Ikémen Sengoku: Transcriptioned Romances Across Time (Masamune)

Masamune Date Chapter 8

Masamune: "Is everyone all right?" I looked up to see Masamune had come running out of his tent too.

Mai: "Masamune! We've got a problem! Yojiro says there's poison in the water!"

Masamune: "I know. They contaminated a good amount of the supply. A bunch of the men drank it without realizing it and are collapsing left and right." No. "Yojiro, can you hear me?"

Yojiro: "Y-yes--"

Masamune: "Ieyasu's working on an antidote right now. We've got a relief tent set up. We're going to move you there."

Mai: "Hang on to me, Yojiro. Up we go."

Yojiro: "T-thank you, princess--" Masamune and I helped Yojiro up.

Mai: "Masamune, who would do this?"

Masamune: "I caught and killed one of the men who brought the poison. The rest got away." I couldn't even feel shocked at hearing that. This horrible situation had numbed me. "Poison is a valid strategy. I won't say it's cowardly. Anything goes in war. But-- The man I killed didn't look like one of Sanada or Uesugi's men." Then someone else did this?

Inside the relief tent, it was like a scene from a nightmare. Men collapsed, curled up in pain, moaning and crying.

Masamune: "Ieyasu, I need to know if you'll have the antidote in time."

Ieyasu: "I'm working as fast as I can. It's going to significantly impact our medical supplies though." This is awful. The men I'd been talking with earlier were among the sick, including the man who'd compared me to his daughter." The whole situation left me speechless.

Masamune: "We have to press forward with the assault. Leave just enough men to take care of the sick, and several to guard them."

Ieyasu: "All right. I'll come too as soon as I've finished the antidote." Ieyasu went back to his work.

Mai: "Masamune, I'll stay here and help."

Masamune: "Lass, wait." Masamune took me by the arm and brought me close. His voice was a whisper, "I'm not sure it's safe. It's likely someone other than Kenshin is behind this." Masamune's frown and the grip of his hand told me how truly tense he was. "And they could come back. You don't have to help. Just find someplace to hide and keep yourself safe."

Masamune, what are you saying?

Mai: "I came along to help! I haven't come this far to back out now!"

Masamune: "You've helped enough on the way here. You don't need to do any more.

Mai: "I know that it's dangerous, but it's going to be worse for everyone here. I won't leave them."

Masamune: "The poisoners may come back and try to finish the wounded off. You can't fight them alone. You'd die." Masamune's blue eye was as sharp as a sword, but I just looked back at him.

Mai: "I know that I can't be any use to you in battle. But I can be of use to you here. That's why I came along. Everyone was led here by their convictions. We're all allies, fighting together for that reason. I'm going to help my allies--my friends." The fierce look of determination in Masamune's eye wavered only slightly. "It's not that I'm not scared of our enemy returning. It's that I know how much I'd regret it if I ran to save my own life."

Masamune: ". . . I see."

Masamune's hand slid from my arm to my wrist. Gently, he cupped the back of my neck with the other. He leaned into me slightly, resting his forehead against mine. The pulse in my wrist and neck beat fast, echoing against Masamune's steady hands.