Flew out of the Yorozuya. The smell of flames stabbed at his nostrils. The main street of Kabuki-cho was dyed red. Gintoki gripped the wooden sword again. The Toya Lake wooden sword—a Hokkaido souvenir that felt heavier than an iron pipe when swung. He confirmed that weight in his palm. "[angry]Let's go, aru" Crimson hair swayed in the wind. Golden vertical-slit eyes fixed on four armed ronin standing at the entrance to the shopping district. "[serious]I'll handle the evacuation guidance" His glasses were still slightly bent. Shinpachi straightened them while turning to face forward properly. Gintoki didn't look at their faces. But he understood. All three of them were in their positions. Four ronin stood at the shopping district entrance, old-model guns raised. The noren curtain of the set meal shop "Hokuto Shinshin" hung scorched and drooping. The convenience store "Dogramagra" had its glass shattered, and no one had fixed it. Gintoki took a step forward. One of the ronin aimed his gun. In that instant, Gintoki's body moved. Running. Closing the distance. Fast. The ronin tried to pull the trigger. The wooden sword cracked against his wrist. The gun flew through the air. The ronin let out a grunt. The second and third came at him simultaneously. "[cold]Kagura" He called out sharply. Dogon!! The ronin on the left was slammed into the wall. Kagura's monstrous strength hit dead-on. The Yato clan's power was no joke—the grown man crumpled like flattened paper. Gintoki lowered his body and drove forward toward the ronin on the right. The wooden sword struck his torso. A dull impact. The ronin dropped to his knees. The fourth tried to run. Gintoki's foot swept his ankle. Dota! The ronin fell hard, his jaw hitting the stone pavement as he groaned. Gintoki looked down at the fallen man. "[cold]I'm not killing. Just ending it" His voice was quiet. Shinpachi watched the scene. His eyes behind his glasses went wide. (Gin-san's movements—) Not just strong. The footwork, the body angle, the way he closed distance. Everything was calculated. Not the movements of a lazy guy carrying the Yorozuya sign. Something deeper. A movement that came from somewhere else. "[surprised]...Gin-san, that was" He started to speak. The fallen ronin turned toward Shinpachi, his eyes vacant. "Y...yeah" Shinpachi was about to call out—evacuation guidance words. Then the ronin nodded obediently. Whether dazed or just simple-minded. "...Huh?" His glasses slipped down. "[serious]U-um, this way please—" "Yeah" The ronin followed Shinpachi, walking quietly. Shinpachi's face went completely blank, forgetting even to fix his crooked glasses as he began guiding residents to safety. --- Halfway through the shopping district, a black haori appeared from around a corner. Shinsumi soldiers. A dozen or so appeared in formation, with a black-haired man with red streaks leading them. Hijikata Toshirou. Vice-commander of the Shinsumi. Sharp reddish-brown eyes fixed on Gintoki. Gintoki kept his wooden sword raised, watching Hijikata. "[serious]Sakata. I've confirmed your innocence" Hijikata spoke curtly. "[serious]That Garza Tenno fabricated everything. We have proof" Silence. Gintoki stared at Hijikata's face for a moment. Then he looked ahead. "[cold]Yeah, got it" That was all he said. "[angry]You bastard!! Show some gratitude!!" Gintoki wasn't listening. Kagura turned back. Her golden eyes looked at Hijikata, and her nose twitched. "[surprised]Hijikata-san, you smell like mayonnaise again, aru" Silence fell. Hijikata's hand reflexively moved to his pocket. Trying to hide the oversized mayonnaise bottle. But the firelight reflected perfectly off the bottle's body, making it glimmer. "[surprised]Hijikata-san!! You're carrying that even in a situation like this!!" Shinpachi, in the middle of evacuation guidance, shouted from a distance. "[angry]You bastards, we're in combat!!" The everyday tempo returned in three seconds. Hijikata forcibly shoved the mayonnaise back into his pocket and turned to face his soldiers. "[serious]Everyone, scatter. Break the encirclement" --- From the back alley, something white appeared. Huge. Shaped like a penguin. Fluffy. Elizabeth—Katsura Kotaro's partner, a large white mysterious creature—lumbered into view. Behind it came Katsura Kotaro. "[serious]Gintoki. We can't let the Tenno have their way with Kabuki-cho. This is joui" "[sarcastic]Stop calling everything joui" "[serious]Joui is daily life" "[cold]I don't care" Hijikata looked at Katsura's face. Katsura looked at Hijikata's face. Both were facing the same direction. "Wait, wait, wait" Hijikata held his head in both hands. "[surprised]...Am I seriously standing next to a joui activist right now?" "[surprised]The Shinsumi and the joui party facing the same direction... isn't this a first in history...?" Shinpachi muttered while pushing his glasses up. The joui party elite that Katsura brought began breaking the ronin's encirclement from the east side of the shopping district. The battle situation changed instantly. The ronin were caught in a pincer, slowly retreating. That's when Shinpachi let out an "Ah!" Elizabeth, ignoring the combat entirely, approached a burning food stall. Pulled out three skewers of yakitori—and was munching away. "[angry]Not now!!" Just as he was about to retort, a cornered ronin ran past Shinpachi's side. Dangerous. No time to retort. Shinpachi had no choice but to return to the resident line. --- Cornered, Garza approached the cart he'd set up in the plaza. The cloth came off. An old-model high-energy cannon. A weapon from the joui war era—the