My personal opinion on Gensokyo

"Right, Mr. Hijikata?"

"I don't remember who came to rescue you. We are only here to deal with illegal cases."

After taking a puff of his cigarette, Hijikata Toshiro turned his face and asked casually.

"By the way, what about those business guys? Did they die in the melee?"

"He left long ago."

Gintoki answered casually while looking at the dusky sky.

"His business has already been completed. Does he have to stay here and wait for you to collect business taxes?"

After hearing Gintoki's words, Hijikata Jushiro turned his gaze to Okita Sougo on the side without commenting. Seeing the deputy director looking at him, Okita Sougo waved his hand indifferently.

"Don't count on me, Mr. Hijikata. I didn't notice anything during the melee just now."

"Tsk...those guys pulled away really quickly."

Seeing Okita Sougo's performance, Hijikata Toshiro made a "tsk" sound and took another puff of his cigarette.

"But that guy was really thorough. The backstage management staff were all wiped out. The thugs who maintained order in the venue, the speculators who funded the Purgatory Gate, and the low-level officials who spent a lot of money on entertainment were all killed in the melee. How did he identify these people... Hey, Sougo, it seems we need to make more surprise inspections in Kabukicho in the future."

"If our Shinsengumi still exists after this incident."

"what……"

Okita Sougo also nodded and said lightly.

"If there's still a Shinsengumi after this."

"Eh, are the Shinsengumi dangerous?"

Shimura Shinpachi asked curiously.

"Mr. Hijikata."

"Ah, this action has undoubtedly ignited a dangerous fire for the Shinsengumi. It's all your fault."

Having said that, Hijikata Toshiro threw away the cigarette butt in his hand and stomped it out with his foot.

"But there's no point in saying this now. Hey, Sougo, let's go back."

"Yes, yes. Rise up the Nine Mountains..."

Waving his hand, Okita Sougo responded perfunctorily.

"I understand..."

"What a strange person..."

Watching Hijikata Toshiro and Okita Sougo turn around and leave, Shimura Shinpachi couldn't help but sigh, then turned around and greeted Gintoki and Kagura.

"Gin, Kagura-chan, let's go back too...Gin, what are you looking at?"

"what……"

The Yorozuya owner, who was brought back from his thoughts by Shimura Shinpachi's voice, responded.

Gintoki sighed as he looked at the red demon mask in his hand, which had a horn broken off and a hole punctured during the battle with the demon lion.

"This is no longer necessary..."

After saying that, Gintoki threw the red ghost mask up, drew out his wooden sword, and chopped it on the red ghost mask.

With a bang, the red ghost face shattered, and the fragments fell into the river under the bridge and floated forward with the river water.

Putting away the wooden sword, Gintoki raised his head and looked at the dusk clouds in the sky, feeling extremely emotional.

"This world is no longer suitable for you. Laugh out loud in that world."

"That's right, that thing is no longer suitable for that person."

Seeing Gintoki smashing the red demon mask with a wooden sword, a young man with gray hair who appeared out of nowhere walked up to the Yorozuya trio and expressed the same emotion.

"It's over..."

Shimura Shinpachi and Kagura, frightened by Shangyang's silent appearance, couldn't help but ask in surprise.

"Mr. Shang Yang?!"

"Oh! Shang Jun, when did you come?!"

"...What? Wasn't the deal already over for you?"

Glancing at the gray-haired young man who was also looking at the dusk clouds, the owner of the Yorozuya scratched his head and asked without any motivation.

"This way, you can rest assured."

"Of course, a successful transaction is better than anything else."

Leaning against the bridge railing, Shang Yang answered with a smile.

"I've come to see you all because a gentleman asked me to give this to you."

As he said this, Shang Yang casually took out a photo from his pocket and handed it to Gintoki.

"It was taken this afternoon. The gentleman has already paid me the fee."

Seeing Gintoki taking the photo with some confusion, Shang Yang straightened up, turned around and left, waving his hand casually.

"Well, everyone, I'll be leaving now."

"……what?"

He took the photo and when Gintoki, who was a little confused, saw the content of the photo, his pupils couldn't help but shrink.

Afterwards, Gintoki's expression couldn't help but relax, and he sighed slowly.

"Sure enough, it's not suitable at all..."

"What on earth is this, Silver?"

"Let us see it too, Yin."

Seeing Gintoki's performance, Shinpachi and Kagura couldn't help but come forward with interest, and all turned their eyes to the photo in Gintoki's hand.

The moment they saw the photo, Shinpachi and Kagura couldn't help but scream in surprise.

"Eh?!!"

In the photo, a middle-aged man with a kind face is standing in front of a carriage, surrounded by many children with happy smiles on their faces.

Among the children, there was a beautiful girl with waist-length black hair and clear dark red eyes. She was crouching down and holding a little girl with a faint smile on her face.

Another cute girl with short lavender hair and a large eyeball floating on her chest, along with a young man with gray and white hair, stood behind the children, smiling and making a "Yeah~" gesture.

Among them, the middle-aged man with a kind face was holding two young children and had an unconcealable happy smile on his face.

Volume 4: Edo Chronicles: Chapter 203: Watching the Fun

Early the next morning.

Yawning, Shang Yang pushed open the door of the living room and casually greeted the girl in the living room.

"Good morning, love, you get up so early every day."

"Yeah, I'm used to it."

Ai, who was sitting at the floor-standing table, smiled faintly and nodded slightly, watching Shang Yang who was yawning and casually closing the living room door as he walked closer.

After a brief pause, Ai asked softly with concern.

"Shang Yang, is the matter of Purgatory Pass over?"

"Of course it's over."

Hearing Ai's concerns, Shang Yang thought for a moment and answered affirmatively.

