Although it has been two years, Shunliu's appearance has not changed much.
"Aba, I knew you would come here." Shunliu smiled gently.
"…Because I remember the habit we have always had." Makimura said softly, "This place is our 'secret base'. We used to practice swordplay and drink here together…After knowing that you were also in Kyoto, I knew that you would definitely come here, Junroku."
"Time flies..." Shunliu said to Makimura in a casual tone, "The Tianming fire... and our separation, both happened two years ago."
"Yes..." Makura pursed his lips, "I still remember clearly what happened on the day we parted ways..."
…
…
2 years ago - more than a month after the Tianming fire.
April 29, the 8th year of Tianming (1788 AD).
"Makimura... Kunieda... I'm here... to see you."
It is the voice of the sacred mountain.
Mucun, who was resting with his eyes closed, slowly opened his eyes and looked forward after hearing the voice of Shenshan.
Shenshan was standing behind the wooden fence, looking at him and Shunliu with complicated eyes.
Mucun and Shunliu were both imprisoned in the prison in the north of the city.
Because both of them were special criminals, they received special care: the entire cell only held the two of them, and no one else was allowed into their cell to keep them company.
"I too... I put a lot of effort into getting you two, who committed the 'crime of disobedience', pardoned..." Shenshan said softly, "You can be released in seven days."
The reason why Makimura and Shunroku were imprisoned was naturally "the crime of disobeying orders."
When Toda Tadahiro, the governor of Kyoto, ordered the protection of Nijo Castle, only these two disobeyed the order and ran to evacuate the civilians.
When the fire finally died down in the morning because there was nothing left to burn, the two were thrown into prison as expected.
"Cheer up, everyone."
Shenshan looked at Mucun who was leaning against the wall, and then looked at Shunliu who was lying on the ground with his back to him.
Although he couldn't see Shunliu's face, Shenshan could tell that Shunliu was not sleeping, he was awake.
Shenshan tried to speak to the two of them in a relaxed and calm tone.
"You won't be able to do anything after you get out of prison the way you are now."
Makimura, Junroku: "..."
It’s a pity... no one responded to Shenshan’s words.
Seeing that the two were still unmoved by what he had just said, Shenshan sighed again.
“… Shunliu.” Shenshan cast a complicated look at Shunliu, “I’m very sorry about Adian’s matter…”
Adian, Shunliu's wife who had been married for only half a year, died in the Tianming fire a month ago.
He was not burned to death.
He wasn't killed by the smoke either.
Instead, he was trampled to death by the fleeing crowd...
In the Tianming fire a month ago, most people were either killed by the fire or died from smoke.
Instead, he was trampled to death by the people around him in the chaotic environment.
After hearing what Shenshan said, Shunliu finally had some reaction—his whole body shook.
"... Lord Kamiyama." At this moment, Makimura, who had been silent since a while ago, said to Kamiyama in a calm and terrifying tone, "When Junroku and I were imprisoned, we had already decided that the two of us would no longer be Kyoto's Yoriki."
“What?!” Shenshan, who was caught off guard by Makura’s words, shrieked, “Why?!”
"... Lord Kamiyama. I... always thought that 'samurai' meant 'honor'."
Makimura said slowly.
"In my mind, 'samurai' is synonymous with 'helping the weak and suppressing the strong'."
"That's why I've always dreamed of becoming a samurai."
"But... it wasn't until I became a samurai that I realized that a real samurai was so ..."
"A true samurai... turns out to be so unbearable..."
"After working as a Yoriki in Kyoto for so many years, I finally realized that what Abe Riri said to us before was right!"
"The samurai's duty... is really just to protect the rich and powerful and to be their dogs...!"
A tearful tone began to appear in Mucun's voice.
"The various things that happened to me have made me disappointed in the 'Samurai' again and again..."
"The Tianming fire a month ago finally made me feel hopeless."
"Compared to the lives of ordinary people, they prioritized protecting the so-called shogunate's authority."
