In fact, this thought only came to his mind for a brief moment.

In many of the days that followed, except for when the Mibu Ronin group was first formed, he had to deal with Serizawa a lot in order to deal with him, and the name of his charming and bewitching lover, Ame, would occasionally remind him of the girl who was so witty and bold as to throw stones at a group of unscrupulous ronins that he had gradually forgotten about Mei as a person.

It's like he had forgotten the daughter of the shamisen house in the countryside of Tama.

...... It wasn't until a long, long time later, when he and the woman who finally followed him to the final place, went to Bentendaiba in place of him in the Battle of Hakodate, and had to drink the woman who turned into a rakshasa because he was ambushed, and lived in seclusion in the mountains of Ezo, that one day, he remembered the person Mei again.

As they chatted that day, they brought up his years of traveling between villages and towns as a medicine merchant.

Kiyohara Yukiha said with a smile that at that time, she was probably forced to practice hard at her uncle's house with the goal of death.

...... Even this kind of painful past can be teased so indifferently, is this guy really an ordinary woman.

Occasionally, he would think about it.

But that day, perhaps because of the time when he mentioned the time of the merchants, he also had some other strange feelings.

"Speaking of which...... I seem to have seen a woman with a similar attitude to you before. He barely reluctantly turned out the name of Xiaomei at the bottom of his memory, as well as the tear mole that impressed him the most.

The words had already been spoken, and he regretted it a little.

Not because it was something unseemly—no, rather that she would never laugh at him, even if it was a shame or a loss of face, and he still had that confidence anyway—but because when the long-lost name reappeared before his eyes, he felt a sense of incongruity in his heart.

There is always a sense of incongruity that accompanies Xiaomei.

...... Why, exactly?

It's obviously an ordinary girl who looks like that...... Even if the temperament and conversation are peculiar, it will not be ...... at all

Ah, right.

That's it.

Temperament and conversation.

From the first time he saw her, there was something about her that made him feel subtle.

Although her appearance is very ordinary, when talking to her, the kind of quality in her body occasionally makes him forget her ordinary appearance.

When she crouched beside him covered in bruises, and said in a calm and warm tone, "Even this can't defeat Mr. Hijikata, it's them who should be ashamed", her ordinary-looking face seemed to merge with the clear sky that day, and a soft and warm light flashed in his vision.

Now I recall the scene at that time, recall the time when she came, the resentment and powerlessness of enduring injustice and violence, the feeling of wanting to resist, wanting to become stronger, has disappeared, and only a gentle sense of nostalgia remains.

“...... Do you remember anyone, Mr. Hijikata?" Kiyohara Yukiha's smiling voice suddenly sounded very close to him, and he was taken aback.

“...... Ahh ”

Hijikata glared at Yukiha reproachfully and replied frankly.

Yukiba raised her eyebrows, as if she was surprised.

"Hey......!!Who is it??......?!??!?!

"What kind of person is it, I'm really looking forward to it. ”

Sure enough, it's still this style that can choke him with a few words.

"I say......" he couldn't help but raise his voice a little.

She winked innocently and looked at him.

"Actually, don't you think it's a pleasure to talk back to me like this and make me speechless!"

He shouted with a great courage in the face of thousands of troops.

She seemed to be stunned for a moment, and then burst into a very cheerful crisp laugh.

"Hahahaha...... How so, Mr. Hijikata. She finally suppressed the violent laughter, looked at him with a twinkle in her eyes, and replied solemnly.

Speaking of which, ever since they quietly left Goryokaku, which had been occupied by the new government forces, and headed for the inaccessible mountains of Ezo to avoid the possibility of being pursued by the new government forces—provided that the blood-stained earthwork coat with a bullet hole in the lower left abdomen that Yukiha had abandoned in the forest between the Ichiki Gate and Bentendaiba had failed to fool the new government forces—the pattern of their relationship with each other seemed to have gradually changed subtly.

It may be difficult to say exactly what has changed – but in Hijikata's view, he does not rule out that the villagers of that small mountain village in the middle of nowhere, deep in the mountains, refer to Yukiha as his wife. Although he rarely had the opportunity to actually interact with the villagers, occasionally when Yukiye came down the mountain to buy and returned, the uncle who helped with the delivery would stand at the door and squeeze his eyes at the earthwork when Yukiye left the entrance and put the food in the kitchen, and said something ridiculous with a grin, such as "You have a good wife, young man" or "You two look like a real match!" or something like that.

He would be surprised when this happened once or twice, but after the third time, he was able to deal with it calmly, and even generously replied with "Ah, I think so" or "Thank you" or something like that.

