begging for mercy! How can you kill someone like that?! Aren't you going to say something?!"

Hideyoshi: "Mai, you didn't--"

Nobunaga: "Hideyoshi, it's fine. Mai, is that all you wish to know?"

Mai: "You're so cold and cruel, Nobunaga."

Nobunaga: "Think what you like."

Mai: "Amazing. Can't you show any compassion at all?"

Nobunaga: "If you're going to talk to yourself, you can do it in private. But I have no reason to stay here and listen to your naïve worldview."

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Mai: "I thought some pretty horrible things about you after that. And I said a lot of them aloud. I know better now, and I'm sorry. Thank you for saving my life."

Nobunaga: "You didn't come here to just tell me something so inane, did you?" We're going to have to agree to disagree on the inane part. Now to the real issue.

Mai: "No. I want to know why you didn't just tell me. You had plenty of opportunities."

Nobunaga: "I didn't see the need." I can already tell this is going to be a fun conversation. Nobunaga was cutting me short at every turn. his eyes were icy. But I wasn't going to back away from this mystery.

Mai: "Tell me. I want to know."

Nobunaga: "There's no point in telling you something you already know."

Mai: "That's good, because I'm not asking about things I already know. I want to know what you were thinking." Strangely, that question caught Nobunaga off guard.

Nobunaga: "You're a strange one. What do my thoughts matter to you?" There was a note of exasperation in his voice. But any emotion was progress. It looks like I'm beginning to break through the ice! I continued to pressure him.

Mai: "Why do you think there wasn't a need to tell me?"

Nobunaga: "Because it wouldn't change what happened." Just a little more-- "I killed that man. Whether I was defending you or not, he's dead. What's dead is dead. There's no point in seeking meaning after the fact." Nobunaga's detached words hung on the air. If that's true, then why haven't you been acting like yourself since that night?
Mai: "Do you regret killing him?"