May 15, 1868
In response to how the Shogi Company barricaded themselves in the Kan'ei Temple in Ueno, the Imperial Army launched an attack, which led to a fierce battle.
SPLASH!
Sumiko and Sano ignored the water that splashed up as they ran through a puddle, rushing through the rain towards the battlefield.
«« Flashback ««
Sumiko had been sticking close to Sano-san, because according to history he was the next in line to die, and since he was all alone, she figured he could use some backup. They were taking shelter from the rain when they happened to overhear an important conversation.
"I heard the Imperial Army has finally launched an attack against that Shogi company holed up in the Kan'ei Temple," said one of the men standing close to them to a friend.
"!" Harada and Sumiko exchanged a glance and nodded. This was it. If there was a battle, it would be their best chance to find Koudou.
«« End Flashback««
Sumiko frowned slightly as she glanced at Sano out the corner of her eye. She knew they had to come to Ueno, but she was worried. This was where Harada Sanosuke was supposed to die. She shook her head and furrowed her brow with grim determination as she tightened her grip on the straps of the tansu on her back that contained the medical equipment she had retrieved from Koudou-san's clinic. She wasn't going to let that happen!
A chill went up Sumiko's spine as she and Sano halted abruptly. They furrowed their brows as they stared into the fog, waiting for the approaching enemy they had sensed. A whole line of glowing red eyes pierced the dense vapor. The rasetsus were coming.
"Looks like our hunch was right," Sano remarked grimly.
"Yeah," Sumiko agreed, frowning, as she quickly removed her tansu and hid it in some nearby bushes, where she thought it would be safe. She knew she would need it, but she couldn't fight as well while trying to lug it around. And shit was about to get real.
"I'm impressed you knew to come here," Shiranui commented as he appeared behind them, smirking. He had a bulging bag slung over his shoulder.
"Hmph. Weren't you the one who told us that Koudou-san had hooked up with Imperial Army radicals so he could get blood for his rasetsus, Shiranui?" Sano reminded the oni, slightly chagrined.
"Did I say that?" Shiranui asked innocently, causing Sumiko to sweat-drop.
"Yes," she deadpanned. "Which means they'll gather in search of blood after there's been a big battle."
"And since they stand out like sore thumbs, they can only move at night," Sano added with a smirk.
"You're pretty smart for a lug swingin' around that antique weapon," Shiranui complimented him. "But that ain't gonna do you a lick of good even if you thrust it into their hearts," he said, dropping his bag on the ground.
"Why not?" Sumiko asked as he squatted down beside it. "That's worked for us pretty well so far." Her eyes widened slightly when Shiranui opened the bag to reveal hundreds of bullets. That was some serious heat he was packing.
"Silver bullets?" Sano asked. Shiranui grinned deviously as he grabbed a fistful of the special bullets, letting some of them fall back into the bag.
"You've gotta come packin' some of these if you wanna exterminate those monsters," he said by way of explanation, loading his gun as the rasetsus drew closer. "I couldn't find hide nor hair of that geezer after what happened in Koufu, and now he finally shows himself."
"Yeah. And just look at all the rasetsus he's created!" Sano said grimly. Sumiko furrowed her brow. The fog was beginning to clear. It looked like there were over a hundred of them.
"Wouldn't it be for your own good if you scurried home, weak human?" Shiranui teased Sano, glancing curiously at Sumiko. He wondered why she had let him come to such a dangerous fight when she had left Kazama because she wanted to save him and the others... Was it out of respect for his pride? She was going to really have her hands full if her plan was to fight Koudou and his rasetsus while trying to protect Harada at the same time...
"I'm afraid I have absolutely no intention of doing that," Sano replied with a slight smirk. Sumiko let out a small sigh and smiled wryly. She knew that would be his response if someone tried to stop him. Once the men of the Shinsengumi made up their minds, there was no stopping them.
"Hehl" Shiranui smirked. He knew there was a reason he liked this guy.
"Well, since that's settled..." Sumiko said, drawing her sword from its sheath. "How about we get this party started?"