...... It's not like the deputy head of the ghost who was cruising Kyoto back then, and was hated by the overly radical shogunate faction, but like a calm and reliable young man. Perhaps because of this, although he had met some of the villagers in the village, no one had ever made a connection between this young man who called himself "Hayato Naito" and the vice head of the Shinsengumi, Hijikata Suizo.

Of course, Yukiba, who will never make a mistake in front of outsiders, will always call him "Hayato-kun" on these occasions-

Speaking of which, it seems as if no one has ever called him that. Only her.

Although this is also a matter of urgency, she seems to be a little happy in it, and every time she calls him "Hayato-kun", her bright eyes are beating with a mischievous light and a funny look.

Once he finally couldn't bear to ask her why she called him "Hayato-kun" with a smile every time, and the answer he got was-

"This name always reminds people of the '80,000 stone flag master' in the mouth of the general secretary. ...... Speaking of which, there are still a lot of good girls in Tama who are scrambling to marry this Hagimoto master, right?"

Earthwork: "......"

It's like her style.

It's always annoying and troublesome to be ingenious and unorthodox in dealing with such strange little things.

But in the face of any important event, you can trust her with confidence, rely on her, and know that she will stand by her side and do her best, even if her comrades disappear, her faith collapses, and her life is short, she cannot erase her loyalty and affection that is almost stubbornly standing behind him.

...... Strange woman.

“...... Speaking of strange women...... I've met one before. He dismissed the idea of continuing to scold her—she couldn't really reflect on it anyway—and slowly confided a story that had been hidden in his memory for twelve years, from that unexpectedly hot summer day in the fifth year of Anzheng to the present.

“...... I haven't seen this woman since. I haven't heard anything from her either. Presumably, she is already married to a nice man and raising children as smart as she is......" He concludes his narrative with these few thoughts, believing that his tone is calm and objective enough, expressing his occasional nostalgia for the past without triggering a misunderstanding of Yukiha, although her more likely reaction is not a misunderstanding, but a joke.

But to his surprise, Xue Ye listened carefully to this very short story from beginning to end.

She was a rare moment of silence after the end of his closing remarks, so long that he stared at her with a puzzled and somewhat annoyed frown, unable to guess what she was going to do.

...... When I talked to her about the shamisenya lady in the countryside of Tama, Ako, who was the woman he almost married, she had a normal attitude and jokingly told him, "Fortunately, the deputy chief chose to pursue his ambition back then."

As a result, it is now a silent statue, silent. It's ridiculous, it's clear that this Xiaomei is just a passer-by who meets in his life, but she seems to mind very much - a woman's mind is really hard to guess, even a woman who can vividly pretend to be a man for many years without helping!

Before Hijikata could completely lose his patience, Yukiha suddenly curled the corners of his lips and smiled meaninglessly.

"Hayato-kun...... Do you still want to know what happened to Miss Mei after that?"

...... Not again. If she still called him by this pseudonym when the two of them were alone, it must mean that she was turning some strange thoughts again.

And this smile of hers is so peculiar that Hijikata almost subconsciously immediately denies it.

"No, not like that. ...... That kind of town girl in the countryside must have a stable and smooth life, just like ...... Well, the same people back home......"

He almost casually said Ah Qin's name as an example, but fortunately he swallowed it back in time and almost bit his tongue. This clumsy way of speaking made him feel a pang of shame and discomfort, and he glared at her angrily.

“...... What's the point of mentioning such a thing now!" he rebuked her sternly.

Xue Ye stared at his face with wide eyes, suddenly burst out laughing, biting his lower lip lightly, deliberately making a timid look that was pitiful and afraid of being reprimanded by him, but the depths of his smart eyes flashed with an almost mischievous light.

"Well, I thought Mr. Hijikata wanted to hear about it. She blinked innocently and said, "Even if you know that Miss Xiaomei's current life is very different from Mr. Hijikata's vision, doesn't that matter?"

The question was so intense that he felt that his brain had been overwhelmed for a while and had stopped working.

“...... Hey?!"

He saw that the woman in front of him had gone through war and displacement, and had passed through life and death, and there was a sly smile on her face, which he was very familiar with.

"I said, Miss Mei is ...... now. I probably didn't marry a country man, as you envisioned, Mr. Hijikata, and didn't have any children. ”

"You...... What are you talking about?!" Hijikata was shocked and blurted out.

