Before he can strike Ryoma, an older man steps out and says by that logic, he could kill the guard without issue. The guard opens up Ryoma's cell and draws his sword, telling him they are nothing alike- he is a higher ranked goshi than Ryoma, and he could easily kill Ryoma and no one would bat an eye. The guard makes to leave, but Ryoma asks if if he's okay with all this- after all, the guard is a goshi just like him and has to bow to the joshi all the same. The guard decides to "remind" Ryoma that in Tosa class trumps everything- anyone disrespects a joshi, even a desperate mother, that is a crime punishable by death. Ryoma is stripped of his weapons and clothes and thrown in jail, the guard asking why Ryoma would start causing trouble after having just gotten back from Edo. Ryoma yells that he's clearly aware of what he's done and what the consequences of his actions are, just as local police arrive to arrest Ryoma. He does so, with the other goshi mumbling about how Ryoma is really deep in it now that he's attacked a joshi. just after he beats the shit out of the two joshi for striking a woman. Ryoma is more than willing to take his punishment for stepping out of line. The second joshi yells that Ryoma doesn't know what he's dealing with, with Ryoma countering as he tosses the first joshi's sword away- if he were to raise a blade against a member of the higher caste, their fellow joshi scumbags would retaliate and raze the surrounding village to the ground. The mother takes Ryoma's opening and runs while Ryoma faces off against the joshi. With this opening, Ryoma tells the mother to take her daughter and run for it- he's a Tosa native, and he knows the joshi well enough to know they are beyond reasoning with. As Ryoma growls that Tosa hasn't changed in the slightest, the second joshi draws his weapon and asks who Ryoma is, and why he isn't bowing like the other goshi. The mother recovers and bitterly asks if the joshi are really all that special, wishing she had never moved to Tosa from Ozu as the samurai there would have gladly helped her and her daughter- do they really expect her to put them over her own flesh and blood? One of the joshi draws his sword and asks the woman who she thinks she is, talking to them like that, but before he can strike the woman Ryoma breaks ranks, grabs the sword, and decks the guy. The mother apologizes and begs mercy for herself and her daughter, but the joshi don't care and smack the mother to the ground, saying that if the girl dies then that's just fate and she should know better than to break ranks and try to defy them. The joshi stop her and ask what she thinks she's doing. Ryoma joins the crowds in paying respects to the joshi, but ultimately the mother cannot take the cries from her daughter and breaks ranks to try and get some medicine. Before the mother can leave to find help, though, a pair of joshi (higher-caste samurai) begin strolling through town, and the townsfolk (being lower-caste goshi) must part and bow to them as they pass by. A nearby doctor inspects her and tells the girl's mother that it's her appendix, and she'll need Western medicine if she is to get better. As he wanders into town, there is a commotion ahead: a young girl doubles over in pain while her mother calls for help. Ryoma returns to his home in Tosa after spending a year training his swordsmanship in Edo (modern day Tokyo). Powerless against the advanced Western weapons, the samurai and the shogunate realized how weak their rule was, and as samurai do not serve weak rulers civil unrest began to form among the populace. The real Ryoma narrates what lead up to that point: for 300 years Japan had been under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate (the Bakufu), but the arrival of American warships under command of Commodore Matthew Perry destabilized and would ultimately undo the Bakufu. "Sakamoto Ryoma", famed hero of the Ishin period, was murdered that night. The third man says it's ironic that a man so set on moving to the future would get cut down by another stuck so firmly in the past, a man who isn't supposed to exist killing a man with two lives. The viewpoint character finds another injured samurai in the room before a third man sitting at the window draws his attention. The viewpoint character continues on to find the upper level of the inn seemingly empty, narrowly avoiding an ambush from a gunman before cutting the attacker down. As three of their number fight off the guards, the viewpoint character charges upstairs, his compatriots telling him to find Sakamoto Ryoma before he can escape. A group of Shinsengumi approach an inn on a stormy night, charging in and attacking the men inside.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |