#letter from hijikata
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Trip to Mibu-dera
I accomplished my long-time dream of visiting Mibu-dera today! The Shinsengumi lived there for a couple of years in their early days ^-^
We couldn’t take any photos inside, but here are just a few of the photos from the day (please excuse my subpar photography lol):
Although we couldn’t take photos inside, I want to mention that the inner part of the main temple was absolutely gorgeous. It was ornately decorated and houses a Buddhist statue that dates back to the Heian period.
In a room on the side of the temple you can see Hijikata and Kondo’s swords, as well as some of their letters. My kanji is limited and I couldn’t take out my phone for translation help, so I’m slightly embarrassed to say that I ended up asking some of the other museum patrons to explain things to me in more simple Japanese. Thankfully, people were really nice and I was able to learn a lot more thanks to them :)
I ended up buying a goshuincho and a bag from the gift shop. For those who don’t know, a goshuincho allows you to collect signatures from the various shrines you visit. The signatures serve as wonderful souvenirs to show where you’ve visited. Today alone I ended up collecting three signatures between Mibu dera, an enmusbi shrine, and then the Go’o shrine near the Imperial Palace.
I worked hard touring Mibu dera, so of course I had to treat myself to some Shinsengumi ice cream afterward haha.
As you can see, the ice cream is blue and white, and the little cookie has Makoto inscribed onto it! The ice cream flavor was simple and milky, and the cookie had a pleasant almond taste. It was really refreshing and I recommend it! The shop is called Dandara Coffee and it’s right next door to the temple.
I still intend to go to the Yagi house and various other Shinsengumi spots around Kyoto, but luckily I’ll be studying here until May so I’ve got time! If you have any recommended spots in Kyoto or the surrounding areas (Shinsengumi-related or otherwise), I would love to hear them :D
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[NEWS] Sato Ryuji has been Cast in the TV Drama "With You I Bloom: The Shinsengumi Youth Chronicle"
DESCRIPTION
"With You I Bloom: The Shinsengumi Youth Chronicle" (Japanese title: Kimi to Yukite Saku ~ Shinsengumi Seishun Roku~) is a live action adaptation of the manga called "Shinsengumi" by Tezuka Osamu.
It tells the story of Fukakusa Kyujuro a young man who wants revenge for the death of his father, and joins the Shinsengumi in search for this justice.
SATO RYUJI'S CHARACTER
Sato Ryuji plays a mysterious man who comes to Kyujuro's aid when he meets the enemy who killed his father.
TRIVIA
[1] This isn't the first time Ryuji has had a connection to Tezuka Osamu's works. The Brow Beat (his band where he is the main vocalist) has released "Tsumugu", which is the "BLACK JACK" manga 50th anniversary theme song.
To purchase the physical single of "LOVE LETTER" which includes the song, please refer to this link: HERE
To stream/download the song, please refer to the links below.
Apple Music: HERE
Spotify: HERE
The band is also collaborating with the "BLACK JACK" manga and goods from this collaboration are currently available online. To purchase the goods, please refer to this link: HERE
[2] Miura Ryosuke, who has co-starred with Ryuji in "Jujutsu Kaisen The Stage" and "'Galaxy Express 999' THE MUSICAL" plays Serizawa Kamo.
They both played Gojo Satoru and Itadori Yuji respectively in Jujusute, and Captain Harlock and Prider/Count Mecha respectively in the 999 musical.
The Blu-ray/DVD for "Jujutsu Kaisen The Stage -Kyoto Sister-School Goodwill Event & The Origin of Obedience-" is currently available for pre-order. For more information on how to pre-order it, please refer to this link: HERE
[3] Also included in the cast are Ryuji's co-stars from the "Musical Touken Ranbu", Takano Akira and Sakamoto Shogo, as Shinsengumi members. Akira (Hizamaru in Toumyu) plays Kondo Isami while Shogo (Horikawa Kunihiro in Toumyu) plays Hijikata Toshizo.
In Toumyu, Ryuji plays Kashuu Kiyomitsu, who is a sword owned by Okita Souji of the Shinsengumi. In KimiYuki, his identity is speculated to be Sakamoto Ryoma.
[4] Additionally, Kan Hideyoshi and Mokudai Kazuto play original characters who are part of the Shinsengumi. Along with Ryuji, they were part of "Kamen Rider Geats", playing Ukiyo Ace (Kamen Rider Geats), Michinaga Azuma (Kamen Rider Buffa) and Jitto/Zitt (Kamen Rider Regad) respectively.
On a related tokusatsu note, Ryuji also made his entertainment industry debut in "Kamen Rider Fourze" as Satake Teruhiko (Hound Zodiarts) and Miura Ryosuke plays Ankh in "Kamen Rider 000".
[5] Kan Hideyoshi and Ryuji have also co-starred in "HiGH&LOW THE WORST X" where Ryuji plays Nishikawa Yasushi and Hideyoshi plays a member of Barasho.
LINK TO WATCH SATO RYUJI'S EPISODE
To watch Sato Ryuji's appearance on "With You I Bloom: The Shinsengumi Youth Chronicle", please refer to this link: HERE
NOTE: For more information on how to use the site to watch, please refer to this link: HERE
Source(s): ( x , x , x )
#With You I Bloom: The Shinsengumi Youth Chronicle#Kimi to Yukite Saku ~ Shinsengumi Seishun Roku~#Musical Touken Ranbu#Toumyu#Touken Ranbu#Jujutsu Kaisen The Stage#Jujusute#Jujutsu Kaisen#Kamen Rider Geats#HiGH&LOW#The Brow Beat#Sato Ryuji
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Best of 2023
Most Popular
(reblogged posts not included)
Traditional Kimono Colors (170 notes)
Bakusin - The number one website on the Shinsengumi (48 notes)
Okita’s handwriting (44 notes)
Was hijikata married? Or he had lover before? (43 notes)
Hijikata Toshizo’s favorite? A bamboo flute found at the home of a descendant of his brother-in-law in Hino (40 notes)
Shinsengumi Films (39 notes)
Okita Souji’s personality according to an old newspaper article (35 notes)
Anecdotes about Hijikata Toshizo (34 notes)
Hijikata’s favorite flute (33 notes)
Okita Souji’s work schedule, Hijikata’s souvenir teacups from Kyoto, Moeyo Ken English Translation (31 notes)
My Picks
Shinsengumi Handwriting
If Okita never caught tuberculosis and survived to the Meiji Era, what occupation would he have?
A hanging scroll handwritten by Shinsengumi Commander Kondo Isami is found in Kyoto
Shinsengumi avatars
Yahoo Groups ShinsengumiHeadquarters
Okita Souji and his subordinates
The Hijikata family in the Ishida village census
Okita Souji timeline details
Letter from Kondo Isami about male love
An Assassination Attempt on Okita Souji
The Shinsengumi and Religion
Okita’s height
Nagakura Shinpachi’s letter to Sato Hikogoro in 1891
Shimabara (part 1), Shimabara (part 2)
The Courtship of Lady Tokio manga
Flowers and Water manga
Between the Clouds manga
Poem about ayu fish, possibly by Hijikata
List of Letters from the Shinsengumi and Ezo Republic
Bakumatsu period fanfic about the Shinsengumi
Previous years: 2020, 2021, 2022
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You ever lie awake at night and think about how intimate GinHiji is? Like yeah everyone and their grandmother already knows that they’re narrative foils and all that, but do you ever just. Stop. And think, “Wow, when Gintoki looks at Hijikata, he sees a version of himself that never lost?”
Of course, Hijikata has lost things (his place with his brother, a home), but he hasn’t lost his general. He certainly hasn’t had to kill him with his own hands.
And that parallel is made very obvious in the Farewell Shinsengumi arc, but once you read through the manga again, it’s clear that Gintoki has been at least somewhat aware of this parallel from the beginning, from their second meeting on the rooftop, when Hijikata challenged him to a duel because he disgraced Kondou, his general, his comrade in arms. “Anyone who disgraces the Shinsengumi... I’ll make mincemeat out of them!”
Every subsequent interaction after that has just made the similarities more apparent, not only between themselves, but also between their respective groups: The Shinsengumi and the Shoka Sonjuku. The Shinsengumi and the Joui 4. The Shinsengumi and the Yorozuya.
And the last one’s important, because it shows that Hijikata doesn’t only represent what Gintoki was, he represents what Gintoki is trying to be again. He is not only the past, but the present, a kindred spirit walking the same road, who he can draw strength from. That is why their roads cross time and time again, not only in the serious moments when the Shinsengumi is at jeopardy (and isn’t it interesting how only Gintoki is present during the Mitsuba and the Baragaki arcs?) but also during the ridiculous moments, the goofy moments, where they’re just wreaking havoc in Edo, making connections, living life.
That’s why everything that happens to Gintoki ends up echoing around to Hijikata, and vice versa.
It’s Gintoki and Katsura pointing their swords at Takasugi at the end of the Benizakura Arc, saying, “We will cut you down!” to Kondou punching Okita during the Mitsuba arc, saying, “If one of us goes astray, the other two will beat some sense into him,” to Gintoki in the Shogun Assasination Arc, punching Takasugi, reminding him that he’s still a student of the Shoka Sonjuku.
It’s Kondou saying, “Why does he [Hijikata] always put the burden on himself? Always trying to play the bad guy,” to Takasugi saying, “We put the burden on you... You bore that sin,” to Gintoki telling Takasugi, “I don’t remember choosing you. All that happened was... I knew what he [Shouyou] held dear,” to Hijikata telling the rest of the Shinsengumi, “He told us to live... I don’t want you guys to die, that feeling is the same as Kondou-san’s.”
It’s how Itou’s death in the Shinsengumi Crisis Arc foreshadows Takasugi’s death in the Final Arc: Both are comrades in arms who had gone astray, but although they’ve made their way back to the right path, they’re already at death’s door. Hijikata kills Itou in a duel to allow him die as an honorable warrior instead of as a traitor. Gintoki kills Takasugi in a duel in a way that allows him to die as a student of Shoka Sonjuku who succeeded in avenging Shouyou instead of as a vessel carrying Utsuro's being.
It’s Itou telling Hijikata, as he grabs his hand to save him from falling to his death, “I hate you and one day I’ll kill you, so don’t die here,” to Takasugi telling Gintoki and Katsura as he saves them from falling to their deaths, “We may hate each other and try to kill each other, but still they’re bonds we can’t sever.”
It’s Gintoki helping Hijikata time and time again, reminding him who he is, delivering him things (spicy crackers for Mitsuba, a letter from Tetsu, a punch for Kondou), helping him get to where he needs to be... and Hijikata trying to return the favor as much as he can, running to Hagi to find him, delivering his bokuto in battle, kicking his ass over the gap so that he can make it to Shouyou, Shinpachi, and Kagura.
It’s Hijikata telling Gintoki, after finding out he’s Shiroyasha, “There’s something that only we can do. We can stop people from making the same mistakes we did.”
#ginhiji#gintama#sakata gintoki#hijikata toushirou#long post#guess who's been rereading gintama lately#anyway i hate these assholes#random blah of letters
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Hakuoki Drama CD - Hijikata Biyori Track 11
Well, guess who passed out early on Sunday when she intended to translate then just couldn't afford the time to translate until now? 😅 Anyway, I'm going to work on a number of the Biyoris since they're short so I can actually put out a few things on time or schedule... because I'm going to be pretty occupied until the May 2nd (presumably), though I did rush this a bit.
Also, I'm pretty sure that the Hijikata Biyori tracks that remain untranslated are tracks: 12, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 35, 36 and whatever the Sendai [?] thing was [if memory serves, it's a dialogue with only Harada and Shinpachi]. Please let me know if I'm missing something... or if I included a number of one that was already translated.
This post is to make up for last week! Will start working on the post for this week in a bit since I actually have some time today!
Hakuoki Drama - Hijikata Biyori Track 11: Letter [according to jisho, the JP 文 can alternatively be interpreted as 'texts', 'writing' or 'literary arts'. sorta leaning towards the last one because of Hakumyu LIVE]
Translation by KumoriYami
Harada: Ahh.... so sleepy.
Toudou: You drank too much yesterday, Sano-san.
Harda: Heisuke, aren't you the same?
Toudou: I don't drink until I get hungover.
Hijkata: It's already lively this early in the morning. [added in "already" for sentence flow]
Toudou: Uwah, Hijijkata-san.
Hijikata: Did you go to Shimabara last night?
Harada: Ah.... yeah. Do you have something to say about that [the word here I have translates to "idea / opinion / suggestion / objection / complaint" so I changed that to something more in line what I thought would be appropriate for the character]
Hijikata: No comment/No objections [same explanation as last line] . At this time, the organization is always changing, which has made things chaotic. It's fine to relax once in a while, but… ahh…
Harada: But... what.
Hijkata: It's fine to loosen up, but don't overdue it. In the future, you'll be shouldering the Shinsengumi's reputation, and be making achievements in Kyoto [reword later?]. You guys, you're in the position of being role models for the rest of the troop.
Harada: U-Uh...
Toudou: I get it, Hijikata-san. Don't stare at us like that so early in the morning.
Hijikata: Ah, right. Hm? What is it?
Toudou: Um, These letters are are from the Shimabara nee-sans [check audio. the word I have is 'elder sisters' so I'm pretty sure that this fine…]. One, two, three, four. Here, for you.
Hijikata: Ah, yes. What a hassle/You've worked hard.
Harada: Hijikata-san, aren't you enjoying yourself to some extent?
Hijikata: But I don't go overboard. Well then.
Toudou: Ah, he escaped.
Harada: He really has a lot of tricks up his sleeve. He lectures people then runs away. That's right, Heisuke, let's storm into Hijikata-san's room together.
Toudou: Why?
Harada: I'm sure he has a smile on his face as he reads those letters right now. Let's go and check it out.
Toudou: Ah, Sano-san, wait!
Harada:...How is it it?
Toudou: He seems to be writing something.
Harada: Oh? Has he already started writing his reply? How about it?
Toudou: Hey, wait, San-san...ah!
Hijikata: What are you two doing!
Harada: Ah, no, um...
Toudou: W-We wanted to see what Hijikata-san is doing. Lo-Look, you've been busy with a lot of work lately. We were wondering if there was something we could help you with…
Harada: Yes, that's right!
Hijikata: I see, you're just in time then. What I writing just now...
Harada: Eh? It's okay to look? Then...
Hijikata: I'd love to hear your opinions.
Toudou: Eh?
Hijikata: Hurry, read it.
Harada: First/One, it's forbidden to violate Bushido.
Toudou: First/One, leaving the Shinsengumi is strictly forbidden.
Harada: What is this!
Hijikata: The number of members of the Shinsengumi will increase in the future. In order to provide better leadership, I wanted to write down some rules that the Shinsengumi members must abide by. I was just working on a draft.
Toudou: Eh? What? Will you need to commit seppuku if you violate them?
Hijikata: Ah. As a samurai, you must pay with your life.
Harada: That makes sense, though isn't that too harsh?
Hijikata: Well, both of you sit down. I'll explain what I haven't written down yet. If there are things that disrupt the troop affairs, I plan on having them banned. Additionally, meaningless fights are also unproductive…
Toudou: Where is the response.*
Harada: Don't say that.*
Hijikata: I will especially not tolerate fights within the Shinsengumi. I don't have time for that sort of thing. Also…*
[*I'm not entirely sure about these last bits since one of the tls I saved has this in an order where it looks like that some of the lines might overlap/have things spoken in the background. will fix them later after I hear the audio.]
-----end-----
also, ive been so busy that i havent even gotten around to organizing my latest merch haul... only got around to organizing the bromides.
#hakuoki#hakuouki#hakuoki drama#hakuoki drama translation#hakuoki drama cd#hijikata biyori#hijikata toshizo#harada sanosuke#toudou heisuke
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I wrote an endnote to one of my fics that ended up being so long and spoiler-heavy that I had to exile a big chunk of it to my tumblr - so here you go: a big ol' Effort Post about the history and fictional history of your guy and mine, Ishin Wagi.
If you haven't finished Ishin, you probably shouldn't click to read the post under the cut, as it contains big endgame spoilers.
In contrast with Inoue Genzaburo — who’s portrayed in Ishin and other media as a serious, level-headed sort of guy — Serizawa Kamo was a heavy drinker with an infamously short temper. He was born in Mito and, like Sakamoto Ryoma, he was a member of the goshi class, though it should be noted that the extreme discrimination that we see Ryoma experiencing in-game is pretty specific to Tosa’s goshi; Serizawa wasn’t particularly poorly off. Also like Ryoma, Serizawa was involved in shishi activities: he was a member of the Tengu Party, an anti-foreigner political group whose members committed various acts of violent rebellion, including the 1860 assassination of Ii Naosuke (a high-ranking official in the Tokugawa shogunate whose death comes up in letters that you can find in Ishin Kiwami). Serizawa didn’t participate in the assassination, but between his ties to the Tengu Party and an incident in which he executed several of his subordinates for no good reason, he ended up in prison, where he assumed he’d be executed in turn. While there, Serizawa was said to have written a poem with his own blood on a piece of scrap cloth: “In the snow and frost, the plum blossom is the first to bloom in brilliant colours; its fragrance lingers even after the petals have scattered.”
In late 1862, Serizawa was released from prison. By early 1863 (and here I’m skimming over a lot of historical context) Serizawa had joined up with Kondo Isami as a member of the Mibu Roshigumi: the precursor to the Shinsengumi, so called because they were a bunch of ronin whose headquarters were originally in Mibu. They worked under the patronage of the Aizu clan; one of Serizawa’s brothers may have had connections to the clan, which Serizawa and Kondo might have leveraged to gain support for their organization. As a commander, Serizawa was kind of a disgrace by most accounts: among other offenses, he was responsible for wrecking a restaurant in a drunken rage and destroying a silk merchant’s shop with a cannon. Most importantly for my purposes, he was allegedly the man who picked a fight with a bunch of sumo wrestlers in the streets of Osaka.*
Serizawa was murdered in 1863, and there are various theories as to why. It’s popularly assumed that the guy was just a huge bastard who was too out-of-control to hold down his job, and that Hijikata and several other members of the organization killed him accordingly. Another theory that you’ll see sometimes is that while his familial connections were useful, Serizawa himself was a liability whom his companions discarded as soon as they felt secure in doing so. Under this theory, the issue wasn’t so much that he was badly behaved (though this probably didn’t help); it was more that he had his own little faction of men who went around looking down on the others and calling Serizawa “sensei,” and that Serizawa had ties to Mito, which remained a hotbed of seditious activity. (In fact, in 1864, civil war would break out in Mito as the Tengu Party staged an armed rebellion against the shogunate.)
I understand why Ishin’s writers dropped most of Serizawa’s history. It’s complicated, it’s not directly relevant to Ryoma’s story, and Inoue is a secondary character who’s meant (like his mainline counterpart) to come across as a superlatively loyal mentor figure and not as a belligerent asshole. But it’s interesting, in that context, that the writers went out of their way to allude to Serizawa’s history in weird ways. In-game, Serizawa is described as “a living shadow from the Mito domain” — which, okay, you could indeed describe the historical Serizawa that way, given that he narrowly escaped execution and then left Mito to join the Roshigumi. But he’s also described as a wandering bandit who took Hirayama and Hirama under his wing before meeting Kondo in Kyoto, which doesn’t particularly fit with history. Okita — our Okita, the fake one, lol — also says that the three of them committed dappan and were promised a pardon by the Mito domain if Serizawa assassinated Yoshida Toyo, which also has no basis in historical reality but which does make him an accessory to the big players’ nasty schemes for a comprehensible reason. Finally, Serizawa’s school of swordsmanship is referred to as “Mito Tengu” despite the fact that, historically, Serizawa trained in the Shindo Munen school. Conveniently, Ishin’s writers managed to skip over Serizawa’s awfulness on a personal level and to avoid depicting the character in the game as a prominent (and very willing) member of a violently xenophobic political group. I’m listing all of these oddities not to make a judgement about the whitewashing of history, but because it's interesting to me that what did end up in the game is there at all: the writers didn’t need to, but they established a connection between Serizawa, the Tengu Party, and the shishi more broadly anyhow.
Of course, I have the brain disease that makes me latch onto minor characters for no good reason and will therefore take whatever little crumbs of Ishin Kashiwagi I can get. Still, typing all of this up made me think about the missed opportunities here. I would have loved to see the writers do more with some version of Serizawa who was a little less of a bastard but who still committed himself to the shishi’s cause in his Mito days and then grew disillusioned with that cause during his stay in prison and his time with the Mibu Roshigumi. It’s a neat point of sympathy between Inoue and Ryoma, who finds himself similarly chewed up and spat out by the Tosa Loyalist Party in the game. That connection lends gravity to Inoue’s decision to tattle on Ryoma to Kondo but also to keep covering for the guy every time he says or does something transparently suspicious. They might be, in a sense, kindred spirits.
It felt too tangential to delve too much into all of this stuff in my Ishin fics, but you can imagine this sense of sympathy lying behind Inoue’s actions throughout Chapter 4 of Secret History &c. (as well as in his little sequence in Chapter 2 of Glorious and Bloody Deeds &c.). You can also imagine that some of the big shishi conspirators in this story would have known about Serizawa’s origins in Mito with the Tengu Party — it was no big secret — and that they would have been appalled by his new allegiances but also suspicious that he had died because of his old ones. It’s also pretty reasonable to assume that the big Choshu players would have some sense of Saito’s identity, given that Hanpeita and Katsura are allies in Ishin’s version of events. Of course, I also think that our Ryoma wouldn’t know shit about any of this and would absolutely respond like, huhh? whaaaa??? to any/all allusions to the complicated politics behind all these stories. If you’re in a state of perpetual confusion about people and politics while playing Ishin, you’re just doing a great job of role-playing Bakumatsu Kiryu.
Anyway, nearly everything I write is turbo horny and my Ishin fics are no exception, so please don’t read them at work, but they’re very much about the stories men tell about themselves and others, and I think if all this stuff interests you, you might find the yarns I’ve spun interesting as well.
* This is another event that’s mentioned in passing in an in-game letter that was added to Ishin Kiwami, and whatever my feelings about that remake might be, I think all the letters and notes are a brilliant addition; I was tickled to see a reference to this incident show up! Historically, the Big Sumo Brawl happened well before 1867 and it had nothing to do with the events covered in Ishin, so please understand that when I’m writing about it in my fic, I’m mashing events together and playing around with a big Bakumatsu sandbox in a way that I think feels true to the game’s style of writing. I thought it would be funny to have Inoue lay claim to the act when he wasn’t even on the scene; it brings the story in line with history, but in the stupidest possible way. (Also, I submit to you that the smut is practically canon-compliant and likely historically accurate. :V)
#crime boys#yes I wrote an endnote to my endnote#surely you expect this of me by now#p.s. i am so incredibly tired of trying to find info on these guys and turning up nothing but posts about movies/tv/anime/gacha games#however i did get some interesting books from the library for my efforts so that's cool :>
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A few notes from the baragaki arc movie (that I managed to understand with my shoddy Japanese…):
The opening and ending sketches, in pure Gintama-doesn’t-have-that-much-of-a-budget fashion, are voice-only sketches between Hijikata, Okita, Kondo, and Yamazaki as the camera stays mostly on a still shot of the Shinsengumi main gate.
