The scent of blood and smoke filled the warehouse where Takasugi and Hijikata fought. The enemy stood before him, but Takasugi's mind was elsewhere. He remembered a time before any of this started, when his left eye still saw light.

[Source: https://www.zerochan.net/1841444]

Shouyou-sensei's words echoed in his mind. If I stayed back, then I don't deserve to call myself a teacher.

A flashback started to fill the scene as he recalled the time when Shouyou said those words.

***

Flashback: 12 years ago

The Men in Black came under the cover of night, and set the school on fire. They came, not for the aliens taking over the Earth, but for the founder of the Shouka Sonjuku, Yoshida Shouyou.

The young students of the Shouka Sonjuku huddled outside. A few whimpered in fear.

The Men in Black surrounded them like ominous shadows. Their black cloaks covered their bodies. The wide rims of their gasa* hid their masked faces in shadow. The metal trinkets hanging from their spears jingled with every movement.

[* Japanese straw hat]

Shouyou-sensei stood among his students. He faced the enemy without fear in his eyes, but without a sword in his hands.

Shouyou closed his eyes and sighed. He had always known this day would come sooner or later. He couldn't hide forever.

Before he could take a single step, he sensed a murderous presence right in front of him. He opened his eyes.

The young Takasugi stood between Shouyou-sensei and the Men in Black. He held his katana in his small hands and pointed it at the enemy.

"Stay back, Shouyou-sensei!" he yelled without taking his eyes off the enemy. "Stay back!"

With a metallic clatter, the Men in Black held up their spears, ready to charge.

Shouyou glanced back at his other students, cowered behind him, unarmed. He stepped forward and placed a hand on Takasugi's shoulder.

"Put down your weapons. I'll go with you," Shouyou told the Men in Black.

Takasugi turned to his teacher, frozen in shock.

A cold glare appeared in Shouyou's eyes. "But if anything happens to my students... you don't have enough lives to pick a fight with me."

The Men in Black led Shouyou away in ropes.

Takasugi stared with eyes wide in horror. "Sensei..." His voice wavered, small and weak.

His hands were trembling. In fear? In anger? He clenched his fingers tight around the hilt of his sword to stop the shaking.

"Shouyou-sensei! I told you to stay back!!"

Shouyou stopped walking. He stood, back facing Takasugi. He turned his head and glanced to him with clear silver eyes.

And he smiled.

[Source: https://www.zerochan.net/2146854]  

He smiled like he always did, with warmth and gentleness, but Takasugi had never seen a smile filled with such sadness. Then he realized. There had always been this cold unfathomable emptiness in Shouyou-sensei's smile. Why hadn't he noticed it before? When Shouyou-sensei smiled, it was never in happiness, but in a sorrow that was beyond tears.

"Stay... Stay back..."

(Hijikata: Hurry up and say it so we can get back to our fight!!)

Shouyou said nothing. He turned and kept walking.

Takasugi couldn't stand and watch as they took his teacher away. Not when he had a sword.

With a cry of battle, he charged at the Men in Black.

The enemy moved fast. Takasugi could feel a warm liquid streaming down his legs.

The last thing he saw with the tip of a spear filling his vision before everything went black.

***

Takasugi's eyes snapped wide open. He let in a gasp of breath. His heart sped in his chest, but he was laying safe in bed under the covers.

The air was cool and fresh without a hint of smoke. The early morning sunlight peeked into the dormitory. The other students still slept peacefully without ever knowing fear. He was still in school with all his classmates... and Shouyou-sensei.

A wave of relief washed over him. It was nothing but a nightmare, an extremely vivid dream. But if a dream could feel this real, how could he tell between dreams and reality? He feared that he may one day wake up from this dream of peaceful days with Shouyou-sensei and his friends to find a world where they didn't exist anymore.

[Source: https://www.zerochan.net/1118946]    

It all felt too real, especially the liquid dripping down his legs. He could still feel it, even now, the warm liquid that stank of... pee.

Takasugi leapt out of bed. He pulled the covers to find a puddle on his sheets.

He looked around franticly. Everyone was asleep. No one saw this. He knew what he had to do.

He removed the soiled sheets and rushed outside. The earth was soft by the stream, a good place to bury the evidence. If anyone found out he peed in bed, he'd become the laughingstock of the entire class. He could already imagine Gintoki's mean smirk.

Takasugi snuck outside into the chilly morning air. He ran across the schoolyard until he reached the riverbank. Without wasting a moment, he dug a hole under a rotting log.

The sound of snapping twigs came from behind. He froze in the middle of stuffing the sheets into the hole. He spun around.

Shouyou-sensei stood among the pine trees. He greeted Takasugi with a polite smile.

Takasugi hastily threw dirt over the hole to cover it up.

Shouyou-sensei walked towards him. If he came any closer, he'd see.

