Chapter 24

## What Lives On

* Color
* Volume

**What Lives On** (生き抜いた価値, *Ikinuita kachi*) is the 24th chapter of the *Golden Kamuy* manga.

## Synopsis

Sugimoto sees a nightmare where he is suddenly back at war, with flying bullets, flesh, and blood all around him. As badly injured Sugimoto keeps running, he tells himself that he refuses to lay down and die; he will survive, no matter what.

In the morning, Asirpa and Sugimoto continue their search for the deer. Asirpa finds traces of the deer's presence: the place where it slept and its droppings. In the meantime, Nihei and Tanigaki are discussing their hunting strategy. Nihei suggests they shoot a deer to use it as bait for the wolf. Tanigaki says they have leftover bear meat, but Nihei tells him about the American Rancher who spread strychnine-laced bait all over his ranch to protect his horses. The man also advised this method to other ranches, which resulted in most of Hokkaido wolves being exterminated, with at least a dozen of wolves dying every day. However, there was a wolf that raised his leg and urinated on the poisoned meat instead of eating it; due to being extremely clever, that wolf managed to survive till this day.

Asirpa shows Sugimoto more deer droppings; she says it's still warm and puts it in Sugimoto's hand, warning him that he can't eat this kind of *osoma*. Sugimoto throws away the droppings, yelling that there is no kind of *osoma* anyone can eat.

They notice more tracks, and Asirpa concludes that the deer must be getting tired. She points at the tree nearby and tells Sugimoto that the deer must be hiding in there. She explains her strategy to Sugimoto, and Sugimoto mentally prepares to shoot the deer, promising himself he will take the animal down in one shot, ending its suffering.

Nihei and Tanigaki search for a deer to hunt. Nihei praises his dog Ryu, saying he can pick out the freshest, strongest scent from a jumble of different deer tracks. Nihei notes that Ryu is considerate of his owners and will check up if they're keeping up, adjusting his own pace to match with that of the hunters. Nihei then asks Tanigaki if his broken leg bothers him. Ryu starts fidgeting and acting strange, refusing to go any further. The legendary hunter realizes that Ryu must have picked up a wolf's scent, so Nihei grabs his dog by the leash and leads his party into the wolf territory.

When Asirpa lures the deer out of its hiding, Sugimoto draws his gun at it. But as he sees the deer running at him, Sugimoto hesitates, seeing his own frenzied self in the face of the deer. The deer hits Sugimoto's rifle with its horns, causing it to go off, and escapes. However, it gets caught by Retar who pins it down to the ground. Asirpa and Sugimoto walk up to the struggling deer. Asirpa asks Sugimoto why didn't he shoot even though he said he would finish it off. Anxious, Sugimoto attempts to explain why he hesitated. Seeing the deer fight for its life despite the blood that was pouring from its wound getting frozen, Sugimoto couldn't move a muscle as he realizes that the deer is *him*.

Asirpa stabs the deer in the neck, killing it swiftly. She calls Sugimoto out, saying that if he isn't ready to see it through to the end, he shouldn't fire his gun in the first place. She then cuts the deer's stomach open and asks Sugimoto to put his hands inside of its body. Sugimoto does as Asirpa said and comments that his numb hands are getting warmer from the heat of the body. Asirpa tells Sugimoto that the deer warmed him in its death, the warmth reaching him and giving him life. Hearing her words, Sugimoto is reassured.

In the distance, Nihei and Tanigaki realize they just heard a gunshot from a Type 30 rifle, the same one Tanigaki carries.

## Character Appearances

* Saichi Sugimoto
* Genjirou Tanigaki
* Asirpa
* Tetsuzou Nihei
* Ryu
* Retar
* American Rancher *(Mentioned)*

## Trivia

* The American ranch owner that Nihei mentions is implied to be Eddie Dun, who is based on real life Edwin Dun, an rancher who moved to Hokkaido and was employed as a foreign government advisor for the Hokkaido Development Commission (Kaitakushi) and advised the Japanese government on modernizing agricultural techniques. He is deemed responsible for initiating government policies to eradicate wolves with strychnine and hunting for bounties, which drove the Hokkaido wolf to extinction by 1895.