But this bold guy in front of him, this time, stopped just in time before he could blow his hair. After the sudden kiss that leaned forward, she quickly straightened up again, even with her hands behind her back, and looked at him with a sparkling gaze - the expression seemed to him to be devoid of the tension that it had before the great battle!

He was about to yell at her two more words like "Straighten me up, get serious, hey", when he heard her speak.

Unexpectedly, her tone was full of solemn emotion.

"Mr. Hijikata......" she whispered the name, which had been unknown for almost a decade, paused, and took a deep breath.

Hijikata: "...... What?"

She paused for so long that he had to answer.

He thought she was going to say something earth-shattering, and he was secretly prepared, but at last she opened her mouth and said something that surprised him—a familiar line.

“…… Don't die. Come back alive. She said clearly.

Hijikata: "...... That's what I want to say!"

Damn! Who is the side that is about to be defeated? Can you have a clear understanding of your current situation!

Then she snorted and laughed softly, as if she were very happy, but the eyes in which she gazed at him were bottomless, and the color of pleasure did not cast into her eyes.

“…… I went back. After a brief laugh, she bowed her head to him as if to say goodbye.

"Goodbye, Mr. Hijikata. She said.

Earthwork: "......"

Although reason told him that the length of such a meeting was already the limit, and that it would be suspicious to linger any longer, her strange attitude was so reassuring that he hesitated and stopped her.

"Hey!"

She had already turned away, and when she heard his brainless call, she stopped and turned around, her face suspicious.

Hijikata thought about it for a while, but it turned out that he could only think of one thing.

“…… Don't do anything dangerous. He admonished.

Kiyohara Yukiha looked very surprised, and even widened his eyes slightly.

“…… Huh?"

This clumsy reaction is on the contrary familiar to Hijikata. He smiled slightly, his tense eyebrows and the lines of his lips softened a lot.

"No one gave you any orders to die. Therefore, there is no need to fight to the death. Anytime your life is threatened, you stop and come back to me. …… Do you understand?"

Kiyohara Yukiha looked very shocked.

Indeed, it should be shocking.

Because these words sound familiar—

It seems that before the battle of Kofu, when the deputy governor had to go back to Edo to ask for help, before leaving, he told her so.

The deputy chief of the iron-masked ghost said to her: This is not death, I did not give you the order to die, so don't do stupid things. If anything happens before I come back, you can protect Kondo-kun and run away together.

Because—

"You, you are not allowed to die. The deputy chief said categorically.

Same as back then.

The person who deserves everyone's eternal trust and follower, the deputy head of Shinsengumi, who is known as the hero of the moment even in later generations, said to her:

"I will definitely be back. and thou shalt come to me alive. No one is allowed to die. ”

The deputy chief paused, and there was a hint of determination on his face, which was no longer as young and full of vigor as it had been then, but still looking handsome and sharp.

"This is the vow. He said.

Willow Springs: !!

For a moment, it was as if the brain had been hit hard. The buzzing in her head was so loud that it almost burst through her eardrums. Blood pressure seems to have been affected and rises, temples are pounding, and heart is beating in a mess. Her body was hot and cold, and she felt as if her whole body was about to float, and it was as if her whole body was going to explode, and she had to grit her teeth, otherwise she was afraid that she would have a mental breakdown in the next second, and she would lose her mind and confide all the unspeakable truths, those unavoidable hardships, to the person in front of her.

…… Really.

She has obviously thought about it, she must be brave and complete the final task well, even if she has to face another parting, she must arm herself with the best smile and respond well?

…… Of course, in the same way, the reason why she was so self-indulgent today, and unashamedly deliberately said bold words that would make the deputy chief angry, was because—she knew in her heart that this might be the last good moment.

Maybe it's the final gathering.

Because she doesn't know where she will be after tomorrow, she ...... I want to seize this last opportunity, and through a joking tone, I say something ...... The little ambition that I once thought about -

Can't you?...... Okay, right?

How much he wished he wanted to lie on his broad, reassuring back, with his cheeks close to the thin, well-defined muscles that covered his butterfly bones?

You can tell him how much you want to take a step from the first sight of him, run with all your strength around him, and run with all your might until you rush into his arms and hold him like an octopus?

Can you tell him how much you want to go to the summer festival with him again, eat the marshmallows and grilled squid sold at the stalls of the festival, take the worthless knickknacks in the trap as a prize, watch him fish out another goldfish, put it in one of those little goldfish bowls that are firmly tied with hemp rope around it, and then close his eyes and stand on tiptoe as the fireworks explode in the air, and give him a kiss as quickly as he can?

……

May I?...... You can't do it, right?

Liu Quan took a slow and deep breath, waiting for the stirring in her body to slowly dissolve, and then, at last, she was able to look calmly at the deputy chief, swallowed the words that were crowded in her heart, and replied with a smile:

"Okay. That's it. ”

"I, absolutely will live. When everyone is already desperate, try to live. Because I made an appointment with Mr. Hijikata—"

Because, on the mountain roads of Kofu, that's how I answered you.

Because, on the mountain roads of Kofu, we used to swear gold as an oath, so we can't break the samurai's oath, right?

……

Ryuizumi returned to the vicinity of the cave and handed the telegram to Saigo Takamori.

She didn't take it apart to see it first, but even if she didn't look at it, she could still guess the general content.

