Hakodate soon fell.

By the end of the summer, the new government forces had finally eased the tight lockdown imposed on Hakodate and its nearby ports. The inventory in the city doesn't seem to be so strict either.

The lives of civilians affected by the harsh and protracted fighting seem to be slowly recovering. The Port of Hakodate has even begun to allow merchant ships to travel to and fro.

However, in the traditionally barren city of Ezo, these small changes in Hakodate City do not affect those who live in remote areas.

In a small village deep in the mountains of Hakodate, the first person who noticed that someone seemed to have moved from the nearby mountains was the village's famous warm-hearted mother-in-law, Keiko.

Keiko's mother-in-law, surnamed Sato, was a little concerned about the young girl who had recently occasionally appeared in the village or at the market at the foot of the mountain to buy some food and daily necessities.

The young girl didn't seem to be in good health, always a little pale, and soft-spoken, and her voice was gentle and nice, but it was a little strange to hear from the accent alone—her local accent seemed too standard, a little deliberate—but there could be no danger in being such a single girl, was it?

In this regard, the single girl Liu Quan said that it is really difficult to exchange the [Local Dialect Supplementary Upgrade Pack] from the system bacteria.

In short, Granny Keiko, who was curious and suspicious, secretly decided that when she had met this girl more often and became more familiar with each other, she must be concerned about why such a young and beautiful girl as she would come to live in such a small mountain village that was almost isolated from the rest of the world.

Keiko's mother-in-law's question was finally answered in a sense in late autumn.

Later, this is how Keiko's mother-in-law told others the story of the young girl.

“...... I heard that she is actually the eldest lady of a rich family...... But he fell in love with a ronin who fought and killed, so he eloped here with him......"

"When her brother came here that day, I showed him the way up the hill, and I caught a glimpse of the ronin's face from afar...... He is really handsome! And he is actually very magnificent, if you don't know, you will think that the other party is a high samurai master!"

"What? You say I'm so old-eyed, how can I see that man's face clearly?!...... It's rude to say that. That man is really good-looking...... Even if you can only see a rough outline, you can't forget it when you look at it from a distance. What a match for that girl...... Speaking of which, although the girl looks like a sick seedling, she is so beautiful, and even if she is smiling, she is very quiet, like a big lady......"

"Huh, you ask me what happened?"

“...... Later, I don't know. I saw from afar that the good brother Shun Lì found his sister's house and came back. It was time to make lunch, and the old man was still waiting at home......"

"I also wondered if I should have seen more about what was going on...... Because after that, I never met those people again. Whether it's the young and beautiful eldest lady, or her lover, or the good brother who has been looking for his sister for a long time......"

“...... But in my heart, I wish that good brother would forgive his sister's choice a little...... Because that lover of hers doesn't look as unreliable as he describes......"

"To be able to abandon their identity as the eldest lady for that person and escape to this kind of deep mountain to live a hard life, those two people must love each other very much......"

"I really hope this story has a good ending. ”

......

However, what the kind-hearted Keiko doesn't know is that her speculation about the truth is wrong.

When the so-called "good brother who is looking for her because he is worried about his sister" appears in front of his sister, he is actually here to fulfill his words and let his sister "see what real hell is".

Because he has always been an arrogant and proud fellow who can't tolerate the slightest betrayal. What he said must be carried out most thoroughly.

That day, when he appeared on the mountain, it was actually a sunny day.

Hijikata, who had taken off his dress and regained his Japanese-style attire, was standing in front of the cabin where he and Liu Quan were temporarily sheltering, watching her busy drying the quilt.

After suddenly shedding the heavy responsibilities and official duties of the past few years, he seemed to be struggling to adjust himself. And in order to take into account her feelings, he also tried not to show any discomfort or bad feelings in front of her.

One of the ways he adjusted was to become interested in the trivial matters of life that she was responsible for. For example, such a very small thing as drying the quilt today seems to be able to make him look at it with great interest.

