Chapter 253

## Her Father's Sullied Name

**Her Father's Sullied Name**, or **Father's Dishonorable Name** (父の汚名, *Chichi no Omei*) is the 253rd chapter of the *Golden Kamuy* manga.

## Synopsis

Toni’s team approaches Hijikata’s team, asking where the criminal is and Hijikata tells them that Ostrog fled into the brewery. Hijikata also states that he had seen the criminals’ face, recoognizing him to be a foreigner and thus one of the tattooed convicts. Toni reveals that he heard gunfire from the direction of Ushiyama’s team and that it came from the kind of rifle that soldiers carry, believing that Ushiyama’s team must be caught in a separate conflict. Hijikata then declares that they will capture Ostrog and retreat quickly before telling everyone to look for a trail of blood as Ostrog has been wounded.

In the tower, Ogata realizes that the firing pin on his rifle has been destroyed and wonders if Usami’s rifle is still on the ground. As Ogata climbs down the tower, he wonders if Hanazawa’s spectre is saving him or trying to get in his way. In the brewery, Sugimoto and the 7th Division soldiers are still drunk as the latter are unable to coordinate their attacks and ends up hurting themselves as a result. Sugimoto manages to find his Type 30 and heads out looking for Asirpa.

Asirpa does not believe Kikuta’s words but Kikuta asks if she has seen an Ainu gold coin, causing her to break out in a cold sweat. Kikuta continues, saying that he had found several gold coins among the Ainu belongings, which could only be found by the first people who investigated the scene as they would most likely be the first thing that gets stolen by anyone else. He reveals that they confirmed the existence of the buried Ainu gold and that he had immediately realized upon seeing the tattooed skins that Wilk was the one who made the gold coins.

Kikuta states that Tsurumi also knows other things as well and attempts to get Asirpa to come with him, promising to reveal whether her father killed the Ainu men. After a moment’s hesitation, Asirpa declares that to her, the future of the Ainu that her father entrusted to her is more important than clearing up her father’s name. Becoming desperate, Kikuta exclaims that if she does not abandon the gold, all of the people around her will get killed but Asirpa argues that he is only bringing up that issue now after how far things have gone.

Unbeknownst to Asirpa, Usami prepares to ambush her from behind, but Kadokura tackles Usami, telling Asirpa to run as they would be in big trouble if she got caught by the 7th Division. Asirpa makes her escape despite Kikuta’s plead and Usami attempts to stab Kadokura but he rolls out of the way and knocks Kikuta down. Asirpa runs into the brewery and Kikuta attempts to give chase but is stopped when Asirpa fires a poisioned arrow at him. Meanwhile, Usami chases after Kadokura, telling him to come back while Kadokura is bewildered that Usami only comes after him.

On the grounds of the brewery, a hooded person attempts to pick up Usami’s rifle but is shot in the head by Vasily. The hooded person is revealed to be a man paid to be a sacrifice for Ogata so that he can pick up the rifle while Vasily is reloading. Ogata jumps through the windows of the brewery and taunts Vasily missing his shots as Vasily grunts in frustration. Inside the brewery, Toni pinpoints movement coming from deeper in the building while Ariko spots a puddle of blood nearby and Kantarou exclaims that Ostrog cannot escape from them. As Ostrog tends to his injuries, he spots Asirpa walking around nearby.

## Character Appearances

* Kantarou
* Shinpachi Nagakura
* Rikimatsu Ariko
* Anji Toni
* Toshizou Hijikata
* Michael Ostrog
* Hyakunosuke Ogata
* Kouhei Nikaidou
* Saichi Sugimoto
* Hajime Tsukishima
* Otonoshin Koito
* Asirpa
* Kikuta
* Tokishige Usami
* Kadokura
* Vasily