𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐊𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑 ˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳ 𝐡𝐚𝐤𝐮𝐨𝐮𝐤𝐢 [ON HOLD]

⇛ 𝐂𝐇. 𝟏𝟎

that night keiko hadn't returned back to the room the others were drinking in, nor did she return to the shinsengumi when everyone awoke in the morning. they had spent the night looking for her, but failed to.

based off what heisuke told hijikata about okita offending the girl, they assumed she got annoyed and left to be alone. okita, the overthinker believed she used that outburst as an excuse to go do some dodgy stuff.

even so heisuke stayed up waiting by the steps. she still wasn't back when the others joined him while saito trained. they were discussing itou asking some of them to join him when chizuru pointed out a person walking through the entrance.

"keiko!"

the girls clothes were muddy and teared at the bottom. her hair was a complete mess with twigs and rubbish stuck in it.

"what happened to you?!" heisuke got up from his seat, when the girl got closer. he held her shoulders and examined her top to bottom looking for injuries.

"are you hurt?!" sanosuke asked, alarmed.

"why did you guys leave me on the streets?" she asked, tears in her eyes.

"what? we didn't." chizuru replied.

"i woke up on the streets!" she yelled.

from what she could recall she left the drinking room to go change then from there her memory was foggy and when she next woke up she was on the streets, laying in front of the building they were drinking in.

"did someone hurt you?" heisuke shook her, pestering her with questions, worried.

"look at me! my clothes and my hair! my hair is ruined!" she yelled at him. it was clear she was completely out of it, possibly even drunk, but she was definitely not her usual self.

the others looked around at each other, letting out a sigh of relief that she was only crying about her appearance.

"we can fix it." saito told her.

okita stood behind the girl, examining her hair. "oh no."

"what?!"

"i think you're going to have to go bald." he joked, making the girl let out a cry as tears appeared. they were convinced for sure she was still drunk.

"souji, what the hell!" shinpachi said when keiko ran away to her room, stumbling on her way.

"i was just joking."

in her room, she stood in front of the mirror like she had done the day she joined the shinsengumi. without even hesitating or thinking she closed her eyes, picked up a sword and cut her hair.

slowly, she reopened her eyes and stared at herself in the mirror. it could have gone terribly wrong, but it didn't. she had managed to cut all the hair that had been ruined and was now left with her hair just above her shoulders.

she knew she could have just gotten everything out her hair, but she had been wanting to cut her hair short for a very long time. her parents would force her to grow out her hair, saying it would attract men.

she stayed inside her room for a bit, resting on her futon. she slept and when she woke up again she had calmed down. her eyes landed on the pile of hair in the corner.

"oh shit. what did i do?!"

for a few minutes she cried over her hair that she had spent years growing out and had now lost, all because she let herself drink too much.

once she was over it, she left the room in a fresh set of clothes and went over to the group that were still hanging around the steps.

"oh my!" chizuru exclaimed, being the first to notice.