Otonoshin Koito/Story

Overview
**Story**
Gallery

## Background

Otonoshin Koito grew up in the city of Kagoshima as the second son of Commander Heiji Koito and Yuki Koito and attended school at Kaijou, a preparatory school for students going to the Imperial Naval Academy. When Koito was eight years old, his older brother Heinojou Koito was killed in the Sino-Japanese War.

Because of their upbringing and their fathers being friends, Koito and Yuusaku Hanazawa met before and possibly were on good terms.

One day at the age of 14, Koito took a De Dion-Bouton vehicle that his father had received from an acquaintance in France and began to ride it around town, much to the excitement of the other kids, and the annoyance of the adults. As he heads towards a corner of a wall, Tokushirou Tsurumi suddenly steps out, startling Koito as he crashes into the older man. Koito immediately got up and apologized to Tsurumi, who says that he is at fault for suddenly stepping out and shows interest in Koito's vehicle.

Tsurumi asks Koito for directions to Saigou Takamori's grave and Koito decides to make up for hitting him by giving him a ride on his vehicle. As they head up a hill, Tsurumi complains that the De Dion-Bouton is quite slow and that a horse would be faster. Koito counters that horses can't run downhill on steep slopes so the vehicle would be faster on the way back down. Upon arriving at the graveyard, Tsurumi thanks Koito and gives him some Tsukisappu anpan to eat. Koito asks him what Tsukisappu is and Tsurumi tells him that it is the name of the area where the anpan were made before asking what are some of the delicious foods in Kagoshima.

Koito thinks about the answer for a moment before replying Sakurajima daikon and he breaks off a piece of the anpan to place on a gravestone. Tsurumi asks Koito to whom the grave belongs to and Koito reveals that it belongs to his older brother. He described his brother as having pale skin like their mother, so he would make fun of him, calling him "Sakurajima daikon". Despite the teasing, his older brother never once got angry and that he was a kind older brother. Koito laments that he should have been the one to die and Tsurumi asks him to tell him more about what happened to his brother.

Koito declines Tsurumi's request, saying that he has already spoken too much to a person he has only just met. In response, Tsurumi says that he does not believe that he has any duty to his father to fill in the hole left behind by his brother. Tsurumi's words cause Koito to pause momentarily before revealing what had happened to his brother and his death's effect on him and his father. As he takes Tsurumi back down, Koito reveals that his brother may be feeling lonely soon as his family is relocating to Hakodate due to his father's work. As they say their farewells to each other, Tsurumi believes that they will meet again, which Koito is uncertain about, but Tsurumi believes that they will.

Two years after moving to Hakodate, a sixteen-year-old Koito is driving around the city on his father's De Dion-Bouton, ignoring the townsfolk's gossiping about him. Suddenly, a person riding a horse stops right in front of him, causing Koito to yell at him that he is in the way and to move out of the way. However, two men come out of a carriage that had stopped next to him, with one of them putting a cloth over his head and drags him inside.

Koito is taken to Fort Goryokaku where he is given some water by his kidnappers. He recognizes the language that his kidnappers used and says that as he is the son of a Navy man, he is aware of Russia's movements to the South and can sense a threat of war on the horizon. He assumes that his kidnapping is related to the Ominato Torpedo Division that his father is in charge of and that his father will never do the bidding of Russia just for his sake. Sometime later, the kidnappers give Koito some anpan which he immediately recognizes the taste of.

One of the kidnappers asks where the other kidnapper had gotten the food and upon finding out, takes the food away saying that it is really old. Afterwards, the kidnappers contacts Heiji and allow Koito to speak with him. When Heiji says that he cannot save him, Koito interrupts him, apologizing that he could not be the son to him that his brother was and to think as if he had never been born in the first place. Once he had finished, Koito thrusts his head back into one of the kidnappers, injuring him and begins to strangle him with his legs.

Koito continues to fight back against the kidnappers, but he is easily overwhelmed and thrown to the floor by them. Powerless, Koito asks them to kill him, saying that if his father finds out that he died fighting, he might think a little more of him. Just then, Heiji kicks the door open and screams Koito's name, surprising him. One of the kidnappers goes to confront Heiji while the other kidnapper keeps his gun pointed at Koito's head, calling him a "pampered little rich boy" in Russian. The kidnapper ties up Koito to a pillar and leaves to fight and Koito can only scream for his father as he hears gunshots going off. The door opens once more and Koito is amazed to see Tsurumi who greets him, saying that they did meet again after all.

