After the horrible evening Harumi couldn't remember how late she well asleep. When she woke up she was still holding Nobunaga tightly. She blushed slightly while she fried herself from his grasp. Yawning she walked to the bathroom. When she looked in the mirror she saw she looked like crap. Her eyes were all red and puffy and she had dark circles under them. She splashed some cold water in her face that reduced the redness but it didn't help much. After a while she went back into the bedroom an began to change.
"How did you sleep?" Nobunaga asked just as Harumi was ready to get out of her sleeping kimono and in her day kimono. She yelped, slammed her kimono to her body and turned around. She thought that Nobunaga was still asleep. Looking at his face she could see he had just woken up.
"Like crap." She said after her fright was over.
"I'm sorry about last night." Nobunaga said quietly.
"Don't even do something like that again to me." Harumi sighted. "And if you plan on doing something stupid, tell me beforehand."
"But today I have a real surprise for you, One that you will definitely love and hopefully you will forgive me for last night." He said while he sat up.
"Oh yeah?" Harumi asked while raising an eyebrow. He had given her countless of gifts, but she didn't really like any of them.
"Yeah, whenever I stayed over back at home, you often woke me up in the middle of the night." Nobunaga began.
"No I didn't" Harumi said getting mad.
"Yes you did, you cry a lot in your sleep..." He gave her a concerned look.
"I do?" Harumi asked puzzled. She never knew.
"Yeah, you cry for your family, mumbling that you miss them and stuff...." Nobunaga explained. Harumi's face went white. She had never knew that she talked in her sleep, what had she been saying? Did he knew she wasn't Nohime? A moment ago she was still trying to fully wake up, now she was on high alert not knowing what Nobunaga would say next.
"We are actually very close to your parents right now. I thought we could pay them a visit. Unfortunately we can't stay the night, but I guessed this would be fine." He said while he stood up and picked up his own kimono. Harumi didn't know what to say. It took her a while to understand that he was talking about Nohime's parents, not her own. She had never thought that he would do such a thing. This was indeed a very nice surprise, even though it weren't her parents and he honestly couldn't care less about them. But the feeling he had put into it was nice and it came from a good place.
"Thank you." She said with a small smile. One of the corners of Nobunaga's mouth went up in a crooked smile what, together with his messy hair, gave him a boyish look. Harumi knew Nobunaga was only two years older than her but he always looked so much older. He was always perfectly groomed and had a stern look on his face. Now was the first time he looked like his actual age. A slightly mischievous adolescent. He went into the bathroom to change while Harumi clothed herself in the bedroom. Her kimono tying skills had improved but there was still much to learn. When Nobunaga came out of the bathroom, perfectly groomed and clothed, he helped her tucking in the kimono properly and tying the obi so it wouldn't come loose during the day.
While they were on their way to Nohime's parents Harumi thought of a plan that could help her get back to the future. Nohime had to have a journal or diary or something. She could never have planned this whole thing without writing anything down. Hopefully Nohime had to leave in a hurry and had forgotten her books. And hopefully none of the maids had found them and thrown away or something. If they exists Harumi had to find those journals, because that would be a big help in getting back to her family.
When they finally reached the castle where Nohime grew up they had to first pay their respects to "her father". Nobunaga actually came prepared and brought gifts for his in laws. So this wasn't a spur of the moment visit. She tried to act calmly and don't put to much attention on herself. Those people knew Nohime her whole life and would probably know she was an imposter in an instant. After the formalities where done Nobunaga want to her fathers studie to talk business with him while her mother went back to the inner palace. Harumi excused herself quickly, saying she had to use the bathroom. After she was alone she asked a maid to accompany her to her old room. When she was finally alone she got cracking. Growing up with a lot of siblings herself, she knew all the good hiding places for when you had stuff you didn't want other people to find. She looked in closets, in the bathroom, in drawers and even checked all the tatami mats if there could be something shoved underneath it. Eventually she found a thin and small journal tucked away behind a big and heavy standing mirror in Nohime's room. Before she could read it a maid came in telling her Nobunaga was ready to leave and if they wished to get home before the small hours of the night they should get going. She tucked the small book safely in her kimono so that she wouldn't loose it. She checked herself in the mirror to see if the book didn't leave any weird bumps, but that wasn't the case. Harumi was overflowing with joy. This was her first breakthrough since she came to this era. She had finally made the first step to getting back to her own time. She couldn't thank Nobunaga enough. If he hadn't brought her here, she would have never found Nohime's journal. Hopefully the book would contain some information that Harumi actually could use. But it was so well hidden, there had to be more than a few secrets in it.