Chapter 84

## In Prison

* Color
* Volume
* Magazine

**In Prison**, or **Imprisoned** (獄中, *Gokuchū*) is the 84th chapter of the *Golden Kamuy* manga.

## Synopsis

Shiraishi begins telling the others about how after he turned 20 years old, he had already been in numerous juvenile prisons and had escaped from them all only to be sent to Kabato Prison. He recounts the day that the guards ordered the prisoners to step out of their cells to see a mutilated body being carried by them. The prisoner had killed a guard and attempted to flee the prison during outside labour but was killed by the guards soon enough. Shiraishi comments on how much of an idiot the prisoner was for trying to escape during outside labour, which the head guard hears. The head guard is outraged and berates Shiraishi before ordering him to take off his uniform for a strip search.

When Shiraishi's clothes are taken off, a beetle falls out of his armpit which the guard notes and tries to step on it. But Shiraishi asks him to stop, promising to release the beetle, before threatening to escape while the guard is on duty. Back in his cell, Shiraishi is putting his clothes back on when Kumagishi asks him why he thinks anyone who escapes during outside labour is a moron. He tells him that the guards knows that that peroid is a prime time to escape so they're more watchful and will chase after the prisoners on horseback. The prisoners are also chained together in pair and can be easily caught if one of them is slow to run. The number one reason is that the red uniform that the prisoners wear makes them stand out too much. He then goes on to say that the amount of time between the escape and the guards realizing it is important and that if one were to escape, it must be done at night and stealthily.

Hearing this, Kumagishi pleads with Shiraishi to take him and Shiraishi asks him why he is in prison. Kumagishi says he was thrown in for money counterfeiting and that he had received a life sentence. When Shiraishi asks him what he can offer for him, he says that he is a good artist, to which Shiraishi requested a shunga (erotic artwork). Kumagishi makes a drawing of a woman known as Sister Miyazawa in the writing room and hands it to Shiraishi who is not pleased with the quality of the work. However that night, he is masturbating to the image of the nun but is caught by Shibukawa who asks him if he knows why the prisoners are put together in a communal cell in an odd number. Shiraishi thinks it's because it would be easier to escape with only two guys, but Shibukawa says it is to prevent them from raping each other.

Back in the present, Shiraishi is telling his travelling mates about how the prisoners have prisoner numbers sewn onto the collars of the uniform and that he was able to slip the drawing under it, which the guards wouldn't be able to find. He says that even at his most miserable, he could look at the picture of the sister everyday and feel comforted. It was then that he decided that he wanted to escape because he fell in love with her and wanted to meet her. He then came up with a plan to make a key molded from the soil around Kabato Prison as well as other materials that the prisoners made. However, the guards stormed into his cell saying that they had recieved a report that he was hiding a key. They stripped him down and found the key hidden beneath his tongue, much to Kumagishi's dismay.

Shiraishi is led to the Black Rooms where he spots a stag beetle on the walls there, taking it with him inside the cell. The guards are talking about how Shiraishi had broken off a piece of metal from a barrel hoop and wonders how he can open locks with it. Meanwhile, Shiraishi notes that it was just a fake key to fool the guards and that the real one was hidden in his anus. He also says that he asked another prisoner to make the report and that even though he feels bad for Kumagishi, escaping from prison has to be done alone. He then decides to wait in the Black Rooms for a stormy night so that it can cover up the sound of his escape. Later on, the guards decide to do another strip search of him, which involves doing an anal cavity search. The guards also decide to do an extensive search of his room, and notices the stag beetle sitting on the wall. Shiraishi says not to kill it by threatening to break out while they're on duty, which intimdates the guards.

Sometime later, during a stormy night, the guards are in panic as Shiraishi has managed to successfully escape from the Black Rooms. The guard is frustrated and wonders how Shiraishi escaped when he searched the room over and over again. He then notices the stag beetle on the ground and that its inside had been hollowed out, with enough room to hide a key.

## Character Appearances

* Toshizou Hijikata
* Kano Ienaga
* Shinpachi Nagakura
* Kiroranke
* Yoshitake Shiraishi
* Zenjirou Shibukawa *(Flashback)*
* Chouan Kumagishi *(Flashback)*