Chapter 203

## Portrait

* Volume
* Magazine

**Portrait**, or **Portraits** (似顔絵, *Nigaoe*) is the 203rd chapter of the *Golden Kamuy* manga.

## Synopsis

Koito calls out to an elderly sledge driver to stop or else he will be shot by the sniper, but the driver is confused by his words. Tsukishima raises his cap and surmises that Sugimoto was able to defeat the sniper, leading to Asirpa looking for Sugimoto. Meanwhile, in a certain building, Sugimoto finds various pictures of Ogata and wonders if he had asked Vasily to attack them, asking where Ogata is. Vasily takes a picture of himself and Ogata, bumping them against each other and drops his picture. Sugimoto realizes that Vasily is also an enemy of Ogata and that he is looking for Ogata.

Vasily points to pictures of Asirpa and Shiraishi to signify that they were with Ogata, but Sugimoto takes their pictures away to say that they are not. He then slams the picture of Ogata, saying that he is an enemy and Vasily copies him, slamming Ogata's picture as well. Sugimoto tries to explain what Ogata did to him by drawing a picture of him getting shot but Vasily mistakes his drawing for a spider. Afterwards, Sugimoto tries to explain what had happened to Ogata and that being with Asirpa helps him to feel like he has been saved, not realizing that Asirpa is behind them. The rest of Sugimoto's Group comes in and are perplexed to see Sugimoto and Vasily laying on the floor drawing pictures.

Asirpa recognizes Vasily as one of the Russians who tried to ambush Kiroranke at the Russian border. Tsukishima speaks to Vasily, telling him that Kiroranke has died, that Ogata has gone missing, and that they only came to get Asirpa and have nothing to do with the assassination of the Russian emperor. Outside, Shiraishi angrily greets Vasily and berates him for shooting before talking. However, Shiraishi immediately balks when Vasily takes off his mask to reveal his injury. Shiraishi then jumps on the dog sled and tells Vasily to go back to Russia, calling him an idiot.

Sometime later, as Sugimoto's Group travelled through the snow, Shiraishi notices that Vasily is following them on a horse and wonders if he is suspicious about Kiroranke's death. However, Asirpa says that Vasily no longer cares about Kiroranke as his drawings were on the back of Kiroranke's wanted poster. Shiraishi thinks that Vasily might be able to meet with Ogata if he came along with them and Sugimoto says that Vasily does not plan to stop until either he or Ogata is dead. Asirpa asks if Ogata will come back to them and Sugimoto says that so long as she is the key to solving the code that leads to the gold, there is a chance that he might. Asirpa says that Ogata was about to kill her and wonders if he really wanted the gold and Sugimoto thinks that Ogata is just stirring things up for the fun of it.

Sugimoto's Group returns to the lighthouse couple and gives them a letter from Svetlana, much to their happiness. Sugimoto says that the only one who knows the truth behind everything is Sofia and that he would love to go look for her but cites that Tsukishima and Tanigaki's duties on their trip is over. As Sugimoto and Asirpa stands on top of the lighthouse, Asirpa reveals that Kiroranke and Sofia's plan was to gather allies on the mainland and then cross over into Japan, knowing that Sofia is not the kind of person to come to the mainland just to run away.

In a certain port town in Russa located on the coast of the Sea of Japan, Gansoku is fighting with several of Sofia's comrades when Sofia decides to challenge him. Gansoku is initially hesitant about fighting a woman but he quickly changes his mind after receiving several blows from Sofia and fights back. Suddenly, Svetlana fires off a shot and asks Sofia not to hurt Gansoku anymore. After the fight, Sofia tells Gansoku that she is impressed by him and asks him to join her but Gansoku says that he and Svetlana are heading west to the Russian capital where he will be able to fight strong opponents. Svetlana asks Sofia where she will go and Sofia reveals that for the sake of their hopes and revenge, she will head to Hokkaido.

## Character Appearances

* Saichi Sugimoto
* Asirpa
* Yoshitake Shiraishi
* Otonoshin Koito
* Hajime Tsukishima
* Genjirou Tanigaki
* Vasily
* Hyakunosuke Ogata *(drawing)*
* Kiroranke *(drawing)*
* Cikapasi
* Enonoka
* Svetlana
* Maiharu Gansoku
* Sofia