Flashback: 7 years ago

Every evening after Sougo finished training his sword at the dojo, Denami would come to his home to teach him the art of the pen because a proper samurai was to be proficient at both.

It was a quiet evening at Sougo's childhood home. He lived with his sister in a simple traditional Japanese house left behind by their parents. The rain pitter-pattered against the clay tiles of the roof and the hydrangea bloomed in the courtyard in spheres of pale blue flowers battered by raindrops.

Sougo sat on the floor his head down on his desk. He slept as Denami read from a book with a calm voice that made people fall asleep.

Beside him sat Kumanaku who would often come over for the lessons. He knelt with back straight and remained wide awake in attention.

Denami sat at the front of the living room lecturing them on something about toilets.

"It is a question of discipline," Denami read. "When you've finished your own toilet in the morning, then it is time to attend to the toilet of your planet, just so, with the greatest care."

Sougo let out a long snore. Denami paused from his reading and glanced up from his book with brows raised in surprise.

A stream of drool crawled out of Sougo's mouth that left a stain on the pages. He slept without the slightest worry.

Denami only smiled kindly and continued reading. "You must see to it that you pull up regularly all the baobabs, at the very first moment when they can be distinguished from the rose-bushes which they resemble so closely in their earliest youth. There is no harm in putting off a piece of work until another day. But when it is a matter of baobabs, that always means a catastrophe. I knew a planet that was inhabited by a lazy man. He neglected three little bushes . . ."

The grandfather clock by the wall kept ticking as Denami droned through the readings. Once in a while, Kumanaku would jot down notes like a good student while Sougo slept through the entire lesson.

Near the end of the lesson, Mitsuba came in with tea for Kumanaku and Denami.

Kumanaku remained stern-faced as Mitsuba placed a ceramic cup of tea on his desk. His cheeks burned with a blush but he kept his gaze down on his notes.

"Ah, thank you, Omitsu-dono," said Denami with a polite smile before resuming his lecture.

Mitsuba spotted Sougo sleeping at his desk. She hurried over to him.

"Sou-chan," she chided. "Don't sleep in class. You'll catch a cold."

With that, she put a blanket over him to keep him warm, careful not to wake him.

End of flashback

***

Tetsunosuke sat with Kumanaku in the cafeteria. It was busy in the Shinsengumi HQ, buzzing with the chatter of officers eating lunch together at the tables.

"And that was how Leader slept through all his classes," Kumanaku finished his story. He looked into the distance with a face that showed no emotion. "Mitsuba-san made the best tea in the world..."

Tetsunosuke let out a long disheartened sigh as he thought about how Hijikata treated him— always yelling at him whenever he slacked off, always telling him he did something wrong. "Captain Okita had such a nice teacher."

Just then, Fifth Captain Kannensai sat down at the empty seat beside them. "You guys talking still talking about Denami? Stop giving that OC so much screen time. He's not as awesome as you all make him sound."

"He's the most knowledgeable samurai I've met," Kumanaku insisted.

Kannensai laughed at him. "He's not smart. He just reads lots of books."

He remembered seeing Denami in his office once, reading an old leather-bound book filled with weird symbols. Many sheets of paper laid scattered across the floor covered in stars and circles. Denami knelt in his office, surrounded by piles of books as he drew alchemy circles with a calligraphy brush.

"He's supposed to be doing his work, but he spends all his time doodling," Kannensai concluded. "Heck, all he does is paperwork and housecleaning! That's not what a policeman's supposed to do. He never even goes out on patrol with us. He might as well be the Shinsengumi's housewife!"

"Don't look down on housecleaning work!" Kumanaku yelled at him. "If it weren't for him and the Shinsengumi Cleanliness Committee, who's gonna clean up after everyone's mess?! Who's gonna keep this place from turning into a Staphylococci jungle?!!"

"Wait, we have a Cleanliness Committee?!" Tetsunosuke turned to Kumanaku in surprise. "How come everyone knows so many things I don't?"

"Hijikata-san didn't tell you about it when you first came here?"

"He didn't tell me anything!" Tetsunosuke stood up and stomped out of the cafeteria to find Hijikata. "What else is the Shinsengumi hiding from me and the readers?"

***

Tetsunosuke burst into Hijikata's office. "Hijikata-san! Tell me everything!"

Hijikata sat in the dimly lit room playing go with Mayo-chan. Formations of black and white pieces sat on the wooden go table. A cigarette hanged from his mouth.

He remained focused on the game. "About what?"

"How come there's so many clubs and councils I never heard of?! What's the corporate structure of the Shinsengumi?! And who's that other Vice-Commander I've never met?!!"

