Chapter 216

## Mysterious White Bear

**Mysterious White Bear**, or **The Mysterious White Bear** (謎の白い熊, *Nazo no Shiroi Kuma*) is the 216th chapter of the *Golden Kamuy* manga.

## Synopsis

Sugimoto wonders if the beast before them is a polar bear that had rode on the drift ice to Karafuto. Asirpa notes that it has left its den way too early for a brown bear and that it might be a matakarip that was unable to hibernate. Sugimoto tells Asirpa to stand back as he will take care of the bear while Asirpa laments that she used up all of her arrows on the 7th Division.

Asirpa takes a closer look at the bear and notices that it has such beautiful white fur and that its pelt would sell for a lot of money. Shiraishi is baffled and asks how much it would sell for but Sugimoto tells Shiraishi to be quiet so as not to rile up the bear, but he shoots a side look to Asirpa, asking how much they could get for it.

Asirpa states that a regular bear pelt sells for four yen and that the white bear’s fur would sell for at least a dozen times that. The bear begins to roar, causing Vasily to load his rifle, before losing its footing and falling into the water. Sugimoto orders Vasily not to shoot as the bear would just sink into the ocean if it dies. Despite Sugimoto’s constant warnings, Vasily prepares to shoot at the bear, causing Sugimoto to get frustrated at him. As Sugimoto prepares to shoot the bear himself, Asirpa tells Sugimoto to kill the bear in one shot as its pelt filled with bullet holes would sell for a lot less money.

Shiraishi does not believe that Sugimoto is able to retrieve the pelt without a single marking on it, calling him a lousy shot. Sugimoto then suggests shooting the bear in the brain through its eyes but Asirpa says it is a bad idea as bears have small eyes and any marks left around the eyes would stand out more. He then asks about the nose, but Asirpa just laughs and says that if the skin on the snout gets damaged, the value of the pelt drops by more than half. Displeased, Sugimoto believes the only option is to wait for the bear to open its mouth and shoot at its brain or heart, however Asirpa exclaims that the bullet would just rip through the back of the head or the chest.

Having ran out of ideas, Sugmoto prepares to shoot the bear as he taunts it to come up at him. As the bear climbs on the ice platform, Sugimoto is launched into the air and over the bear behind it. Shiraishi begins to freak out and tells Vasily to shoot at the bear. Sugimoto then recalls Wakayama and Anehata’s encounter with several bears as he plunges his rifle into the bear’s anus, firing it and killing the bear. As Asirpa and Shiraishi goes to help Sugimoto up, the ice platform holding the bear begins to break off and floats away, much to everyone’s dismay.

Vasily points out an Ainu boat nearby and Sugimoto’s Group hops on it. They tell the Ainu men about the white bear and one of them asks if they want to go back and search for it. Asirpa says that it is fine as they need a place to rest and the Ainu man tells them a story about a white bear cub that their kotan had found but was ultimately taken away by a government official. He reveals that the white bear cub had been found with his brother, who had dark fur so the white cub may have been an albino.

As Sugimoto wonders if the bear they ran into was a brown bear with white fur or just a polar bear that drifted all the way from the North Pole, Asirpa exclaims that they’ve returned to Hokkaido. Several days later, Koito is resting on the ferry, lamenting how pitiful he is but his father just looks around before saying that he is glad that his son is alive. Meanwhile, Tsukishima looks out solemnly onto the ocean.

## Character Appearances

* Saichi Sugimoto
* Asirpa
* Vasily
* Yoshitake Shiraishi
* Kiichirou Wakayama *(Flashback)*
* Shiton Anehata *(Flashback)*
* Otonoshin Koito
* Heiji Koito
* Hajime Tsukishima