On this day, it was rare for the Turkish side to end the meeting early. However, when he came out of the room, he found that Kiyohara Yukiha was not in the Goryokaku.

Although he felt that it was impossible for her to get lost or run away in Hakodate, let alone be plotted, it was still a little strange that she had left her post early in the afternoon, and as a small surname, she should have waited outside for the end of the meeting.

Hijikata questioned a lot of people, and finally found someone who ran into her by chance on the way. The young man said that he saw her go in the direction of the training ground.

...... Training ground?!

As he walked in that direction, Hijikata's heart was full of doubts.

She doesn't participate in military training, what is she going to do at the training ground?!

But when he stood in an unobtrusive corner on the sidelines and saw her figure, he felt his surprise increase tenfold for a moment.

Because she was talking to someone in the middle of the field, she actually walked to the wooden frame next to her and picked up a step/gun from it.

Hijikata stared at her in amazement as she walked back to the shooting position on the practice range, resting the butt of her gun on her shoulder blade and aiming at the target on the other side of the field.

With a bang, the first bullet hit the target. But the results were not good and he missed the bull's-eye.

The next moment he saw her eyebrows and nose all furrowed together, and that expression was full of dissatisfaction with her performance, and then raised her gun again to aim.

After the second shot, there was an additional black bullet hole about the 8th to 9th ring.

"Looks ...... In order to rush to your side to continue to support you, Kiyohara-kun has made a lot of efforts, right?"

Keisuke Otori suddenly commented out loud behind Hijikata.

Although the sigh of "why is this guy everywhere" appeared in his heart for a moment, Hijikata did not look back, but just sighed softly.

"Nope. ...... Back in Edo, I knew she would use a gun. ”

Big Bird looked a little surprised.

"Huh?!That's ...... When?"

Hijikata did not answer him.

However, how could it be impossible to forget that scene?

On the slopes of the flowing mountains where the sun was setting, Kondo-kun was left alone in the mansion behind them, facing the enemy soldiers alone...... With a deep hatred and self-loathing for his own powerlessness and abandonment of his general, he drew his sword and rushed into the enemy line, ignoring the enemy soldiers with guns, and desperately slashing those enemies on the hillside, not caring whether the other party raised his gun, whether he would be hit in the next moment and simply lose his life.

Then, he heard a crisp gunshot behind him. Not far in front of him, an enemy soldier who was aiming his gun at him fell to the ground. Then came the second and third enemy soldiers......

In between slashing and killing, he also briefly thought, ah, it turned out to be her.

In such a moment of bitter or death fighting, surrounded by enemies on all sides, there is no way to defeat an enemy who is many times or even dozens of times more than himself except swordsmanship, courage, faith, and determination, and in this situation, it is always her who stands by his side and fights with him. It's always her.

Speaking of which, her spirit is even tougher than that of some men, and she always grits her teeth in the face of a difficult situation, no matter what the problem. Looking back now, what he remembered most was her stubbornly pursed lips and her fierce gaze when she confronted her opponent. Although her smile is as bright as Haruka's, she rarely shows a soft gesture, except when she is with her companions in the Shinsengumi.

More often than not, she stares directly at the hell in front of her without fear, rushes all the way through without fear, and embarks on the unknown road without fear.

When he thinks about it now, he has to admit that that kind of eyes that look directly in front of him without fear are his biggest pains. He's not good at coping with that.

In his impression, she was more like a blood-red night cherry blossom that was stained with blood and therefore bloomed more vividly. She lives in the darkness, where her beauty or demeanor is obscured by the darkness of the night, but she unyieldingly stretches out her branches and blooms brilliant flowers towards the light and ideals.

...... What kind of woman can follow him to the final moments of the Shinsengumi? This question has once appeared in his mind, and he has been shaken and confused for a while, and he does not know what the answer is.

But now he finally understood. The answer lies ahead.

The woman who has always pretended to be a man, passed the guò exam to enter the Shinsengumi, was able to patrol the streets of Kyoto in a light onion Haori or fight with ronin, and appeared in Shimabara Kakuya as a flamboyant and elegant Taifu, and now is practicing Western infantry/gun shooting in a men's dress.

The woman who was unmoved even if she cut down dozens of ronins who were enemies of the Shinsengumi, but who once cried because she had to part with her companions in the Shinsengumi.

In an instant, he seemed to see her heart, her fragility and courage through the appearance of "even if she competes with men".

She's not that strong. She also has her weaknesses. Fear of being left behind, fear of disappointing the people she values, fear of losing what she cherishes......

At that moment, he suddenly remembered the mission when she and Chizuru disguised themselves and infiltrated Shimabara.

That night, he took Chizuru with him, but left her alone in the corner house with perhaps a dozen or so of Ronin. He had never thought about how she would face a dozen ronins from a dozen Sacho in the face of a dozen ronins who came from the Sa Choto, who was unarmed and wearing a kimono that was completely inconvenient to move around, even if someone found out her true identity as a Shinsengumi warrior.

