As Sugimoto meets up with Wilk, there is a bit of tension between them when Wilk mentions he wants Asirpa to lead the Ainu. Of course that pisses Asirpa because he knows what it means to take on that responsibility. Asirpa has a clear stance on not killing. If she were to lead the Ainu like her father wants them to, that is not possible. You can understand from Sugimoto’s perspective that he is thrusting the obligation of the Ainu onto Asirpa.
Of course, the reality is when both Inkarmat & Asirpa realize Wilk is indeed Noppera-bou. Though just as he mentions he didn’t kill the Ainu, we see that Ogata kills Wilk, and as we see by the end of the episode, nearly kills Sugimoto. Much like the betrayal of Hijikata, Kiroranke’s betrayal has been subtly foreshadowed. To think he was the one who signaled to Ogata to kill Wilk is definitely something one would not expect.
Though the curious part of this episode is that when we see Inkarmat stabbed with Kiroranke’s knife, it is interesting to learn that it was accidental and she wanted to leave the evidence. He mentions to Inkarmat that the gold is for their allies, so as Tsurumi & Inkarmat suspected, they are heading to Karafuto. Though Kiroranke is right about Inkarmat since she led Tsurumi to them. I guess she can be thought of as a traitor from her perspective. It is rather curious to now see Sugimoto with Tsurumi’s men, but of course their interests align much like they did with Hijikata.
Of course Sugimoto survived by sheer luck, but to have the nickname Immortal, you’d need some luck. His conversation with Koito’s father is interesting because sending his son with Sugimoto is risky. It feels like in this time it is their father’s duty to send their child to battle and prepare them to lead. Of course there is risk involved, but as Koito’s father suggests from his experience, Wilk wants Asirpa to lead the Ainu for Asirpa’s sake rather than just to lead the Ainu in and of itself.
S2 finished up by adapting chapters 136-139 as well as the parts of the Hijikata Inudou fight that episode 11 skipped. As usual, the voice acting and music were on point. Although rearranging Hijikata & Inudou sacrificed the transition between that and the conversation between Sugimoto & Wilk. Hijikata himself is more mysterious in the anime, so his scenes don’t hit quite as close to home as they do for Sugimoto & Tsurumi since the anime should be prioritizing those two over him.