"Nijo Castle was saved , but countless civilians died!"
"If the officers who were protecting Nijo Castle had been deployed to help the people evacuate, I wonder how many people would have survived!"
"Master Shenshan..."
Clear tears flowed from Mucun's eyes.
"Now... I am really disappointed with 'Samurai'!"
"I don't want to be a samurai anymore, nor do I want to be a kyoto yoriki anymore...!"
"As long as Shunroku and I are still the forces of Kyoto, sooner or later we will encounter this kind of crappy mission where we must prioritize protecting the rich and powerful!"
"We... don't want to be dogs of the rich and powerful anymore!"
Mucun's tone was sonorous and powerful.
Revealing a firmness like a rock.
"...I understand." After a long silence, Kamiyama sighed heavily, "I will...revoke the two of you from our Kyoto Prefecture..."
Mucun wiped the tears from his face.
"Lord Shenshan, let's go our separate ways now."
Makimura continued.
"To be honest, I don't want to see you, Master Shenshan, again for the rest of my life."
"I will also try my best not to return to Kyoto."
"Seeing you... will make my time in Kyoto painful. If you run into me somewhere in the future, please pretend that you didn't see me."
“I understand…” Shenshan smiled bitterly, “I can understand… I promise you - if I run into you two somewhere in the future, I will pretend that I didn’t see you…”
After Shenshan left, Mucun rubbed his face vigorously, and said to Shunliu beside him with all his strength:
"Junroku, what are your plans after you get out of prison and leave Kyoto?"
"I plan to blow up Kyoto."
As soon as Makimura finished speaking, Shunliu said this without thinking.
"The first place I'm going to blow up is the 'white ground' where we used to practice sword fighting."
Shunliu's words made Makumura stunned.
"Shunliu..." Mucun said with surprise and a little panic, "What... are you talking about?"
Shunliu did not immediately respond to Makimura's question.
Instead, after a moment of silence, he suddenly turned around and said to Mucun with a smile on his face:
"I was just joking."
After saying that, Shunliu turned his head back.
"Okay, I'm going to bed, don't talk to me anymore."
…
…
The second year of Kansei (1790).
In an unknown open space in Kyoto.
"Shunliu..." Looking at Shunliu who had not been seen for two years, Mucun's eyes revealed extremely complicated emotions, "What have you been doing for the past two years?"
Two years ago, after the two were released from prison, Shunliu suddenly disappeared.
Without even saying hello to Mucun, he suddenly disappeared.
It was two years later that the two met again.
Shunroku, who used the alias Ryunosuke, did not answer Makimura's question, but chuckled a few times first:
"Ahaha, you really made me wait for so long. I have been waiting for you in this 'white land' for nearly half an hour. I even began to doubt whether you did not recognize that 'Ryunosuke' was me, or whether you forgot about this 'white land'."
"The moment I found 'Wakasa incense' next to the bodies of those innocent people you killed, I thought of you." Makimura said in a deep voice, "Because...your ex-wife Ayodo loved to use Wakasa incense the most. Ayodo was the only one in the whole Kyoto who frequently went to Iguchiya to buy and use Wakasa incense."
"I even went to Iguchiya to buy Wakasa incense for Ayodo."
"After the bomb was found in the building on Third Prince Street, I was sure you were the mastermind behind it."
"And then... when you opened the window and threw a bomb at me and my companions, I saw your face..."
“Haha…” Shunliu touched his face, “You really did see my face back then… No wonder, I could see your face back then, there’s no reason why you couldn’t see mine.”
"When that guy Ichi Saburo told me that there was a 7-foot-tall man chasing him, I was wondering - Ah Ba, have you returned to Kyoto?"
"It wasn't until I opened the window and was about to throw the bomb in and saw your face that I was finally convinced that you had really returned to Kyoto."
"I'm scared now when I think about it. When I heard Ichi Saburo's voice downstairs, I wanted to use explosive bombs to kill all those who dared to attack my base."
"I didn't see your face until after I had thrown all the bombs."