The opening sketch: Hijikata and Okita start by talking about the 20th anniversary project. Okita shows us the timeline of all the events being planned. 3/4 of the chart is labeled “undecided”.
Yamazaki runs in to say that Kondo has lost his mind. Cut to shots from the Soul Switch arc, when the Shinsengumi became a biker gang. Kondo’s gone nuts, so Okita and Yamazaki join in. Hijikata punches the sense back into Kondo, who says the time away from the screen left him a little loopy.
Hijikata introduces the story we’re about to watch, and gets into the relationship between the Shinsengumi and Mimawarigumi, using scenes from the Farewell Shinsengumi arc as b-roll.
The movie proper starts with a short version of the “Wonderland” opening, and is basically the episodes stitched together. I know that there are some reanimated bits (baby Toshi walking with his big brother is one I think, but I can’t be sure without watching both versions again.) It wraps up with “Nakama” and the arc ending credits.
The ending sketch wrap up includes Hijikata talking about what happened after this to the Mimawarigumi, and mentions the big bad guy, over more shots from the Farewell Shinsengumi arc. (I zoned out a bit at this point for reasons and wasn’t fully listening). Kondo and Yamazaki say their favorite part of the movie (the pole and the anpan throwing, respectively). Okita puts in a plug for the next big event, Gintama Sound Ultra Soul, and gives the audience a sneak peak at the upcoming Ginpachi-sensei anime.
It’s a unfinished cel of Hijikata and Okita. Just the one.
“Well, that’s just like Gintama, always rushing to meet a deadline,” Kondo comments (I think).
Personal note: I cried at the end when sister-in-law talked about Hijikata’s letters to his brother. It touched my heart.
#gintama#there were SO MANY ADS and TRAILERS before we got started#I think I saw the Willy wonka one and the Disney one at least 3 times#I need to work on my Japanese#maybe if I watch it again….#there were about 30 people in the theater with me#which probably says something.#going to an episode movie on a weekday (maybe holiday) morning
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16 + 30 ginklara, 39 + 51 hijirei :3
quick sidenote: i did see your other message, you did not dream about sending me an ask 😂!
16. Can they stay up all night just talking?
Honestly, 50% of the time probably not. Mostly cause Gin seems like the type to get pissy if he doesn't get enough sleep oops. But, if he happens to have a nightmare or is all jittery because he happened to overhear/watch something ghost related, then Klara does her best to stay up with him and talking about random things to get his mind off of it.
30. Your OTP gets to pick out each other’s outfits; what is each wearing?
Klara would probably go to the store and choose something like this for gin. Anything that makes him a bit less raggedly while also making sure he feels relatively comfortable with lol. I can see her also choosing outfits that have a pastel color scheme. [klara vc] it's time for your pink era, gin ^-^
Gin, on the other hand...this is a hard one. Not because I don't have any ideas, but it's cause it's Gin-freaking-toki 😭that man never has innocent intentions 75% of the time. But, I feel like if he was genuine about it, he'd pick out an informal and simple komon most likely from the bargain bin that he thinks she'd like as well.
for some reason he chooses her outfits that have a light blue/white color scheme going on. wonder why.
(sidenote #2: i went down a rabbit hole, looking through so many pics of komon on pinterest jpn oops)
39. Who would rescue an injured animal and nurse it back to health? What would the other think?
Reina is slightly more likely to do it, but we all know hijikata has a soft spot for animals. Just look at the kabukicho cat arc and the episode with the lil puppy...honestly, he might act like he doesn't care as he offers to lend a hand (though he'll perish on the spot if someone walks in on them trying to nurse a small animal back to health).
...on the other hand, she'll nearly get a heart attack if she catches him trying to feed said animal mayonnaise.
51. What’s a non verbal way they say I love you?
WEEPS...idk if this counts per se but i feel like since hijikata is always so busy with work, he lets her choose what to do whenever they have a date. Also patiently and quietly listening to her rambles even though he doesn't know anything about juj*tsu ka*sen (and is lowkey tempted to tell her that she shouldnt read shounen jump and should switch to MAGAZINE, the superior option).
meanwhile reina does her best to make sure that he's eating a decent meal, even willing to walk to the headquarters just to deliver him some food. she never forgets to top it all off with mayo. also i like to think that whenever theyre both busy doing their own stuff, they like to exchange letters or messages especially since they both find it easier to communicate sometimes via writing/text than verbal😭the power of toshifollow followkata!!
#📩asks#🍓🧋strawberry milk tea#🚬🐤the demon's sparrow#thank you for the ask ^^!#this turned out longer than i expected oops but i had fun writing about it!
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If the Mind Is Willing, Chapter 3
[Read on AO3]
Part three of 500 Follower prizes @bubblesthemonsterartist earned herself years ago! Only two more and I will have fulfilled all those fics...probably just in time to have a 1K follower raffle
Blue light washes her pink sheets pale, until it’s impossible to tell when cotton ends and her skin begins. The shadows pull longer in its glow, turning her own nearly skeletal as she reaches out a finger, hovering over the link.
“U-J-Kyo?” Chizuru’s mouth wraps around each letter, the sound of them tumbling softly into the muted glow. “But that’s just...?”
The university’s homepage. And her laptop’s, technically, now that Yamazaki helped her set it. Not something she’d normally associate with Souji’s interests, not unless he’s started some new hostilities with the provost’s office again. Their last open letter hung on the fridge until just before Thanksgiving, the second paragraph asking for “certain individuals in the student body“ to “show more conduct becoming of an undergraduate of a prestigious institution” highlighted proudly in lime green.
Dean Kondo dropped by the house only a few days later-- for a friendly visit, he’d said, smile as warm as she remembered. He’d stayed for dinner, complimenting the soup she’d made from their leftovers, and then talked with Souji out on the porch until the swing’s chains started to creak. The letter disappeared the next morning, unremarked, though Souji kept glowering at the bare metal every time he passed through the kitchen.
Chizuru swipes tentatively at the screen, messaging app blooming beneath her finger. The link’s innocuous, known, but Souji has a gift for slipping a sting into any handshake. And if he’s calling it a gift, well--
[ToudouDomination]
omg holy shit dude nice knowing u
hijikatas gonna kill u 4 sure
💀💀
Professor Hijikata’s taught her enough about Trojans to take that kind of present at face value.
[✨💯GAINS💪💪✨]
*skullfuck
u mean skullfuck
ull b the most beautiful corpse at ur funeral bro
Her lips press tight, clinging to each other as close as the rubber case to her phone. If everyone’s acting like this about it, it’s better that she doesn’t look.
[ToudouDomination]
MY funeral???!!
what’s this got to do with me??!!
[✨💯GAINS💪💪✨]
nah man im not talking ab YOU
im talking ab dead man walking over here
She’d regret it if she did, probably.
[Dr 💖💋🤭]
jfc
I’ll say somethign nice at you’re disciplinery hearing
[ToudouDomination]
Me??
[Dr 💖💋🤭]
No one’s talking about you Heisuke
It’s an accident, really. Her thumb skims up the side of the screen-- scrolling past the sudden influx of skull and fire emojis the boys heave into the chat-- and the pad of it just barely brushes the link. It flashes under the pressure, blue then purple, selected, and well...
There’s no harm in just letting it happen, is there? It’s only the university homepage, nothing--
Ah. That’s what it should be at least. But instead of the azure and white, there’s text curling across the screen, a half dozen different hand-written poems in blue bic and college rule, tiled across every inch of the background. There’s coffee stains on them too, some in the corner, and some in rings, like they were more used to being coasters than literature. And in the center of it all--
“Oh.” She blinks, tilting her screen to get a better view. “A video?”
Hogyoku Open Mic, it reads at one corner, reflection on water. A strange choice for Souji; he’s never mentioned an interest in poetry, let alone live readings. Frowning, Chizuru tilts her phone, letting the video fill the screen.
It plays, and oh, several things become clear, all at once.
“My heart is pure,” the man on screen promises, words raking over the gravel of his voice-- how little of it there is marks his age more than the lack of lines on his face-- but Chizuru’s isn’t, not when she can’t do much more than stare, fingers numb around the rubber case. “I use my palm as an inkstone.”
The camera pans closer, and yes, above that black dress shirt-- open to its third button, oh goodness gracious-- is Hijikata. Not the one she knows now, the grizzled professor who kicks his feet up on the desk and uses profanity as punctuation, but--
But a much younger man, not much older than her, considering the last little bastions of baby fat clinging to his cheekbones.
[Dr 💖💋🤭]
This muts be a hundred pakcs of cigs ago
[✨💯GAINS💪💪✨]
💯
[ToudouDomination]
do moths feel desire or is that like a poetic thing
he talks about rain a lot too
whats that all ab
[✨💯GAINS💪💪✨]
its a sex thing
[Dr 💖💋🤭]
Shin don’t tell the baby taht
[✨💯GAINS💪💪✨]
hes a growing boy he has to learn sometime
better he hears it from us
hijikata fucks
🍑🍆🍑
[Saito.Hajime]
Can I please be removed from this group?
Also, congratulations, Souji, on finding a new, creative way to die
[✨💯GAINS💪💪✨]
no way
if we all have to think think about hijikata fucking u have
to suffer too
[Saito.Hajime]
I am not certain I care for that logic
[Dr 💖💋🤭]
Too bad, bud. Your stukc with us
[✨💯GAINS💪💪✨]
yeah bro u signed the housing contract
ur here til death comes for u
or like u move out or smthn
Chizuru means to stop the video, really she does. It’s not something Hijikata would want them to see-- at least, she assumes so, considering the way he flushes every time Souji brings up his graduate school slam jams, threatening to expel him if he doesn’t ‘shut his damn mouth.’
But the one on the screen smiles as he finishes his set, smouldering out past the stage lights, and she-- she expects snapping, some cool cats with shades and berets nodding their heads to his truth or whatever mood this is supposed to give. A respectful silence, one that gives space to the idea he’s introduced to the space, but instead--
Instead there’s screams. A full audience of women-- and a few particularly enthusiastic men-- loudly voicing their appreciation for what she’s hoping is the poetry.
Ah, maybe Shinpachi is right. It is a sex thing. And she’s watched a full ten minutes of it.
Hijikata can never know. Or worse--
[Susumu Yamazaki]
Take this down.
Now.
[( ⓛ ω ⓛ *)]
eat my ass
Her heart ricochets around her rib cage, panicked, before it lodges itself in her throat. It flutters there, queasily, and-- and there’s no way he could possibly know, but still, guilt seizes her. She shouldn’t have looked, not once she knew. She should have been the first to say it was wrong. Helpers can only help when they know there is a problem, that’s what Father would have said. If you cannot perceive it then you are part of it.
She could say something now. Her hand squeezes tight around the case. No, she should say something now. She has to, because father will ask. She’ll tell him about this frantic midnight showdown, and he’ll say, and what did you say?
And if it is nothing...
[Susumu Yamazaki]
Take it down now.
Or I will get university IT involved.
[( ⓛ ω ⓛ *)]
you don’t have the fucking balls
[Susumu Yamazaki]
Try me.
Even with her eyes closed, her failure is inescapable. The words flash behind her eyelids, no longer composed of ones and zeros but scrawled in neon lights instead, reminding her that if she were better she could have fixed this. That if she were good enough, she could have found the magic phrase to get them all to get along. But instead...
Silence, that’s what he’ll give her. A long pause where all his expectations weigh on her, piling on her chest like boulders on a criminal. A cluck of his tongue, and a soft, I thought I raised you better. Any moment now, her phone will ring, and Father will know what a disappointment she is because--
It’s Christmas. Just about everywhere but Hawaii. A couple other islands in the Pacific too, if she’s being fair. It’s Christmas, and he’s supposed to call because that’s the way it’s always been: her staying up late not to catch Santa and his Reindeer but Father emerging from his office. It’s her that would tromp down the hall with all the grace of an elephant, to fling her arms around him and yelp, Merry Christmas!
