Chapter 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.)