With you I bloom ～The shinsen-gumi youth chronicle～: Season 0 (2024)

In the end, Kyujuro and Daisaku, bound by deep friendship forged in the Shinsengumi, face each other in a tragic duel driven by the era's turmoil, fighting to the death as destiny demands, with Kyujuro ultimately avenging his father's murder amid their unbreakable bond.

Now, let me take you to the heart of this tale's close, scene by scene, as the cherry blossoms fall like fleeting youth in Kyoto's shadowed streets of 1860s upheaval.

The tension builds in the Mibu barracks under a heavy dusk sky, lanterns flickering against wooden walls scarred by training blades. Kyujuro Fukakusa stands rigid, his callused hands gripping his katana hilt, sweat beading on his furrowed brow, eyes burning with the unresolved fire of his father's murder years prior--Shichiya slain by Choshu samurai Gengo Shonai in their modest teahouse for sheltering a pro-shogunate fugitive. Beside him, Daisaku Kamagiri paces with quiet intensity, his lithe frame coiled like a spring, sharp features set in grim resolve, the promising swordsman who bested all at their Mibu Roshigumi entrance exam now his closest comrade through grueling drills and shared sake under starlit roofs.

Word spreads like wildfire through the ranks: the tide of change surges, pro-shogunate Shinsengumi clashing against rising imperial forces, loyalties fracturing like brittle bamboo. Kyujuro overhears whispers of betrayal--Daisaku pulled by hidden ties to opposing winds, perhaps whispers from Choshu shadows or the pull of a shifting shogunate's doom. Daisaku's face tightens, jaw clenched, as he meets Kyujuro's gaze across the dim room, their bond of sweat-soaked spars and late-night vows of brotherhood now straining under unspoken accusations, chests heaving with the weight of what must come.

Night falls fully, moon pale over the compound's gravel yard. Commanders bark orders, but the two slip away to a secluded riverside clearing, reeds whispering in the chill breeze, water lapping dark and indifferent. They face off, blades drawn with a metallic hiss that echoes their shared history--Kyujuro's raw determination from teahouse boy to wolf of Mibu, Daisaku's elegant precision honed in mystery. No words at first, just the crunch of footsteps on pebbles, breaths fogging the air, eyes locked in a mix of sorrow and unyielding duty.

The duel erupts. Daisaku lunges first, his sword a silver blur slicing through mist, forcing Kyujuro back with a parry that sparks fireflies of steel. Kyujuro counters low, sweeping at Daisaku's legs, muscles straining from endless Shinsengumi patrols, driving Daisaku to pivot and slash high, grazing Kyujuro's shoulder--blood wells hot and red, soaking his haori, but Kyujuro presses on, fueled by visions of his father's crumpled body. They circle, blades clashing in a rhythm of thunderous rings, footwork churning mud, Daisaku's strikes precise and probing, Kyujuro's fierce and relentless, each blow carrying the era's chaos: shogun's fall, samurai codes crumbling, friendships forged in youth now blades turned inward.

Daisaku falters mid-exchange, boot slipping on slick stones, his guard opening for a heartbeat--eyes wide with final recognition of their doomed path. Kyujuro's blade thrusts true, piercing Daisaku's chest with a wet crunch, the enigmatic swordsman's body jerking, blood bubbling from lips as he crumples to his knees, then face-down into the shallows, dark hair fanning like ink in water, life draining in shudders. Daisaku Kamagiri perishes there, his fate sealed by the times' merciless current, body still amid the river's murmur.

Kyujuro drops to his knees beside the corpse, katana falling from numb fingers, shoulders wracked with sobs that tear from his throat raw and animal. In Daisaku's kimono folds, he finds proof--letters tying Daisaku to Shonai's Choshu circle, the murderer himself. Rage reignites; Kyujuro rises, bloodied and alone, stalking through dawn-lit alleys to confront Gengo Shonai in a dingy inn, the killer's smug face paling as Kyujuro's blade flashes once, severing life in a spray of crimson. Shonai slumps dead, vengeance claimed at last.

Kyujuro Fukakusa survives, scarred and hollow, wandering from the dissolving Shinsengumi as imperial banners rise, his youth's bloom wilted by blood and loss, carrying the ghost of Daisaku's final gaze into an uncertain horizon.