Chapter 264

## The Woman He Saw at the Hospital in Otaru

**The Woman He Saw at the Hospital in Otaru**, or **The Woman at the Hospital in Otaru** (小樽の病院で見た女, *Otaru no byōin de mita on'na*) is the 264th chapter of the *Golden Kamuy* manga.

## Synopsis

Sofia slaps Tsukishima's horse's butt to get it moving while her comrades overwhelm Koito and Nikaidou with gunfires, causing Koito to order Nikaidou to cover him while he moves around to flank the Russians. Sofia cuts the ropes on the bag that Tsukishima is carrying and points her gun at Tsukishima's head, but he reacts quickly and headbutts her before elbowing her in the face and taking her arm carrying the gun.

Sofia fires and kills the horse they are on, causing them to tumble to the ground as Sofia calls out for Asirpa in the bag and grabs it in order to protect young the Ainu girl. She hits a pole with her head, causing it to bleed but she gets up and opens the bag to find it is full of soldier gear. Sofia goes to grab her gun but Tsukishima kicks it away and she rams into Tsukishima before attempting to flee. However, her head injury causes her to fall unconscious and Tsukishima wonders just who Sofia is.

Sofia's comrades struggles with Koito fighting back against them and they decide to call for reinforcements but Tsurumi and Kikuta drives by and guns them both down. The 7th Division notes that their opponents were Russians and Tsukishima claims that he saw Sofia at the hospital in Otaru with Koito wondering if the Russians had chased them all the way from Akou prison.

Tsukishima believes they may also be after Asirpa and that they have a serious grudge against their group and Nikaidou asks if they should kill Sofia before she wakes up. Tsurumi declines Nikaidou's suggestion, teling them to load her onto the steam pumper as a prisoner and get some information from her, noting that Kiroranke is likely to have many more allies out there. Tsurumi also states that the barracks at Tsukisamu is still quite some distance away, which puts them at risk and says that they will change their plans to hide Asirpa somewhere nearby for the time being.

Sugimoto continues his futile chase on foot when Shiraishi pulls up in the beer car and Sugimto demands that he drives faster. However, he gets annoyed when a cat is walking faster than them and attempts to drive himself but runs the beer car into a pile of log, sending Boutarou's corpse flying out. After loading Boutarou's corpse back in the beer car, Sugimoto asks Shiraishi if he had seen Kikuta before but Shiraishi says he only remembers seeing Tsurumi. Sugimoto then asks Shiraishi about Boutarou's final words and Shiraishi reveals that he had told him to give up on being an "Escape King", to settle down, and tell his children about Boutarou. Sugimoto thinks back on meeting Kikuta who had asked him where he called home and he asks if Shiraishi didn't get any info about the Ainu from Boutarou, but Shiraishi confirms that Boutarou had indeed told him.

At a church, Tsurumi orders his men to find the other soldiers and not to return until they've eliminated any pursuers. He also warns them not to underestimate the Russians as they are guerillas who fought against the Russian empire and that they shall hide in the church until reinforcements from Asahikawa arrives. Tsukishima shows Tsurumi one of Sofia's belongings, a photograph of Sofia, Wilk, and Kiroranke and Tsurumi's brain fluid begins to leak out as he stares at the picture.

## Character Appearances

* Sofia
* Hajime Tsukishima
* Otonoshin Koito
* Kouhei Nikaidou
* Asirpa
* Tokushirou Tsurumi
* Mokutarou Kikuta
* Kiroranke *(Mentioned)* *(Cameo)*
* Saichi Sugimoto
* Yoshitake Shiraishi
* Fusatarou Oosawa
* Wilk *(Cameo)*