And it was him who had to be stern, who must put her back down on the carpet and scold her for being out of bed. Who has to wait until she’s nearly shut her door to stop her, to call out, Merry Christmas, Chizuru.
It’s supposed to be her first. The one given moments after midnight, the most real, and-- and--
And she’s spent the whole day waiting for an empty office.
There’s a part of her, one that’s still too short to reach the microwave and can’t bear the kindness next door, that thinks she missed it. That there’s some dead zone in the house that she unwittingly lingered in, or a notification that her phone somehow swallowed whole. That it’s her fault she never presented herself to be loved.
But there’s another part, one that’s growing every day, and that one--
That one’s just tired.
It’s tired that wins out, in the end.
There’s a weight that drags at her, urging her to stay within the cocoon of her covers, to let the night unfurl across her screen, each blow reported in black and white right before her eyes. A passive observer, an active disappointment, but most importantly: unmoving.
Even still, she gets up, throwing the cloud of her comforter back so that she can slide out from underneath it. Her heels hit the floor with a force that chatters her teeth; or maybe that’s just the chill of the air now that her body heat is no longer trapped up against her skin.
Her phone settles on the nightstand, cozening up to the lamp, and for a long moment, she thinks about turning it on. Every muscle complains as she peels her day clothes off and exchanges them for pajamas, her eyes straining to make out what’s a hole and what’s just dead air, and yet--
Yet it’s easier than facing herself.
The same weight drops her back onto the mattress, an anchor sinking into the endless depths of open water. She isn’t sure when she’ll hit bottom, but staring at the blank screen beside her feels entirely too close to it.
It’s with a trembling finger that she guides the volume from full to vibrate. Even that makes her heart race, makes her wonder if she’s just punishing Father for having priorities besides a fully adult daughter, the same one who had so happily told him she would support his sabbatical wherever it took him. What if he needs to get a hold of her? If there’s an emergency on Borneo or San Cistobal or whatever island his research took him? Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to just keep it on a little, just in case--
Her fingers flex. She deserves to sleep tonight, what little of it there is left. And if this is on...
Vibrate changes to mute. The phone flips over, screen pressed against the wood.
“Good night, Daddy.” She gives the case one last, small tap. “Merry Christmas.”
“Hey, jailbait.” Something warm nudges her shoulder, not gently. Chizuru has the space of exactly one breath to wonder what, before the same something grips both and shakes. “Get up!”
“Haah?” Her hands flail out, but whatever’s gotten hold of her slithers out of her grip, retreating past her arm’s reach. “What...?”
It’s bright when her eyes peel open, the sun already seeping through the curtain even though it can’t be more than--
“Class!” Her limbs fly out, wild as she tries to turn over, tangled up in the tight embrace of her covers. “I’m late for--”
“Hold up a slice, shortcake.” Souji looms over her, tall enough that his knees barely brush the bed to do it. “No classes today.”
“No...?” It’s not as if she has anything to say, brain moving at a snail’s pace that it is, but her mouth keeps moving anyway, as if just working her jaw might help get the gears moving. Which it does, oddly enough, reminding her it’s not a weekend but a holiday, and not just any holiday but Christmas, and--
And Father never called. Unless it came in the night, after she’d put herself to bed. After she’d not only turned off the ringtone but vibrate too, leaving him no chance to hear her voice, forcing any attempts for him to contact her straight to voicemail, like she didn’t even care--
“Hey.” Souji knees the mattress, jolting her outstretched elbow right into the corner of the nightstand. “Get up already.”
Painful tingles race up her arm, bouncing from elbow to shoulder and back and, oh, why is it called the funny bone when it’s not funny at all? “Souji, why are you--?”
A bleary blink turns the blurred numbers on her clock to something like sense.
“Oh!” She bolts upright on the mattress, sending Souji skittering back a step. No wonder he’s deigned to scratch at her door; Harada might be the oldest, but of the three of them, Chizuru’s the only one that can be trusted with the stove. “It’s late! Are you hungry?”
“No.” This close, it’s easy to see that furrow flash between his brows, the quick reassessment of his opinion. “Well, yeah. But that’s not what I want right now.”
This early, her brain’s as bleary as her vision, but it won’t clear no matter how much she blinks. “Then what...?”
He heaves a sigh; her only warning before long fingers clamp around her wrist, cold as iron. “Just come with me already.”
It’s a feat to get untangled from her blankets; there’s a knit one sandwiched between the top sheet and the comforter, plus another for more weight-- and heat, since she shares her thermostat with Shinpachi and Harada, whose bodies both run at a temperature verging on medically alarming if they think sixty-five degrees is comfortable. It’s harder still with Souji yanking at her the whole time; she’s not certain whether he does it because he’s impatient or because her struggling amuses him. Possibly both, knowing Souji.
Impatience, however, wins out. One foot wins free, planting itself on the bedside braided rug, and he snaps, “Hurry up. We don’t have all day.”
She’d love to, if only the comforter hadn’t swallowed her up to the ankle, cinching tight when she tries to pry it apart. “Ah, I know! Just give me one--”
Unless she’d meant to say second-- which she hadn’t, not at all-- Souji doesn’t give it to her. Instead he tugs, and she stumbles off the mattress, dragging half the blankets with her. “Good,” he huffs, barely glancing back. “Let’s go.”
“Wait!” Souji has a terrible habit of making things worse the longer he’s made to wait, but she digs in her heels anyway. Or, well, the one that isn’t still trapped in Poly-Fil. “Can I at least put on my robe?”
“Why? It’s not like there’s anyone to see your cute little Christmas--” he squints “--raccoons?”
“Tanuki.” She smooths her hand over the fabric, one of their round faces peeking playfully out from between her fingers. “They’re just so fluffy.”
Souji stares at her, stone-faced and silent, and-- and it’s longer than that his teasing typically takes. “Right,” he says, stilted. “Whatever. Just hurry it up, Sleeping Beauty.”
Chizuru is keenly conscious of every second Souji suffers her, all-too aware of how impossible it is to win a race against the limits of his patience, but she’s determined to make the most of what she’s given. It’s hopeless to aspire to Hajime’s cool efficiency, but she tries, keeping her movements sharp and purposeful, as if putting on her robe required the same sweeping grace as his kata, and yet--
Yet she barely cinches the knot tight before he’s grabbed her again. “C’mon, princess. We’ve got things to do.”
It’s a struggle just to keep her feet beneath her, but she manages a very eloquent. “Huh?”
His mouth quirks, too pleased, as he tugs and she stumbles, bare feet barely braced against the jamb. “People to piss off.”
Ah, well that’s hardly promising.
When all is said and done, he doesn’t drag her far. A cold comfort, considering.
“This is Hajime’s room,” she informs him. His grin assures her he already knows. “And, Ya-- ah, I mean, Su-- uh, um. S-susu...?”
The name’s foreign in her mouth, tongue stumbling and stuttering around it, and it’s-- it’s just odd not to use it, when she’s so used to Souji and Hajime and Heisuke and Shinpachi and even Sano, if it feels safe to say, instead of intimate. As if she’s letting all the rest of them close while keeping him at arm’s length.
Which isn’t true. But still, she can’t bring herself to say Yamazaki’s first name so casually, not when even Heisuke, who barely lasted three hours before asking if she was cool with nicknames, hasn’t managed it. With the syllables rolling around in her mouth, it’s almost...
Illicit. That’s it. “Is there a reason you need me here?”
Souji’s mouth curls, so satisfied she’s surprised she can’t see feathers between his teeth. “Yes, definitely.”
“But they went home for the holidays.” She frowns. “Did you need something in there? I’m pretty sure it’s--”
His leg kicks back, and with one smooth swing, he completely bypasses the need for a doorknob, the open door shivering from the force.
“-- locked,” she finishes faintly. “Oh my.”
One hand catches the door, long fingers splayed across the grain. “After you, jailbait.”
She nearly balks-- it’s not as if it’s his room; he hardly has the right to invite her-- but the door swings open, and she--
She’s never seen this before. Yamazaki’s room. Or Hajime’s, of course. A tour down the hallway would be enough to get a glimpse into any of the other rooms; Heisuke hadn’t even waited a day to drag her into his, pointing out all his favorite posters. Harada and Shinpachi took a few weeks longer, though she’d spent most of that visit with her hands clapped over her eyes. Even Souji tolerated her shuffling a step over the threshold, even if it was only to ask for him to help her reach one of the taller cabinets. But Yamazaki and Hajime...
Their door has always been carefully shut, not even the slightest gap for a peek. An easy habit to explain away; the both of them value privacy over accessibility, choosing to socialize in the common areas of the house rather than in their room, but still--
It’s almost surprising how normal it is. Not that Chizuru expected it to be wallpapered floor to ceiling with centerfolds, like Harada and Shinpachi’s room, or crowded with collectibles like Heisuke’s, but maybe white walls and stark sheets, monochrome and neat as a pin. The sort of room that would seem unoccupied, if it wasn’t for the monitors on the desks. Sterile.
Instead there’s posters. Not crowding the walls, so close that the corners overlap, but there’s personality, if not chaos. Enough to know that the boy who sleeps under the navy comforter likes movies with kimonos and swords or computers from the 80s, and that charcoal comforter likes wuxia and vintage medical diagrams. And books too, if the stack teetering on his bedside table is any indication.
Chizuru shuffles a step further into the room. It would be rude to rummage, but surely-- surely it wouldn’t hurt if she just read the titles. If she just stooped down the tiniest bit and--
And tripped over Souji, shoulder-deep beneath Yamazaki’s mattress. “W-what are you doing?”
“What does it look like I’m doing?” he grunts, annoyed. “A guy that uptight’s got to be hiding something. And not just the normal stuff. The kind of something that’s gotta be top shelf fucked up.”
She blinks. “Huh?”
“Oh come on, you know what I mean. Whips and chains.” He drags his arm out with a huff. “Autoerotic asphyxiation. Snuff tapes.” Souji reaches up, flipping over his pillows. “Yiffing. Who could say what a small-dicked little turd like him is into?”
Half those words are unrecognizable, and so it’s not until he’s on his feet, poking through desk drawers that Chizuru realizes, “You mean you’re looking for...for...” Her mouth works, cheeks painfully hot as she manages, “Girlie magazines?”
His fingers still, pressed into a sheaf of glossy page edges. “I’m trying to find porn, Chizuru. That’s what we call it this century.”
The book shuts with a snap, joining its friends on the shelf, and when he reaches for another, she blurts out, “Don’t people just watch that online now?”
Souji laughs, not kind, but abandons the bookshelf. “And everyone thinks you’re so innocent, huh, princess?”
Her hands clap to her cheeks. Ah, she hadn’t realized it could be painful to blush. “I, um...only, ah--” Souji flings open the closet “--I don’t think you should really be--!”
“Jackpot.” The hangers rattle as he slips something off the rack; with only the sunlight eking in around the blinds to light the room, it’s hard to see just what. “What do you think? Would it look good on me?”
The fabric’s black, limp and shapeless on its hanger, utterly unrecognizable. “I don’t...?”
“Nah, no way I could fit into that shrimp’s costumes.” The light might be dim, but Souji’s teeth practically glow when he says, “But you could, half pint. C’mon, get over here.”
She doesn’t have much of a choice, not when he grabs her wrist and yanks. “I don’t understand,” she murmurs, watching him separate a smaller piece from the whole, more uncomfortable by the second. “Why did you need me when you were only going to..um...?”
Steal seems a little strong for the moment. Scrounge falls a little short.
“Ahhh, see, kid, last night I left a little gift for the whole student body. Right on the main page, where everyone could appreciate it.” He steps entirely too close, the warmth of his body filling the space between them. “And our favorite little ass-kisser didn’t appreciate it.”
