Saito's Short Story from the Manyo no Shou Special Edition Booklet
Saito’s story is simply hilarious and I greatly enjoyed translating it. Have fun reading this one! 🥰 (All the emoji/kaomoji are my own additions. They are not in the original text.)
(This is… What should I do?! 〣( ºΔº )〣)
On a certain afternoon, I was asked by Vice Commander Hijikata to summon Yukimura Chizuru. I went to her room and called out to her through the shoji. Since there was no answer, I called out again just in case, and opened the door. And then there was the sight of Yukimura sleeping with an innocent, baby-like face.
(Why is she sleeping when it’s still bright outside?)
She never napped at this time of the day, at least not since she started living at the Shinsengumi headquarters.
(She must be tired from all the hustle and bustle recently, with the moving of the headquarters and the new recruits joining the Shinsengumi. But how defenseless she is, falling asleep like this. There are many soldiers in this headquarters who don’t know her true identity…)
Anyway, since the Vice Commander told me to summon her, I have to wake her up.
(She looks so comfortably asleep. I feel a bit sorry to wake her up)
I coughed first and waited for her to wake up, but——
She didn’t seem to wake up, and just kept breathing, relaxed in her sleep.
I decided to cough louder than before. But still, I couldn’t feel any sign of her waking up.
(Why won’t she wake up? If it was the usual Yukimura, she would wake up right away. Could it be that she is way too exhausted?)
If that’s the case, I am reluctant to force her to wake up and take her to the Vice Commander.
(Then, what should I do…? Should I go back to the Vice Commander’s room and report the situation as it is?)
But I immediately dismissed that idea.
(No, I can’t do that. If I tell the Vice Commander the truth, he might say “What is she doing, sleeping at this time?” and scold Yukimura.)
But still, even if I did make a sound, she didn’t seem to wake up.
(Then… do I have no choice but to shake her awake?)
I thought that and reached out to her, but…
Yukimura stirred slightly with her eyes closed, so I hastily backed away and kept enough distance to avoid being misunderstood.
“S-sorry! I’ll have you know, I wasn’t thinking of anything shady. The Vice Commander told me to come and get you!”
I hurriedly tried to explain why I was here, but…
At that moment, Yukimura’s eyelids twitched slightly. I realized that I had woken her up because I was loud and couldn’t help but regret it inwardly.
Soon, Yukimura’s eyes opened and she looked at me with a dazed gaze.
“Ah, Saito-san? Why are you here…”
Yukimura’s big eyes blinked several times.
Driven by the urgency to explain why I was here, I blurted out.
“I never meant to intrude here with ill intentions! I apologize for entering your room without permission, but I called out to you once from behind the door—no, twice. But since there was no reply, I just opened the shoji to check on you! Do you understand what I’m saying?🥺”
“Y-yes! I understand. I’m sorry for not noticing your presence sooner.”
Yukimura bowed her head in embarrassment.
Seeing her like that, I felt rather guilty instead.
“No… you don’t have to apologize.”
Yukimura just bowed her head and the conversation came to an end.
(This is bad. This is not Yukimura’s fault. Why can’t I handle this situation well? At least, I have to tell her that she’s not to blame.)
As I muttered words of self-reproach in my mind, I noticed that Yukimura was staring at me.
“Ah… Saito-san, you had something to tell me, right?”
With that question, I finally remembered why I came here.
“Ah, the Vice Commander said he had something to tell you. Probably, he wants to hear about the progress of the treatment of the soldier who was injured the other day.”
“I see. Then, I’ll hurry over. Thank you for letting me know.”
Yukimura said that and bowed her head slightly.
“I’ve delivered the message. Well, I’m going now.”
I said that and stood up.
But just before leaving the room, I thought to myself.
(Isn’t it too unsympathetic to leave the room like this?)
Even though I had to do what I just did, it’s a fact that I entered Yukimura’s room without permission. I apologized earlier, but I don’t know if my apologies have been conveyed properly.
Yukimura’s voice came from behind me, as if she felt something was wrong with me standing still at the door and not moving.
I glanced back and saw Yukimura’s face looking up at me with a worried expression. I told her this.
“It’s fine to take a nap since you must be very tired recently, but in that case, you should at least cover yourself with a haori or something similar. You’re the one who’s responsible for the health of the soldiers now, so it would be bad if you caught a cold.”
The moment I finished speaking, I was tormented by regret, thinking that I should have said something nicer.
“Yes, thank you, Saito-san. I’ll be careful from now on.”
She said that with a sincere expression and bowed her head.
“Uh, um… well then. See you.”
I left that one word behind and finally left Yukimura’s room.
Then, as I was walking down the hallway–
“Hey, Hajime-kun? What are you doing there?”
I heard Souji’s voice from behind and froze on the spot. As I turned around, I said.
“Souji… I just came to deliver a message to Yukimura.”
“Oh… it seems to be a pretty long message, though😏.”
I don’t know how much he saw what happened, but I swear, I…
“Let me tell you, what I did just now was only to convey a message from the Vice Commander to Yukimura. There was nothing suspicious about it at all.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’ll let you have it your way.”
He said in a tone that sounded like he was snickering, and then started walking.
“Wait!! It’s not ‘letting me have it my way’! I’m simply telling the truth! Listen to me, Souji!”
After that, I explained the situation to Souji in detail, but it was of no avail.
