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seedsofagony · 1 year

Text

Tomcat (GK)

Series: Golden Kamuy

Characters: Hijikata Toshizou, Nagakura Shinpachi; in alphabetical order: Ienaga Kano, Kadokura Toshiyuki, Kirawus, Okuyama Kantarou, Toni Anji, Ushiyama Tatsuuma

Summary: I don’t want to let the Hiji-cat-a out of the bag: SFW, fluff, alternate timeline, spoiler free

Word Count: 1,945

Notes: Inspired by the ohiru neko (sleepy cat) prize figures and this comic by tyag53, along with my desire for everybody to be together under one roof. ฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅ

Image Credit: Alexander Possingham

Hijikata sat up slowly, blankets puddling in his lap, stretched and yawned. Light filtered in through the windows, cutting golden angles across the tatami mats and walls. He was surprised by the hour. Normally he would never sleep this late - it was a waste of daylight - but his futon was warm and soft, practically begging him to stay just a little while longer. His jaws cracked with another yawn and he rubbed bleary eyes.

No. He slapped his hands to his cheeks and shook his head to clear out the cobwebs. Hair falling over his face, he tucked it behind his ears. The long grey strands fell loose back into his face. Absently, he tucked them back again, but the strands fell into his face. Furrowing his brow, Hijikata swept back his hair a third time only to realize there was nothing to hold it back.

Not a man to panic, he reached up and carefully felt the sides of his head. No ears. That couldn’t be - he could hear the birds outside the window, chittering and singing in a way that suddenly seemed to draw all of his attention. Soft movement on the top of his head amplified the sound. Tentatively, Hijikata smoothed his hands over his hair to discover two triangular ears covered in sleek fur.

His tail bristled - tail?! It stuck out straight behind him, a slender exclamation point with every grey hair on end. Taking a deep breath, Hijikata felt it relax slightly. The fur was still fluffed, but the tail curled around and into his lap for closer inspection. Tentatively, he stroked the raised fur, surprised by the pleasant buzz - not unlike a comb run through your hair.

Frowning thoughtfully, he held the tail - his tail - in his hands. First, he wondered how something like this could happen. Was he dreaming? He pulled a few hairs from the tail and winced. If he wasn’t dreaming, then why had no one else noticed? It was unusual for him to sleep this late, so why hadn’t anyone woken him up? Rousing himself with great difficulty from the warmth of his bed and stretching with markedly feline languor, Hijikata slid open the screen.

ฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅ

At the sound of the screen sliding open behind him, Nagakura couldn’t help but feel a certain degree of relief. If that old demon wanted to sleep in - if he’d found some woman to spend the night without him knowing - that was his business. But there was always a part of him that worried. Hijkata Toshizou might be a legend, but he wasn’t immune to the ravages of old age. A heart attack or a stroke might take him as easily as any bullet.

He half-turned as Ienaga ladled miso soup into his bowl, knitting his shaggy brows together to disguise his relief. “I trust you slept well?”

The whole lot of them were early risers. It went without saying that Nagakura himself was awake before dawn - he practiced his sword, but the older he got, the less he found he needed to sleep. Ushiyama always got himself up early to train, and Toni was never long after. Ienaga busied herself with cooking breakfast or gathering herbs, and Kantarou had wisely learned to keep to her schedule. Kirawus was up early to hunt or fish - it was only his layabout companion, Kadokura, who couldn’t be bothered to rise in a timely manner. Ogata, well, he came and went and was little more than a stray cat.

Cat. Nagakura didn’t even notice the hot soup spilling over into his lap - didn’t even notice that Ienaga had not stopped pouring, her eyes fixed on Hijikata standing in the open screen. They all stared - chopsticks halfway to open mouths, conversations left dangling in mid-air. It was Ushiyama who finally spoke first.

“Well,” he said, returning to his rice, “I saw that in a brothel once. I just didn’t expect you to go in for that sort of thing, Hijikata.”

Nagakura exploded to his feet, half-foaming with wordless sounds, soup bowl sloshing over in his white-knuckled grip. “Wh-”

Hijikata held up a hand, the triangular ears on top of his head flicking back mildly. “I know this must come as a shock,” he began.

“Shock?!” Nagakura spluttered. “I expect this kind of prank from them,” he jabbed his chopsticks at Kirawus and Kadokura - who echoed a soft and simultaneous, Hey! -”But, Hijikata… you?”

Hijikata pursed his lips in a patient smile and began again. “I know this must come as a shock - to no one more than myself - but this is the way of it until we can find a cure.”

Still clutching the pot, Ienaga crowded around him, squinting at his ears. “They’re real?”

“Apparently,” said Hijikata. “And there’s more.” He coughed softly into his hand, a sinuous grey tail suddenly curling into view.

For a fraction of a second, you could have heard a pin drop - then the room erupted. Nagakura’s eyes rolled back into his head and he hit the floor, soup spraying across the tatami mat. Ienaga wondered if, at some desperate point in time, Hijikata had ever eaten a cat. Kantarou squealed then immediately covered his mouth, eyes wide but sparkling. Kadokura could only stutter and flush bright red while Kirawus banged him on the back, convinced he must be choking.

Only Ushiyama and Toni failed to react. Wiggling a finger in his ear, Toni grimaced. “Can somebody tell me what the hell is going on?”

ฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅ

Once the excitement died down and Nagakura had been revived, Hijikata tried to conduct business as usual. He went over the day’s plans, talked strategy, and doled out the necessary funds, but all the while, he couldn’t shake the heaviness of fatigue. All he wanted to do was crawl back into bed and take a little cat nap for, say, ten to twelve hours. After that? Something to eat and maybe a bath before going back to sleep. It was utterly unlike him, but he didn’t pay it any mind - it was instinctively feline hedonism.

The feeling only grew as the day progressed. His men came and went, while Hijikata found himself following the rays of the sun as they moved around the room. When the sun sank below the horizon, bathing the room in cool blue shadows, he nestled up to the brazier, nearly close enough to singe the fur on his ears and tail.

Stifling a yawn, neither seemed all that strange to him now. They weren’t entirely convenient - when Kadokura and Kirawus began to bicker like an old married couple, Hijikata’s ears flattened against his head, tail lashing in annoyance. That shut them up faster than his feline glare. It was becoming impossible to maintain his usual cool facade.

By the time dinner rolled around, the house was full again. Ienaga served up bowls of rice (which Hijikata mostly ignored) with grilled fish (which he devoured). Sake, while not quite as palatable as the fish, was still welcome, and deep into their cups, Hijikata’s new appendages became the center of attention again.

Kantarou sprawled out on the floor, face flushed, entranced by Hijikata’s lithe grey tail. “Can I touch it…?” he asked, words thick with drink.

Before Hijikata could answer, Kantarou circled his hand around the tail, gently stroking it from bottom to top, letting it fall from his loose grip. Hijikata sat bolt upright, struck by that pleasant buzz again, and a soft, deep Prrp! rumbled in his chest.

For the second time that day, you could have heard a pin drop. And for the second time, the room absolutely exploded, everyone crawling over the top of each other to pet ears and tail. Nagakura reacted better this time, emboldened by his sake. Swinging a broom like a katana - deadly if domestic - he chased them off or at least in circles. Hijikata slunk out of the room unnoticed. He’d had his share of the commotion and it was long past time for bed.

ฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅ

In the morning, Hijikata found himself curled up on the blankets, tail wrapped snugly around his body and over his nose. It was dark still, but he could make out each sleeping shape as easily as if it were daylight. His ears swiveled toward the window, catching the chirping of birds - fascinating stuff. Rousing himself, he arched his back into a full-body stretch and padded toward the shades for a peek. Hands caught him up before he could even make it off the blanket.

“Hijikata?”

Nagakura peered at him, holding him under his arms. Hijikata flicked his tail in annoyance.

“Is that really you?”

Apart from his own name, the rest of Nagakura’s soft sounds were lost on Hijikata, totally unintelligible. He was more interested in those birds, and he’d just about enough of being held. But instead of putting him down, Nagakura hugged his small grey body to his chest, tucking his fuzzy head beneath his bristled chin. He tolerated it, and the longer Nagakura held him like this, the more pleasant it became. A deep purr emanated from his chest as Nagakura buried his nose into his fur.

ฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅ

At breakfast, no one knew what to say. The old grey cat lay curled in Nagakura’s lap, dozing, purring in its sleep as he stroked its fur. Of one thing, however, they were certain. The Hijikata Toshizou they knew was gone, his nightclothes in a wrinkled heap on his futon, his sword untouched. He had been replaced, every whisker, by this feline and showed no signs of recognition. Although, now that he was a cat, it was hard to tell if he really didn’t know them or if he was just doing as cats are wont to do.