largest of those weapons that had been stacked in the basement of the abandoned factory. The barrel pointed at Kabuki-cho's main street. Charging began. As the cannon's output increased, the surrounding air vibrated. The stone pavement trembled slightly. The way the flames flickered changed. "[cold]I'll blow away Kabuki-cho itself. If you don't want to die, everyone evacuate" Garza's voice echoed across the plaza. Thin body in a black jacket, pale blue Tenno skin. Smiling. Always smiling since before. Hijikata shouted to his soldiers. "[serious]All units, prepare to evacuate!!" Katsura sent the elite running. "[serious]Confirm all remaining residents!!" Shinpachi was already moving. He dove into the east side alley of the shopping district, checking each building. Knocking on doors, calling names, raising his voice. "[serious]Anyone still here, please come out!!" His hands hurt. His throat hurt. But his feet didn't stop. The self who could do nothing in that abandoned factory was now moving on his own. Kagura circled beneath the cannon platform. She examined the cart's base. Metal joints. Checking the structure. "[serious]Gin-chan. I'll collapse the footing. After that, it's up to you, aru" "[cold]Yeah" Gintoki kept facing the cannon, gripping the wooden sword with both hands. The charging sound grew higher. Garza screamed. "[sarcastic]Kabuki-cho, a filthy human city, has no value. It would be more beneficial to level it and make it a Tenno residential zone!!" Gintoki started walking toward the cannon. Slowly. One step at a time. "[cold]My home is in this city" His voice was quiet. "[cold]Loud, smelly, run-down. Three months behind on rent. That's the city where my home is" Garza tried to laugh. That instant— Dogooooon!!! Kagura's kick hit the cannon platform's base dead-on. The cart tilted. The cannon's aim shifted. "[serious]All residents evacuated!!" Shinpachi's voice echoed from the edge of the shopping district. "[serious]Escape route secured!!" Gintoki heard it all on his back. The tilted cannon's charging light scorched the atmosphere. The aim was already off. But the charging didn't stop. If it misfired like this— He drove forward. All at once. Full speed. Gakiiiin!!! The wooden sword struck the cannon barrel. Metal screamed. Cracks ran through it. The barrel—split in two. The charging energy misfired. Zudooooon!!! The blast wave swept across the plaza. The cannon platform self-destructed. Heat and shockwave came simultaneously. Gintoki's body flew through the air. He rolled across the ground. Twice, three times. The stone pavement hurt. He stopped. In his hand—the wooden sword remained. "[scared]Gin-chan!!" Kagura ran over. "[serious]Gin-san, are you hurt!!" Shinpachi rushed over too. Gintoki slowly pushed himself up. His whole body ached. But it moved. Hijikata muttered nearby, "What's with that head?" Gintoki's silver hair was completely disheveled from the blast. Katsura said: "[sarcastic]No different than usual" "[sarcastic]Shut up" Gintoki held his head with one hand. It only made it worse. --- Shinsumi soldiers surrounded Garza. Hijikata stood before him. "[serious]The source of the blackmail photos, the scheme to have Sakata pick up the emblem memo, the submission of forged evidence. We have proof of everything. We're reporting it to the Bakufu" Garza started to say, "Tenno extraterritorial rights—" "[cold]This time, the Bakufu is handling it directly as an internal corruption case of the Tenno administrative agency. That excuse won't work" The smile vanished from Garza's face. Hijikata signaled his soldiers. They surrounded Garza. Garza said nothing more. Kagura, Shinpachi, and Gintoki stood side by side in the burned-out shopping district. The noren was scorched. The signs were tilted. Soot accumulated on the stone pavement. But the buildings still stood. Kabuki-cho still existed. Shinpachi spoke in an exhausted voice. "[gentle]...Well, it's over for now" "[serious]I'm hungry, aru" "[cold]Me too" That was all. But it was enough. Then came a rustling sound. Otose emerged from the back alley, carrying the scorched noren. Her white hair was disheveled, and her right arm was wrapped in bandages—the injury from when Kagura carried her to safety. But her eyes were as straight as ever. "[serious]We're doing a temporary opening. First drink's on the house" She said that and opened the door to the battered snack bar. Everyone followed. Shinsumi soldiers. Katsura's joui party members. Residents. Trailing after Otose's back. At the entrance, Hijikata and Katsura reached for the noren simultaneously. Their eyes met. Neither moved. Staring each other down. Completely stuck in front of the noren. "[cold]You go first" "[serious]No, you go first" "[angry]I'm telling you to go first!!" "[serious]That's illogical. As a customer, I arrived first—" Gintoki slipped between the two of them. He sat at the counter. "[sarcastic]You got pudding?" Otose turned around. "[angry]Where would a burned-out snack bar have something like that?" A fist came down. Gintoki held his head, looking up at the ceiling. Otose's snack bar ceiling was also slightly sooty. But the light bulb was on. Outside, the sky toward Edo Bay was dark. The color of flames faded, becoming an ordinary night. In the distance of that sky—toward Edo Bay, the shadow of something large floated. A spaceship. There was more to the smuggling route of the weapons Garza had used. Something bigger than Garza. Gintoki glanced out the window. Then he turned his attention to the alcohol on the counter. "[sarcastic]...Well, today's fine" He murmured quietly.