BANG!
"!" Koudou started when one of his rasetsu was suddenly shot down. He looked ahead through the remaining fog and saw the three of them waiting for him.
"Yo, Koudou!" Shiranui greeted him. Koudou gritted his teeth and took a step back.
"Why have you come here?" he demanded.
"I'm here 'cause I don't dig the way you made these fakes and call 'em the new oni," Shiranui replied frankly as he raised his gun. "I was thinkin' this was a great opportunity to teach you the ways of the Oni!"
"Hmph. Even if you lecture me about the 'ways of the Oni', such things will come to an end once I destroy your kind," Koudou retorted cynically. "I had to do whatever it took to become strong!"
"What?" Shiranui asked, cocking his gun."
"Are you going to wipe out the oni as well as the humans now, Sensei?" Sumiko asked, taking a step forward.
"Sumiko..." Koudou said, frowning as the crease on his brow deepened. "You should leave, while you still can."
"I can't do that, Sensei. I said I'd stop you if you kept this up," she reminded him. "And I meant it. I don't want to hurt you, but I can't let you do this," she said with grim determination. "Please, stop making rasetsus—give up on this crazy plan for revenge! You're only making things worse!"
"Why can't you understand? I'm doing this for our clan! For you and Chizuru!" Koudou shouted at her in frustration.
"She already said she doesn't want it. Do you seriously think you're doing this for the Yukimura clan?" Sano asked, furrowing his brow. "For Chizuru!? Do you realize just how much suffering you've caused Chizuru!?" he demanded angrily.
"... There is no point in further conversation," Koudou said evenly, refusing to budge. He couldn't stop. He couldn't turn back now, not when he had already come so far. He was on the verge of turning his dream into a reality! "Rasetsus, help yourselves to their blood!"
"RAAAAAH!" the rasetsus growled excitedly.
"Sensei..." Sumiko said sadly, tightening her grip on her sword.
"Let's do this, Sumiko, Harada!" Shiranui yelled as he charged forth.
"Yeah!" Harada agreed, quickly following after him, with Sumiko on his heels.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Shiranui fired several rounds, taking out the first row of rasetsus before veering off to the side to make way for Harada and Sumiko while he reloaded.
"Oryaaah!" Sano roared as he impaled the first rasetsu that came at him through the heart.
"Hah!" Sumiko grunted as she swung her sword, decapitating another. She didn't like killing, but in this case, it had to be done. It was time to do or die.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
SLASH!
STAB!
One after another, the three of them fought together and slew whatever came at them. Soon, despite their overwhelming disadvantage in numbers, they had managed to take out more than half of Koudou's forces.
"Heh!" Shiranui said with a side glance at the other two, admiring their skill. Not bad for a human and a half-oni.
"Henh!" Sano said. Shiranui wasn't too shabby himself.
Sumiko just smiled wryly and shook her head. Boys.
"Eryaah!" Sano yelled as he took down three more before falling to his knees. "Nng!" he winced as blood began to pool around him on the ground.
"!" Sumiko gasped in alarm when she looked over and saw the gaping wound in his side. "Sano-san!" she cried anxiously, cutting through the wall of rasetsus between them as she rushed over to him. She wanted to stop the bleeding, but there was no time. The remaining rasetsus began swarming toward them, drawn to the scent of Harada's blood. "Yah!" Sumiko shouted as she fought furiously to keep them at bay.
Shiranui noticed their plight and quickly took out his last two opponents, but by the time he finished turning to help them, Sumiko was already decapitating the last one. Shiranui let out a whistle of appreciation as she paused for a moment to catch her breath before running to retrieve her tansu so she could treat Harada's wound before he lost too much blood.
"This is absurd..." Koudou said as he stared at the scene before him, stunned. "... They annihilated my rasetsus?" How could all of them have been slaughtered so easily!? It hadn't been a fight, but a massacre! Since when could Sumiko fight like that?
"I'll send you after them, Koudou," Shiranui said, aiming his gun at the older oni. "Prepare yourself!"