Kantarou was the first to speak. “So… now what?” He stared down at the cat, torn between heartbreak and desperately wanting to hold the little animal himself.

Kadokura rubbed his stubbled chin. “Do we continue the mission?”

“Can we?” Ushiyama frowned, arms folded across his chest. “Is there a mission without him?”

“The gold is still out there,” said Toni. “We have a copy of his tattoo. We could try.”

“Carry on his dream?” Ienaga tapped her finger on her lips. “I suppose there’s no reason why he couldn’t turn back someday…”

Kirawus took a drag on his pipe. “It’s worth a try.”

Nagakura cleared his throat, but his voice was rough with emotion. “If you all want to keep going, then have it. As for me… I'm staying with him.”

He looked down at the cat and scratched it behind the ears, tender in a way he could never have been before. The cat purred louder, stretched, toes splayed, then looked up at him, blinking slowly. Nagakura pursed his lips, whiskers bristling, as he held back tears.

“Then it’s decided,” said Ushiyama suddenly. He rubbed furiously at his nose and sniffed hard. “Kantarou, today you’re coming with me. Kadokura, Kirawus, you two are-”

Assignments and funds were given. Breakfast was cleaned up, the dishes washed and put away. The house emptied out save for Nagakura and the cat, who remained where they sat, bathed in warm rays of morning light.

“If you ever get well,” murmured Nagakura, “I hope you remember this day.” The cat did not stir, but sat in a loaf on the old man’s lap. “Alive or dead, Hijikata Toshizou still commands the hearts of men.”

At this, the cat opened one eye - its slitted pupil meeting Nagakura’s gaze - before closing it again. A deep purr rumbled through its chest, and Nagakura could not be sure that the demon vice commander was not still there, somewhere, in the soft body of a small grey cat.

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goldenkamuyhunting · 2 years

Note

Just because it has to be asked, what are your thoughts on the volume 31 adds?

First of all, sorry for the late reply.

As for your question...

I posted a bit of what I thought into my Quick outline of the changes in Golden Kamuy Vol 31 but for a less image filled and more though detailed reply...

Visually, as usual, the volume is a lot better than the magazine, Noda redrew lot of parts so the visual quality rose quite a bit.

A different matter is, however the quality of the plot changes/additions.

Mind you, not always Noda makes relevant plot changes/additions in the volume version but, since the ‘train to hell’ arc was for a good part of the fandom, a particularly disappointing ones many hoped in them.

I’ve honestly didn’t really keep my hopes up because there just was too much that didn’t win me over and that too much was clearly strongly tied to the development Noda wanted the story to have... and in fact there’s really little that got changed/expanded/added and, it’s often not really relevant.

Still Noda managed to do some good things so let’s go through all the changes and see which ones to me felt good and which ones didn’t win me over and let’s skip all that it didn’t change and that, instead, could ave benefitted from changes.

I apprecciated the tiny addition explaining how Hijikata couldn’t dodge, which was why he was foced to block Koito’s sword even though one shouldn’t do it.

While Sugimoto worrying for Asirpa wasn’t a bad addition, quite the contrary, since it was all he did, felt repetitive when he does it again after the second explosion. Plus seeing the 7th wounding him further wasn’t really welcomed since I found Noda wounded him already way too much in the magazine yet let him fight Tsurumi as if he were just fine. Increasing the number of wounds really was unneeded since, in the end, they don’t matter to the plot and make it only more unbelievable.

I apprecciated how Noda showed Tsukishima broke his arm but I’m still not fond of how the grenade is tossed by accident and not by purpose so as to keep Tsukishima’s hands clean by the fact he targeted a child and killed a beloved character (this was done also when Tsuishima tried to kill Ariko but Ariko survived effortlessly because his father’s knife stopped the bullet).

I also apprecciate the idea of having Ushiyama trying to grab the bomb... but the bomb was drawn too close to the ground before Ushiyama tossed himself. It killed the suspance the fact Ushiyama din’t have a sporting chance to grab it because he would have never made in time. If the bomb had to be so low then it was more dramatic to have Ushiyama get in between it and Asirpa to save her then trying to tell me Ushiyama tried but missed.

Ushiyama’s wound on the left side of his face also partially hid his serene expression which wasn’t something I apprecciated much.

