Chapter 16

## Shinigami

* Color
* Volume

**Shinigami** (死神, *Shinigami*) is the 16th chapter of the *Golden Kamuy* manga.

## Synopsis

First Lieutenant Tsurumi appears and fires his gun in the air, demanding his soldiers stop attacking Sugimoto as he doesn't want him dead yet. Tsurumi smiles at Sugimoto and says that it's him who decides when Sugimoto will die.

Sugimoto is restrained and taken to the 7th Division barracks for interrogation. He tells Tsurumi that he is working for a man whose favorite proustite got hurt, so he is looking for some guy with a tattoo to pay him back for what he did. However, Tsurumi doesn't seem to believe Sugimoto's words; instead, he asks him if he likes sweets and offers Sugimoto a dango skewer. While Sugimoto eats a dango, Tsurumi mentions how they found one of his men washed up on the riverbank, barely clinging to life. When the man came to his senses, he wrote a single word with his finger: "immortal".

Hearing this, Sugimoto attempts to leave, and Tsurumi accuses him of attacking Superior Private Ogata. The twins order Sugimoto to sit down, but Sugimoto mocks them, asking if he can mark one of them to tell apart, which angers the brothers. Sugimoto sits down and tries to explain himself, claiming they got the wrong guy and his name isn't even Sugimoto. Tsurumi says that he's seen Sugimoto the Immortal once, back in Port Arthur. He watched him cut his way across the battlefield "as though he was possessed by the devil himself", a sight so fascinating Tsurumi couldn't tear his eyes away. The First Lieutenant tells Sugimoto that he recognized him when he saw him fight in front on the soba restaurant, but Sugimoto denies being at Port Arthur. Tsurumi asserts that Ogata must have fought Sugimoto because he was in possession of tattooed skins and was looking for the hidden gold; that also explains why Sugimoto tried to run away from the 7th Division. Sugimoto keeps denying knowing anything about the tattoos or the gold and asks if Tsurumi is all right in the head. Tsurumi laughs and replies that a shell blew away a small part of his brain. The twins let out a small laugh too, and Sugimoto joins them, thinking it was a joke.

Suddenly, Tsurumi stabs Sugimoto with the dango skewer, piercing it through his cheeks and mouth. Sugimoto remains silent, and Tsurumi compliments him on his toughness, saying he knew he really is Sugimoto the Immortal. Tsurumi warns Sugimoto that there's a way for him to destroy his "life's candle".

Meanwhile, Asirpa and Retar get readied to start their search for Sugimoto. Asirpa gives Sugimoto's sock to Retar he would follow his scent. She decides they should start searching at night so Retar wouldn't stand out too much.

Tsurumi offers Sugimoto to join his unit. He reveals that he's lost a lot of good men in the war and is short on soldiers as he has less than a hundred men scattered all over Hokkaido. Sugimoto argues that less than a hundred is still a big number of people to share the gold with, but Tsurumi explains that the gold will be used for military expenditures. He reveals that he is planning on buying weapons from Americans, take over the 7th Division, then commander the ports that ship vital resources from Hokkaido to the rest of Japan, and finally take over Hokkaido altogether. Tsurumi claims that the soldiers who were heroes on the battlefield returned home to the life of a vagrant; they've lost more than they've gained for service. Tsurumi once again asks Sugimoto to join forces with him, saying a courageous soldier like him is exactly who he wants in his army. Sugimoto takes out the skewer that Tsurumi stabbed him with and rejects the Lieutenant's offer.

## Character Appearances

* Asirpa
* Retar
* Saichi Sugimoto
* Kouhei Nikaidou
* Youhei Nikaidou
* Tokushirou Tsurumi
* Hyakunosuke Ogata *(Mentioned)*
* Houzou Tamai *(Cameo)*

## Trivia

* In Japanese culture, Shinigami is a deity or personification of death, a spirit that invites humans toward death.
* The "ふ" hiragana symbol Tsurumi draws with a dango skewer means "fu", which is the first syllable of the word "immortal" (不死身, *fujimi*).