Koito is released from his bindings and he waits for his father to regain consciousness. Upon waking up, Heiji sees Koito, noticing that he is safe and says that he is proud of him for fighting well, causing Koito to shed some tears. As Tsurumi takes off the mask of one of the kidnappers, he says that he will investigate them but doubts that they will be able to find any connection to the Russian government. Koito informs Tsurumi that the kidnappers had fed him some Tsukisappu Anpan and Tsurumi notes that the building had once been used by the army and that the food must have been left behind. Koito says that he had never imagined that the "Tsukisappu Anpan person" would come and save him, saying that it must be fate that they met again. Tsurumi jokes that perhaps it was the Tsukisappu Anpan that had brought them together, as he pulls and releases Heiji's overall straps.

Sometime later, Koito decides to apply for the Imperial Japanese Army's military academy instead of the naval academy and manages to pass. He and his father head to the 7th Division's headquarters in Asahikawa to inform Tsurumi of the news. Heiji says that so long as Koito becomes a great officer, it does not matter whether Koito is in the Navy or the Army and asks Tsurumi to take care of him. Tsurumi tells them that he believes that Koito will be vital in bridging the gap between the Army and the Navy, causing Koito to become shy and speak in the Satsuma dialect as he bows. After meeting Tsurumi, the father and son begin to leave as Koito notes that Tsurumi is as cool as ever. They pass by Ogata on the stairs and Koito stops to glare at him.

## Plot

### Journey to Karafuto Arc

Koito and the others continue to wait inside the banya while the wolverine is still outside. Just then, Gansoku raises the temperature of the room and takes out a venik, slapping the soldiers with it. In retaliation, the soldiers take the venik and begins to slap Gansoku as Koito wonders if it is all a part of Sugimoto's brilliant plan but is rebutted by Tsukishima. They then notice that the wolverine has turned its attention to Sugimoto and Koito comments that there is a wild animal doing battle with a monster.

As Sugimoto and Gansoku begin to fight each other, Koito wonders if they should help while Tsukishima asks who he intends to help and Tanigaki says that the fight must be stopped. The three of them rushed in to break up the fight but the ice underneath them breaks, sending them all into the cold water below. They immediately jumped out and back into the banya to raise their body temperature. In the banya, Koito asks Sugimoto what his brilliant plan was but he replied that he had forgotten. He silently listened as Gansoku tells Sugimoto about his encounter with Asirpa. When Gansoku says his farewells and left Karafuto, Koito asks Tsukishima if it really is alright to let the convict go without consulting Tsurumi. Tsukishima tells Koito that Tsurumi has left all the decision making to him, thus he has decided to let Gansoku leave with his own life.

### Karafuto Circus Arc

Sugimoto's group comes to a Karafuto Ainu village that is located just to the east of Toyohara and Odomari, and Sugimoto says that they will stay in the village for the day. Koito suggests that they should keep going ahead to Toyohara and sullenly says that Toyohara must have some wonderful inn to which Tsukishima responds that they will be in Toyohara the next day to do some shopping. They eventually reach Toyohara and soon afterwards, Sugimoto's bag with Gansoku's tattoo was stolen by a young boy so Koito, Tsukishima, and Sugimoto takes chase after him. As Tsukishima splits up with them, the thief manages to make his way to the rooftops but Koito is able to momentarily keep up with him before losing him as the boy walks across a wire and continues on ground. Koito is able to find the boy and fires off a gunshot, catching everyone's attentions, asking if the boy really thought he got away from him.

The thief and his master begins to apologize for the former's action before the master took out his sword, cutting the boy across the face. They were able to clear up the misunderstanding as it was part of a magic trick and that the blood is fake. The two then reveal that they are performers that belongs to the Yamada Circus Troupe. This gives Sugimoto a plan to join their performance so that Asirpa can find out he is alive by having the whole town of Toyohara talk about his show.

Initially, Yamada refuses Sugimoto's request but relents after Sugimoto threatens him and at Choukichi's suggestion. They are then led into the troupe's tent where they see some of the Yamada Troupe's performances and are given an opprtunity to try them out as well. Koito performs splendidly in all of the acts given to him which amazes both Yamada and Choukichi. Sugimoto tells Koito to tone down his acts since he needs to be the one the town is talking about but Koito thinks that Sugimoto is just being jealous.