On the other hand, Liu Quan, who never waited for the system bacteria to announce the completion of the mission and had to leave this world, spent every day in the uncertainty of the future.

She forced herself to focus on the small, small chores, to temporarily distract herself from thinking about how well her mission had been accomplished, and how many of her scattered Shinsengumi companions had survived and been safe after the battle.

Temporarily hiding in the inaccessible mountains was also a countermeasure in order to escape the pursuit of important figures of the old shogunate army by the new government army. A few months after the fall of Goryokaku and the surrender of the Republic of Ezo, Yanagizumi began to wonder if his mission would need to continue until a few years later, when the new Meiji government announced an amnesty for the members of the old shogunate.

Hiding in such an isolated place, she couldn't find out the latest news from the box pavilion at all. It is not known whether the people who came to look for the earthwork after they left that day found the blood-stained coat they had abandoned on the ground, and then made it a proper inference that it was missing or killed in battle.

In short, such a simple and unbelievable life has been going on for the time being.

Judging by the changes she had seen in Shannan before, the negative effects caused by the water in the months since she first drank it—such as bloodlust, madness, and blackening of personality—would not be particularly severe. So in the past few months, in addition to needing to adapt to some changes in her body, especially during the day, she is still more tired than normal people, and she doesn't need to worry about things like waking up one day and becoming a vampire and biting the neck of the deputy chief.

Fearing that someone would be impressed by the deputy chief's appearance and expose their whereabouts, every time he went to buy daily necessities, he was done by Liu Quan, who was good at cross-dressing.

Of course, money is not an issue. Although the system does not answer the player's key questions such as "is my mission considered to be successfully completed" or "when is the mission of this world considered to be over", such simple things as using points for points are still negotiable.

All in all, she actually lived a rather leisurely and ordinary life, like a vacation, she could slowly deal with some unimportant trivial things every day, and her biggest worry was only what kind of food to cook tomorrow, where to get the food when the food was gone, etc., and not like before, waking up to do death, or being ready to draw a knife every day when patrolling the city, which was full of excitement and uncertainty.

"While the weather is good, why don't you just take care of Mr. Hijikata's knife?" Liu Quan, who was drying the quilt, made such a mention to erase his faint embarrassment caused by being stared at by the Hijikata behind him.

Tsujikata: "Ha......?!...... maintenance knife?"

Liu Quan: "yes, yes. Speaking of which, 'Izumi Morikanese' is really good...... Mr. Hijikata has a good sword. Cherish it. ”

Earthwork: "......"

No matter how long they got along, it seemed that they couldn't get used to her way of coping with her, so Hijikata simply gave up reasoning with her, and instead turned around and went back to the house to get his "Izumi Morikanse" and the tools for maintaining the knife.

Although she looked unexpectedly clumsy when she maintained her sword, it was a concern how effective it would be, but ...... It seems like a good idea if someone is willing to do it for you. He tried to convince himself so.

However, when he turned back to the door with the knife, he was stunned to find that there was an extra person in the small open space in front of the door.

To be exact, there is an extra figure of a young man.

And the young man was still standing in front of Kiyohara Yukiha, and seemed to be talking to her.

It is unlikely that there will be any lost travelers in such deep mountains. Hijikata didn't notice that the faint smile on his face disappeared in an instant. He immediately became vigilant, strode behind her and stood still, his right hand unconsciously clenching the hilt.

Who knew that the young man soon sensed his arrival, and turned in his direction with a smile, not like an outsider, but like a master's house.

"Oh, you're here, Hijikata-kun. ”

The young man's tone was steady and polite, but his voice gave people a cold feeling like a poisonous snake.

"Thank you for taking care of her all the time, hard work. His gaze shifted to Kiyohara Yukiha's body, indicating that this "she" was referring to the woman in front of him, and then he looked at Hijikata with a slight smile on his face that had tensed up from hearing this strange sentence.

"But now it's time for her to say goodbye to you. ”

Hijikata's face changed in an instant.