"Mr. Serizawa...is dead, and I also participated in the attack."
"...Really?" Zuo Cun didn't say anything, just a short answer.
"Samura, don't you ask why?" Souji Okita glanced at Zuocun secretly and found that Zuocun's expression had not changed much.
Zuo Cun shook his head: "We are samurai, and we are samurai of this era, so no matter when and where we die, there is no need to be surprised."
"It's just a bit of a sigh. I have known him for a long time." Zuomura sighed slightly, "Can you tell me where Mr. Serizawa's tomb is?"
"Ahem." Souji Okita coughed, "I... will take you there."
"Okay, but wait a moment." Zuo Cun jumped away and left.
After a while, Zuo Cun came back with two cans of wine: "Let's go."
...
Both Serizawa Kamo and Niimi Nishiki are buried in a cemetery outside Kyoto.
Samura sat on the ground in front of Serizawa's tombstone.
He took out two wine bowls from his chest, placed one in front of the tombstone, and the other in front of himself, and poured wine into both.
He was not sad, but just smiled: "It seems that you are unlucky."
Zuocun drank the wine in one gulp, then poured another bowl of wine in front of the tombstone. Zuocun stared at the tombstone.
He saluted: "In any case, thank you for showing me the direction at the beginning of my journey."
"If there is hope, see you in the next life."
He came to Shinmi Nishiki's tomb, drank the same wine and bowed.
"Samura..." Okita seemed to want to say something.
"There is no need to apologize, either to me or Mr. Serizawa, Okita." Zuomura smiled and shook his head, "There is one thing you said to me."
"No matter what the relationship is, as long as you hold a knife to confront each other, you must abandon all cognition and emotions——"
"All that's left to do is swing the knife."
Zuo Cun took two steps forward and waved his hand: "That's it, Okita. I have some other things to do."
He turned his head and looked at Okita with a smile: "I'd like to ask you to take more care of her, Souna."
After saying that, Zuo Cun jumped directly onto the tree crown and disappeared from Okita's sight in a few minutes.
Okita Souji's outstretched hand slowly lowered.
"yes......"
"Just swing the knife and that's it."
"Ahem."
...
Zuo Cun went back to Nagasaki and met Ryoma once. Then he went to Changshu and met Takasugi. The three of them seemed to be plotting something. After that, Zuo Cun quietly disappeared.
At the same time, under the instigation of many parties, the anti-barbarian faction, which was defeated by the public-military integration faction last year, has resurfaced in Changzhou. In other words, it has never been eliminated, but has just disappeared.
But now, they have some ideas that they shouldn't have.
June.
Isamu Kondo opened the drawer of his desk and found a small note inside.
His eyes narrowed and he picked up the small piece of paper.
"Is this... a secret report sent by Inaba Masakuni?" Toshizo Hijikata asked as he watched Isamu Kondo spread out the small piece of paper.
Inaba Masakuni is an official under the Kyoto Guardianship. He is barely in the same system as the Shinsengumi and often delivers information to the Shinsengumi.
"Yeah." Isamu Kondo replied briefly and began to read the information on the small note.
"What's written on it?" Toshizo Hijikata was repairing his haori.
The newly-selected team will face many samurai with swords during the Tianchu mission, so it is inevitable that they will get injured.
The Shinsengumi's salary was not too high, so in order to save money, the Shinsengumi people basically repaired their own clothes.
"There is a guy acting suspiciously over the four small bridges, and he has been acting suspiciously for some time."
"Four small bridges?" Hijikata Toshizo frowned, "Did Inaba Masakuni notice that there too?"
"Yes, there is a rather old house in that place. Okita and Inoue both reported this to me before." Kondo Isamu stood up and pinched his chin.
"The owner of that house is the suspicious person in the report. His name is Yuya Kiemon. His house... is obviously so dilapidated that even the lower-class townspeople would not live in it, but recently there have been a lot of people.
There are few people coming in and out frequently, this is what Okita and Inoue reported to me."
"Now that our intelligence matches the intelligence from Inaba Masakuni, it means that this guy named Yuya Kiemon is really suspicious."
"I sent a team member to monitor nearby and can confirm these things, so..." Kondo Isamu narrowed his eyes, "Act!"
Hijikata Toshizo nodded: "I feel like there might be something going on in the middle. If we delay it any longer, there might be something wrong. I'll lead the team myself."
"This is the best. You have to start quickly. Once you are captured and brought to justice, you can leave and start the interrogation." Kondo Isamu patted the table, "Inaba Masakuni's information has always been related to the anti-foreign elements, so we must pay attention to it."
"I see."
...
"Pfft-"
A somewhat short man was thrown against the wall and let out a scream.
Hijikata Tobizo lifted the man up with an expressionless expression and threw him onto a stool. Two members of the Shinsengumi stood on both sides holding swords.
"So... let's start the interrogation, prisoner, Yuya Kiemon." Toshizo Hijikata tightened his gloves, with a trace of blood in his eyes.
Not only Yuya Kiemon, but also the Shinsengumi members standing on both sides looked at the tall Hijikata Toshizo with fear in their eyes.
The Deputy Chief of Ghosts is well-deserved.
Not just for the team members, but also for the prisoners, and even... for myself.
Hijikata Toshizo inserted a dagger into Yuyakiemon's hand. The dagger directly penetrated the armrest of the chair, Yuyaki was shocked.
"Tell me everything you know..."
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"
...
Isamu Kondo looked at Sanosuke Harada lying on the bed, his brows furrowed.
"So, the batch of materials you were responsible for collecting were robbed during the transportation process?"
Harada Sanosuke nodded and replied seriously: "I will bear the responsibility for this mistake, but Director Kondo... you must be careful, these people are definitely not robbers, and robbers cannot be like this."
Discipline.”
"First they attacked me sneakily, but they didn't kill me. Instead, they quickly diverted their attention and moved all the supplies."
"This kind of discipline is premeditated and organized."
"What is that batch of supplies...?" Isamu Kondo asked.
"It's... gunpowder and fire bombs." Harada Sanosuke said seriously.
Kondo Isamu's pupils shrank suddenly.
At this moment, Hijikata also came back from the interrogation: "Director Kondo, I heard you were here, what happened?"
"Let's talk about your findings first. I suspect...the two things are related." Kondo Isamu swallowed.