Transferred into Hakuou!? (Hakuouki Fanfiction)

Replay 0: The Count Of Affairs

I stare at my cookies and cream birthday cake in disbelief. I had just been discharged to find out that it is my birthday.

I look up at my grinning father and the crying Yamada, and then return to look at the cake. Is this a joke? Glancing at the calendar, my jaw drops when I see that it is indeed the 29th of November.

"What the--!?" I squeak. "How long had I been unconscious?"

My father and Yamada meet eye contact. "Well," Yamada bows politely. "You have been in coma for more than a year now." He raises his head, and I can see that he is sweating nervously, waiting for my unpredictable reaction.

Rubbing my hand against my forehead, I sigh. I know that my competition had ended because my father told me in the hospital that we lost, but who knows that it had been this long? I clutch my fists, irritated at the damned boy who pushed me down the stairs. According to my father, his name is Akira Ichiro.

"You should have told me earlier. What else have you guys been hiding from me?" I have a bugging feeling that the other secrets the two men had kept have something to do with my mother's sudden disappearance.

Without a word, Yamada walks over to the living room and reappears with a newspaper in his hand. He gestures for me to read it, and I take the paper without asking. Then I begin to read the headlines--ACTRESS OF THE 'SCANDALOUS AFFAIR' MOVIE RUNS AWAY WITH MYSTERY MAN.

"What is this?" The words escape from my mouth and I glimpse at my father to see that he doesn't look heartbroken or anything like that. "Mom ran away with some random dude?"

"That was after we divorce," my father says casually. "Soon she ran away with a man I don't even know she had."

"Wait, you divorced mom?" I ask, my head beginning to spin at the declaration. "While I was in coma?"

My father nods, looking slightly uncomfortable now. "Yes," he says quietly. "We argued all day and night after you went to the hospital. Then things took a turn..." He gulps and avoids eye contact. "When she caught me with another woman in our bed."

I am beyond speechless. I open and close my mouth, trying to find the right words to say ("God, dad, you're such a jerk!" or even "Oh my god, I'm going to have a new mom? Great!") but nothing comes out. In their bed? The bed they had been sharing for over a decade? No wonder my mother wants a divorce. Then again, she might have already met her 'mystery man' and was just using that as an excuse to get separated.

Folding my arms, I try to look angry, but I still haven't get over the shock. "So who's the woman?"

My father is about to speak when the doorbell rings. Yamada bows to leave and greet the visitor. "Actually," my father stutters nervously. "She is here."

I follow my father's gaze and frown at the woman in her early thirties. She has long, beautiful brown hair that matches her bright green eyes, and she has a mature and feminine aura that I have always been jealous of. She is tall and slim, her figure plump at the right places of her body. No wonder my father is smitten with her.

My eyes narrow at her as she bows, and my father blushes, greeting her back. She looks at me and smiles, and I turn away rudely.

"This must be your daughter." She speaks with a soft voice. "She is very cute."

I flush red at the unexpected compliment and try to hide it. "Praises will get you nowhere, whore," I say without thinking. The woman don't flinch at my language, but her grin widens. Something about that smile is familiar yet infuriating.

"Forgive me if I forget to introduce myself, Jun-chan." Her smile is so bright I want to close my eyes. "My name is Okita Mitsu. Nice to finally meet you."

My head spins at the name, and I almost fall off the chair at the name. Yamada catches me just in time, and easily supports me back to the chair.

"Are you feeling alright, Jun-kun?" He asks worriedly, and I nod.

"Just a dizzy spell, nothing wrong."

"We can go back to the hospital for another check-up..." My father starts.

"No! No hospitals, please." I raise a hand at him, shaking my head to clear the cloudiness. "It's probably just the medicine's side effects." I turn my attention at Okita Mitsu. "So why the hell are you here?"

Mitsu looks at my father and sighs in exasperation. "Oh my. Did your father not mention this?" She tilts her head innocently and smiles. "We are going to be a family soon."

I almost fall the chair again. "We what?"

She ignores my shock and continues. "Come to think of it-- my brother is just a year older than you." Mitsu gives me a pitiful look which my father and Yamada don't notice. "It must be really strange to call someone close to your age 'uncle'."

I shoot up the seat to attempt to strangle her, but is caught with another dizzy spell. Yamada catches me again, and bows, saying that I have to rest. I retort that I don't have to, but my father gives me a stern look and tells me to rest.

Yamada piggy-backs me back to my bedroom, which I had missed so much, and tucks me under the sheets.

"That woman...I can tell she's not a good person. She destroyed a man's marriage."

My servant turns and smiles sadly at me. "As far as I know, Jun-kun, your father's marriage was already bumpy even before the two met." He pats my head. "As outsiders, we must not only look from our own perspectives--we have to take account of the feelings of the people involved."

"But..." My tears well up. "I'm not an outsider. I have been trying for years to..."

Yamada smiles. "I know that very well, Jun-kun. Now go to sleep. You'll need the rest."

I close my eyes, silently cursing at myself. If I hadn't let my guard down, that boy wouldn't have pushed me, and I wouldn't have landed in the hospital. I wouldn't be in a coma, and my parents wouldn't fight over me. Perhaps my father wouldn't even allow the woman home, and my mother would not have found out about the affair. But everything that was done has been done, and I cannot do anything to change it.