The scrap slips over her head, cool and smooth where it settles around her neck. “So he took it down. Or got some of his nerd friends to do it. Either way...” Souji shrugs. “It’s rude to give back a gift, isn’t it?”
His wrist twists, the cloth pulling tight against her skin. Tight enough that only a twitch guides her into a nod. “See? That’s what I thought too. Kid needs to learn a thing or two about manners. So that’s what I’m doing.” Souji grins, the fabric loosening as he lets it slip from his fingers. “Teaching him a lesson.”
“B-but...” Her focus stumbles as he steps closer, threading his hand beneath the few inches of her hair that don’t clear the fabric and pulling them free. “I don’t see what that has to do with me.”
“It’s cute that you don’t know.” His smile could cut when he slips the cloth right up over her nose. “This is a hostage situation, jailbait, and you’re going to read from the script. Now look over here.”
She does, blinking right up into the blinding light of flash photography as his arm squeezes her close. “What...?”
“Perfect.” Souji’s lips slant to a smirk, phone pinched delicately between his fingers. “Now I just need to post this in--”
The lights flick on. Neither of them are near the switch.
But Hajime is.
“Just what,” he says, brows drawn down like a storm, “do you think you’re doing in here?”
There have only been three house meetings since Chizuru showed up on their doorstep, hair shorn and all her earthly possessions split between a backpack and a trash bag: the first, called by the professor, to announce that that there would be a new roommate; the second, to decide how exactly to handle the fact that Chizuru wasn’t a boy’s name, nor was she; and the third, well...
I’m not complaining that you invite girls back, Sano, Shinpachi had said, with all the gravitas of a judge, but you can’t let them wander around. She went through our trash, dude!
But this-- it’s different. Not just because of the Christmas lights, festively twinkling through their cycle, or Shinpachi’s sweater blinking through its own.
It’s that they’re all here, Christmas afternoon-- evening really, with how early the sun sets these days-- holidays cut short. Chizuru might not have anyone to spent Christmas with, but Shinpachi did, and Heisuke, and Yamazaki--
And instead they’re all here. Because of her. Not a single one of them is smiling.
It’s too much.
“I’m so sorry!” The words burst out of her, rushed, but it’s important to get them out before anyone else can speak, before they think she’s only sorry because she got caught. “I really didn’t mean to go in! I just...Souji said...”
“Narc.” It’s muffled in his shoulder, just loud enough for her to hear. And maybe others, the way Yamazaki’s brow twitches across the table.
“Chizu, Chizu. Come on.” Shinpachi holds up his hands, as if a half-hearted sweep like that could clear the slate of her worries.. “No one here thinks this is your fault.”
It’s kind of him to say, but that’s...impossible. Not when she’s so clearly transgressed. “I went into Y-Yamazaki and Hajime’s room without permission. That’s against the--”
“No, Yukimura, that’s not--” Yamazaki’s teeth clack down, hard. “I don’t mind if it’s you. Ah, I mean--” his ears flush the same angry pink that licks up the column of his neck “--it’s, er, different.”
“You are respectful of other people’s personal belongings,” Hajime clarifies. “There is no issue with you in our private space. Souji, however...”
“Oh, come on.” Souji kicks his feet up on the coffee table, baring every hole in the bottom of them. “It’s not like I broke anything.”
Yamazaki’s eyes hone onto him-- or rather, the parts of him only inches from Harada’s iced mocha, so close a flex of a toe could touch the coaster. “Right, you only stole something. Not like that’s a big deal.”
“Stole? Like I want--” with a sweep of his palm, Yamazaki clears the surface of appendages, so precise it doesn’t even disrupt the condensation on the cup “--hey!”
He doesn’t smile, but when Yamazaki glances up at the couch, his satisfaction shines just as bright as one.
“Souji.”
Hajime is not like Shinpachi, using his outdoor voice in every room no matter how small, or Heisuke, unable to control his volume once a conversation gets interesting. He’s soft spoken, serious; the sort of person other people lean in to hear, rather than ask him to speak up.
But today, he pitches his voice to be heard. “You cannot enter someone’s assigned private room without express permission.” With even graver inflection, he adds “It is against the rules put forth in the Signed Housing Agreement.”
Souji snorts, sinking further into the couch cushions. “No one pays attention to that crap.”
Air hisses between Yamazaki’s teeth. “That’s--”
“If I am not allowed to leave the group chat unless a member of the house boots me for a pre-agreed upon duration,” Hajime says, mouth pulling thin, “then you are also not allowed in my room.”
His glare is hardly aimed at her, but it comes close enough that she flinches. Souji doesn’t, refusing to acknowledge it that same way a cat declined to be caught on a curtain, as if reality was simply an opinion he did or did not hold. “I didn’t even touch your stuff. I don’t know why you’re trying to--”
“You did touch Yamazaki’s stuff, though.” Harada shifts in his chair, the vee of his sweater dipping deep enough to bare cleavage. It might be distracting, if it wasn’t already a relief that he was wearing all his clothes. “Which is against the rules.”
“Yeah, that’s fucked up, right?” Shinpachi cracks open a tall boy, cold enough that the beer fizzes out, threatening to drip right across the festive moose on his chest; HORNY AND WELL HUNG according to the words knit into his sweater. “There’s no locks on the doors, man. We’ve all got to trust each other.”
Chizuru blinks. “But I have a lock.”
He pauses, mid-sip. “Well, I guess that makes sense. You’re a girl, after all. Can’t have a girl be alone with a bunch of guys if there no--”
“My room also has a lock.” Hajime frowns, considering the socks Souji’s just returned to the table. “Hardly a good one, if Souji was able to bypass it with just his foot, but...”
“Me too,” Heisuke chimes in. “I just don’t really use it.”
“Wait, what?” Shinpachi swivels between them, lost. “Are me and Sano the only ones who don’t--?”
“I think the best course of action is to inform Professor Hijikata about the infraction.” Kneeling on the carpet next to Shinpachi’s luggage, Yamazaki’s hardly an authority figure, but when he raises his voice the room fritters to silence. “I’m sure he can take it from there.”
Harada hums, unconvinced. “I don’t know about that. Souji’s already got two strikes against him. If we report another one, I’m pretty sure Hijikata’s going to toss him out.”
They might be more suggestions than eyebrows, but still, it makes an impression when Yamazaki furrows them. “I don’t see why that’s any of my concern.”
“Aw, c’mon, Yamazaki.” They all might tease her about her pleading eyes, but it’s Heisuke that uses them now, as compelling as any puppy in a pet store window. “You know Souji doesn’t have anywhere else to go. You wouldn’t throw him out in the cold just like that, would you?”
His mouth pinches, bracing the way the rest of him is, squared off and utterly implacable. “Souji is a grown man who can make his own decisions. If those decisions lead to him getting tossed out, that hardly has anything to do with me.”
Souji snorts. “None of the people who complained are even here anymore.”
Yamazaki whips around, eyes so cold they could turn any other man to ice. Souji just smirks. “Yes, because of you.”
“Well, I don’t know...” Heisuke hums, thoughtful. “Ryu left because of that art program. You know, the one that had the scholarship.”
“Only after Okita shoved him off--!”
“Oh, c’mon.” Souji’s shoulder twitch, barely summoning up the energy for a full shrug. “That’s all water under the bridge.”
Yamazaki surges to his feet; only Harada’s hand, keeping him from jumping the table too. “You broke his wrist in three places! The only reason he didn’t press charges was because his foster father is somehow an even bigger asshole than you!”
Souji picks his grins the same way a chef picks his knives from the block: with the intention to cut. “No hard feelings.”
“Hard feelings?” Yamazaki chokes out. “You think this is about hard feelings? When Itou left, he--”
“Itou was a prick.”
Hajime doesn’t so much sigh as hum, raspy and dubious. “That doesn’t mean that what you did was right, Souji.”
His eyes narrow, annoyed. “Don’t pretend you miss him running around the place, acting better than everyone.”
“No, no. He’s got a point.” The easy chair grunts as Shinpachi shifts his weight back, crossing his legs ankle to knee. “They both do. You know I don’t want to kick you out, man, but you’ve got a bad habit of taking stuff way past funny right into, well...”
“An actionable offense?” Harada offers, wry.
A blunt nail taps at his can, uncomfortable. “Yeah, that. It’s not good, bro.”
Something happens with Souji’s mouth. A lot of somethings, actually; subtle ones, hidden in the corners and tucked into the cheeks, the sort that happen between one blink and the next. Missable, save for the fact that Chizuru never looks away.
There’s a jut of his lip first, not a pout but its more serious cousin, the kind that’s like a levee to a deluge: one tremble away from a flood. A scowl next, never quite reaching his eyes; good practice for the smile that follows, curving into a smirk the way steel takes an edge: like it’s meant for it.
“All right, all right.” His hands raise up, too lax for a peace offering. It might stand in for a concession, if she tilted her head and squinted, but only a little. “So you’re all mad at me or whatever.”
“For good reason.” It’s a strong stance for Harada; he’s usually the one who’s quick to compromise, so long as it keeps everyone civil.
“Sure, right.” Souji shrugs, unconcerned. “I get it. But consider--” fabric whips out from behind a pillow, matte and black-- “this.”
Chizuru blinks. “Wasn’t that in...?”
Yamazaki’s closet, she doesn’t say. Not when he shakes it out, turning it from cloth to clothing, a whole jumpsuit with fussy embroidery picked out in an even darker black.
“What’s that?” Shinpachi scoots to the edge of his chair, squinting. He must not have his contacts in. “Some sort of ninja costume?”
She knows better than to turn, to draw attention to the statue suddenly sitting across the table, but Chizuru can’t help it, not when Souji is so quick to say, “It is.” There’s enough relish in his tone that she can taste it. “And it’s Yamazaki’s.”
There’s a pause-- for effect, she’s sure, considering the way Souji grins. Like he’s pulled off some magic trick, making his troubles disappear in one hand and then plucking them out from behind Yamazaki’s ear.
“So?” Harada snorts, unimpressed. “Are you surprised? He’s been a ninja for Halloween like, what? Three years running? Since I’ve been here at least. What next? Gonna pull a sexy firefighter out of Shin’s closet?”
“Hey!” A hand presses right over WELL, leaving HORNY and HUNG peeking out from underneath it. “I’ve branched out! This year I was a sexy soldier.”
“How can you tell?” Heisuke mutters, hunched shoulders making his chest even narrower, more concave. “You’re only wearing like half a costume.”
“We’re not talking about Nagakura.” With all the subtlety of a bomb, Souji drops, “We’re talking about Mr Kiss-Ass and how he has like, five of these tucked away for a rainy day.”
It’s been three months since Chizuru managed to insinuate herself into the house, but not once has it been quiet. Even in the night there’s something: Shinpachi snoring, Harada’s flings trying to find the front door, Heisuke up entirely too late typing up papers or-- more likely-- playing video games. Something. But now--
Now it’s a ringing silence that’s left in Souji’s wake, an awkward air that has every shoulder stiff, every eye finding somewhere else to look besides the place where Yamazaki sits, still as a stone.
Or at least, until Hajime slides forward, dexterous fingers smoothing over the raised stitches of the sleeve. “Oh,” he hums, impressed. “Your skills have really improved since your last attempt. I take it this is for next weekend?”
“Ah...” He swallows, loud enough that even Chizuru can hear. “Y-yeah. The new kunai were too heavy for the belt, so I thought if I remade that, I might as well add a few more quality of life adjustments, and, er...”
“Oh my god,” Heisuke breathes, quivering like a corgi at the end of his leash. “Are you a real ninja?”
A broad hand cuffs him on the back of his head. “C’mon,” Harada mutters. “What the hell’s wrong with you?”
If Yamazaki’s ears were painted pink before, they’re crimson now, hot enough to burn from touch alone. The square of his shoulders deflates, rounding with the slow leak of his confidence, but--
But Hajime simply nods, stroking his chin. “Perhaps I should look at my own as well. It hardly feels adequate next to all the work you’ve done.”
“Is this like...a sex thing?” Shinpachi’s eyes dart between the two of them. “It’s a sex thing, right?”
“No,” Yamazaki says, stern, immediately undermined by Hajime’s, “A little.”
It’s with a hefty heaping of betrayal that Yamazaki turns to him, glaring as he grounds out, “Absolutely not.”
Hajime’s mouth gives a dubious twist, and he opens it, perhaps to gainsay him, but--
But there’s no time, not when Heisuke practically explodes. “Are you a ninja too, Hajime?”
He blinks. “No.”
“Oh.” Heisuke deflates. “Okay, I guess...”
“I’m a samurai.”
“What--” Harada’s voice strains beneath the words “--is going on?”
“So let me get this straight.” Harada’s fingers pinch at the bridge of his nose, but by the wrinkle above them, Chizuru doubts it helps. “You two...dress up as samurai...?”
“I’m the samurai,” Hajime explains, so helpful. “Yamazaki is currently playing as a ninja. As he typically does.”
“You don’t have to tell them that,” he mutters. “That’s not really the point--”
“Right, of course, but...” Harada grimaces. “This is what you do on the weekends? For fun?”
A narrow shoulder lifts under Hajime’s tee, the closest he comes to a shrug. “An afternoon a month, to be more specific.”
“Once a month?” Heisuke asks, wide-eyed. “That doesn’t seem like a lot.”
“It takes a large amount of effort and dedication to keep up a long-form Live Action Roleplaying campaign,” he explains gravely. “That the organizers are able to run so often is a testament to their skill. And to run a weekend event--”
“So you mean you go there the whole weekend?” Heisuke blinks. “Like just forty-eight hours of samurai stuff?”
Hajime’s correction comes the same way as all his interactions: swiftly and without any judgment. “Seventy-two hours.”
Shinpachi goggles. “That’s a lot of fucking hours.”
“It is to aid with immersion.” Hajime isn’t a man of many words, but now he does not so much pause as he does breathe. “Unlike other games of its kind, Legend of the Five Rings does not focus so much on combat as it does internal conflict, and the robust worldbuilding--”
“This isn’t what they’re asking.” Yamazaki’s gaze darts wide-eyed around the table, never daring to stay longer than a blink. “You don’t have to--”
“--Is based on Sengoku Era Japan,” he continues, heedless. “As gratifying as it is to play on a regular basis, it really isn’t until a few hours into any session that people truly come to embody their roles. The court politics alone--”
“Saito.” Yamazaki may be seated at the opposite end of the living room, but his stare is enough to make even Hajime hesitate. “I think they get the idea.”
Harada looks between them, pained. “So are there...scripts or something?”
“No. Yes.” Hajime frowns. “It’s complicated. Each scene is improvised in character, but the organizers are present to facilitate the flow of the story. It is a collaborative effort.”
“But that’s it?” Heisuke asks. “You’re just like...samurai for a day? Or, er, three of them?”
“Yes.”
“And you do this--” Harada’s eyebrows furrow, pained “--for fun?”
Hajime doesn’t answer so much as cock his head, hands outspread as if to say, what else?
“That’s so...so cool!” Heisuke leaps to his feet, practically tripping over the table in his excitement. “Can I go? You guys gotta bring me!”
“What?” Harada blinks at him. “You want to go to this?”
“Uh, yeah?” His hands clench, too excited. “You get to be a samurai, Sano! Who wouldn’t want to?”
“Hey, so.” Shinpachi leans in, face pinched in curiosity. “Is this like...D&D or whatever?”
“In spirit,” Yamazaki creaks out, looking like death warmed over.
He nods. “Right, right. So like...a total sausage fest, or...?”
“The numbers on many tabletop games typically skews toward male,” Hajime explains, “but Live Action Roleplaying draws a higher percentage of female participants. Possibly due to the cosplay aspect.”
Shinpachi grins. “Oh, then count me in too, sensei.”
Harada stares at him. “Who are you?”
“What?” Shinpachi shrugs. “It’s math with babes. What’s not to love?”
“Ah...” Yamazaki waving hands don’t do much to hide his grimace. “I don’t really think this will be as interesting to you as you think...”
“He’s right,” Harada presses. “You may think it’s a good place to pick up women who aren’t afraid of, er, theoretical numbers--”
“They’re not theoretical,” Shinpachi huffs. “They’re real, it’s just the equations used to describe them are--“
“See? Already my eyes have glazed over.”
“I don’t know,” Chizuru hums, pitched just loud enough to be heard. “I think it sounds...fun?”
Yamazaki’s stare fixes on her. “Really?”
Even as a girl, Chizuru had never been one to play dress up, never been one to play pretend-- father didn’t approve, for one. Not when there were more direct benefits to be had from drilling flashcards or reading books. A second, her daydreams were vivid enough she hardly needed to act them out, not when Father was so apt to remind her, princesses don’t have to pass their medical exams.
But Yamazaki is as serious as they come, a TA for the dean of the pre-med department even before graduating. His acceptance to the medical school almost assured, and he finds this worth his time. Enough to have made a costume-- with his own hands!-- and sign up for a whole weekend away from his studies...
“Y-yeah.” She ducks her head, hoping to hide the heat that pricks at her cheeks. “I mean, as long as it wouldn’t be a bother for me to, um...”
“Ah, no! I mean, yes. Never.” Yamazaki shakes himself, pink staining the high arch of his cheekbones. “It’s not a problem.”
“Yeah, Chizu!” An arm clamps around her shoulders, dragging her against Shinpachi’s personal light display. “That’s right! Let’s all go. House field trip!”
Yamazaki’s jaw drops. “I don’t, er, know about that--!”
“Fine.” Harada sighs, getting to his feet. “If Chizuru wants to go. Count me in.”
“That’s the spirit!” Shinpachi claps him on the back, hard enough that even Harada has to cough. “Now, that just leaves...?”
“Uh-uh.” Souji’s arms fold over his chest, forbidding. “No way I’m going to your nerd party.”
“Aw, c’mon.” Shinpachi drops between them on the couch, arm pulling tight. “Think of it as a group bonding experience.”
Souji scowls. “What makes you think I care about bonding with any of you--”
“Well, if you’re going to be that way about it.” He squeezes tight enough to eke a squeak out of him. “Think about it as, ‘if you go we won’t tell Hijikata about you stealing shit.”
Souji glowers. “Fine,” he grumbles, shoving him off. “But I won’t like it!”
Shinpachi’s smile is all knives when he replies, “Wouldn’t expect you to.”
It’s dark when Chizuru stumbles out into the hall; there’d been daylight still when they’d piled into the parlor, but now night clings to the the edges of dusk, only enough light to gild the snow in golden shadow. It might bother her more if it wasn’t such a relief, a respite from having to scrape at the last reserve of her smiles. And so she takes it; one big breath and the muscles around her mouth slump, aching from use.
Any other night, she might worry about one of the boys following out behind her, but she can hear the ruckus shift from the parlor toward the kitchen, wheeled baggage and Shinpachi’s booming voice all tromping toward the back stair. Her day may have happened in fits and starts, but everyone else has been on the move, going from Christmas to short notice travel to fraught house meeting all within the space of hours. There’s no one who’s going to be worried about her.
Which suits her just fine. A few minutes lying face down on her comforter and she’ll be right as rain. Just a breath or two to herself, and--
Someone huffs behind her. Right behind her.
She whips around so fast, she nearly tumbles Yamazaki into the wall with her. Or at least his arm, half outstretched, now just hanging there in the air between them.
“Oh!” There’s no reason for her to shy back, but she does, guiltier with every inch. “Ah, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to--”
“No, no. It’s my fault.” His hands aren’t large, not like Harada or Shinpachi, but the fingers are long and tapered, digging runnels through the shaggy bristle of his hair. “I should have-- ah, I mean, I just saw you, and er, wanted to make sure that you were all right. After, ah...all that.”
Her first instinct urges her to laugh, to let her nerves giggle out, there’s no need to worry about me--
But Yamazaki stares at her with the same careful intensity as he had in the kitchen-- you’re worth a good meal-- and Chizuru tries deflection instead. “I’m the one who should be asking you that! I went into your room without any permission and all, and Souji--” Yamazaki grimaces at the name “---I just...you have every right to be mad at me!”
“You?” he echoes, incredulous. “It’s not your fault, Yukimura. Okita’s the one who dragged you in there.”
She shakes her head. “I could have chosen to leave any time. I just was too curious to think to question him.”
“Curious?” There’s no inflection to the word, and with the shadows making a muddle of his expressions, there’s only the tilt of his head to tell here there’s a question. “Why would you be curious?”
“Ah, I’d just...never been inside before?” Her palms clap to her cheeks, and oh, she must glow from how hot her cheeks burn. “It’s silly.”
“It’s not! It’s just, ah...unexpected. I...” His mouth opens, as if he might say more, but with a lick of his lips, it closes instead. Or rather, his chin dips down and it follows, gaze dropping from her eyes to somewhere at her neck. As if...
“Oh, did I spill...?” She can’t actually remember what she’s eaten today, whether it could be something that she could walk around wearing, but Yamazaki’s already shaking his head.
“Ah, no, it’s just...you still have...” His fingers curl hesitantly in the air between them. “If you would let me...?”
Every twitching nerve of her stills as he steps close, fingers skimming past her shoulders. Only days ago she’d knotted his scarf, but it feels different now that he’s the one reaching, so close his hand meet behind her neck. He’s not bundled up now, no three layers of wool and thermal and parka to keep her from realizing that he smells nice, like...like something clean with a hint of eucalyptus, and it’s...
It’s a lot.
His fingers knit into the fabric at her nape, too slippery for him to find the end of it by touch. At least, the first time; he gathers it up, hiking it higher and higher until he can slide under it, the flat of his nails smooth and warm against her neck. Her pulse pounds so hard he must feel it, but Yamazaki doesn’t flinch, instead lifting it with surgical precision. The stretchy fabric threads right off her ponytail with no more than that initial brush of fingers, and she--
She stare. It’s the mask. The one Souji put on her. All this time, and she’s-- she’s just been wearing it, like some sort of...scarf. Right over her tanuki pajamas. In front of everyone.
In front of Yamazaki.
If she could melt into the woodwork, it would be a miracle. But as always, reality refuses to oblige her. “Oh, I hadn’t even...ah...”
“Please, don’t worry about it.” His fingers smooth over the fabric, mouth curving into a rueful smile. “It looked better on you than it does on me.”
“Ah!” Her gasp catches in her throat. “That’s not...um...” She hakes her head, hoping that might clear enough room for a sentence or two to compose itself. “I don’t think that’s true.”
Yamazaki glances up at her, amused, and oh-- she hadn’t meant to say that. Not like that.
“You know, I meant to...” He stops himself. Not abruptly, like she does, but a slow, thoughtful halt. Like a train pulling into a station rather than a car braking for a yellow light. “I mean, I don’t think I ever got around to saying it last night, and today, with everything...well”
He hesitates again, a breath hissing between his teeth. But this time his shoulders square, and even though his gaze is lost in the shadow of his brows, she knows he’s looking at her. “Merry Christmas, Yukimura.”
#yamachi#hakuouki#my fic#modern au#college au#If the Mind Is Willing#LARP au#FINALLY THE REVEAL IS HERE#writing a group scene with like six dudes is the absolute worst let me tell you that#and i have so many more of them to go next chapter#while having to explain an obscure tabletop game#BUCKLE UP KIDS IT'S TIME TO LEARN ABOUT BUSHIDO
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Glad you still write for gintama. Can i ask for some hcs for Hijikata as an older brother to younger fem reader/sister ? (Same age as sogou) I feel like their dynamic is worth exploring if they have the same mother. Thank you.
