Heisei To Sengoku - Chapter 66 My Wife

“No, I still have some questions.” Harumi intervened while the guards escorted the real Nohime away. They gave Nobunaga a questioning look who stared them down. Without saying another word they left with Nohime.

“What was that?” Harumi asked pissed while she turned to face Nobunaga.

“You have plenty of time to question her when…” He began but Harumi cut him off.

“And you!” She sneered. “I’ve been missing for days and replaced by someone and you didn’t even notice?”

“Calm down, please.” Nobunaga sighted. “Your maids are here. Please eat, bathe and rest first. After that you can yell at me as much as you want.” Harumi turned around. In the door opening three maids were waiting for her, but it weren’t her maids.

“Who are you?” She asked skeptically.

“We are your new maids…” The one in the front said while bowing deep.

“No, no, no!” Harumi yelled, almost starting to cry again. “Where are Masa-kin, Lin-chan and Rike-chan? I want MY maids!” Before Harumi could yell any more the three maids excused themselves to look for Harumi’s old maids. Although Harumi had the feeling she was getting insane, one mystery was soled. She spent the most hours of the day, by far, with her maids. Of course they would have noticed if someone had taken her place. The real Nohime was quite crafty. She switched places with Harumi as soon as her maids were gone and appointed new maids before her old ones were back. That also meant that the real Nohime had someone on the inside who could have told her that her maids would be gone. But that was something she would figure out later. Not long after the three maids were gone Harumi’s old maids came rushing in, not caring about the proper conduct. Harumi didn’t care either. Rike-chan and Lin-chan were already crying while they hugged Harumi tight while Masa-kun tried hard to keep her eyes dry. After a while they loosened their embrace and remembered they were in the presence of the lord of the castle. Almost immediately they fell to the ground and started bowing while apologizing.

“There is no need for that.” Nobunaga said. “I know you are very dear to my wife and it is nice to see that it is the same for you. Please take Nohime to her quarters and care for her.” Nobunaga ordered.

After Harumi was clean, well fed and het slept for what felt a decade she made her way to the dungeons where the real Nohime was being held. Most of the flair from Nohime was gone. She sat on the ground with her back against a wall. The kimono she was wearing was smudged and her hair was one big mess.

“please leave us.” Harumi asked the guard who was standing watch. He gave her a bow and left the dungeons. They were finally alone. Harumi could finally find out how to get back to her own time. Why didn’t she feel an overwhelming happiness when thinking about returning to her family and old life? It didn’t matter. She coughed to let Nohime know she wanted to talk to her. Nohime turned her head lazily and looked at her.

“Why did you come back?” Harumi asked. She hadn’t been interested in the reason the real Nohime decided to return, but her unconscious had asked the question before she could think about it.

“Why did I come back?” Nohime repeated the question. She went silent for a moment and than began to lough.

“What do you think?” Nohime asked.

“I don’t know. Thats why I’m asking.” Harumi said. Not sure what to do. With her hair all messed up and the evil lough Nohime looked like someone that belonged in an asylum.

“I wanted my life back.” She sneered at Harumi while she gave her a dirty look.

“Well, you didn’t want it because you fell in love with some else…” Harumi said, happy there were bars between them. She wouldn’t feel safe it they weren’t there.

“Pff, what is love?” Nohime scoffed while rolling her eyes. “Love is not enough if your life isn’t worth living.”

“How can you say that?” Harumi asked. Although Harumi had never been in love, she had seen in plenty of times. With her parents, her sister and friends. In her opinion love was one of the most important things to make a life worth living and beautiful.

“Well, I require a certain standard of living, and he couldn’t give that to me.” Nohime said while rolling her eyes. She was fed up with this girl that looked like her but still believed in fairytales. “The house he provided was far to small, the clothes I had to wear weren’t made from fine silk. I had to clean and dress myself. For crying out loud, I had to cook!” Nohime yelled, getting angry. This girl on the other side of these bars had stolen the life that she was suppose to live! Harumi looked at the girl that could have been her own reflection in amazement. What a conceited person! Sure, Harumi was happy she didn’t have to cook and clean and stuff, but to get angry about it was way out of line.

“Give my life back you little frump!” Nohime yelled while she jumped up. She lunged at the front of the cell, trying to grab Harumi. Scared Harumi stepped a few steps back. Nohime’s eyes were filled with hatred. A cold shiver ran down Harumi’s spine while she looked at Nohime.

“I never took it from you. You took my life away and put me here!” Harumi yelled back, also getting angry at this girls allegations. “And besides, if you wanted to get rid of me, you only had to send me back to my own time.”

“Pff, you think it is easy to travel trough time?” Nohime asked mockingly.

“Then how do you do it?” Harumi asked. Finally she asked the question. The question she had been searching the answer for for more than half a year.

“You don’t have the guts.” Nohime said. Every word she said was spoken with so much disgust for Harumi that she wasn’t sure how to continue. But she wasn’t ready to give up. She tried to get some information from Nohime but she got nothing. She was getting so frustrated that she wanted to rip her hair out of her head. She had to get out of here and clear her mind.

Tired she walked back to her own quarters. She would drink some tea, eat something light. Take a walk and come up with a new battle plan to get Nohime to reveal how to get back to her own time. When she walked in she was greeted by Nobunaga. Harumi was a bit startled. She didn’t expect him to be here, not after what had happened last night. Even though he had said that she was his wife, she still wasn’t the real Nohime, she had been lying to him for eight months. She was pretty sure he would be furious with her. He gestured for her to sit next to him. As soon as she sat down on the cushion Lin-chan poured some tea for her and all three maids left the room.

“Who are you?” Nogunaga asked after a moment of silence.