"Stay back, Shouyou-sensei!" Takasugi tried to block the sheets from view.

Shouyou-sensei loomed over the young Takasugi with a sweet smile on his face. Takasugi braced himself for what was to come.

[Source: https://nuriko-kun.deviantart.com/art/Gintama-Saisho-162478139]      

"That's a nice hole you dug there." Shouyou gave Takasugi a light knock on the head, sending him crashing to the ground. "But you're a hundred years too early to know how to hide evidence."

Takasugi sat, rubbing the bump on his head.

"We've all done things we're ashamed of," said Shouyou with a distant look in his eyes. "Whether it's something big or something small, we must own up to what we did. A samurai should admit to his mistakes and never forget the sins of his past."

Shouyou-sensei headed back towards the schoolhouse.

"Come, I'll teach you the proper way of getting rid of your soiled bedsheets." He stopped and looked back at Takasugi, glowing warm under the golden sunlight. "If I stayed back, then I don't deserve to call myself a teacher."

***

The young Gintoki rubbed his eyes, sleepy despite waking up at noon. He stood at the doorway, staring at the sight before him.

Takasugi sat on the porch, scrubbing the white bedsheets in a washbasin. Katsura was in the schoolyard, hanging them to dry in the sun.

Takasugi had volunteered to do everyone's laundry.

"Oi, since when were you guys this hardworking?"

Katsura gave a sideway glance at Takasugi. He pulled Gintoki over.

"I think he wet his bed," Katsura shielded his mouth like he was gossiping. "He must be washing his sheets with everyone else's to make it less obvious."

Takasugi stopped scrubbing. "Hey! I can hear you!"

Gintoki stared at Takasugi with a lewd grin on his face. "You peed your bed? What were you dreaming about?"

"Nothing, dammit!!" Takasugi threw the basin of water at Gintoki. "There's no way I'd pee on my bed! Never done that in my life!!"

[Source: https://www.zerochan.net/2072934]      

End of Flashback

***

If I stayed back, then I don't deserve to call myself a teacher... If I stayed back, then I don't deserve to call myself a teacher... If I stayed back, then I don't deserve to call myself a teacher... Those words echoed until even Takasugi started to find it annoying.

"How the hell is that the same, dammit?!" Hijikata screamed at the flashback scene. "All those times he could have said it... It could have sounded epic, but... It's because you peed in bed?!! What a waste of a good line!!"

Maybe it wasn't the best example, but there was no doubt that Kondo and Shouyou-sensei were alike.

It was his soul. Kondo had the same light in his eyes, that same glowing warmth in his smile.

The corners of Takasugi's lips curled up. 

How ironic it was that this "Shouyou-sensei" wouldn't be smiling at him, but instead at the same government that took his Shouyou-sensei away. He couldn't stand it.

"Fufufu... Hahahahaha!" Takasugi laughed a manic cackle. What else could he do but laugh?

Hijikata glared at him. "What's so funny?"

"A light... You still have one. A light to guide the way through this darkness."

Hijikata's beacon of light still shined while his own had been snuffed out long ago.

"Why are you still there with him?" Takasugi glared at Kondo with pain and hatred. "Shouyou-sensei... Why did you leave my side?"

He clutched the bandages over his eye. It still throbbed with agony.

He'd forgiven Gintoki. Gintoki didn't kill Shouyou-sensei. The world did and he'd never forgive this world.

"It's not fair... This country... There's no such thing as fairness... I'll change it. I'll change the world that took Shouyou-sensei away. I'll make it fair."

Kondo was Hijikata's Shouyou-sensei, so Kondo had to die. He had to die just like Shouyou-sensei.

The thought made him smile. His mouth stretched into a wide grin without happiness.

"Hurry up and decide if you're gonna fight or surrender," said Hijikata, annoyed. "I've got better things to do than to listen to the ramblings of a crazy psychopath."

"Crazy?" Takasugi chuckled. "Am I crazy, or are you crazy? The whole world has gone mad, but you government dogs won't understand. I used to be just like you, just as blind. But when I lost this eye, I finally saw what kind of place this world truly was."

"Cut the talk, dammit."

Hijikata held up his katana and charged at him.

"Toshi! Wait!"

The two swordsmen charged at each other as if nothing else existed in the world. They raced forward, both knowing they were on a crash course, neither of them holding back. They both had the widest grins on their faces, the hungry eyes of savage beasts charging towards one final clash of swords.

BOOM!

Without warning, the building burst into flames, blasting the walls and sending the ceiling crashing down.

The hot air sent Hijikata flying back, separating him from his opponent.

The explosion had punched a gaping hole into the side of the building. Kondo, who had avoided the worst of the impact, was first to get out from the rubble.

"Toshi?" He looked around but saw only destruction. "Toshi! Where are you?!"