"Stay away from Denami." Hijikata placed a go piece on the board.

"Huh? But everyone says he's a good guy."

Hijikata looked up at Tetsunosuke with hooded eyes. "Do you know why no one attacks our headquarters when everyone's away in battle?"

Tetsunosuke rubbed his chin in thought. "Well, there's a wall around it and the gates are locked..."

"A wall's not gonna keep anyone out if they really want in," said Hijikata. "Denami stays back to guard this place when we're away. He stays here alone and no one has ever attacked our headquarters."

"Wow, he's that strong?"

"Final boss villains are supposed to be that strong."

Hijikata thought back to when he first met Denami, when Sougo brought that guy to Kondo's dojo. He had fought enough bad guys in his delinquent days to know a villain when he saw one.

***

Flashback: 8 years ago

By the time Hijikata arrived at Kondo's dojo, the sun was already high in the sky. He had overslept, all because Sougo had secretly changed the time on his alarm clock when he came over with Kondo for dinner last night.

Hijikata stomped into the training hall. Everyone had just finished their morning exercise and putting away their bamboo swords on the racks that lined the wall and wiping the sweat from their faces with towels.

As soon as Hijikata spotted Sougo at side of the room, he stomped over and grabbed him by the collar of his kimono.

"You brat!" he screamed at Sougo with spittle coming from his mouth. "I know you did it! I know you're the one who changed my alarm clock! I invited you over and that's how you repay me?! You're never stepping into my house again!!"

A wide grin stretched across Sougo's face. He angrier Hijikata got, the wider Sougo grinned. "Hijikata-san~, don't blame your alarm clock for waking up late. If you wanna be a samurai, you can't just rely on the alarm. You gotta be disciplined enough to wake up with the first rays of dawn." Sougo turned to Kondo with an innocent face. "Let's expel him for being lazy. He's a bad influence to the other students."

"You're the one who should be expelled!" Hijikata pushed Sougo against the wall. "There's no place for bullies in this dojo!!"

"Now now Toshi." Kondo got between them to free Sougo from Hijikata's grip. "Let's not fight when a guest is here. The Shieikan doesn't expel its students in front of guests."

A young man knelt with polite posture at the side of the training hall. He was so quiet that if Kondo hadn't pointed him out, Hijikata wouldn't have detected his presence.

"Meet Sougo's friend, Denami-san," Kondo told Hijikata with a proud grin. "Our Sougo's finally making friends outside the dojo..."

"Ah, you must be the mayo bastard my little fox told me about." Denami stood up and gave a respectful bow towards Hijikata. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you in person, Mayo Bastard-dono."

A vein throbbed on Hijikata's head. What kind of guy called you a bastard the first time you met? And so politely! What's wrong with him? He didn't like him already.

"Denami-san," said Kondo as he handed him a practice sword. "You wanna join us for some sparring?"

Denami held the bamboo sword awkwardly in his hands. "Ayaya, I'm not very good with this."

"Don't worry!" Kondo gave a friendly grin. "We're all still learning here. Let me teach you how to hold a sword first."

Kondo circled Denami who stood with his back slightly bent and his head lowered such that the waves of his bangs fell over his eyes. His fingers curled loose around the hilt.

"Back straight, head up." Kondo corrected his posture with a tap on the shoulder. "You gotta hold your sword tighter or it'll get knocked out of your hands."

"Aya." Denami stood rigid like a beginner swordsman.

"There, that's it. See? It's not so hard after all!"

"Denami-san~!" Sougo stood at the entrance with a few big muscular men from the dojo. "We're going out for lunch. You coming?"

Denami relaxed his posture and smiled as he put his sword back on the rack. He gave Kondo a bow to thank him for the lesson before leaving with Sougo.

Hijikata stood beside Kondo as he watched them leave.

"That guy's a liar," said Hijikata with hooded eyes. "Those callouses on his hands don't belong to someone bad with the sword."

"Now now, we all have our reasons. It's not our business to find out what he wants to hide."

"I don't like him. He smiles too much."

Kondo raised his head back and laughed. "Is it bad to smile a lot? We should all learn from him and be more cheerful!"

Hijikata narrowed his eyes at him, annoyed at how he never listens to his warnings. Something was definitely off about Denami. He knew it.

It was a smile filled with the warmth and kindness, but there was something soulless about those eyes— a shadow where his soul should have been.

End of flashback

***

"Hijikata-san!" Tetsunosuke yelled at him. "You're discriminating against people with empty eyes. Nobume from the Mimawarigumi has empty eyes and so does Hinata Hyuga, but they're both good people. Just because their eyes are soulless doesn't make them evil!"