At this time, I still have to send this telegram, it can't be just for the sake of saying goodbye.

In other words, if you have the intention of sending a telegram at the last moment to say goodbye, you will definitely persuade you to surrender by the way. After all, if you don't want to see your friends die, even the annoying Satsuma people who stand on the side of their enemies will be no different from their Shinsengumi.

Moreover, it didn't take long for Saigo Takamori, who was sitting alone in the cave, to come out and personally reveal the contents of the telegram in front of the last followers who had gathered outside the cave to bask in the sun while waiting for his decision.

"Okubo ......"

Saigo's speech began with such a formal title.

Yanagizumi remembered that in the military council a while ago, he also referred to Okubo Ritsu as "Ichizo".

Ikzo, that was the original name of Okubo Ritsu.

It was the name of the man Saigo knew when the two of them became friends.

But now, there are no more than those two people in the world. Okubo Ichizo and Saigo Yoshinosuke.

Liu Quan couldn't help but hook the corners of his lips with a little mockery and sigh.

Kondo-san was Isamu Kondo until the end. Although he had already changed his name to "Okubo Yamato" by the time of his arrest in Nagaruman.

Mr. Hijikata too. Until now, he has been Hijikata Suizo, although he used to be called "Naito Hayato", and now he uses the pseudonym "Naito Katsuto"-

However, their hearts have not changed much, although the world has changed so drastically, right and wrong, right and wrong, whether friends have been separated along the way, who is in power now, and what has become of the country......

Their original intention has always been there.

Maybe they do things wrong, and sometimes they are clumsy and don't know how to do things...... That stubborn posture may make others fear, hate, or resent, but their faith is always there.

Even the target of the original bet of the belief changed, retreated, and feared...... And they're still holding on. It's so almost stubborn and stupid, gambling with his life, giving up everything, enduring pain, just like that, fighting to the end-

They were the directors and deputy heads of the Shinsengumi until the end. But Okubo Ichizo and Saigo Yoshinosuke have become important ministers and thieves.

Saigo Takamori's expression was very solemn.

“…… The order for a general offensive has already been given. He said in a deep voice.

No one spoke. No one even exclaimed or marveled. A heavy silence enveloped the square in front of the cave.

Saigo Takamori looked around and accentuated his tone.

“…… It's four o'clock tomorrow morning!"

It was as if he had been given an ultimatum of fate, but no one spoke.

The mountain wind blows, and the branches and leaves rattle. Unknown birds flew overhead, the sound of flapping their wings and the clear chirping of birds.

Saigo Takamori also seemed to be quite uneasy in his heart, he squirmed his lips, and his jaw tightened twice, before he lowered his head to look at the piece of paper that he was holding tightly in his hand, and said:

"'However, if you surrender before five o'clock tonight, you will be able to leave behind the life of the thief Saigo Takamori.'" ”

He finished reading the last and most important sentence, then looked up and looked around at everyone again.

Everyone's faces had different expressions. Some people are shocked, some people sigh, some people are full of contradictions, and some people have a sad face......

Finally, Shinpachi Murata, who was standing beside him, finally broke this almost suffocating silence.

"Yoshinosuke-kun......" he shouted in a low voice.

Hearing this once very familiar name again, Saigo Takamori laughed instead.

It was not the same as everyone's solemn or apprehensive face, and he had an almost refreshing smile on his face at the moment.

Liu Quan's heartbeat suddenly accelerated.

…… That kind of smile, she seemed to have seen somewhere before.

It's a flowing mountain at sunset, in that golden mansion. Also, on the streets of Edo in the middle of the night, when Kondo, as the director of the Shinsengumi Bureau, ordered her to evacuate, handed her the piece of paper with the poem on which he died, and asked her to take good care of and follow Hijikata, who was both a deputy, a friend, and a younger brother to him, and then said goodbye to her. At that time, Kondo's face had a similar and refreshing smile that had already made up his mind and was ready to be consciously realized.

That smile silently conveyed that he was mentally prepared for his defeat, and that he was willing to accept the harsh fate that followed, and that he knew what he was going to bear, because—

Kondo once told her that as a commander-in-chief and general, as a famous loyal general, the general ending is to stain the robe with blood.

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October 16:

The computer was repaired, the system was reinstalled, and then I fell into a vicious circle of being automatically patched in a mess for the past few days.

WIN10 IS SO SCARY, I CAN'T FIGURE IT OUT = =

So today I spent the whole night [collapsing] in order to reboot the system after waiting for the patch to be patched

Another thing is that now JJ's system is starting to review all the old chapters again.

So if you find out that a chapter is inexplicably locked again, it is another mistake.

All of my articles have actually passed the review last time.,It's basically ridiculous to be locked now.,For example, there's a chapter because the girl's sleeve slipped down after she raised her hand.,Revealing her arms.。

Please be calm when you encounter a lock seal, I will generally apply for reconsideration as soon as possible, this will take a long time, please understand.

Next update: The next day, on the evening of the 18th.

Thank you to the little angel who voted for me or irrigated the nutrient solution~

Thanks to the little angel who threw [Mine]: 2 orange orange w, 1 Immortal Limit, Meow Meow;

Thanks to the little angel who irrigated [the nutrient solution]:

1 bottle of house cat;

Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!