"When I saw your face, I was almost scared to death."
"Fortunately, you threw the bomb back and it didn't kill you."
"If the only family member I have left in the world were killed in the explosion, I would be uneasy for the rest of my life."
"Shunliu..." Makura gritted his teeth, "Where have you been for the past two years?"
"I have spent the past two years recruiting soldiers and purchasing weapons, always ready to destroy Kyoto."
"Shunliu!" Mucun could no longer control his emotions and yelled at Shunliu, "Do you know what you are doing ? Do you know how many innocent civilians will die if your crazy plan succeeds?!"
"I know." Shunroku said to Makimura in a calm tone, "My goal is to destroy Kyoto and humiliate the shogunate. Of course I know that when my plan succeeds, many people will die."
"Kyoto was one of the three major capitals of the Edo Shogunate. Kyoto was destroyed by a group of people. For the Shogunate, there is nothing more humiliating than this, right?"
"Junroku...you...are you going to overthrow the shogunate...?!"
"That's right!" Shunliu's face showed a bit of madness at this time, "I want to overthrow the shogunate! I want to overthrow the shogunate! Destroying Kyoto and giving the shogunate two loud slaps in the face will be my first step!"
“Shunliu…” The face of the young man in front of him was so familiar, but Mucun felt that he was quite strange now. “Are you… crazy…?!”
"I'm not crazy, I'm calm."
"Ah Ba, do you know what I was thinking when I was holding the body of Ah Dian who was trampled to death after the Tianming fire ended?"
"I was thinking - the shogunate is really rotten."
"The world built by the Tokugawa family is a world where 'you oppress me, and I oppress you'."
"Shoguns and daimyo, these powerful people, oppress the samurai."
"Samurai oppress civilians."
"The civilians continue to oppress the evil."
"The warriors we two have always admired are nothing more than lackeys of the rich and powerful, and are oppressed by them!"
"We have to do whatever these powerful people ask us to do. There is no right to resist."
"What a bullshit Bushido! It's nothing more than a tool to restrain the samurai and require them to be loyal and responsible lackeys of the powerful!"
"In this world created by the shogunate, the reputation of the rich and powerful is more important than the lives of the samurai and the common people!"
"In order to save their own face, the lives of ordinary people are nothing to the shogunate!"
"The Tianming fire two years ago was a tragedy caused by the blindness of gods and Buddhas. It was unavoidable."
"But such heavy casualties are a man-made tragedy!"
"During the Tianming Fire two years ago, if it weren't for the ridiculous order to protect Nijo Castle, I wonder how many people would have survived because of the orderly evacuation by the officials!"
"After the disaster, the shogunate still brazenly said that the number of casualties was only 150?"
"Stop kidding! Do you think we are all fools? There are hundreds of thousands of people in Kyoto. How could a fire that burned down more than 80% of the buildings in Kyoto only cause 150 casualties?"
"The bodies cleared out were counted in the thousands, and the shogunate lied about the total number of casualties in order to save face!"
"As I held my wife's body, I swore to myself that I would uproot this rotten shogunate!"
"...So..." Makimura said in a deep voice, "Two years ago, when you told me in prison that you were going to blow up Kyoto, wasn't that a joke?"
"That's right! I was thinking about how to overthrow the curtain at that time!"
"After I was released from prison and parted ways with you, I have been running around, making preparations for the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty and accumulating strength for it!"
"I didn't realize it before, until I decided to overthrow the shogunate and traveled around the country, I found out that there were so many people who hated the shogunate!"
"There were ronin who were framed by their superiors and had to flee their fiefdom."
"There were samurai whose salaries had never been raised and whose families were on the verge of starvation."
“There are farmers who cannot bear the high taxes.”
"There are many people who hate the shogunate! So I can easily attract a large number of combat forces!"
"After discovering that there are so many people who hate the shogunate, I am even more convinced that the Edo shogunate of the Tokugawa family is rotten to the core!"
