Chapter 249: Hurry Go Round

(The police boats have arrived. As Saitou directs the investigation of the island, Enishi is led off in custody.)

Kaoru: Misao.

Misao: Yeah?

Kaoru: Did you bring what I asked you for? It's all right, isn't it Kenshin?

Kenshin: Yes ... That's best.

Kaoru: Wait!

(Enishi turns his head.)

Kaoru (holding out Tomoe's old, worn diary): Here ... take this.

That was the last we saw of Yukishiro Enishi. When we reached Tokyo Bay, he had disappeared from the ship, along with Tomoe's diary. One week later.

(A summer's day at the Kamiya dojo. Aoshi, Megumi, Sanosuke and Misao are out on the verandah; the last two are eating watermelon.)

Misao: So, how's the search going?

Aoshi: The same. Yukishiro Enishi's whereabouts are still unknown. The police have achieved their objective of breaking up the arms smuggling ring, but they're still searching for him frantically in an effort to save face. Except for Saitou.

Saitou: Yukishiro Enishi as he is now couldn't kill anyone. Searching for that wreck of a man is a waste of time. Aoshi: He's already been transferred to his next assignment.

Misao (through a big bite of watermelon): He's gotta be dead though right? If he jumped into the ocean he had to've drowned.

Sanosuke: Doesn't matter. As long as that nutcase stays away from us.

A voice from inside: Hey! Are you eating watermelon without me?

(Yahiko, covered in bandages, bursts out, followed by a worried Tsubame.)

Yahiko: Where's mine!

Misao: There's no yours. (Why would there be?)

Tsubame: You're not supposed to be walking around-

Sanosuke: What, you get up just to bother us?

Yahiko: Huh? Where's Kenshin?

Tsubame: Can't you be a little quieter-

Sanosuke: What're you talking about?

Misao: Himura and Kaoru are in Kyoto.

Yahiko: Oh, okay.

Tsubame: If your wounds reopen...

Misao: Himura's so amazing. He was a mess when we got back, but he's already up and around.

Yahiko: Hey, shut up!

Misao: But he's a practitioner of the Hiten Mitsurugi school, so his body just works differently.

Megumi (thinking): That's not true. In fact, it's just the reverse... (In Kyoto, Kenshin and Kaoru enter a cemetery. As they approach Tomoe's grave, they are shocked to find fresh flowers, incense and two gifts laid before the grave--a hairpin and a bottle of perfume.)

Kaoru: Could Yukishiro Enishi have been here?

Kenshin: The flowers ... maybe, but... (thinking) This...

(He picks up the hairpin.)

Kenshin (thinking): What relatives does Tomoe have left besides Enishi?

Kaoru: Kenshin? What's wrong?