-Let's say that even if you grew up together he'll try to keep you as far away as possible from him.
-He does a dangerous job and has a lot of enemies and doesn't want you to be hurt from a decision he took.
-Doesn't mean Toshi won't gladly visit you or send you letters, but he prefers to keep distance.
-Overly protective. A little too much, the kind to stalk your actual lover to see if they are good enough.
-Being a good person won't be enough btw. They also need an amazing job, doesn't want you to end up with a slob.
-Don't bring him Gintoki or he'll have an aneurism.
-BUT Toshirou also wants you to work hard! He may be softer, but no excessive procrastination is allowed!
-He'll do everything in his power to not make you meet Sougo. Maybe Kondo, maybe...
#gintama imagines#gintama x reader#hijikata toushirou#hijikata x reader#hijikata toushirou x reader#if there is a dynamic you wanna discuss further let me know! I'll gladly do it x reader or not!
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also more fun facts about hijikata bc i have a severe case of brain worms
he liked reading poetry and even wrote many himself although it's debatable whether they were very good. you can read a collection of them here
he never actually mastered the tennen rishin style but he did use what he learned to develop the shinsengumi kenjutsu fighting style
he was known as 鬼の副長 (oni no fukucho aka demon vice commander) because of his ruthlessness in enforcing the kyokuchuu hatto which was the so called iron code of the shinsengumi
he was known as somewhat of a pretty boy and was popular among women but he was very narcissistic and would collect love letters from geisha to send to his home town
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I’m back (after writing a 55 pg fic so far). I’m trying to wrap my head around Soji’s timeline and pouring over the timeline you have posted.
In September 1867 Soji becomes seriously ill - does he stay with the Shinsengumi still during that time I’m guessing?
January 1868 - I assume he went to Osaka for the battle of Toba-Fushimi but he doesn’t take part in it? He stays behind with Kondo who was shot in the shoulder?
February 4 - they sail to Edo, and I assume Soji is with them? And this is his first time on a ship?
Feb? ?? - Okita’s sister Mitsu and Okita Rintaro left (which I’m guessing they were in contact and it’s unknown how they parted)
February 28ish - This is when Soji goes to Matsumoto Ryojin’s clinic and is staying at Matsumoto’s house at Imado shrine.
March 24 - so a month later the Shinsengumi goes to Kofu Castle and stays in Hino which is still in Edo where I’m guessing Soji gets bad/feverish and can’t travel so this is actually where they officially leave him at Uekiya Heigoro’s house? In the “site of Okita Souji’s death” post you say it was the end of February when he moved there (which would be a month prior to this when he was going to Matsumoto’s clinic - so I just want to clarify that it was around the end of March that Okita moved to Heigoro’s house.
Sometime in March (before the 28th) - the Shinsengumi visits Soji and he smiles and doesn’t let them know how sick he is so they won’t worry.
March 28-April 25 - the shinsengumi are pretty much all around Edo until Kondo is beheaded in May and Hijikata gets injured at the Battle of Utsunomiya Castle - Where does Hijikata go?
July 19 - *sobs* we lose him. So he’s at the house alone and suffering from end of March to July? 4 months. And in those four months, he did visit Kondo’s wife Tsune and daughter Tama at Joganji Temple in Nakano (when was this?).
Let me know if I missed anything we know about Soji here as well!
Thank you so much and super grateful. I want to learn as much as I can and flesh out the timeline a bit so I can fully understand what he experienced and how he lived up until the end.
Hi @sayitcanonlybeme, sorry for the extremely late reply. I've gone back to grad school and have been busy with classes/projects for the past few months, so I haven't been able to be active on Tumblr until the holidays.
The timeline was posted a long time ago when I first started learning about the Shinsengumi, so there are inaccuracies, especially mixups between Lunar calendar and Western calendar dates.
Here are the events with details and corrections:
September 1867 Soji becomes seriously ill
It's not clear exactly when he became ill, but according to Japanese Wiki Corpus:
according to Kanefumi NISHIMURA's "Mibu Roshi Shimatsuki", he [Okita Souji] was seriously ill around September when the quarters were moved to Fudodo Village; and in a letter to Kondo dated October 13, Kojima wrote that he was worried about Okita's worsening condition. Given the above, when Okita's health condition worsened so critical that he could not bear fighting was from autumn to winter in 1867. It is also thought that his intense exercise might have been an added burden on his lungs and aggravated his illness.
I'm not sure whether the dates are Lunar or Western calendar, but September is October on the Western calendar. Here's a useful calendar converter.
January 1868 - I assume he went to Osaka for the battle of Toba-Fushimi
He was first staying at Kondo Isami’s mistress’s house in Rokujo, Kyoto, not far from Fushimi (according to this article and this article). Abe Juro arrived there on the morning of December 18 (Lunar calendar, Western calendar: January 12, 1868), hoping to assassinate Okita. He later mentioned in the "Shidankai Sokkiroku" (史談會速記錄), "However there was no one there but one woman, who after interrogation admitted that there was an Okita Souji the other night who at 10PM returned to Fushimi. It was really regrettable."
December 18 was also the day Kondo got shot in the right shoulder on his way from Nijo Castle (more info).
They were both sent to Osaka Castle to receive medical care, so neither of them participated in the fighting that started on January 3 (Lunar calendar, Western calendar: January 27).
February 4 - they sail to Edo
According to this article, Kondo, Hijikata, and Okita boarded the Shogunate's ship Fujisanmaru on January 10 (Lunar calendar, Western calendar: February 3).
(image sources: [1] [2])
Nagakura boarded the Jundomaru which left a day earlier. Out of the 150 Shinsengumi members, 116 remained. They went back to Edo on those two ships along with the rest of the Shogunate army.
The Fujisanmaru arrived at Shinagawa, Edo on January 15. Kondo and Okita went to a medical clinic in Kanda Izumibashi (神田和泉橋) to receive treatment from Matsumoto Ryojun. The rest of the Shinsengumi stayed at a garrison in Kajibashi Gate (鍛冶橋門).
This is likely Okita's first time traveling on a ship since the Shinsengumi originally arrived in Kyoto on foot and there are no other records of Okita making long journeys.
Feb? ?? - Okita’s sister Mitsu and Okita Rintaro left
Okita Mitsu and Rintaro evacuated along with the Shinchogumi's sponsor, the Lord of the Shonai domain Sakai Tadazumi, to the Shonai domain in northern Japan (source).
Since Souji wasn't fit for travel, he was left behind in Edo. According to the Okita Family Records, they left him on February 26 (Lunar calendar, Western calendar: March 19, 1868). However, according to this article, Mitsu and Rintaro left in March (lunar calendar), so I'm not sure which date is more accurate.
According to the Shinsengumi's financial records, Okita withdrew money to pay a carpenter on February 26 (lunar) to repair Uekiya's house in Sendagaya where he spent his final days, so he had either just moved in or was about to move there when Mitsu left.
February 28ish - This is when Soji goes to Matsumoto Ryojin’s clinic
I think February 28ish (lunar) is when he left Matsumoto Ryojun's clinic.
According to this article:
In January of Keio 4, Matsumoto Ryojun was summoned by a certain Hiraoka, a young official of the shogunate, and receive news that "The wounded from the Battle of Toba-Fushimi were returning to Edo, and that they should be given temporary hospitalization at the residences of the lords". As if following in the footsteps of the Shogunate's army, news spread that Satsuma-Choshu army had moved eastward and was coming to Edo. Most of the wounded had already been cured, and more than 30 patients were treated at Imado.
He built his own dormitory in a corner of the grounds of the shrine in Imado, where he lived, and built a hospital building in Shofukuji Temple, which was used as a field hospital, and moved his own patients there as well.
The Shinsengumi, defeated in the Battle of Toba-Fushimi in Keio 4, returned to Edo aboard the Fujisanmaru and were transported from the Kamaya (釜屋, an inn/teahouse) in Shinagawa to a medical clinic in Okachimachi, Kanda Izumibashi, and then to a field hospital in Shofukuji, where Kondo Isami and Okita Souji were treated by Matsumoto Ryojun, but this is only speculation.
So it's not clear when they went to each location, but from that article, it sounds like Okita went to Matsumoto's clinic at Imado Shrine shortly after arriving in Edo.
March 24 - so a month later the Shinsengumi goes to Kofu Castle and stays in Hino
They went to Kofu on March 24 (Western calendar, Lunar calendar: March 1), so it makes sense that after Okita got too sick in Hino, he was left behind and eventually sent to Uekiya's house in Sendagaya.
He was probably either about to move in or already living in Uekiya's house before he left towards Kofu, since he took out money for renovations on February 26 (lunar).
Sometime in March (before the 28th) - the Shinsengumi visits Soji
Since Nagakura assumed Okita died at Imado in his diary, most Shinsengumi members probably didn't know that he was staying at Uekiya's house starting from March. They were probably trying to keep his location secret to keep him safe.
Since Kondo was captured soon after the Battle of Koshu-Katsunuma, it's unlikely that he ever visited Okita again.
Hijikata did go back to Edo for a short time after that battle, so it's possible that he could have visited Okita, but he was busy pleading Kondo's case and preparing for battle.
It's also possible that a few other trusted Shinsengumi members knew Okita's whereabouts and visited him. Since they didn't want to tell Okita about Kondo's death, it could mean that Okita was still in touch with some Shinsengumi members.
March 28-April 25 - the shinsengumi are pretty much all around Edo until Kondo is beheaded in May and Hijikata gets injured at the Battle of Utsunomiya Castle
At the Battle of Utsunomiya, Hijikata was shot in his right foot on April 23, so he was carried from the battlefield on Shimada Kai's back.
On April 29, Hijikata arrived near Aizu-Wakamatsu and stayed at Shimizuya Inn, which had hot springs, to recover from his wound.
He learned about Kondo's death while he was there and built a tombstone for him at the nearby Tenneiji temple.
On July 1, he left to visit his men.
A month later, he went back to the battlefield to fight the Battle of Aizu.
(source)
July 19 - *sobs* we lose him. So he’s at the house alone and suffering from end of March to July? 4 months. And in those four months, he did visit Kondo’s wife Tsune and daughter Tama at Joganji Temple in Nakano
He died on July 19 (Western calendar). He might have been lonely without his loved ones, but I don't think he was alone since Uekiya’s rice cooker was taking care of him and he probably saw other doctors after Matsumoto left.
He visited Kondo’s wife and daughter at Joganji Temple, but I don't think there would be any records where we could find the date since he was in hiding and trying to keep his movements secret.
According to the quote from this article from "Shinsengumi Imon" (新選組遺聞) by Shimozawa Kan:
Isami's family, his wife Tsune and his mother-in-law Keiko (瓊子), moved out of their house in Ushigome shortly after Isami left for Koshu and moved to the outskirts of Edo. They rented room at a temple called Joganji in Nomurahongo.
In the Shinsengumi's financial records, there's a withdrawal on February 28 (lunar) for the house in Ushigome where Kondo’s wife and child lived, which might be related to the move.
So Okita probably visited them in Joganji some time between March and July.
This article (from the "Joganji Records" (成願寺誌)) describes what his final days were like:
Edo was already crawling with government troops with Imperial Brocades, but Uekiya, where Souji was staying, was a safe haven in Ikejiribashi, a very lonely place at the time, where the sound of watermills over the river echoed and there was hardly anyone to be seen at night.
Although safe, it must have been too lonely for the young Souji. Sometimes he would go by palanquin to Joganji temple, about a ri away [a 1 hour walk]. He would stay there for days and days. He had an incurable disease, and he probably knew better than anyone else that his death was approaching.