"Wait!" Sumiko yelled as he pulled the trigger. She didn't want to kill him!
CLICK.
"Shit! I'm out of bullets," Shiranui cursed as he lowered his gun and opened it to reload.
"Hahaha!" Koudou laughed boldly, elated after managing to escape death. "It would seem you're petering out!" he shouted as he pulled a bomb from his kimono sleeve and raised it high in the air.
"!" Shiranui's eyes widened in shock as he realized how screwed he was. The bomb was already lit—there wasn't enough time to reload and take aim!
"This will finish you off!" Koudou declared vindictively as he prepared to throw the explosive at him.
"Che!"
"Sensei, don't—!" Sumiko cried as something flew past her head. "Eh?" she said numbly as her pupils constricted when she recognized what it was.
"Ah!" Koudou cried out in pain as Harada's spear pierced him in the shoulder, forcing him to drop the bomb. "!" he gasped as his eyes followed the falling object.
BOOM!!
The bomb exploded into a blinding blaze, throwing Koudou into the water.
"Harada!" Shiranui exclaimed as he spun around to face them and saw that while Sumiko was still on her knees, Harada had stood up to launch his spear at Koudou in order to save him. Sumiko immediately snapped out her daze.
That's right, Sano-san was still in trouble!
"Nng!" Harada grunted in pain as he fell to his knees again, holding his injured side. His breathing was heavily labored.
"Sano-san!" Sumiko said anxiously, quickly digging through her tansu for the blood clotting poweder. "Idiot! Don't move anymore—you'll make it worse!" she scolded him as she furrowed her brow with worry, hoping desperately that this wouldn't be the wound that killed him.
Seeing that Sumiko was already looking after Harada, Shiranui turned his attention back to Koudou. He finished loading his gun and approached the edge of the water. He could see bubbles coming up from below the surface, indicating Koudou was still breathing. And then they stopped.
Koudou was dead.
Shiranui holstered his gun and walked over to join the others.
"I've repaid you... for Koufu," Harada told him, wincing from the effort it took to speak.
"You're mighty smug for a mere human," Shiranui said with a wry smirk.
"Shut up! I told you not to make any unnecessary movements!" Sumiko snapped sternly as she finished laying out the tarp she had been pulling out of her tansu. "Shiranui-san, please help me lift Sano-san onto the tarp. I have to operate here. If I wait any longer, he'll die," she said, dead serious. Shiranui was taken aback by this sudden request, but he quickly recovered.
"All right," he agreed, moving to help her shift the mortally wounded human. It would be boring if an opponent as interesting as Harada died.
"O-Oi!" Harada said, wincing as they moved him from the dirt onto the clean tarp.
"Hush!" Sumiko shushed him again. "I'm sorry, Sano-san, but you're losing blood too fast. There's no time for anesthesia or a painkiller. Just try to hold still and bite down on this," she instructed him urgently, placing a leather strap between his teeth. She quickly pulled out a bottle of alcohol and began disinfecting her hands and tools, pouring some on the wound to clean it.
"Nnng!" Harada grunted as he bit down on the leather strap. Salt would've hurt less!
"Hold him down, Shiranui-san! I can't have him moving while I operate!"
All Harada could remember before he blacked out was the worst pain he had ever experienced in his entire life.
When he came to his senses again, Harada found himself staring up at very nice ceiling and tucked into a quality futon. He tried to sit up but couldn't. Not only because of the immense pain that shot through his side when he tried, but because there was a weight on top of him. He was able to lift his head slightly and saw that the cause was Sumiko. She had fallen asleep beside his futon with her head and shoulders on top of him.
"She exhausted herself taking care of you," Shiranui said, alerting the human to his presence as he walked over to join them. It was a good thing Kazama wasn't there to see it, or he'd have put Harada to sleep permanently.
"How long have I been out?" Harada asked, feeling weak.
"Two days," Shiranui replied. "We're in some hatamoto's residence. After she finished performing surgery on you, she made me lug your sorry ass all the way here. Looks like you owe me again," he said with a smirk.
