Transferred into Hakuou!? (Hakuouki Fanfiction)

Replay 3: The Catcher In The Crowd

I sulk at my rice, begrudgingly stuffing myself. My father does not take notice and is smiling happily at Mitsu and her brother, Souji, as if they were the happy family he had wished for decades ago.

Sipping my miso soup as loudly as possible, I eye suspiciously at the boy who sits across me. The guy has a polite smile plastered onto his face, nodding to every single thing my father is babbling about. Mitsu is covering her mouth, trying hard not to laugh at my father's failed attempt of a joke.

Finally, I can't take it any longer. I slam my almost-empty bowl onto the wooden table and shoot up from my chair.

"I've lost my appetite," I announce, glaring at the two lovebirds. Then I glance at Souji, whose lips are twitching, repressing a huge smile. It is like he is trying not to laugh at me, whatever funny reason it may be.

I enter the kitchen and dump my dirty dishes into the sink. As I wash my hands, a voice from behind makes me jump.

"Let's talk."

I turn my head to see Okita Souji leaning against the wall beside the entrance of the kitchen. Frowning, I decide to ignore him and dry my hands. I try to walk past the boy, but he moves into my way, folding his arms.

"Let's talk."

Rolling my eyes, I snort. "Yeah, I heard you, but I was trying to ignore you, in case you haven't caught on yet." I glare at him to move again, but his grin only widens.

"Aren't you friendly." Souji lowers his head to my face, and I back away immediately. "We should get to know each other. Alone."

My face turns so red I could camouflage with tomatoes. "A-a-alone!?" I manage to squeak.

He pretends he didn't hear me and beckons to follow him. In the state of confusion, I listen. Souji leads me to my room and opens the door. He held the door, a cheeky smile on his face, and gestures me to enter first.

What the hell is this guy planning? He's acting like it's his room instead.

I enter and jump onto my bed. The soft fabric feels comforting on my skin, and I'm reassured by it that he can't do anything bad in my room and in my house.

An image suddenly flashes in front of my eyes, and for a moment I black out. I see a room which I should have never been before, and I'm facing someone. Someone vaguely familiar...

The episode ends as soon as it had began, and my vision clears to see Souji cocking his head at me. I fake a cough, not wanting him to know that something is wrong, and raise my chin at him.

He takes it as a cue to speak. "What do you think about the relationship between your father and my sister?"

I almost slide out of my bed. I thought he was going to ask me about school and hobbies and stupid trival things, but he is asking about my father and Mitsu? What happened to 'getting to know each other'?

Not that I care or anything.

"Well..." I quickly recover from my shock. "I think my father should leave Mitsu alone. Same goes for your sister."

Souji frowns at my lack of honorifics. "And why is that?"

"Isn't that obvious?" I move my wrist. "Dad is a reowned scriptwriter. He should be dating someone with a big name--"

Souji slams his fist onto the wall and my heart almost jumps out of my chest. When he raises his head, his emerald eyes are glinting with anger.

"I didn't exactly have a nice first impression on you," he starts, his eyes never fluttering. "I guess that it hasn't change yet." He turns to leave my room. "I hope you will not do something to destroy their relationship, because you don't want me as your enemy." His expression then does a one-eighty, and he smiles. "See you around then, kid."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I am fuming.

My eyes meet the snow globe that Mitsu said was chosen by her brother, and I pick it up. Rising it to my head, I'm ready to smash it when I stop. If I smash it now, my father would hear everything and things could get complicated. Not to mention, who knows what that Okita Souji would do? He seems like a really dangerous person.

Placing the globe into my drawer, I shiver and then giggle softly. What's with the name Okita Souji? Maybe their parents were big fans of the Shinsen-something, and thought it the perfect chance to name him after one of the captains in the Shinsen-something.

Since there is nothing to do, I leave my house quietly, and then make my way to the nearest bookstore. Unfortunately, I have to take the subway as Yamada is still on leave. I board it, squeezing with other smelly people in the train and cursing under my breath. Jesus, do these people even bathe?

I manage to hold onto one of the railings and shift around, trying to make myself comfortable but no avail. I glare at the nearest man, who is falling asleep while standing up when something catches my eye.

A dark-haired girl is edging away from a boy, who seems as if he is trying to get closer to her. My eyes narrow at the sight and I start to wiggle my way closer to the couple. The female is clearly in distress and I see what is bothering her. The boy has his hand under her skirt, groping god knows where.

Argh...I really hate this kind of people.

In a flash, my hand reaches out to grab the boy's hand. The boy glances up to meet my eyes, astonished, and I smirk.

"You stinking piece of...!" I hiss and begin to twist his wrist. He responds well to my sudden attack, yelling in pain. This catches the attention of the passengers in the train. "You are going to the police station right now!" I declare furiously.

The boy starts to beg for me to let go, but I held on stubbornly. When the train stops, I drag the guy out and tells the guard what happened. He nods in understanding and proceeds to pull the culprit to his office for questioning.

"Um...Thank you very much."

I haven't even realise that the girl who was molested had followed me out of the train. My eyes scan her in a second. She is about the same height as me, with black shoulder-length hair tied to a side. She seems like the quiet and shy type--no wonder the sickening bastard picked her to be his next victim.

"For god's sake, when it happens next time could you do something about it?" I sigh in exasperation. "You could scream or something. Someone would help you if you ask for it." I look up to see that I had coincidently alighted at the stop I wanted, and turn to leave the station. The girl tries to catch up to me for some reason, but I quicken my pace into the crowd before disappearing into a bookstore.