The expansion of Tsurumi’s attempt at getting Tsukishima on the roof while Tsukishima was shown too weak to follow, with Koito trying to stop him was something I liked... but I’m not sure it drived home the point Noda wanted to drive home. I mean, in it Tsurumi looks like a jerk who wants to force a seriously wounded Tsukishima to fight and support him further for Tsurumi’s interest and, by contrast, Koito comes out as someone who cares about Tsukishima. However I get the feeling Noda didn’t want Tsurumi to look like a jerk so... I don’t know. I found the scene better but what passed might not have been what Noda wanted to transmit so...

Sugimoto stabbing the bear to persuade it to let go of Shiraishi was a good addition (even though even better would have been to cut the whole biting Shiraishi scene).

Changing Tsurumi’s line so that now he only warn Ogata that Sugimoto is coming wasn’t bad.

I’ve mixed feelings on the scene of Sugimoto telling Asirpa to stay behind so she won’t get a VIP seat for hell. I might have mistranslated it, of course but the wording implies Sugimoto is aware Asirpa might kill someone and wants to try to stop her from doing so when supposedly he believed Asirpa decided long ago she wouldn’t do it... and because Noda let the scene in which Sugimoto changed his mind and told Asirpa to kill Ogata. So... it’s not it’s bad, it’s just it leaves me a little puzzled.

I’m sure there’s plenty of people who found it fun and I’m glad we’ve an explanation for why the bear decided to go on the roof but I really don’t like the idea Tsurumi’s gaze can scare a bear and persuade it to climb on a roof.

I might have mistranslated it but I saw no need for Tsurumi to talk as if he was speaking to someone else when he explained his plans.

I’m not really fond of the pat of Sugimoto punching Ogata. This is part because I’m not really that into brutality scenes (so yeah, others might love them and this is just me) but also because it feels as if Noda want to make it funny because Ogata’s fake eye just remains open and I’m not really into making fun of a man beating another. Again it might be just me. Mostly though because Noda will often forget to correct all the following images of Ogata giving him the additional bruises he gained. Also I’m not into the Sugimoto/Ogata pairing so them rolling around in a suggestive manner doesn’t tell me much but I know there’s plenty of people who ship them so I believe this will be a beloved change.

Noda definitely improved a lot the scene in which Ogata was shoot. I said it also when listing the changes but the way the volume version went at it was beyond dumb so the new page is really a great change... though the problem with Hiikata katana remains. Sugimoto attempted to grab it previously but the volume cut Ogata stepping on it to stop him and, I guess, the idea is that he didn’t because Ogata aimed at him but then he does again but... he will conveniently somehow let it go so that Ogata can use it to try to pull out the arrow tip. So yeah, lot of kudos for the improvement but the scene needed more work.

Kudos also for cutting Ogata’s sentence about something troubling him and making him not say out loud he can’t die but just think it. The first line didn’t work well and felt obscure since the problem should have been solved long ago and the fact Ogata thought he couldn’t die made it more dramatic thn saying it out loud.

Chap 310 remains a mess but Yuusaku’s apparition was much better drawn and the same goes for Ogata’s fall. Pity Noda hadn’t included an explanation for why Ogata let go of the sword (eyond that the plot needed it on the train) but kept the rifle as he fall but whatever.

Good is the addition of Tsurumi seeing Ogata falling, though I don’t get why Noda decided to obscure his face.

Interesting also how Tsurumi decided he has to go alone.

Good how Asirpa now look behind to where Ogata fell off and seems to feel guilty, even though it’s still tiny.

I’m not sure how to feel about Sugimoto’s inner speech about realizing he never watched at Asirpa as a partner and now realized she would go with him to hell. While foreshadowing Sugimoto’s decision to remain with Asirpa was ENORMOUSLY important, it takes away from Asirpa’s grief placing the focus on Sugimot and, somehow the whole idea behind the scene still didn’t sit well with me. Of course it can be that I didn’t translate the scene well and that I hate the SugiRipa so others might love it.

I loved Asirpa attempting to hit Tsurumi. I hated how previously she went along but just... aimed and never shoot even though, after what happened with Ogata, now she was supposedly capable to shoot a man.

The addition of Kikuta’s image as Sugimoto remembered him was nice and also nice was to draw Shiraishi’s eyes instead of keeping them shadowed.