Koito moves on to practice the standing atop a single bamboo pole act while being coached by Choukichi on how to gain the audience's affection. He is interrupted by Sugimoto who tells him that he is not needed in the performance. Koito then shoots back that Sugimoto lacks any confidence in his own act and that he needs to make a performance that will surpass his own, which Sugimoto is unable to dispute due to it being a reasonable argument. Koito continued working on his performances until the day of their opening arrived as the whole troupe got ready for their show.

Koito takes part in the show performing the bamboo pole act and managing to earn the affection of some female members of the crowd. He then prepares for the inclined tightrope act but upon seeing a photograph of Tsurumi, becomes frantic. Koito chases the photo as it flies around the stage, interfering with but not interrupting the other performer's acts before managing to catch it with a graceful landing, which amuses the whole crowd. Believing that Sugimoto was responsible, he curses him out.

In retaliation, Koito switches the fake blade that Sugimoto will use for his *harakiri* show with the blade of his military sabre. Afterwards he takes another look at the photo and realizes that it is a different one, to which Tsukishima approached him and confessed that he was the one who put the photo there. He then expressed nervousness and admitted what he had done in order to get back at Sugimoto.

When Sugimoto cuts himself with Koito's blade, he looks around and sees both Koito and Tsukishima holding the fake one, but Sugimoto decides to continue with the *harakiri* show much to Koito's surprise. As Sugimoto prepares to cut his stomach, Koito and the others notice several Russian men walking on stage, one of whom points a gun at Sugimoto. However, Sugimoto is able to kill two of them, much to the amusement of the crowd, thinking it is part of the show, and Yamada tells everyone to go out for the final bow so that they can gather the bodies.

Sometime later, Sugimoto's Group interrogates the lone surviving Russian and finds out that they were sent to kill Yamada who reveals himself to be a former spy for the Imperial Army. As both Sugimoto's Group and the Yamada Troupe prepare to leave Toyohara, Yamada tries unsuccessfully to recruit Koito, who says Tsurumi would scold him if he did that. Yamada then tells Sugimoto's Group about the Alexandrovskaya Prison and Sugimoto's Group believes that is where Kiroranke will ultimately head to.

### Border Crossing Arc

Sugimoto's group uses Enonoka's dog sleds to travel north up to the national border, however they are beset by a heavy snowstorm, which Koito makes notes of. Just as Enonoka's grandfather is able to find a nearby building, Tsukishima notices that Sugimoto's sled is not following them and tells him to stop. He then fires off a gunshot from his rifle, which Tanigaki replies with his own. Tsukishima turns to Koito and asks him if he heard something but Koito is unable to hear him through the strong winds.

Tsukishima continues to look for Sugimoto's party, but Koito tells him that they will be in trouble too if they stay any longer in the blizzard. They both then hopped back onto the sled as Tsukishima says they should head to the building that Enonoka's grandfather saw earlier. Within, Koito is surprised to see cows, saying that someone must be living there but Tsukishima says they should focus on getting warmed up first. Koito turns to Tsukishima, asking about Sugimoto's party, and Tsukishima tells him that since Tanigaki is with them, they won't die so easily.

Koito and Tsukishima heads out to find Sugimoto's party once more, with Tsukishima firing off a gunshot. They are then approached by an elderly Russian man and Koito wonders if he lives here. Tsukishima explains to the Russian man that their companions got lost and the Russian man tells them to come with him. He takes the both of them to an old lighthouse which he has the two soldiers clean up for use. Once they turned it on, Koito attempts to look for Sugimoto's party through the glass but Tsukishima tells him not to stand in front of the light as he'll block it out.

As Sugimoto, Tanigaki, and Cikapasi rejoined them, Koito takes in some *sushka* bread and tea, saying that he would love to tell Tsurumi about the food and laughs as the three huddles in the space above the *pechka* to warm themselves up. Sometime later, when Sugimoto and Tanigaki helps Enonoka's grandfather make another sled, Koito gets a hammer stuck on his hand and yells for Tsukishima to help. Tsukishima tells him that it is due to the cold temperature and calls for someone to urinate on it, which Sugimoto volunteers to do so, causing Koito to run outside.

The Russian couple then prepares some food for Sugimoto's group and they all gather around a table to eat it. Koito notices a picture of a woman and asks if she is their daughter, only to get a grim reaction from them. The Russian couple then tells them about how their daughter was taken by some Russian army deserters, and Sugimoto asks if they could borrow a picture of their daughter. Once they had finished eating, Sugimoto's group says their farewells to the Russian couple and departs for their next destination.

