HAKUOUKI: Back in Time

Chapter 77

~Why not listen to music while you read?~

"K, time for me to get outta here. Need to get back to Hijikata. I don't really know how much more fight I got in me, but... Hell, I've come this far. Might as well see it through to the end."

"Seems fair to me. Just be careful alright? If you die like a chump, we're gonna have words in the next life, you got me?" Nagakura grinned from ear to ear at Heisuke.

"Take care Heisuke." I said.

"Will do. See you guys later!" He waved one last goodbye and then disappeared down the road.

"I guess we should be on our way too. Gotta get ready for the next battle." Harada put his arm of Nagakura's shoulder.

"Right... Man... I never thought I'd see Saito and Hijikata split up. you were practically his shadow."

"We didn't fight, if that't what you're suggesting. We both agreed this was best."

"Whoa whoa! You wouldn't be implying anything about a couple of other guys who left, would you?!" Nagakura elbowed Saito playfully and grinned. "Seriously though, good for you. You were all confused about it back when we left, but I guess there's a lord out there you wanna serve?"

This is where Harada stepped in. "...Oh, I don't think it's just a lord he looking to serve..." He grinned at Saito.

"...What do you mean by that?"

"Whoa, whoa! Are you blushing?! What the hell is this?! Where's the real Saito?!"

Saito laid his hand on the hilt of his sword.

"H-Hey, calm down man! It doesn't look like a joke when you do it. You just about scared the pants of me!"

"Okay, I know goodbyes are tough, but it's really probably time we were heading out."

"Yeah, yeah. We do still need to figure out how to stop war from breaking out in the future, but... For now, I figure we should finish this one. Can't really call yourself a man if don't fight when you have to, right?"

"Take care you two. If we live through this, lets go grab a drink sometime."

"...Yeah."

"Be careful you guys. " It would have been a lie to say I wasn't going to miss them, but we all had our own paths to take and theirs was simply taking them away from me right now. So, I put on a smile and waved goodbye, hoping that someday those paths might cross ours again.

Epilogue

The war moved north, eventually coming to an end in a cold land known as Ezo (Hokkaido), but not before the ground had been soaked in the blood of hundreds of men. On May 18th, 1870, the remnants of the shogunate's army finally surrendered and the war was finally over at last.

With the war over, Nagakura returned to Edo, or so I heard. I suspected he spent everyday practicing swordsmanship even without a war to fight in. Nagakura and Harada had split up during the war and rumor was that Harada had left Japan for Manchuria. For some reason, I had no difficulty imagining Harada on a horse galloping across a wide open Manchurian plain.

Okita had remained in Edo to fight his illness but it had grown worse and died during the war. Hijikata had taken what remained of the Shinsengumi to Sendai and from their to Ezo. He'd fought until the end and died in batle with the Imperial Army at Hakodate, or so the rumors said. Heisuke also returned to Hijikata's side after the fight at Shirakawa Castle and ultimately died at Hakodate. Perhaos he'd gained some sense of fulfillment, knowing that he'd seen what became of the Shinsengumi.