Names that had been hidden for a long time, and were not even very important in the Shinsengumi, were suddenly mentioned by the deputy chief, and even it took her a while to dig out the bits and pieces of information about these names from the depths of her memory.

Kawai is the surveyor of the Shinsengumi, that is, the accountant. He was implicated in the embezzlement of public funds by Takeda Kanryagisai, and finally cut his stomach because he could not clarify the charge of "embezzlement of public funds". After his death, he finally found enough evidence of the incident and purged Takeda - but Kawai was so implicated by Takeda, and when he was held accountable, Takeda did not testify for him; although the whereabouts of the public funds are unknown, as an accountant, he could not escape responsibility, but because of Kawai's death, there were many people within the Shinsengumi who sympathized with him.

Takehachiro Katsuyama was the supervisor of the Shinsengumi, and he was one of the drafters of the Kenhaku when Nagakura, Harada, and others submitted the Kenhaku to the Aizu clan because of disagreements. Later, although the establishment of Hakusho was suppressed by Aizu Gong, Katsuyama was seppuku because of it.

Strictly speaking, Yanagizumi could understand the position and starting point of the deputy minister at the time to punish them severely, but she also had a certain degree of sympathy for these two people—Kawai and Katsuyama were both cowardly and soft-eared people, and when they were strongly threatened by Takeda or persuaded by Ngagakura, they had no way or no assertive opinions.

In general, people with such a personality are actually not suitable for living a dangerous life of licking blood from the knife in the Shinsengumi. But they themselves chose to join the Shinsengumi, dreaming of unrealistic samurai, but without the corresponding strong consciousness and inner support, in the end, they were really affected by such a simple and stupid thing-

But now, she heard the deputy chief say calmly, "...... Thinking about them, maybe I was too harsh at the beginning. ”

Liu Quan blurted out, "No! It's not like that!"

Interrupted by her sudden raised voice, the deputy chief looked at her with a slight surprise.

Liu Quan didn't care to think about how mellow the wording, and said anxiously: "Indeed, whether it is Kawai-kun or Katsurayama-kun, because they are people who don't have any great skills, they will be sympathetic to breaking the law of the game for the kind of trouble that they should be able to avoid if they should be smarter......"

She paused, clarified her thoughts, and immediately continued before the deputy chief could speak, "However, it is true that the Shinsengumi at that time were also lax in discipline and too lax in management, and it is understandable that the deputy chief used strict laws to restrain him in order to reverse this situation...... You can't say that your choice is wrong, only that a weak person will be found by others...... I sympathize with them, but as someone who chooses to live that dangerous life, you have to be firm in your heart from the beginning so that you are not affected by the mistakes of others—"

The deputy chief was stunned for a moment, then chuckled and shook his head slightly.

"Well, you're really outspoken?" he commented with a smile, and then said, "I don't regret the things I've done." I just thought of them and understood one thing—"

He took her face again, looked her in the eyes fixedly, and said:

"I do those things because I choose them. Whether it's Kawai or Katsuyama, they do those things because of their own choices. ”

"People, take responsibility for their own choices. That's why Kawai lost his public funds and Katsuyama wrote the kind of Kenhaku that slandered Kondo-kun, and they had to take responsibility afterwards and cut their stomachs because they did something irremediable......"

"Since you have chosen to stay on the side of the Satsuma Army, you must also be ready to take responsibility. ”

"Whatever the outcome is, you have enough awareness to bear it. You're a member of the Shinsengumi—"

Liu Quan: ?!

The deputy chief paused at this point, as if he was a little reluctant, but he felt that he had to say it, and paused before saying what he said.

"I can only respect the decisions you make. ”

“…… It's like Saito had to stay in Aizu to fight the enemy, and Nagakura and Harada planned to leave the team after the Battle of Kofu. ”

"You have affirmed the decision that you have made of your own volition, and you have confirmed that you will suffer the consequences of doing so. All I can do is keep the name of the Shinsengumi in good standing until the end, so that when you've done what you have to do, you'll be able to see it and come ......."

"What I want to make sure is that I'm still here, and the name of the Shinsengumi is still shining, so that whenever you come, you can feel that this name lives up to the part of your life that you gambled your life to follow and maintain—"

Willow Springs: !!

Weak feelings set off huge waves in an instant and drowned out reason, and before she could finish speaking, she plunged headlong into his arms.

Her momentum seemed to be a little stronger, and the deputy chief was knocked headlong by her unforeseen surprise and staggered back two steps before he could stand still.

The deputy chief was startled, and roared angrily, "Hey!!, what's the matter with you-"

Thankfully, the mute spell is a good civilization. Liu Quan thought, and then tightened his arms around the deputy chief's waist.

"Because at all times, the deputy chief will not fail to follow and defend me at the cost of his life - that's what I'm trying to say. She put her face in the deputy chief's arms, and replied angrily.

Earthwork: "......"

The deputy chief was silent for a moment, and the arms that had just been raised in mid-air to maintain balance due to her sudden attack and her loss of center of gravity slowly fell, encircled her body, and hugged her tightly with almost equal force.

"I can't help it, you people, haven't you always left the hardest things to me......" he muttered.

