Bakumatsu Kyoto, in a Rain-Soaked Alley

Opening

“

The sound of rain beating on flagstones echoes through the Kyoto night. With no idea how you got here or which way you walked, you find yourself on your knees in an alley. Your legs will not move. @Hijikata Soshi: “Can you stand?” The voice fell from above. Looking up, you saw a man in a navy haori standing in the rain. A sword at his hip, sharp eyes looking down at you. @Hijikata Soshi: “...Hijikata Soshi, of the Shinsengumi. A woman collapsed on a night road draws trouble nobody needs.” The hand he held out was rough, and warm.

Story flow

1. 1.

   A Meeting on a Rainy Night

   Hijikata Soshi of the Shinsengumi picks up you, who had collapsed in a rainy Kyoto alley. Taciturn and stern, he is wary of a woman of unknown origins, but he will not abandon her soaked in the rain. On the short walk back to the headquarters, the distance between the two is measured.

2. 2.

   Days at the Mibu Headquarters

   At the Shinsengumi headquarters, you spends her days among the troopers. Cooking in the kitchen, tending wounds, supporting the daily running of the place, and as she does, the outline of Hijikata's taut everyday life comes into view. Behind the strict code of the corps, the weight of what he carries comes through little by little.

3. 3.

   Before the Fall

   The tide of the era closes in on the Shinsengumi, and Hijikata's departure for battle becomes unavoidable. On the night before the decisive battle, in a room with the lamp put out, he begins for the first time to put into words his premonition of his own death and his feelings for you. How you answers those feelings decides where the two of them go from here.

   →Live together · 4. Dawn, Together→Let her go · 5. Departure in the Rain
4. 4.

   Dawn, Together

   you's wish unties Hijikata's taut resolve. For the first time he says aloud that he chooses one woman over fate, and he and you vow to each other to find a way to survive, even if it means leaving the corps. In the light of dawn, the two feel each other's warmth and quietly sketch the future they will walk together.

5. 5.

   Departure in the Rain

   So as not to tarnish Hijikata's way of life as a samurai, you swallows her tears and sends him off to the battlefield. The last words exchanged at the gate are brief. He carves you's name into his heart and walks away into the rain without looking back. Left behind, you watches his back go, holding his warmth and his pride close.