Chapter 90

## Artist

* Color
* Volume

**Artist** (芸術家, *Geijutsuka*) is the 90th chapter of the *Golden Kamuy* manga.

## Synopsis

As Kumagishi falls to his knees after being shot with an arrow, Sugimoto shoots the convicts who attempts to reload. While Asirpa tries to take out the arrow out of Kumagishi, Sugimoto takes a look at the arrowhead from the convict and sees that it has poison on it. Asirpa laments that they cannot do anything since the arrowhead is in Kumagishi's stomach, otherwise he could still be saved. Elsewhere, several convicts were shown to be powerless in the might of the frenzied bear. They were further helpless against the wrath of the Ainu women who beat them to death.

Retanno Ekasi is hiding from these women, when the bear finds him and he lets out a scream which Ushiyama hears. Ushiyama sees that the bear has assaulted Retanno Ekasi, baring his back which shows the Abashiri tattoo on it. Ushiyama walks up to the bear, telling it to let go of Retanno Ekasi as it stands up to confront him. The bear attempts to attack him, but Ushiyama effortlessly blocks its paws, grabs it and throws it down the hill. At the bottom, the bear sees Ushiyama goading it on but notices the tranquility of nature besides it. The bear takes one more look at Ushiyama before walking away as Ushiyama says to go and tell the other bears the legend of Ushiyama.

Kumagishi attempts to tell Asirpa that the taxidermists's fake skins all might have something in common and should bear some evidence of his obsession. He reveals that whenever he makes counterfeit, he was always moved by his obsession and determination to make a fake that is better than the real thing. He laments over his own pride and that he just wanted to make something real, so that he wouldn't have to make counterfeits. As he passes away, he says that he wanted to make a real work of art that would change somebody's lives forever and remembers the drawing of Sister Miyazawa that he made. As Asirpa leaves the house, she confirms that Kumagishi had died before noticing the numerous corpses on the field. Ogata says that it was all the work of Sugimoto and says that he is a dangerous person. Asirpa is stunned by the sight as Sugimoto laid his hand on her shoulder, asking if she is alright.

In an inn in Tsukigata, Kiroranke says that it's a big deal that they were able to go to Yubari and discover the existence of the fake skins so quickly and that Tsurumi wouldn't have imagined that his scheme would be discovered so quickly. However, Hijikata says that so long as they don't have a means to distinguish the real skins from the fake skins, it isn't much of a setback for Tsurumi. Both Nagakura and Ienaga bemoan that they may not be able to distinguish them and that they had no choice but to depend on Shiraishi. Shiraishi says that he has to use the bathroom and heads downstairs to see Sugimoto who beckons him to come outside.

Once outside, Sugimoto tells Shiraishi that he finally remembered something and talks about how they met a certain old man after Henmi had died. Sugimoto realized who the old man was and thaat Shiraishi had been working with Hijikata, giving him information about them. As Shiraishi denies it and tries to run away, Sugimoto takes out his sword and brutally stabs Shiraishi in the back as he screams Sugimoto's name. Shiraishi wakes up covered in cold sweat and sees that it was just a nightmare. He expresses fear about what will happen if he is with Sugimoto as he leaves the inn to escape. Outside, he comes face to face with numerous military soldiers who asks him if he is Shiraishi as he realizes that he is in an even more complicated situation.

## Character Appearances

* Saichi Sugimoto
* Asirpa
* Chouan Kumagishi
* Retanno Ekasi
* Tatsuma Ushiyama
* Hyakunosuke Ogata
* Kiroranke
* Kano Ienaga
* Toshizou Hijikata
* Shinpachi Nagakura
* Yoshitake Shiraishi