Liu Quan sniffed. Because if she didn't, she felt like tears were about to burst out of her eyes.

"Because it's Mr. Hijikata—" she replied in a coquettish tone.

It's the same sentence again. It's always this sentence -

Because, is everyone believing in him for no reason?

Hijikata shook his head silently and chuckled. Then he lowered his head and pressed his lips tightly against her hair.

"You have your mission, Yukiba. I have mine too. Bring out the courage to be a member of the Shinsengumi and finish it well. ”

He heard her answer "yes!" clearly, and it seemed to use a lot of force to speak, and the sound even shook his chest.

So he silently relaxed his tense look and curled the corners of his lips.

She's still like that.

Stubbornly determined that a goal must be pursued to the end, no matter what difficulties encountered, she stood tenaciously and walked on, although she came from such a dark family and background, she was more qualified to stand in the sun than anyone else, because when you look at her, you can understand that there is a light blooming from firm faith in her body-

Such a person, even if five, ten, twenty, or one hundred years have passed......

Surely, it will continue to shine, right?

It will continue to bloom into its best form—

Blooming, this kind of appearance that makes him unconsciously break his heart and will always be remembered in his heart.

Hijikata lowered his eyes and smiled silently, then kissed her hair, and clasped the back of her head with his hands, as if he wanted to hug her tightly with all his strength, embedding her between his own blood and bones.

Then, after ending the hug that had unconsciously lasted too long and became dangerous, Yanagizumi took two steps back and stared at Hijikata's eyes and face one last time.

If you want to hug like this again, maybe you have to wait until the war is over completely.

Perhaps, when the war is over, her mission will also be over, and at that time, will she still have the 24-hour time limit to find him in time to say her final goodbyes, as she did last time?

Liu Quan didn't dare to think about it. She was afraid that if she continued to think about it, she would not be able to control her tear ducts from exploding. So she tried to adjust her facial expression and said to the deputy chief, "Then I'll go." Goodbye, Mr. Hijikata," and then, using all his sanity and self-control, he ordered himself to forcibly turn around and take a step—

However, just a few steps after she had run, behind her, the deputy chief's voice suddenly sounded again.

“…… Hey!!"

Willow Springs paused, and almost immediately stopped, and turned abruptly.

On the hill at night, the shadows of the trees beside the road swayed in the night wind, casting mottled shadows that made the deputy chief's face indistinct.

Reason told her that she had to leave now—the lieutenant must not disappear from the camp for too long, lest he would arouse suspicion, and the length was just right for him to think of a reason to prevaricate—but her steps were like nails to the ground, and she could not pull them out in the slightest.

The deputy commander didn't seem to care too much about what kind of reason he was going to use to prevaricate his comrades in the official army. He just stood there for a long time, looking at her deeply, as if he wanted to see through her eyes into the depths of her soul.

Then, he said simply, "Remember – don't die." Give me back alive. ”

Liu Quan: !?

Many years ago, when the guns were roaring and bullets were flying in the streets of Kyoto, the memory of her rushing headlong into the Fushimi Sho suddenly jumped out of the depths of her mind.

At that time, he was the same, standing where he was, watching her leave and venturing to a battlefield full of uncertainties and dangers. As she turned to leave, he yelled behind her, "Don't die!"

Now, the exact same lines, spoken in a much calmer tone than then, but with a force equal to the strength of the time, made her tremble in an instant—a kind of trembling that began from the depths of her soul, and in an instant passed through her limbs, pierced her spine, and shook every part of her body—

That surging emotion pierced her tear ducts in an instant. Tears poured out of her eyes.

She could only be glad that there was a distance between them now, and he shouldn't have seen that he was so weak that he was so out of shape—

She opened her mouth, mustered up courage, and squeezed a reply out of her throat, but her voice was horribly hoarse.

"Got it. …… Don't die either!Vice-Chief, I'm still waiting for this year's summer festival!!"

She stood up with one hand to her mouth and shouted at him, shouting as violently as she had at the gate of the Fushimi Office.

Hijikata choked suddenly.

…… In fact, summer is almost over.

Moreover, this is a remote country that has been repeatedly devastated by war, and even the dilapidated houses that have barely survived are covered with bullet holes and marks of bombardment.

There will be any summer festivals somewhere.

However, the corners of his lips slowly curled. He nodded heavily and replied in a thick voice, "...... Yes. ”

He paused, as if for a moment it was enough to drag her back and force an oath with her, but he quickly resisted the impulse, and said it again with a solemn countenance:

“…… We, agreed. ”

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September 30:

The comments in the previous chapter were 0, which made me very melancholy.

I suddenly had a feeling that the deputy long line was about to end [Hey!

This is because the Southwestern War is almost finished

A little off topic. This chapter still mentions Kawai and Katsuyama of the Shinsengumi, and their seppuku is also reflected in the Taiga drama "Shinsengumi!" It feels like I mind the vice-chief's thunderous methods when dealing with their problems, so I wrote about it here as well.

Because it's the closing stage of the deputy chief, I also try to reflect some small details about the deputy chief.

The deputy chief of the ghost is not in vain

Next update: Every other day, in the afternoon or evening of October 2nd. If I had finished it earlier, I would have put it up early!