Later, he heard that she had done the job well. Before Okita and Saito, the first echelon arrived, she had already killed a ronin.

It is said that when the ronin noticed his whereabouts and was about to summon the ronins to rush downstairs against him, she used her clever hand to lure him alone to an empty room, and then used the sword she had hidden in advance to kill him instantly, with a clean and neat technique, without even alarming the other ronin.

Thinking about it now, he suddenly realized what a dangerous situation she was facing.

Chizuru is gentle and weak, and must be protected by him. What about Snow Leaf? Snow Leaf is brave and tenacious, and can be left alone in the pile of enemies to survive?

Reason told him that he was not wrong in his decision at that time. She is a Shinsengumi soldier with beautiful skills, and even if she doesn't work with people, she wears the costume of a geisha and hides to spy on the enemy.

But feelings are clamoring, trying to push out his guilt and self-blame.

...... How did she find out that the ronin had discovered his identity as the deputy head of the new selection group?

...... Was it because she was somewhere in that corner house at the time, and she heard him report himself at the gate of Shimahara?

...... At that time, what kind of mood did she have when she listened to those words?

...... What kind of consciousness did you have to kill that ronin when the support of your teammates didn't arrive?

...... And, after that, in what mood did she continue to follow him as always, without hesitation, until today?

Looking at Kiyohara Yukiha, who had completed a round of shooting not far away, and was obviously quite satisfied with his later results, so he squinted his eyes and smiled proudly, his heart suddenly twitched slightly.

He heard the big bird beside him say to himself, "What a wonderful woman...... Well, she seems to be done practicing, so I can walk over and say hello to her......

Saying this, the big bird really trotted all the way to Liu Quan, who was carrying the foot/gun, intending to put it back on the gun rack, and waved at her and shouted as he ran: "Yo~~!

After completing a round of shooting practice, Liu Quan felt that the last few shots had finally returned to his usual level, and he was gently rubbing his right shoulder blade, which had been hit by the recoil of the butt, with his left hand, when he suddenly heard the cry of a large bird behind him.

She smiled and rubbed her shoulders as she turned back.

"Good day, Otori-kun. She casually carried the step/gun, the muzzle of the gun downward, and said with a smile: "I haven't practiced for a while, and my grades have really deteriorated." Please allow me to practice shooting often in the future. ”

The big bird ran up to her and stood still, panting and settling, the baby's face full of smiles.

"Ah, of course there's no problem with that—but, speaking of which, aren't you Hijikata-kun's nickname right now?

Liu Quan raised his eyebrows slightly, changed his left hand into a fist, and smacked the position of his right shoulder blade a few times.

“...... Never mind. Nor is he someone who needs to be served by a small surname all the time. I still have a lot of free time to pass on my own. I don't know a lot about shooting, so I can't do it without more practice—"

Big Bird smiled and shook his head.

"Oh, oh, I don't know who it is, but the other day I was a little curious and asked, 'What should I do to be a little surname?' How do you make tea for Mr. Hijikata or how do you make delicious dishes?"

A dark red swelled up on Liu Quan's face, and he coughed and replied, "...... I'm just curious. ”

While continuing to move his right shoulder, Liu Quan silently complained in his heart, "According to some research, it was found that in fact, isn't the surname equal to the orderly...... I'm a dignified team leader to work as an orderlie, which is really something that only good players can do."

"Besides, how to be a good little surname is also the direction of my efforts, but when I go to battle, my opponent will not stand there and wait for me to aim because the miso soup I make is better. She said jokingly, and when she talked about the life-and-death struggle, her tone was as normal as saying "The weather is really nice today."

"Then again, Otori-kun, can you find a way to tie ropes to the trunks on both sides next time?" Ryuzumi's left hand finally left his right shoulder, pointing to Otori at the trees that were lined up at each end of the shooting range.

"Find two people to pull the rope on each side and tie the target to the rope - you can't just stand there and practice shooting at a fixed object. On the battlefield, it's more likely to shoot an opponent on the move, and I don't want to fire a dozen shots and end up hitting nothing that is irrelevant. ”

With a surprised and thoughtful expression on his face, the big bird touched his chin and began to carefully look at the trees on both sides pointed out by Liu Quan, as if he was thinking about how to implement this proposal for setting up a moving target, and finally nodded with a wry smile, and muttered in a low voice as if sighing: "...... Who's little surname will be full of guns and shooting...... Is this really something that only the Shinsengumi Ichibangumi leader can do......"

Liu Quan was stunned for a moment, and suddenly laughed.

“...... No, I should say that the surname of someone would put "how to kill the enemy as much as possible" before "how to make delicious food". With such a small surname, I really don't know if it's that person's misfortune?"

“...... Who said it was my misfortune?!"

A deep voice suddenly sounded behind Liu Quan.