The whole thing with Asirpa about to fall of the train was unclear and I’m not really fond of it, except for the part in which Asirpa tries to warn Sugimoto about Tsurumi being behind him. That one was cool.

In an effort to make the situation even more dramatic it looks as if the locomotive is the one pushing futher down in the water Sugimoto and Tsurumi... and hey, it makes it really dramatic and cool... but since it isn’t explained how THE BOTH OF THEM SURVIVED to it and to their respective potentially fatal wounds (Sugimoto has a sword through his lug and got stabbed in his stomach but at least we can hope Shiraishi fished him up, Tsurumi got a bullet through his lug but no one, as far as we know, was there to fishhim up and bring him to a doctor asap), it makes the survival even more unbelievable.

Umeko being pregnant seemed an afterthough to further push forwad his idea that Sugimoto collecting gold Umeko didn’t need was still useful because Toraji’s son won’t accept his stepfather’s inheritance should he get a stepbrother so he would need the gold to live. I mean, maybe it’s a matter of Japanese culture so for me it’s hard to connect the dots but the idea I’m expected to predict Toratarou’s actions in the future when he was hardly a character in the story feels like a stretch even if now Noda hinted he could get a stepbrother.

On the other side Umeko’s emotional reaction to hearing Sugimoto’s words was a nice addition.

The omake at the end basically making Tsurumi a noble patriot who manipulated MacArthur into stopping the Soviet Union from taking Hokkaido was something I could do without. Through GK, although Tsurumi claimed to act for the benefit of others we saw him acting mostly for his own self interest and not really merely out of patriotism. He didn’t care about others, he used them dry and we even saw it in this volume with Tsukishima. And now weìve to believe out of the blue he decided to do something nice for Japan selflessly? Why? What produced such change? Sure, since years are gone by Tsurumi could have changed into everything, really, but if Tsurumi became a new man offscreen I’m not interested. I wanted to see him becoming a new man offscreen. I’m fine with learning he lived but not with seeing him being painted as a noble patriot after he got close to cause a civil war. But whatever, Noda retconned Tsurumi’s goals through the story so yeah, maybe I’m just biased because I can’t let go the previous canon.

Plus, according to Soviet officers the reason why Hokkaido wasn’t invaded lies in the Battle of Shumshu, whcih was the only battle between the Soviets and Japanese in August–September 1945 in which Soviet casualties exceeded those of the Japanese. The Soviets suffered 1,567 casualties – 516 killed or missing and another 1,051 wounded – and the loss of five landing ships, while Japanese casualties totaled 1,018 – 256 killed and another 762 wounded.

The operation demonstrated the difficulty of amphibious invasions of enemy territory and Soviet shortfalls and inexperience in amphibious warfare.

The idea that MacArthur went against Soviet interests despite them being allied in favour of Japan doesn’t keep into consideration how the Soviet Union and the USA had poor relations despite their allegiance and the USA would definitely prefer not to help them. I mean, the Korea war takes place in 1950, when the cold war was already started, is it really surprising MacArthur would be okay stopping an eventual Soviet Union advance, especially since the USA has worked into turning Japan into an ally?

But okay, this is an alternate history but still this great mystery feels something that’s constructed solely for people who don’t know about the Battle of Shumshu and the Cold War to try to give Tsurumi a better portray after the manga has ended... which is way too late.

If Noda wanted to make Tsurumi someone noble he should have worked on it earlier, at least that’s how I feel about it.

Anyway overall most of the changes/additions were good and definitely improved the reading experience so who enjoyed the magazine version will love even more the volume one.

For me though the changes weren’t enough to make me love this arc.

They softened the blow, sure, but didn’t save the story, especially because other parts for which I would have apprecciated some changes were left as they were. But hey, that’s just me.

So, really, forthose who loved the magazine version the volume will come out as even more amazing and still kudos to Noda for improving his work. It’s really a pity I couldn’t enjoy it as much as I did in the past but... well, it happens.

And well, that’s all.

Thank you for your ask!

#Sugimoto Saichi #Asirpa #Ogata Hyakunosuke #Tsukishima Hajime #Koito Otonoshin #Hijikata Toshizou #Tsurumi Tokushirou #Kenmochi Umeko #Kenmochi Toraji #Kenmochi Toratarou #Shiraishi Yoshitake #Kikuta Mokutarou #Hanazawa Yuusaku #Ushiyama Tatsuuma #Ask

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