"We cleaned up very thoroughly. Why, is there anything to worry about?"

"Yeah, I'm a little concerned."

Hearing this, Ai answered softly.

"Originally, most of the criminals in Purgatory Pass were arrested. Now, because of our intervention, all of them are in Hell. So, will the Tendoushu just issue a warning to the Shinsengumi, as Shangyang knew about the "plot"?"

"That's what I'm worried about..."

Hearing this, Shang Yang smiled and waved his hand.

"Don't worry. To the Tendoushu, that underground fighting arena is just an insignificant entertainment venue. Maintaining the daily stability of Edo, a crucial transit point on the cosmic route, is far more useful to them than an illegal underground fighting arena."

"While the patrol group, which is similar to the Shinsengumi, could certainly replace the Shinsengumi and maintain Edo's stability, replacing the Shinsengumi with the patrol group would pose considerable risks."

"First of all, the composition of the Patrol and the Shinsengumi is different. Patrol Chief Sasaki Izaburo was honest in one thing: the members of the Patrol are all 'elites.'"

"Unlike the Shinsengumi, which promoted ronin samurai regardless of their background, all members of the Patrol Guard were selected from the 'nao-san', the families of retainers who supported the shogun. In other words, all members of the Patrol Guard were descendants of the 'shogunate nobility' who were members of the Tokugawa Shogunate."

"Therefore, as a military force, the Patrol Guards inherently have close ties to the shogunate. Furthermore, because the Ichibashi faction, a branch of the Tokugawa Shogunate, has repeatedly favored the Patrol Guards, and the Patrol Guards themselves maintain a pro-Ichibashi stance within the shogunate, if the task of defending Edo is given to the Patrol Guards, the Ogosho (abdicated shogun) faction, currently in power in the shogunate, will be somewhat suppressed. This will likely lead to intensified tensions between the two sides, culminating in a violent conflict."

"If a large-scale conflict breaks out between the Ichibashi faction and the Ogosho faction, then maintaining stability in Edo will become meaningless."

"This is the value of the Shinsengumi. Unlike the patrol groups that sided with the shogunate's "Ichibashi faction," the Shinsengumi, nominally serving as direct retainers of the current shogun, obeyed neither the orders of the Grand Gosho, Tokugawa Sadada, nor the orders of the Ichibashi faction's leader, Tokugawa Kiki."

"The Shinsengumi's superior was Matsudaira Katakuri Torano, the head of the Edo National Police Agency. Matsudaira Katakuri Torano was neither from the Ogosho faction nor the Ichibashi faction."

"Matsudaira Katakuri Tora's position leans towards the nephew of the retired shogun, the current shogun, Tokugawa Shigeshige."

"Compared to the Patrol Guard, which was difficult to trust and could be influenced by the Ichibashi faction, neither the Ichibashi faction nor the Ogosho faction could influence the Shinsengumi's stance. The Tendōshu saw the Shinsengumi as a check on the shogunate and a safeguard for maintaining stability in Edo."

"Compared to the value of stability in Edo, a mere illegal underground fighting arena is insignificant. Therefore, in this case, the Tendoushu will likely summon Edo Police Chief Katakuri Toranosuke Matsudaira and Shinsengumi Chief Kondo Isao to the Tendoushu ship, issue a series of warnings, and leave it at that. An underground fighting arena won't cost the Tendoushu much time to deal with."

Listening quietly to her lover explaining the current situation in detail, the girl with long black hair smiled softly.

Ai likes to see Shang Yang's confident expression and hear Shang Yang's confident words.

This has been the case for hundreds of years.

"That's about it."

After using this sentence as a summary, Shang Yang thought for a moment and suggested with great interest.

"How about this, Ai, you and I go to the center of Edo. Edo should be quite lively today because of those guys. Let's go and join in the fun."

After hearing Shang Yang's proposal, Ai thought for a moment and nodded in agreement.

　> - Moon*ripples/rise ⑶ bell hiss ⑼ cry ⑶ thought "Hmm."

Mysterious Voice: "Going out..."

Almost at the same time as Ai agreed, a pleasant voice came into the living room from outside. With this voice, the living room door was opened from the outside with a bang, revealing a girl with short lavender hair standing in the corridor.

"Well...if you're going out so early."

He rubbed his blurry eyes, and while casually adjusting the heart-shaped headband he was wearing, he asked softly in a drowsy and lazy voice as if he had not yet woken up.

"Then when everyone wakes up and comes downstairs, we'll go to Granny Dengse's for breakfast... By the way, Shangyang, there shouldn't be anything I can help you with today, right?"

"There shouldn't be anything going on recently."

Shang Yang thought for a moment.

"That's what I was thinking. Later, Jue, Shana, Princess, and Lianlian will go to Granny Tose's house for breakfast. Ai and I will go to Edo to watch the fun."

"Well, that's no problem."

While casually agreeing, Jue also walked over to the square table and sat down, yawning loudly, looking a little sleep-deprived and cute.

"Well, maybe if I get bored later, I'll go find you guys too."

"Okay then, we'll be out now."

Seeing Jue's cute sleep-deprived look, Shang Yang shrugged his shoulders, stood up, bent down to pick up Ai who hadn't reacted yet, walked out of the living room, put on his casual shoes, and prepared to leave the house.

"You have to go to the theater early, or you won't even be able to get a good seat."

"shoe……"

Ai was not surprised when Shang Yang suddenly picked her up in a princess hug. She was used to it anyway. She just reminded Shang Yang when she was about to go out that her shoes were still in the shoe cabinet. She couldn't go out wearing only socks.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot."

Reminded by Ai, Shang Yang took out Ai's shoes from the shoe cabinet and handed them to Ai, and still carried Ai out the door.

Anyway, there weren't many people in Kabukicho early in the morning.