"I brought together all those who hated the shogunate and named our anti-shogunate force 'Gravediggers'."
"We want to be the gravediggers of the Edo Shogunate!"
Having said this, Shunliu raised his head and roared to the sky:
"I want to let those powerful people in the Edo Shogunate experience the power of these people they usually look down upon!"
"I want to show these powerful people how weak their Edo Shogunate is! A small force composed of samurai, ronin, farmers and other people can destroy Kyoto!"
"Once Kyoto is destroyed, my next target will be Edo!"
"Then why did you let your subordinates join the six major sword halls, disguise themselves as disciples of the six major sword halls, set fires everywhere and put the blame on the six major sword halls?" Mucun asked.
"Macun, have you forgotten? When we were 14 years old, we planned to join Qingxueguan to learn swordsmanship."
"But we were turned away ."
Shunliu sneered.
"It was not until I became self-taught that I realized the level of the masters of the six major sword gyms was just that!"
"You dare to teach people swordsmanship at this level! And you charge such a high tuition fee. What's the point of keeping such a crappy sword school?"
"So... you came up with this plan that will make it impossible for the six major sword halls to recover?" Mucun said in a deep voice.
"That's right! It's a pity that my plan has become a mess because of that old guy He Xian, but it doesn't matter!"
After a roar, Shunliu took several breaths and regulated his breathing.
After his breathing stabilized again, Shun Liumian said to Mucun with a smile:
"Ah Ba, come here and fight alongside me."
"Just like we used to make a living together on San Prince Street and work hard together in the Fengxing Office."
"You are also very disappointed with the samurai and the shogunate, aren't you?"
“I still remember what you said to Kinabalu in prison two years ago.”
"You said you were disappointed in the samurai."
"It is because I still remember what you said that I have been waiting for you in this 'white land', hoping to recruit you to join us."
"Hachi, you should not have forgotten how disgusting the Edo Shogunate is, right?"
"During the five years when we were at the helm, we saw too many of the disgusting activities of the Edo Shogunate."
"Why do you need to support and protect this disgusting shogunate, Ah Ba?"
"So--brother! Come over here and help me!"
"Together, the two of us brothers will destroy this rotten shogunate!"
After saying that, Shun Liuchao Mucun stretched out his right hand.
Makimura had been listening quietly to Shunliu's roars from the beginning.
Looking at Shunliu's hand stretched out to him, Mucun pursed his lips.
Then... he slowly raised his hand and stretched it out towards Shunliu.
Looking at Mucun's hand stretched out to him, Shunliu showed joy on his face and then walked towards Mucun.
However——he had just taken a step forward when Mucun suddenly said:
"Shunroku, just now... I saw Master Jinle."
Shunliu raised his eyebrows: "You actually met Jinle..."
"When I met Master Jinle, Master Jinle asked me a question very similar to the one you just asked."
"Lord Jinle asked me: I am no longer a force to be reckoned with in Kyoto, and I no longer have the responsibility to protect Kyoto, so why am I risking my life to do this?"
"I did not answer this question, Master Jinle."
“Because I didn’t know the answer to that question at the time.”
"But now... after meeting you, Shunliu, I suddenly understand."
"I understand... What drives me, a white-collar worker, to keep running forward to protect Kyoto?"
"Shunroku, just as you just said, I told Lord Kamiyama in person two years ago: I am extremely disappointed with the samurai."
“And my idea has not changed until now.”
"I'm still pretty disappointed with the samurai."
"It's just that..."
An inexplicable smile appeared on Mucun's face.
"Although I still know very well that real samurai are unbearable and very disappointing."
Makimura slowly lowered the hand that he had raised and extended to Shunroku.
"But I still admire the kind of warriors who fight for justice and help the weak."
"Even if such warriors only exist in the stories of storytellers."
“It only exists in my mind.”
"I longed to become a samurai who fought for justice and helped the weak, so I resolutely accepted Kamiyama's invitation to change from a commoner to a samurai and become a powerful figure in Kyoto."