A pile of bricks and concrete quivered. A hand reached out. Kondo pulled Hijikata free. He was covered in white dust, but appeared mostly unhurt.

"You okay?" Kondo looked over Hijikata in concern.

"Damn, that sadist..." Hijikata clenched his teeth in anger, knowing very well who was responsible for this explosion: the same person who was responsible for every explosion that happened around him.

Takasugi was nowhere to be seen. There was a chance he was crushed by the rubble, but it was obvious that he couldn't die that easily and he'd reappear in a few chapters without a scratch.

The dust settled. Hijikata was about to go out and give Sougo a scolding for going too far this time. Kondo could have gotten hurt.

He expected to find Sougo standing with a bazooka on his shoulder and that infuriating look of innocence on his face.

When the dust cleared, the one who stood before him wasn't their sadistic First Captain. He was a much taller man with a mole on his forehead— Officer Kumanaku.

The First Squad had gathered by the remains of the building, everyone except their captain. The members of the Second Squad and the member of the Third Squad came soon after, but still no Sougo.

Hijikata lit a cigarette. "What's that sadist up to?"

He usually wouldn't worry about someone as strong as their First Captain, but even for the strongest swordsman, every battle was a gamble with his life on the line. He was starting to fear for the worst when—

"Hijikata-san~, are you dead yet?" a familiar voice came from not far ahead.

Sougo sat at the back of the crowd, leaning against the ruins of a brick wall. His arm laid limp by his side as his blood streamed down into a small puddle. Kamiyama was changing his bandages. He wrapped the clean white cloth over a nasty gash on Sougo's neck. The old bandages were already soaked completely red.

[Source: https://www.zerochan.net/1037620]      

Kondo furrowed his brows in worry. "Sougo..."

Sougo managed a smile to show Kondo that he was okay.

Hijikata glared Sougo in irritation. "Did you give the order to shoot?! Where were you aiming?!!! The enemy escaped all because of that!!"

"See, Kumaku-san?" Sougo glanced to the officer with the bazooka. "What did I tell you? This is what happens when you don't get enough shooting practice. You completely missed the target."

"What?!" Hijikata screamed in disbelief. "You alone is bad enough. Now you're training your squad to kill me?!"

"Everyone got here too early." Sougo pouted. "Should have waited for the enemy to finish you off."

"You should take a look at yourself." Hijikata grinned confidently despite his cuts and bruises. "It'll take more than some Kiheitai to finish me off."

Sougo smiled in satisfaction. "Good, then you'll die soon. Characters who say they won't die always get killed right after they say it, you know?"

"Like hell something that cliché could happen—"

Something glimmered in the distance behind the veil of smoke. Sougo's smile disappeared and his eyes opened wide, but the blood-loss made him too slow to move.

"Get down!!!" he could only yell.

A bullet headed towards Kondo, straight towards Kondo's heart. Kondo turned his head and saw too late.

BANG!!

Blood splattered across the ground.

Kondo stared down at his blood-soaked uniform with eyes wide in shock. It didn't hurt. Did it not hurt to get shot in the heart?

He looked up to see the back of a man with short black hair. The man fell towards him, fell back into his arms.

"TOSHI!!!!"

Hijikata had shielded his Commander from the bullet. Blood gushed out from a wound on his chest like a red fountain. He laid in Kondo's arms, not opening his eyes.

Sougo sat by the wall, his bangs casting shadows over his eyes. The corners of his mouth quivered. He tried to stop himself from grinning. This wasn't the right time and place to celebrate Hijikata's death. If the enemy could shoot Hijikata, then everyone here was a sitting duck for the enemy to shoot.

"...get away from here..." said Sougo, trying hard not to sound happy. "Everyone, get away from here, now!"

The Shinsengumi officers snapped out of it. The got up and started moving.

"Kondo-san!" Sougo turned to his Commander who was still kneeling on the ground frozen in shock, clutching Hijikata's unmoving body.

Kumanaku pulled Kondo up. A few officers carried Hijikata. They got to the safety of a pile of rubble just as a storm of bullets rained down on where they used to be.

Sougo looked in the direction from which the bullets came.

The smoke had cleared just a little to reveal a sight that made even Sougo's heart leap to his throat.

The hazy silhouettes of more than hundred men stood in the distance. They each held a weapon in their hands. Those weren't swords. They could only be one thing.

Umbrellas.

***

A young man with braided red hair stepped out from the fog. He stood on a pile of rubble, looking down at the blazing ruins. 

[Source: https://www.zerochan.net/1987890]      

Behind him stood an older man with blond hair and stubbles on his chin. He looked over to his Captain with eyes hooded in boredom.

Smoke came from the tip of Kamui's umbrella. Kamui pouted as if he lost a carnival shooting game.

"Aww, I didn't win the gorilla."

***

Next time: Surrounded by the Yato, the Shinsengumi are in trouble. Will Hijikata be okay?