Sugimoto's group comes to a Karafuto Ainu in the Niitoi area where they decided to stay while looking for Asirpa and the Russian couple's daughter, Svetlana. As they rested, they overhear Cikapasi and Enonoka talking about a *meko oyasi* which Tsukishima was able to identify as being a lynx. Koito then wonders if they are talking about Ogata and Sugimoto wonders about the correlation.

Tsukishima says that "wildcat" is a slang term for "geisha", calling it a pathetic joke that was passed around in their division. Koito tells Sugimoto about Ogata's personality and that there are many people, including him, who hates Ogata, saying that a wildcat can also refer to a fraud or deceiving people. He finishes by saying that if there is a lesson to be learned, that if one were to spot a thieving cat, one must shoot to kill.

### Pet Monster Arc

As Sugimoto stares at a copy of Gansoku's tattoo, Tsukishima asks him if he realized something but Koito says that Sugimoto won't be able to solve it since he is an idiot. Sugimoto retorts, saying that he did realize something but he will not tell either of them. They then hear a loud commotion coming from outside and finds that an escaped killer has taken Enonoka captive. Koito tries to come up with a plan to save Enonoka but Sugimoto and Cikapasi are able to rescue her.

With the escaped killer subdued and tied up, Sugimoto says that he could've taken care of him since the Ainu does not have a death penalty, but the Ainu men tells him that they have their own ways of doing things, which Koito expresses curiousity about. The Ainu men reveal that they stab needles into the criminal's eyes and bury the criminals alive in a bottomless casket, which Koito notes that even when punishing criminals, the Ainu wishes to avoid directly killing them.

Sugimoto's Group runs into an Orok settlement on their journey and Koito runs off to chase a little reindeer. When Sugimoto suggests to put a reindeer collar on his neck, Koito remarks that Sugimoto is a nasty person for the suggestion and asks Tsukishima to agree but he stays silent while staring at the collar. In the tent, Sugimoto says that Akou Prison isn't far and that Asirpa must be close so they should hurry. Cikapasi and Enonoka finds some carved statues and Sugimoto's Group argues about what kind of animal it is with Koito wondering if it might be a wolverine from Karafuto. Afterwards, Sugimoto's Group leaves the settlement for Akou Prison.

### Akou Prison Break Arc

As they got closer to the prison, they hear a loud explosion and sees smoke flowing in the distance. Using his binoculars, Tsukishima tells everyone that the smoke is coming from Akou Prison.

Upon arriving at Akou Prison, they find that they were too late as Asirpa's Group has already left. Sugimoto has Ryu sniff out Asirpa's scent from her knife but Koito is skeptical that Asirpa's Group would escape over the drift ice, causing Sugimoto to say that he believes in Ryu. When Cikapasi and Enonoka suddenly screams, the adults turn to see that an Amur tiger had popped out from a hole in the prison's wall. Tsukishima and Tanigaki both shoots at the tiger, managing to scare it away.

Sugimoto's Group attempts to look for Asirpa's Group but their sleds are unable to maneuver across the drift ice as it has become too rough and uneven and Tanigaki warns that the weather might get worse, saying that it would be too dangerous to go after Asirpa's Group. However, Sugimoto is adamant that Asirpa is close and cuts Ryu's leash to go look for her. Koito, Tsukishima, and Tanigaki goes to look for Sugimoto, following his tracks but unbeknownst to Koito and Tanigaki, Tsukishima gets separated from them as they continue the search. They are suddenly attacked by a pair of Russian prisoners as one of them knocks Tanigaki down and the other confronts Koito, who responds by drawing his saber.

Koito repeatedly lashes violently at the Akou prisoner with his saber and kills him by slicing off a part of his head. He turns around, calling for Tanigaki and Tanigaki responds that he has dealt with his foe as well. Koito then notices that Tsukishima is not with them and begins to call out for Tsukishima, wandering off. He eventually finds Tsukishima and is surprised to see him with a woman, asking who she is. Tsukishima tells him that she is Svetlana, the daughter of the elderly lighthouse couple that had helped them before. However, Koito just gets angry and tells Tsukishima to forget about her.

The three of them walks around the drift ice together until they stumble across Tanigaki lying on the ground and Koito calls out to him with Tsukishima asking who had put him in that state. Tanigaki reveals that the person responsible was Kiroranke and Koito notices a trail of blood leading away from them with Tanigaki saying that Kiroranke had also been wounded. Koito draws his saber, telling Tsukishima to get moving and orders Svetlana to wait with Tanigaki. As the two of them search for Kiroranke, they stumble upon Tanigaki's rifle and Koito picks it up. They notice some strings attached to the rifle and Tsukishima manages to pull Koito down to barely avoid being caught in the explosion from Kiroranke's booby trap.