"Well, I said, after that day of separation, Miss Xiaomei probably left that town and worked hard to practice like Mr. Hijikata. ...... Later, her practice was completed, and she came to the bustling city of Beijing—"

Xue Ye still said the following words in a gentle tone, and there was a faint smile in the corner of his eyes that flew up diagonally.

Hijikata suddenly realized that this expression was very similar to a person in his memory.

“...... Then, Miss Xiaomei, who didn't plan to follow the script that Mr. Hijikata had conceived for her, didn't plan to find a man to marry in that kind of small village or town at all, but pretended to be a man, planning to participate in the ronin group that was not famous in the capital at that time......"

...... Under the corner of the eye that flew slightly upwards when he laughed, only a tear mole was missing.

"I think Mr. Hijikata already knows the rest of the story. ”

The woman in front of her, who was much more beautiful than Xiaomei in her memory, her eyelashes moved slightly, and she winked at him, and her rosy lips curved slightly, forming a beautiful arc.

“...... Mr. Hijikata has indeed become an amazing person. ”

"The light you shine from will last for a long, long time, just like your life. ”

Her clear, beautiful voice fell, and for a moment the room was filled with a somewhat suffocating silence.

Hijikata's eyes widened in shock as he stared at her face.

What kind of story is this woman who has been firmly following him since the ronin group has not yet established itself in Kyoto - although he didn't know that she was a woman for a long time - what kind of story is she telling him?!

She was suing him, in his young years when he was running from village to town with a medicine box on his back, did she also have her savings?!

“...... Small...... Xiaomei......?!"

He struggled to open his mouth, squeezing the suffocating sound out of his throat.

He saw the woman in front of him have a look of déjà vu in her eyes.

That smile traveled through time, space, and even different faces, fluttering towards him from the last summer day of Anzheng's fifth year, bringing a sense of ethereal feeling that was half illusory, half dream-like.

【...... Even this can't defeat Mr. Hijikata, and it's them who should be ashamed. 】

He was in a trance for a moment, only to realize that it was not the Xiaomei in his memory, but the sound made by the snow leaves in front of him.

The tone is exactly the same, but the voice is subtly different. If she hadn't said it again and he couldn't tell, he should have guessed it earlier.

"I've always wanted to say this to Mr. Hijikata again. Her tone was very gentle, as if with a slight hint of sighing.

"Mr. Hijikata, he is truly an amazing person. ”

"From that time until now, no matter how difficult the environment is, no matter how great the pressure and pain I have to endure...... But he was never defeated by those people. When I follow you, I often think back to this phrase in my heart. ”

It seemed that she didn't wait for him to explain the full question before she began to explain, and she naturally began to tell the part of the story from her own point of view.

"When we first met, I didn't expect to see you again. ”

"At that time, I had just come out of school, and I was under the orders of my uncle and brother, and I was lurking in that town in disguise, intending to spy on a big man we were about to ambush...... I heard that he had joined forces with the Chōshū Domain, where his uncle's family served, but later betrayed his agreement, and Choshu would not allow such a thing to happen......"

"When I met you, I didn't know who you were at first, but I simply noticed you sitting under a tree, staring at the broken rice ball in your hand that was so broken that you couldn't eat it, with a confused and troubled expression on your face......

Because she recalled the scene, a gentle and hazy smile appeared on her face.

“...... Maybe it's that look that makes my heart move......" she said with a sigh, "so I just want to help you solve your problems......"

Hijikata listened to her narration in amazement and surprise, and there seemed to be a kind of annoyance and anger that had been hidden for a long time in his heart, but later, it slowly precipitated into a faint nostalgia.

“...... Nonsense!" He couldn't help but scold her, "You were lurking in disguise at the time, do you know what kind of dangerous consequences you might bring to you by talking to strangers on the street like this?!"

Yukiha blinked as if she was startled for a moment, then curled the corners of her lips and smiled, as if she was happy to see that he cared about himself at the time, even if it was many years late.

“...... Of course I do. She replied softly, "But...... I think Mr. Hijikata probably has this kind of magic that makes people willing to take risks for you. ”

Hijikata choked for a while, and an uncomfortable expression appeared on his face, staring at her speechlessly who made such bold remarks, opening his mouth, and finally roaring angrily: "...... W-What magic! Do you think I'm a youkai!"

Xue Ye was stunned for a moment, and then burst into a burst of happy crisp laughter.

“...... Before that, I had been in that town for two or three days...... I knew that Mr. Hijikata was not the target of my mission, but he was just a prescription dealer and would not have a bad influence on me. In fact, I also know that when I am on a mission, I should not cause too much trouble...... However, I probably don't want to give up this only chance to have a little relationship with you......"