While Sugimoto's group prepare to move on, Hijikata is in near Kushiro, searching for clues to a small object which the former prisoner called Shinzo Doi, also known as "Yoichiro the Manslayer", had in Abashiri prison. His group meets an Ainu called Kiraushi who explains that the object is a "kotan", part of a male puffin's beak and he takes them to nearby Nemuro where there is a breeding colony. At Nemuro, Yoichiro the Manslayer has become a feeble old man, nearing death. Meanwhile, assassins hired by some families of his victims find him, but he is still fast enough to incapacitate them. Just as one assassin is about to kill Yoichiro, Hijikata arrives. Three more assassins arrive, and a fight ensues during which Yoichiro becomes an assassin again, cutting his way out with a sword and running off. Hijikata follows Yoichiro and cuts the old man down. As Yoichiro bleeds to death, he finally finds peace, regretting the many deaths he caused as a tool of the imperial loyalists. Meanwhile, Kiroranke's group hunt beluga whales off Ako, and after they sit down to have whale soup using some miso that Asirpa had stolen from Sugimoto, Kiroranke reveals his plan to create a mass prison break so their release of Sofia will not be noticed. (Source: Wikipedia)

Aired on: 11/22/2020