Koito is able to recover from the blast and checks up on Tsukishima to find that his neck had been heavily injured. Tsukishima asks him if he is also injured but Koito can only respond with quiet anger as he runs off to find Kiroranke by himself, ignoring Tsukishima's plead not to go by himself. Koito follows the trail of blood only to find that they had stopped and Koito looks around, wondering if Kiroranke had fallen into the ocean. Suddenly a seal pops out from the water behind him and Koito turns around to find Kiroranke, with his rifle aimed at him, who had also been alerted by the seal.

Koito reacts quickly, knocking Kiroranke's rifle upwards so that Kiroranke misses shooting him and Koito brings his saber down on Kiroranke but he blocks the attack with his rifle. Kiroranke punches Koito but he responds back with a punch of his own before Kiroranke tackles him and draws his makiri knife, ready to stab Koito. However, Koito blocks Kiroranke's knife with his arm as he screams at Kiroranke. He then pulls the knife that Tanigaki had stuck into Kiroranke's torso and thrusts it towards Kiroranke's neck.

Kiroranke manages to block Koito's attack with his left hand and pushes it away before putting pressure on his own knife to plunge it into Koito's chest. However, Koito is saved by Tsukishima and Tanigaki as they shoot Kiroranke, causing him to fall over. As Tsukishima calls out to Koito, he tells them not to interfere as he picks up his saber, saying that he will finish Kiroranke himself. With Tanigaki letting his guard down and Koito and Tsukishima's back turned towards him, Kiroranke detonates a bomb and throws it at the latter two.

Koito notices the bomb hurling towards him and he slashes it with his saber, causing the bomb to spiral away from them. Tsukishima yells at Tanigaki to shoot Kiroranke but he is stopped by Asirpa who says that there is something she needs to ask Kiroranke. Tsukishima ignores her, telling her to move out of the way so that he can shoot Kiroranke but she implores him to stand back as if they kill Kiroranke, she will never know the truth. When Asirpa thanks Kiroranke for helping her to get her memories back, Koito is confused by her words and asks Tsukishima about it. Afterwards, they silently watch as Asirpa and Kiroranke talk one last time before Kiroranke passes away.

### Return to Karafuto Arc

Koito and the others silently watches as Yoshitake Shiraishi buries Kiroranke and Asirpa talks about her father with Sugimoto and Tanigaki. Just then, Tsukishima begins to feel fatigued from his neck wound and Koito tells him to stay strong while Tanigaki examines his injury. He asks Tanigaki to carry him and then turns to Asirpa, telling her to stay by his side but Asirpa and Sugimoto runs off to find a person that Asirpa found in the distance, much to Koito's dismay. They return with Gansoku, whom Koito and Tsukishima are not happy about seeing, and he offers to carry Tsukishima for them.

Sugimoto's Group stops by a Nivkh settlement near Akou and as they are resting in a *to ryv*, a Nivkh winter home, they discuss Ogata's motives for working with Kiroranke. Koito wonders if Ogata really was doing it just for the simple desire to get his hands on the Ainu gold, and Sugimoto hopes that it is the case so that he can kill Ogata without hesitation. As they continue to rest, Sugimoto's Group listens to Enonoka translate a Nivkh legend about a man who scared a monster away by putting charcoal on his buttocks and showing it to the monster. Afterwards, Koito, Tsukishima, and Tanigaki watches silently as Sugimoto and Asirpa attempts to emulate the story to prank Shiraishi who had also thought of the same idea to prank the both of them as well.

When some of the Nivkh women prepares a dish made with fish skin called *mos*, Koito gets excited, shouting out the name of the food, and eats it happily. Tsukishima notes that Koito seems to be in a good mood and Koito tells him that the name of the dish reminds him of his father. He goes on to say that since they managed to get Asirpa back, he is happy that he will be able to report the success to his father. Tsukishima says that he is sure that not only his father, but Tsurumi will be proud of him. Hearing this, Koito becomes ecstatic and gives Tsukishima some of the *mos* to eat.

A Nivkh woman informs Sugimoto's Group that she is making medicine for them, however it won't be enough to save Ogata's life, prompting Sugimoto to look for a doctor. Koito objects since they are Japanese soldiers in Russia illegally so someone could easily report them and that there is no need to put their lives in danger just to save Ogata. Despite this, Sugimoto says that Tsukishima also needs a doctor to look at him, which causes Koito to relent to Sugimoto's suggestion.

