Osaka.

The new selection group received the order and the operation's station was transferred from Kyoto to Osaka.

And all external activities were stopped.

The order that Kondo received was to rest and recuperate.

Saito sat alone on the steps, looking into the distance with confusion.

The wounds left by fighting Zuomura last year did not bring any sequelae to Saito, but just left a scar on his face, making Saito look less kind than before, but instead looks fierce and evil.

Saito didn't feel anything.

Compared to physical pain and mental frustration, Saito is even more painful.

He can't see hope.

Following Kondo and Tuoka, I chose to join the new selection group if I found it interesting.

But the road ahead seems to have come to an end.

In the Tianmanya incident two days ago, Saito numbly killed two enemies, watching his team members get injured, but remained indifferent.

...What are we doing?

Okina Mainji was recuperating in the corner of Osaka, and Shinhachi Nagakura and Kondo were reborn.

Is this still...a new group selected?

"Hey Saito."

The familiar voice of the deputy director of the ghost came from behind.

Tuya Sui San threw a gun to Saito.

Saito panicked and asked, "What's wrong? What happened?"

Tuya Sui San's expression was lost and serious: "Integrate your team and take action."

"My actions?"

"The action of the new selection group." Tokuba Suzumi sighed, "Tokugawa Keiki's order is here. We will set off now. We will arrive in Fushimi within half a month, and we will stay there."

Saito was stunned: "...Is it going to fight?"

Tu Fang nodded and turned around.

"Twenty minutes, clean up your team and pack up your personal belongings."

"Before dark...set."

......

The New Year holiday is quietly spent in tension and silence.

During this year's New Year Festival, even Sensoji Temple, no bell rang.

Kondo Yuki has led the Xinxuan group to Fushimi, but the process is not going well.

On the way, I met the remnants of the Yuling Guards. The Xinxuan Group exchanged fire with him. Kondo Yuki was hit by a stray bullet in the fire and injured his shoulder.

Yoshima Kondo is sitting alone in his temporary office, with a map of the Fushimi area in front of him.

He knew in his heart that Tokugawa Keiki did not want to give up his position.

So, the war is coming.

Sighing, Kondo Yuki rubbed his eyebrows.

"Even if you are injured, you have to work...you are a good director, Kondo."

A voice sounded behind Kondo.

"Why, are the people who assassinated General Tokugawa Ishimatsu also coming to assassinate a small person like me?"

The voice is very familiar, so familiar that Kondo can recognize it in an instant.

"...I'm not here to kill you." The visitor sighed slightly, pulled a stool from Kondo's room and sat down.

"I know...but you shouldn't have come to see me." Kondo slowly turned around and looked at the person sitting in his room with an inexplicable emotion in his eyes, "Zuo Village."

Zuomura and Kondo looked at each other.

"Inoue is dead."

"...I know, I'm going to see him."

"Because you died."

“…”

Zuocun had nothing to say.

"But he doesn't blame you." Kondo shook his head.

"Although this explanation sounds powerless,... I have to kill Tokugawa Ishimaki. This is the current situation and the choice I made." Zuomura held his forehead.

"So why did you come here? Shouldn't you be in your old lair, in the Satsuma tribe of the Choshu tribe, preparing for war?" Kondo asked with a smile.

"......There is no one to believe in that place." Zuocun's eyes were filled with despair. "Although that place was built by Ryuma, Takasugi and Kanei,..."

"I can't go back."

He sighed.

The military power was lost, and Zuocun had no substantial subordinates in Satsuma.

When we were with Longma, both of us felt that after gaining each other's talents, we could do everything.

But...

But...

Can't go back.

Zuocun could only tell Saigo Moritotsu that he had colluded with Meiji.

Even if I can't go back, I will fulfill your dream, Longma.

Both of them were silent.

"What, why are you living a more pitiful life than me?" Kondo Yuki laughed twice.

"Stop laughing at Kondo, you smile so badly." Zuomura interrupted Kondo's laughter helplessly, "I'll come this time..."

"I want to persuade you to leave the shogunate and leave Tokugawa Keiki."

"The war is about to break out, Inoue is dead, I don't want you to..."

"Zuo Village!" Kondo Yuk interrupted Zuo Village's words sternly.

"...Thank you, I know, you are for me, for the earth, for us."

“But…”

"I still have to continue on this road." He clenched his fists, "This is the path I chose myself, and it is also the sincerity of the new selection group."

"If I don't even have the confidence to go on my path."

"Then my sincerity...maybe it no longer exists."

Zuomura looked at Kondo Yuki's side face and was silent for a long time.

"I'll go out to fight."

He said softly.

"I will fight this war."

Zuocun stood up.

"On the battlefield, I won't show mercy this time."

"As you said, Kondo, the path I chose...I have to keep going."

The two stood up and looked at each other.

"Ah, I won't show mercy either." A trace of fighting spirit appeared on the corner of Kondo Yuki's mouth.

"See you on the battlefield." Zuocun walked towards the window.

"Ah, by the way, Zuocun, there is one thing I want to tell you." Suddenly, Kondo remembered something.

"What?"

"Go to the southwest of Osaka and find a place called Ryosuya." Kondo Yuki's eyes were filled with a hint of firmness, "Okita...is there now."

Zuomura was stunned: "Kondo, no, I...is not qualified..."

Kondo Yuki came over, grabbed Zuocun's shoulder, and looked straight into Zuocun's eyes.

Zuocun dodged a little.

"She is sick." Kondo's tone, with a hint of pleading, "She is very sick and can no longer take up the knife."
To be continued...