A vein popped on Hijikata's forehead. "Go and be his assistant if you like him that much! I have work to do so stop wasting my time! Get out!"

Hijikata returned to his work playing go with his bottle of mayo.

Tetsunosuke left, determined to meet Denami in person to see for himself.

***

Tetsunosuke squatted on the gravel in the courtyard beside Denami who was feeding a stray dog. The rest of the Shinsengumi had gone out on patrol, but he stayed behind to be Denami's Vice-Commander Assistant for a day.

A golden brown Akita dog ate hungrily from the bowl of leftovers. She wagged her tail when Denami petted her soft fur.

Tetsunosuke tilted his head in curiosity. "What's her name?"

"Dog #8," said Denami. "But you can call her Hachiko*."

[* Hachi means eight. Hachiko was a dog who waited for her deceased owner to come home until she died]

"What happened to numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7?"

A sad smile appeared on Denami's face. "Dogs don't live long enough. Only a decade or so..."

He raised his head and stared into the distance with cold eyes. The headquarters were silent save for the rustle of leaves blowing in the wind.

"Tetsu-kun, can you go to the closet and get me a mop and a bucket of water?"

"Eh? But you cleaned this place just a moment ago." Tetsunosuke turned to him in confusion.

The sound of footsteps came from behind. A team of Yato pirates stepped into the open, aboutten men dressed in dark cloaks with menacing sneers on their faces and holding their umbrellas with muscular arms. They had been sent by their leader Kamui to steal the Shinsengumi Commander's Anime Item and were eager to get the job done in hopes of a pay raise and promotion.

"Go," said Denami without taking his eyes off the enemy.

Tetsunosuke looked to Denami with brows furrowed in concern, but Denami seemed calm. He turned and ran for the broom closet as Denami ordered.

"Excuse me." Denami walked over to the Yato pirates with his sword clacking at his waist. "I'm sorry to inform you that you're trespassing private property. Please register with the front desk for a Visitor's Pass."

"You!" One of the trespassers demanded. "Tell us where's that Anime Item or whatever it's called and we might let you live."

Denami only smiled politely. "I strongly advise you not to take another step further or I would have to take actions against you."

The Yato looked to each other and nodded in agreement. "He's alone. Get him!"

They all held up their umbrellas with a loud clamor and charged at Denami with cries of battle.

Denami let out a sigh. He stood with his back straight and head lowered such that his bangs fell over his eyes. His hand rested on the hilt of his katana.

Just as the enemy reached where he stood, he took a step towards them. The enemy Yato charged past him, leaving him unscathed. He stood with his sword still in its sheath.

"Male Female Darkness Light Fire Water Tiger Dragon Blast," Denami calmly named his attack.

A strong gust of wind blew against his face.

Behind him, the enemies fell, blood erupting out of their cleanly severed necks. Their heads dropped to the ground with thump thump thump.

Denami glanced back at puddles of blood all over the gravel and the splatters across the wooden patio.

"Ayaya... What a mess this is..."

Tetsunosuke stood frozen at the side with a mop in one hand and a bucket in the other. His jaw hanged open in horror at the sight of the carnage.

"Ah, just in time." Denami took the mop and bucket. "Thank you, Tetsu-kun."

He rolled up his sleeves and proceeded to mopping up the blood.

Tetsunosuke furrowed his brows as he stared at the pile of headless corpses. He turned his gaze to Denami who hummed a cheerful tune as he cleaned, like he was only cleaning up some spilled drinks.

 He turned around and staggered away, feeling jittery in the pit of his stomach.

***

Two Yato stood watching on the rooftops, the younger one with a red braid down his back and the older one with a mane of blond hair.

"Kyaaaaaaa~~!" Kamui jumped up and down in giddiness, held back only by Abuto. "I wanna fight him! I wanna fight him so baaaad!!"

Abuto remained serious. He stared at Denami with an unblinking gaze. A chill ran down his back. The only other enemy that made him feel this much fear was Utsuro, but it was a different kind of fear. Utsuro brought terror with his mere presence. Denami scared him because he couldn't sense his presence at all. He couldn't detect the slightest killing aura from him. He didn't even see him draw his sword.

"That's not someone you should fight if you still want to stay alive," said Abuto in a grim voice. "He's the guy I told you about back at Port Kurihamu who killed all those men. The monster in the Shinsengumi..."

***

Next time: It's a bit late, but time for a cherry blossom festival... and Kagura's first kiss under the cherry blossoms!