"As long as my heart is still there, it doesn't matter whether I have a title or not."
"So - Shunliu, turn back!"
"Call back your men who are planning to burn down Kyoto!"
After hearing Makimura say, "I still admire the kind of warrior who is chivalrous and fights for justice and helps the weak," Shunliu was stunned.
After a while, Shunliu gave a bitter smile, then slowly put down the hand that he had extended to Mucun.
"…Makura, do you know why I told you two years ago that the first place I was going to bomb was the 'Bai Di'?"
Shunliu looked at the desolate open space beneath his feet where there was nothing but weeds.
"Because this is where our brothers' dreams began."
"We don't have the money to study in a sword school, so we can only learn on our own."
"Back then, my brother and I would practice swordplay with tree branches in an open field."
"Because there is nothing here and no one passes by here, my two brothers named this empty land 'White Land'."
"If we hadn't practiced our own unique swordsmanship on this 'white land', we wouldn't have become famous in the area of ​​​​Third Prince Street, nor would we have been appreciated by Shenshan, and there wouldn't have been a series of stories about us afterwards."
"So I'm going to destroy this place!"
Shunliu's tone gradually became serious.
“This will be an important ceremony for me.”
"A ceremony... to say goodbye to my past self."
"Now it seems...it's really ironic."
"I now have to say goodbye not only to the place where my dream began, but also to the people who were once as close as brothers to me."
Hearing Shunliu's words, Mucun narrowed his eyes slightly and slowly clenched his fists that were hanging naturally.
"Ah Ba. Nine years ago, in order to survive, we had no choice but to become Yakuza."
“That year, we asked Jinle to do the tattoos for us.”
"Jinle's tattoo rules are to give different animals to different customers. Customers do not have the freedom to choose the tattoo they want."
"Jinle, who has such a rule, gave us each a dragon tattoo."
"We were both so happy at the time. We both thought we would become big shots in the future because we had dragon tattoos from the famous Jinle."
"After we acquired the dragon pattern, we often competed on this 'white land' under the pretext of 'seeing which is stronger, the red dragon or the black dragon.'"
"Tonight... let's have one last fight!"
Shunliu slowly raised his right hand and tightly grasped the clothes on his left shoulder.
"In all our previous competitions, we only fought to the point of victory. We have never fought with our lives at stake!"
"In this final competition tonight, let's risk our lives to see who is stronger, the black dragon or the red dragon!"
Shunliu tore off his upper body clothes and then threw them aside casually.
Shunliu showed off his muscular upper body and the tattoo on his back.
A black dragon.
The black dragon bared its fangs and claws, lowered its head, and stared fiercely at the ground with its murderous eyes, as if it would fly out from Shunliu's back at any time, swoop down to the human world and devour its chosen person!
"Jinle once told us that Kyoto is too small to accommodate two dragons."
"Now it seems that what Jinle said is indeed correct."
Shunliu slowly drew out the katana from his waist, his eyes shining with a sharp light.
"Kyoto is too small, so... only one dragon is enough!"
"The title of 'Dragon' doesn't matter to me at all." Makimura slowly drew out his large sword, "But since Junroku wants to fight... then I will accompany you to the end!"
Mucun raised his left hand and grabbed the clothes on his right abdomen, then tore the clothes on his upper body apart.
As the clothes covering his upper body shattered, the red dragon on Makura's back appeared.
The red dragon lay horizontally and circled, with its head raised high, its eyes flashing with unyielding light, staring at the sky, as if it would fly out from Mucun's back at any time, soar into the sky, and fight with the gods and Buddhas in the sky!
"Ah Ba! Since you just said that you still admire the kind of samurai who fight against the strong and help the weak, then - let's fight this last battle with samurai etiquette!"
Shunliu raised the katana in his hand.
"My style of swordsmanship! Junroku Kunieda!"
Makimura held the large sword in his hand horizontally.
"My style of swordsmanship! Makimura Yahachi!"
Then they both shouted in unison:
"Here I am!!!"