Shinsengumi, the name of the organization Kondou belongs to. To him, however, it isn’t just a place where he does most of his work and duty. To him, Shinsengumi is his family, his pride and his biggest regret. If only he didn’t pick the haori and called himself the leader, then his brethren would have lived longer.

So to spend the rest of his days, he decided to retire early, settling in with his family away from all the fighting he had done. While others embraced modernity with open arms, Kondou strictly kept to his traditional values. Though he loved his family dearly, it would be lying if he said he didn’t have any regrets with how he lived his life now.

As he sat quietly on the edge of the engawa, facing the backyard, he released a long exhale of smoke from his pipe, unaware of his wife’s presence approaching from behind. But as the footsteps grew near, he glanced sideways briefly.

“Thank you, but you don’t need to bring me tea and sweets each time.”