"Great," Harada remarked sarcastically with a tired sigh.
"You're lucky to be alive, you know," Shiranui said a bit more seriously. "You'd be dead if not for her. She did some crazy stuff, the likes of which I've never seen before, but it worked. It's a freakin' miracle, if you ask me."
"Yeah," Harada said with a wry smile. "That sounds like Sumiko-san... our miracle worker." It was good to have her back.
"You know, looking at you reminds me of a dude called Takasugi," Shiranui remarked as he looked up and glanced out of the open doors into the courtyard. "Maybe I should pay a visit to his grave sometime. What about you? What do you plan on doing now?"
"Well, Shinpachi is waiting for me... so I need to hurry to Aizu," Harada said thoughtfully as he stared up at the ceiling.
"I'm afraid that's out of the question," Sumiko said solemnly as she slowly sat up and started rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Apparently their conversation had woken her up.
"I meant after I healed," Harada told her with a wry smile. He knew she was strict with her recovering patients.
"I'm sorry, Sano-san, but even after that... I still can't let you go," she said apologetically.
"What? Why!?" Harada asked, furrowing his brow in confusion.
"Because Harada Sanosuke is supposed to die today," she stated calmly. Harada's eyes widened in shock.
"What are you...?" he began.
"She's from the future, man," Shiranui said, earning himself a surprised look from Sumiko. "I happened to overhear one of your conversations with Kazama," he told her matter-of-factly. Sumiko sweat-dropped.
He meant he eavesdropped, right?
"She knows things before they happen," Shiranui continued to explain to Harada, who was staring at him like he had lost his mind. "Tell him, Sumiko."
"It's true," Sumiko finally admitted, closing her eyes. "It's a long story, but I knew all of this was going to happen. It may not seem like it, but I've been walking on egg shells this whole time, trying to be careful not to change anything that could have a negative impact on the timeline... but I couldn't take it anymore. I just couldn't sit back and watch while you and the others died. I couldn't save Kondo-san, but I..."
Harada raised his hand and gently placed it on her head when he saw the tears beginning to form in her eyes at the thought of their Commander's death.
"You've been carry a heavy burden, haven't you? Sorry for not noticing."
"... You aren't mad?" she asked. "After all, I knew things would turn out this way..."
"You knew, but you stayed with us anyway," he reminded her. "And you came back for us. You saved me."
"Yes, but officially history says you were supposed to die from your wounds in this house," she said, biting her lip. "However, because a friend of mine wrote a report on you, I happened to learn about another, lesser known theory that says you actually survived and left Japan for China, where you became a leader for a group of horse-riding bandits. I remember it because I thought it sounded kind of ridiculous at the time, but now I'm banking on it being true," she finished with a smile.
"A group of horse-riding bandits, huh? Sounds interesting," Shiranui commented with a smirk.
"But I can't just leave Shinpachi," Harada said, furrowing his brow.
"I know, it's hard. But you have to," Sumiko said sympathetically, knowing how close they were. "In the timeline where you 'die' Shinpachi-san survives. I said it before, didn't I? That muscle-head is too dumb to die. He'll survive the war, get married, and die from natural causes as an old grandpa!"
"Heh! Shinpachi, married?" Harada asked dubiously, looking thoroughly amused by the concept.
"I know, right? I feel for his wife..." Sumiko commented dryly. "So you don't have to worry about Shinpachi-san and the others. You do what you need to and leave them to me."
Later that evening, in order for the rest of the world to think he was dead, they faked Harada's death and, with help from Shiranui, Sumiko carried him off under the cover of darkness to bring him somewhere else to finish his recovery. When he was well enough to travel, Harada boarded a ship to China. After taking some time to visit Takasugi Shinsaku's grave, Shiranui also boarded the same ship. She never saw either of them again.
Decades later, there were reports that an old Japanese man came to the aid of the Imperial Army in the First Sino-Japanese war. He claimed to be Harada Sanosuke. This was reported in a newspaper in 1965, but remains unsubstantiated.