Rurouni Kenshin Manga Translations
Volume Seven--May 14, 1878
Part 57--May 14, 1878--Evening
Newsmen (scattering papers): Extra! Extra! Governor Okubo assassinated! Extra!
The news of Okubo’s assassination, "the Incident at Kioisaka," shocked all of Tokyo.
(Inside Metropolitan Police Headquarters)
Kawaji (pounding the table): This is Shishio’s work!! He must have men all over Japan if he
used the news to commit this crime! Without ever betraying their existence, they’ll sap the
strength of the Meiji government, piece by piece, until the day when they rise up . . .
(He bows his head, tears leaking from his eyes. Another man comes through the office door.)
Kawaji: Mr. Yamayoshi, governor of Fukushima prefecture. The last man to speak with Governor
Okubo.
Yamayoshi: I came to Okubo's esate to pay my respects early this morning before returning home
to my prefecture. But I never imagined it would have been like this . . .
(Flashback to that morning. Okubo and Yamayoshi are seated on either sides of a desk.)
Okubo: Ten years of the new era have passed. When you look at what’s been accomplished, it’s
shameful tha there have been so few real results. From now on, however. We’ll need
thirty years to strengthen the country. These past ten years were be the period of construction.
The next, a period of growth. This will be the most important time for the government to
organize and perfect the domestic administration. While I’m unworthy, I must accomplish the goals of these ten years at all
costs. The third period, protection, will be in the hands of my successor. Then, the switch to a
democratic form of government with an assembly open to everyone. Japan will be reborn as a
nation-state. Then the Restoration will be complete.
Saitou: A nation-state . . . A nation where the people will decide their own fate, instead of,
as now and as in Edo times, having
it decided for them by their superiors? A fantastic ideal.
Kawaji: But an ideal he believed in . . . If Governor Okubo had lived . . .
Yamayoshi: One thing worries me . . . Why the normally taciturn governor was so forthcoming
this morning. I don’t think he had any warning of his own death, but perhaps today something
important was to happen that would change the future of Japan . . .
(Later, Kenshin and Saitou are walking out.)
Kenshin: Mr. Kawaji seemed very upset.
Saitou: He was picked for his position by Okubo for his talent. But it isn’t just his tragedy.
We’ve lost the last of the Ishin Sanketsu, a great leader. There aren’t any skillful men
left in the world of government. From now on, Japan will begin to wander off course . . .
And Shishio won't let this opportunity go to waste--
Newsmen: Extra! Extra! Governor Okubo assassinated!
(Kenshin leans over the bridge railing, watching the newspapers drift through the air.)
Kenshin (thinking): So those times have begun again . . .
(It’s grown dark. A boy rushes up to the dojo.)
Megumi: Why is it only nights like tonight I have to do emergency surgeries?!
Boy: Please hurry!!
Sanosuke: Can't let the boy and the vixen walk alone at night. I'll take them as far as the
stop.
Megumi: How dare you talk like that.
Kaoru: All right. Take care.
(She watches them go.)
Kaoru (thinking): Kenshin . . . He’s late.
(Kenshin steps out of the darkness behind her.)
Kaoru: Kenshin!
(Her smiles fades as she sees his expression.)
Kenshin: Where’s Yahiko?
Kaoru: Oh . . . well, he got tired waiting up for you and fell asleep. (He’s only a child, he
couldn’t stay up all night.)
Kenshin: I see.
Kaoru: Kenshin?
Kenshin: Governor Okubo was killed this morning.
Kaoru: Yes . . . I saw the papers.
Kenshin: The real killer was one of Shishio’s followers. I cannot leave Shishio alone after
this. I’m going to Kyoto.
(A silence. The wind blows leaves around them.)
Kaoru: To . . . assassinate Shishio Makoto?
Kenshin: No . . . but I’m not sure. If I had remained as I am now, when I first heard that I
was needed to confront Shishio, I would have fought until I defeated him. But if, as in the
fight with Saitou, I have already returned to Battousai . . . In my days here, while my heart
was at ease, I felt like I had changed from the Hitokiri to an ordinary swordsman . . . But
the fight with Saitou forced me to realize it. My innermost heart has not changed The
madness of the Hitokiri still lives inside.
Kaoru (clapping her hands on his shoulders): But you came back! No matter how close you were
to Battousai, you were still Kenshin! The time with Saitou and the time with Jin’eh were the
same! So it’s all right.
Kenshin: No . . . With Jin’eh, I became Battousai to save you, and your voice brought me back.
But with Saitou, I became Battousai only for the sake of the fight. And so your voice
couldn’t even reach me. The difference is crucial.
Those times have begun again.
Kenshin: When I first met you . . . even though you knew I was Hitokiri Battousai, you kept me
from leaving. "I don’t care about a person’s past," you said. I was very happy.
Kaoru: You . . .
If I stay here any along, Miss Kaoru and the others will be in danger.
Whenever I become Battousai.
Kenshin: But to the government and to Shishio’s faction, to all the people who bear a grudge
against Hitokiri Battousai, Battousai is all that I am.
I cannot allow myself to remain here.
(He embraces her, suddenly.)
Kenshin: Thank you for everything you’ve done . . . and farewell. I am a vagabond. I will
wander once again.
(He lets her go. Tears form in her eyes; she falls to her knees.)
Kaoru: Ken . . . shin.
May 14, Meiji 11.
Kaoru: Kenshin!!
On that day Himura Kenshin became a vagabond once again. Into the pitch-black
darkness, he disappeared alone--
May 14, Meiji 11--End