Unable to endure the loneliness and desolation, he would come to the temple and soak in the warmth of the unchanging affection of the mother and child, and how comforted he was by that.
Let me know if there's anything I didn't cover or if you have any more questions.
I would really like to read the fic you wrote, if you don't mind sharing it - nvm, found it :)
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The other day, I finally downloaded Hepburn's 1872 Japanese-English dictionary from the Internet Archive to keep on hand as a reference. Sometimes you just need words that may be difficult to locate in a modern dictionary because they're just no longer in common use.
That reminded me of a post about Sannan Keisuke's only known surviving letter, which I'm sure I've shared previously (but of course can't find now because finding anything on tumblr requires some combination of luck and magic).
In the commentary about the letter, fushigi-dono writes:
"However, even from this little note you can learn something new about the second Vice-Commander of Shinsengumi. For example, Sannan calls himself 下拙 (gesetsu, 下 - low, 拙 - bad / inept). I have never met such a personal pronoun. It is similar to 拙者 (sessha - a bad, inept person), which was used mainly by samurai (Kondo constantly, Okita sometimes, Hijikata never), but not the same. It’s special.”
It is true that sessha, a pronoun that was commonly used by samurai when speaking to one another, is still easy to find in modern dictionaries. For example, here. It's an archaism and not used nowadays outside of period drama, but it's not unknown.
Gesetsu, on the other hand, is not in the same dictionary. So is it unique to Sannan or was it at one point in common use, but perhaps not quite as common as sessha?
Here's what Hepburn has to say on the subject:
Here, sessha, gesetsu, and kono-ho (another one I don't remember seeing before) are listed as three personal pronouns that are used among samurai when speaking to one another. Since he's listed all three, I would assume that all three must have been in common use - perhaps with differences in regional use or personal preference.
#language notes#japanese pronouns#historical japanese pronouns#history notes#historical notes#history reference#historical reference#history research#historical research#sannan keisuke#yamanami keisuke#hepburn dictionary
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Hakuoki Shinkai Tenun no Shou Stellaworth Booklet “Her Long Day” Part 2
sorry this is late... but I've come down with chills, which is unfortunately unsurprising given how that happens when I go from a hot environment to a cool one... and I've just been tired and doing a lot of sleeping early... or passing out? 😂 Honestly, I almost never sleep before 10pm so it's been nice to indulge in being lazy... even if it's due to feeling a bit off.
Anyway, I haven't decided if I want to bother with cramming in two more of these "moments" before next thursday since I need to get to the artist's notes for Deemo... but w/e! Enjoy!
Also, the tl I've referenced isn't entirely consistent with the honorifics so I've put in what I think they are.
Hakuoki Shinkai Tenun no Shou Stellaworth Booklet “Her Long Day” Part 2
Translation by KumoriYami
Sìshí·Yamazaki Moment 《9~11 o'clock》
Everyone ate breakfast, and once all the dishes were washed.
Members went to patrol and train as part of their daily routine——.
And I set up medical tools, including a mill and mortar, in Yamazaki-san's room.
"Then, before Yamazaki-san returns, I'll get started first…"
I pounded the sun-dried flower petals, and opened up the notebook that contained medication prescriptions/recipes.
During my time as a page, I have frequently been assigned miscellaneous tasks...
The duty I was requested by Hijikata-san today was to help Yamazaki-san boil medicine for the team members.
While I was crushing petals, one of the raw materials…
"——I'm sorry, Yukimura-kun. I've kept you waiting."
The owner of the room opened the door and poked his inside as he spoke quietly.
"Yamazaki-san, I started first, is that alright?"
"Aahh, that's fine. I'll also help now too."
Yamazaki-san sat down in front of me, and narrowed his eyes as he looked at the notebook and spoke.
"Well, today… our main focus is to replenish the drugs that have an insufficient supply that are to be used soon."
"Yes. And Ito-san said that he had a sore throat and asked for cough medicine. After, Hijikata-san asked me to make some medicine for stomach pain."
"Ito-san aside, what happened to the Vice-Commander…? Why is he suddenly having stomach pain?"
"Uh, it appears that his stomach has severely been hurting since yesterday…"
"…..It was Okita-kun again. Really, what does that person think the Vice-Commander…"
Yamazaki-san breathed out a sigh, and began to pound the petals.
"Always playing pranks and causing trouble for him, and the Vice-Commander cannot ignore him… He's obviously a division captain, so he should have some respect for the Vice-Commander!"
"No, that's not it, Yamazaki-san. It seems that it wasn't Okita-san's fault this time, but Nomura-kun's."
"…Nomura-kun? What on earth did he do?"
Astonishment was on Yamazaki-san's face, and I trembled with fear as I spoke.
"Um… it seems like he was delivering a late night snack to HIjikata-san, and he accidently fell down in his room and caused half of the letters to get destroyed by fire..."
"....I see, I understand."
Yamazaki-san abruptly stood up, and I hurried added:
"No-Nomura-un didn't have any ill intentions! He just was a bit out of luck…"
"I understand. I merely want to teach him a very, very small lesson, and tell him that he needs to be careful about everything."
Yamzaki-san had a smile on his face, but there there was no smiling in his eyes, he then turned his back to me and spoke.
"……Anyway, at least, for approximately three periods of time*, it's only natural to have him seiza and listen."
"Three moments of time* will be from day until night...!"
T/N: I think this is based on the wadokei, the old Japanese way of telling time... which divided the day into 12 hours... or alternatively, it's based on rokuji, which divided a day into 6 periods of time... and I have no idea how best to word these "periods".
While quickly catching up to Yamazaki-san who was leaving, I prayed in my for Nomura-kun's fate.
Wǔshí · Iba moment 《11~13 o'clock》
Shinsengumi Headquarters · Nishi Hongan-ji Temple
In addition to how the room was used for assemblies, it was also used by members to eat, and because it was lunch time, the large hall was crowded with many members.
"Don't push! If you want get more rice, please line up!"
"Yukimura-senpai, the rice tub is almost empty again!"
"The next pot of rice should be cooked soon, so I'll quickly go and bring it!"
Normally, Souma-kun and I were usually on in charge of the meals for the executives that were close to Kondou-san and Hijikata-san, so we rarely helped meals for the ordinary team members...
But the person in charge today caught a cold, so Souma-kun and I were entrusted by Inoue-san to begin helping him wherever.
"This… this is complete chaos…."
In a moment someone won't have a dish or chopsticks/there won't be enough dishes and chopsticks, someone will want more rice in a moment, someone will spill soup and ask me for a rag…… and so on and so forth.
In the face of one rude voice after another, I felt like I was going to have my hands far too full.
Despite that, since I had agreed to Inoue-san's request, I still had to put in the effort to handle things well, even while feeling overwhelmed.
"——Chizuru, if possible, can I help?"
Iba-san grabbed hold of my hand, and took the rice paddle from my hands.
"Ib-Iba-san? Why are you here....?"
"I happened to have something I had to come here for… but, that can be talked about later. For now, we should handle the matter at first."
After those firm words were spoken, Iba-san clearly greeted the team members.
"Those who want more rice, you don't have to stand up. Please sit where you are and lift your rice bowl, and pass it down in turn."
"How about another serving of taro? Unfortunately, all of the taro has already been eaten so how about another serving of konbu? Konbu (こんぶ) and cheerful (こぶ) are homophones, but they are very" auspicious.
the word "cheerful" is a correct translation, but I think that's wrong... since what I found on what こぶ i
means doesn't really make anything seem auspicious?
Iba-san was like a teahouse clerk, taking care of the team members in a clear and orderly manner.
Seeing him like that, I quickly continued to help——
Half an hour later, almost all of team members finished eating.
"It's almost over. Good work/You've worked hard, Chizuru."
In the almost empty hall, I hurriedly bowed my head to express my thanks to Iba-san.
"I'm sorry, I didn't expect to trouble Iba-san with chores…"
"Don't worry about it. I myself wished to help."
Hearing him say that, I relaxed a bit, though still felt apologetic.
Seeing how anxious I looked, Iba-san nodded as if he had suddenly thought of something.
"Since you're so worried about this…. how bout I receive a bit of remuneration/a reward?"
"Remuneration? I don't have a lot of money..."
"Not like that…. Just repay me with food personally cooked by Chizuru."
"……"
For a moment, I wasn't able to react to what he meant, so I blankly stared at him.
"Food that I cook… is that okay?"
"Nnn. To be honest, I came to headquarters today because I wanted to eat food that you cooked."
"…….I understand. In that case, I'm very honoured!"
Seeing Iba-san smile, I started thinking about what to cook for him.
---to be continued---
references used for the stuff about time:
wadokei: https://grapeejapan.com/181323
rokuji: https://wadokei.org/wadokei-developments/edo-divisions-of-day/
#hakuoki#hakuouki#hakuoki other translation#hakuoki tenun no shou#yukimura chizuru#yamazaki susumu#iba hachirou#iba hachiro
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Continuing with the Peacemaker Kurogane re-read...and getting in a potentially heated topic.
The more I read into Hijikata and Okita’s relationship, the more complex it becomes to me. They deeply care about each other and know each other pretty well, but their relationship is also colored by need of validation from Okita’s part and regrets and guilt from Hijikata’s. In some aspects, their relationship is heartbreaking and heartwarming, and in another...sorta fucked up.
We know from the Hino extras that Souji had an inferiority complex ever since he was a child due that he was born later instead of being the first child of his family, he was still so little when his father died and thus couldn’t carry his family status. This fueled lots of insecurities and feelings of worthlessness in young Souji, and Hijikata gave him a purpose by giving him a sword - which ended in Souji’s first kill at the tender age of 9, a traumatic experience without doubt - and telling him he’ll need his strength and to be at his side. Souji finally earned the validation he so seeked, but it came to the price of tarnishing his hands at a very young age, which made him feel “dirty”, however, he kept killing to be a support for both Kondou and Hijikata, the two people he loved the most and to whom he became most devoted. And when he contracted TB and started to get weak, his insecurities appeared again - if he wasn’t strong, then he’ll be useless and be discarded. That’s why his plea in chapter 46 is so heartbreaking: beneath his smile, Souji was suffering a lot.
Hijikata was a headstrong teenager - only 17 - when those events between him and Souji transpired, so it wasn’t until he grew older that he realized how badly he fucked up and so he came to feel lots of guilt and regrets when it came to Souji. That’s the reason why he was so hesitant to give Tetsunosuke a sword despite being 15, because he didn’t wanted Tetsu to go through the same path as Souji did. Later when Souji contracted TB it was a hard slap in the face given that both his mother and older sister died because the disease when he was a little boy, and his regrets increased. That’s why chapter 46 in a way, was the necessary catharsis for both of them: Hijikata finally could tell Souji how much he meant to him, that only by being alive it was enough for him, and Souji felt safe and assured that Hijikata truly cared for him, not because his skills as a warrior, but as him, as Souji, Soujirou. And that was enough for him as well. Later, Souji wrote a letter to Hijikata that was delivered after his death where he told him to live, thus coming to full circle.
I think they have one of the most complex relationships in the series. It’s a relationship where there’s mutual caring and love but also a bit clouded by regrets, guilt and need of validation that at the end it was resolved by a heartwarming embrace where they finally could vent their actual feelings to each other, and how they wanted each other to live. Thanks to it, it helped Souji to partly resignate himself to his death - even if sadly we saw in his last moments that he DIDN’T wanted to die - and it helped Hijikata to finally be at peace with himself when it came to Souji, giving him another reason to stand up on his feet, knowing that both Kondou and Souji would be watching over him as well.
#peacemaker kurogane#okita souji#hijikata toshizou#pmk meta#i realized i never wrote anything about these two#their relationship is pretty heartbreaking and yet heartwarming at the same time
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