Some time later, Sugimoto, Enonoka, and her grandfather manages to return with a Russian doctor who examines both Tsukishima and Ogata. Upon looking at Ogata, the doctor says that he must be brought back to his hospital for better care. Koito refuses, telling the doctor to perform the operation at their current location, however Sugimoto agrees to the change, causing Koito to protest. Once again, Koito relents when Sugimoto says that he has a lot of things he wishes to ask Ogata and that he will not let him die just yet. As they prepare to head out on the dog sled, Koito wonders if Sugimoto is naive enough to think that if they save Ogata, he will have a change of heart and tell them the truth but Sugimoto says that Ogata is not the one he wishes to save.

At the hospital, Sugimoto's Group waits patiently outside the building while the doctor and his nurse operates on Ogata. Eventually, the doctor steps out to inform Sugimoto's Group that despite doing all he could, Ogata is getting weaker and he will die soon. After a moment of silence, Koito notices Sugimoto heading inside the hospital to ask if there is any way Ogata can be saved. Moments later, Sugimoto runs out of the hospital screaming that Ogata has escaped and he tells Asirpa to stay by his side.

Koito enters the hospital to check on the doctor and finds that he is still alive as he struggles to say something. He looks behind him to see Ogata hiding behind the door of the room, holding the nurse as hostage with a pair of scissors to her neck. Koito pulls his gun out to shoot at Ogata, but is surprised to hear Ogata speaking Russian. Suddenly, the doctor knocks Koito in the head, causing him to fall over with Ogata stepping on his hand to retrieve his gun. Ogata points the gun at Koito, calling him a pampered rich little boy in Russian as Koito can only glare back at Ogata. They hear Shiraishi and Tanigaki's voice from outside of the opened window so Ogata kicks Koito in the face and makes his escape from the clinic.

### Return to Hokkaido Arc

With Ogata gone, Sugimoto's Group makes their way across the national border and stops by a Karafuto Ainu village to rest. They are given some of "grandma's chewed dango" to eat which Sugimoto and Shiraishi becomes drunk off of. Meanwhile, Koito asks Tsukishima what the Russian word *"barchonok*" means and Tsukishima says it is basically calling someone a "pampered brat". Tsukishima asks Koito where he had heard the word, but Koito remains silent with an upset look on his face.

Some time later when Sugimoto, Shraishi, and Tsukishima had recovered, Sugimoto's Group comes to the town of Shizuka to do some shopping for necessities and as they prepare to leave, Asirpa notices that Sugimoto is gone. Shiraishi goes to look for Sugimoto but is suddenly shot in the leg, alarming the whole group. Koito and Tsukishima hides behind the dog sled, with the former asking if the latter had seen the shooter but Tsukishima warns him not to stick his head out.

Koito asks Tsukishima to give him a hand mirror but Tsukishima does not have one so Koito tells him to grab his hand mirror from his bag. He takes a moment to touch up his face before slightly raising the mirror only for it to be quickly shot at. They realize that the sniper is shooting from quite a distance away and comes to the conclusion that their attacker must be Hyakunosuke Ogata. Koito laments that they are unable to move and asks Tsukishima what they are going to do.

As they continue to hide from the sniper, they see Sugimoto running past and Koito is in disbelief that Ogata would overlook Sugimoto freely moving around. Tsukishima then takes his cap, puts it on his rifle and lifts it up to be shot at. Tanigaki sees this and wonders if he is playing with the sniper, but Tsukishima reveals that he is only holding onto the sniper's attention long enough for Sugimoto to find him.

Koito sees an elderly man in a horse-drawn sledge and calls out to him to stop or else he will be shot at. As the man drives by confused, Tsukishima figures out that Sugimoto was able to stop the sniper so Sugimoto's Group heads inside the building to find him lying on the floor drawing with the sniper Vasily. They find out that Vasily was originally after Kiroranke but has set his eyes on Ogata who has gone missing. Afterwards, they leave town and head back to the lighthouse where they give Svetlana's message to her parents.

In Toyohara, Koito and Tsukishima tells the rest of Sugimoto's Group that they recieved a telegram from Tsurumi that he has business to attend to in Noboribetsu. Once that's finished, Tsurumi will come to meet them in Odamari in two weeks time so they should wait in Toyohara until then. Koito reveals that the reason why they are staying in Toyohara is because it is a bigger town and thus will have better inns before dismissing Sugimoto's Group.

## References

1. ↑ Q&A section from the Golden Kamuy fanbook