Now Sugimoto and Hijikata’s group head to Goryokaku, which is where the Ainu supposedly hid the gold. Though it is very interesting to note that this is where the battle of Hakodate happened and that was where the Shogunate’s army had its last battle against the government. A great use of a panel of a young Hijikata saying, Soldiers once dreamed here, and here is where our dreams died. Though given that Hijikata survives, he now says this is where our dreams begin.
Though of course Tsurumi is not letting up one bit, Hijikata seems beyond prepared. With the help of Sofia and her men making up most of the mainline force. The bastion serves as a great defense force, but also the trenches play a big role. It is quite curious why Sofia joined, but of course there is no room to hesitate when dealing with Tsurumi from Hijikata’s perspective. It is quite interesting that Sofia is still in favor of Wilk’s dream. One matter could be that seeing the family Tsurumi had and wanting to protect that sparked something in her and understanding why Wilk changed.
Though one thing that is interesting to note is the gold being hidden in the Russian Consulate on Mount Hakodate. It is where the incident of Koito being kidnapped happened. It is quite funny that the gold was under Tsurumi’s nose this whole time, and he wasn’t aware of it.
Though the most interesting stems back to what Wilk mentioned in prison. He would give half the gold to the escapees if they cooperated. It wasn’t some random number Wilk pointed out, as less than half of the gold was spent on a land deed in Hokkaido. That was the new hope that Wilk founded and what he meant for Asirpa to lead the Ainu. While on the surface his words to Sugimoto in Abashiri Prison felt like those of a cruel father pushing his daughter to battle. He set the stage for Asirpa to lead the Ainu; it wasn’t something more aimless like we saw with Koito’s father. Though Noda baited the reader into thinking there was no gold left, but in reality there is still gold left, was very clever.
Of course Tsurumi is coming with a big force, and of course there is the fear that he can just kill everyone and conquer the land and then take the gold. The fact that Tsurumi hesitated means how effective the bluff is because when you mix truth and lies, it becomes effective. As Tsurumi noted, the government lacked funding, but the funding for the war proceeded as if that wasn’t an issue. Also, you add how the Ainu helped the Japanese in the war. Though did the mission to find the gold from Lord Okuda come from the simple fact of him wanting to interfere with the deal? Take the gold and the land, basically? It is hard to say, but at the very least, Tsurumi presses on because it is far too late to turn back now.
It is quite funny that because of Kadokura’s luck, we see that Hijikata has an “I got it” moment. Of course this leads to finding the gold. Though it seems that when the Ainu group hid the gold, Hijikata’s connection to him was true. It comes to Kimushpu helping Hijikata from dying. Of course Hijikata has his ambitions, but at the same time he is a man of his word. The big difference between him and Tsurumi is that Tsurumi more so uses his allies, and it is difficult to get a sense of trust. As we know from the incident at Abashiri Prison, Hijikata can be difficult to trust. Though in his mind he does care about the Ainu and consider them an ally. It makes the decision to support Hijikata’s side over Tsurumi an easy decision.
As the battle really gets underway with the 7th Division approaching, things start to not look good for Hijikata’s side. Though he sends Kadokura to the Buddha statue that he asked Kimushpu to bring him to before he was caught. Though behind it is the main cannon of Kaitenmaru. Perhaps this can turn the tide of the battle?