Rurouni Kenshin (るろうに剣心 －明治剣客浪漫譚－)

11TH YEAR OF MEIJI

"The duel is to be held tomorrow."

"The location is northeast, Mount Hiei, halfway up the mountain

in a small shrine with a six-storied torii."

"Our party consists of Makoto Shishio and the Ten Swords."

"Your party consists of Himura Battosai, Hajime Saito, and Sanosuke Sagara."

"No other companions allowed."

Bring it!

RUROUNI KENSHIN -KYOTO DISTURBANCE-

A BEAUTIFUL NIGHT

That guy Saito is dealing with the aftermath,

so he won't be free for half a day.

And so we'll leave tomorrow morning for the duel against Shishio.

Too bad I'm in the mood to launch an attack right now if I could.

Oh, dear. Himura, the battle progressed that far while I was down?

Yes.

That said, nine of the Ten Swords are still out there, that they are.

And one more thing.

You're here like you belong here, but who are you, to begin with?

Yes, my question exactly.

You didn't tell them anything about me, damn it?

I'm sorry. We were busy on our end.

Jeez. Yeah, all right.

BAD

I'm Sanosuke Sagara.

Well, you can call me one of Kenshin's buddies from Tokyo.

DOUBT.

Trust me!

You say that, but...

You're kinda shady.

You have shifty eyes.

You have a bad attitude.

Argh! Megumi, damn you!

Why are you nonchalantly joining up with them?

Oh? They believed me upon first sight that I know Ken-san, you know?

Exactly. I knew the instant I had woken up.

That the reason I still have my life

was thanks to Miss Megumi's devoted treatment.

And compared to that...

what the hell are you?

In the first place, men who stick their hair up are usually trouble!

I mean like Cho.

You sure are saying horrible things, that you are.

But Sano is one of the men I trust the most, that he is.

Nice to meet you, Sanosuke!

Shut up.

In any case, we have so many of Himura's friends here.

Let's celebrate their send-off on this eve of their departure and drink up!

Oh, sounds good!

You can't!

Your wounds haven't healed yet, so no alcohol allowed!

I appreciate the sentiment, Mr. Okina, but our day starts early tomorrow.

After we have dinner, I will go ahead and rest early tonight, that I will.

"Absolute victory," you say?

Yes. An absolute victory.

For this one fight against the three of Himura, Saito, and Sagara,

we will have ten including you, Lord Shishio.

Both in numbers and in combat powers, the difference is obvious.

Then that's fine.

Why are you so dissatisfied?

However, our enemies are also among the most skilled.

If we clash as is, we will surely lose any of the Ten Swords

who are about as skilled as or perhaps less skilled than Cho.

Then we should field only the elite as well.

We should narrow down their opponents

to Sojiro, Usui, and Anji, the three strongest of the Ten Swords.

The remaining six members of the Ten Swords...

RESTAURANT AOIYA

will execute the eradication of those left behind at Aoiya!

I see.

During the failure of the Great Kyoto Fire...

there was the Kyoto Oniwaban Group

that secretly operated behind the police's line of defense.

It's not just this one incident.

To this day, from when Himura Battosai arrived in Kyoto,

they have been serving as crucial behind-the-scenes support,

using their abilities to gather and relay intel.

Without them, we would have been able to proceed much more smoothly.

That means that our neglecting to quickly get rid of them

has been an element of our failures thus far.

Knowing how keen Himura Battosai is, he likely anticipates us

taking this opportunity to assault Aoiya in his absence.

However, he is still a swordsman, after all.

Since his opponent has called it a duel,

he wouldn't even dream the Ten Swords themselves will head to Aoiya.

Even Lord Shishio, who thinks in a very similar way to that man,

could only conceive of this as a ten-on-three duel.

You should not forget, Lord Shishio!

Our final objective is to gain supremacy of this nation.

And that is what is truly Lord Shishio's absolute victory!

For that reason, it is best to kill off Himura Battosai

and his entire group simultaneously!

Hoji...

when did you receive a rank where you can give me an opinion?

Sneak attack, ambush, I don't care.

But I did say "duel" to Battosai.

Going against that is something my pride as a swordsman can't bear.

There will be no change in the duel! Stop whining!

Hurry up and summon the Ten Swords!

When I sensed the slaughterer's determination in that fist,

I secretly made one certain resolution.

As the phrase "might is right" shows,

history and nations are created by the winners.

In order to guide Lord Shishio to become the absolute winner,

I will devote my heart and soul to devising plans and executing them.

And to do that, I don't care what role I must take on!

No matter how vile and unfair the means,

I will deliver an absolute victory to Lord Shishio!

To do this, even if I must be utterly loathed

by people, by allies, or even by Lord Shishio, I care not at all!

Now that we have lost the Rengoku,

the Ten Swords are the best weapons we have left.

No matter what happens,

I, Hoji, cannot agree to a foolish plan that wastes them needlessly!

All enemies aside, this is the first time my pet dog has opposed me this fiercely.

I've had enough.

Sojiro.

Yes.

You go ahead and call over the Ten Swords.

Lord Shishio, is this summons the beginning of the next battle?

Yeah. But before that,

there's something I need to talk about concerning the previous mission.

Right, right, that.

That's something I wanted to hear.

I heard that the Great Kyoto Fire was actually a diversion.

No way!

Oh? So that's why Fuji and I had no backup and had to come back on our own?

This treatment of us is as good as sacrificial pawns.

What kind of intention did you have, Lord Shishio?

Yeah, of course I do feel sorry about it.

In reality, I was originally planning

on having you all aboard the Rengoku to head to Tokyo.

But thinking that the flashier the diversion, the better, Hoji here...

acted of his own accord to change the plans.

Isn't that right, Hoji?

Yes.

It is all my responsibility.

So, please...

I would like to beg forgiveness!

I see.

I totally thought Lord Shishio abandoned me, and I was in shock.

I had a feeling that someone was working in the shadows.

I see. So that's how it was.

Then Hoji obviously needs to be punished.

Tell the truth, Hoji.

No lies make it past my Shingan.

If you speak the truth, you won't have to suffer any pain.

I have no idea what you're talking about—

Wow, that looks painful.

Lord Shishio...

Now do you feel like talking?

By your definition of talking...

I only speak the truth!

Betraying seven of the Ten Swords was all done at my sole discretion.

I will atone for that.

And I'd also like the distrust and doubt against Lord Shishio...

considered completely washed away with this punishment of seven nails!

These are the orders for the next battle!

Sojiro, Usui, Anji will be with me here tomorrow

to duel Battosai, Hajime Saito, and Sanosuke Sagara!

Saizuchi, Fuji, Henya, Kamatari, and Iwanbo

will head to Aoiya and take the heads of everyone there!

Hoji, you stay here.

You won't be able to fight to your satisfaction with those fingers.

Lord Shishio...

I have seen your determination.

From now on, I will leave all the dirty work to you.

In return, I will always let you be first and foremost in tasting victory...

right by my side.

Yes, sir!