A Summer Breeze in Grass, Time Vanished into the Clouds (茅花流し, 雲隠れの刻 Tsubananagashi, kumogakure no toki) is the first episode of Hakuōki OVA (2021) that is meant to be an extension of the main plot of Hakuōki: Shinsengumi Kitan. This episode gives more insight about the story from the Shinsengumi members' point of view rather than Chizuru's.
Plot
The episode begins the same way as the first episode of the first season: a few Rasetsu that have lost their mind are attacking in the night. However, this time we see that Okita, Hijikata and Yamazaki are hunting them even before they get to Chizuru and kill those who are chasing her.
After Saitou saves Chizuru and Hijikata threatens her with a sword, Chizuru starts to reminisce on the background that this is the moment that has changed her destiny. She goes on to list all the events that happened afterwards including her looking for her father, the Shinsengumi's name getting spread after the Ikeda-ya Incident, the Kinmon Rebellion and relocating to Nishi Honganji Temple.
The main events start in June, Keyo Year 1 (1865).
Chizuru notices that Hijikata is reading notes that contain haiku[1] which he is reluctant to own up to. Apparently, he has been writing a haiku about tanabata[2], but when she mentions it Hijikata claims to just write the poems down when they pop up in his head rather than liking them.[3] Okita and Saitou join the conversation with Souji teasing Hijikata and Hajime waiting to discuss an important matter. He informs the vice-commander that there is someone threatening merchants and ripping off valuables. These people are speaking with a western accent and are not wearing any uniform. Hijikata assumes that it is someone pretending to be the Shinsengumi when the conversation is interrupted by Kondou who has come to bring the news about the shōgun coming to Kyoto.
The next scene shows Heisuke and Chizuru talking to a merchant who promises that the uniforms they have ordered will be ready shortly. When Harada's squad joins them, Chizuru explains that someone mistook Heisuke for a fake Shinsengumi member. He tried to stop thieves from walking away with rolls of fabric and introduced himself as the 8th Unit Captain, but they laughed at him and got away while he was trying to grab the fabric.
When the group comes back to the headquarters with food, they see Okita and Shinpachi sitting by the entrance and complaining that the shopping trip took too long, which is why Okita almost fell asleep with a cat on his laps, and Shinpachi started drinking on an empty stomach. Saitou, followed by Inoue, joins the conversation by saying that he cannot wait to cook the sweetfish (アユ), and Kondou and Hijikata soon enter the area with Kondou calling the sweetfish exciting. Okita keeps hugging and sniffing the cat in his arms. Harada joins Shinpachi in drinking.
While the food is being cooked, Heisuke walks into the room of a new character that has not been introduced in the story before — Sakai Hyōgo, the accountant of the Shinsengumi. He has brought him the change from ordering new clothes for the Shinsengumi, but has not given all of it straight away because some coins got lost in his pocket. When he realized his mistake, he looked again and found the missing coins, but Shinpachi and Harada were already there to tease him about trying to keep the money. The actual reason for them to come was to take Heisuke with them as they are going out to drink, and since Heisuke has no money, they encourage him to ask Sakai to lend him some. Sakai agrees and promises to take this money out of Heisuke's next paycheck. Okita comes to wonder if the trio is going to eat or if he can give some sweetfish to his cat, and Hijikata shouts that the trio must get back before the curfew.
When everyone is eating in the evening, Itou joins via Kondou's invitation, and Chizuru seems to be suspiciously watching him enter the room. When Itou sits down, Okita coughs and makes a comment that it has suddenly become stuffy.
While everyone is busy, Chizuru sneaks into the part of the temple where Rasetsu and people doomed to turn into Rasetsu[4] are held captive and sets them free by opening the door. Sannan wakes up but too late, the 4 Rasetsu hostages are gone, and some time later Hijikata scolds him for letting this happen. Chizuru brings Sannan food, but Hijikata yells at her to leave, so she runs away. The Shinsengumi captains are gathered to discuss the situation, and the order is given to find the Rasetsu that have escaped. Sannan is sure that he locked the door in the morning and that the soldiers could not have escaped by themselves.
Chizuru tries to wake up the drunken trio in the morning, and Sakai points out that they completely broke the curfew. Hijikata loudly scolds them while Inoue asks Sakai to accompany Chizuru to pick up the new uniforms that Heisuke ordered earlier. Okita and his division join them due to being on patrol. Sakai notices that people in the city have been giving the Shinsengumi a lot of cold looks lately, and Okita jokes that it just means the group is famous now. Sakai agrees and says that he feels proud wearing the uniform. He also adds that working with the Shinsengumi allows him to earn some money to send to his parents, which Chizuru finds very nice of him to do, but Okita sarcastically questions his kindness saying that "if you have parents, you help your parents, and if you have friends, you help your friends". Okita also reacts coldly to Sakai's claim to wish to help the Shinsengumi.
Okita's squad leaves to patrol the streets, and Chizuru and Sakai enter the shop. Sakai politely asks if anyone is inside, and the person who appears in front of them claims that the uniforms are not ready yet. Sakai asks for the manager, but the man informs him that the manager is out. Chizuru notices blood on the man's sleeve, and Sakai does too, but pretends not to and tries to leave. When the man realizes that they both noticed the blood, he yells, and they try to run, but the exit is blocked by other samurai who recognize Chizuru as a "fake Shinsengumi" from the day before. They engage in a fight, Sakai protects Chizuru and kills one of the samurai but ends up gravely injured in his lower abdomen. He and Chizuru manage to get away and hide in a narrow alley but the rest of the enemies, having realized that Sakai is injured, are chasing them, so Chizuru puts on the blue haori [5] and runs away to distract their attention and seek Okita's help.
While Chizuru is looking for Okita, he has already come back and reported the two missing. Kaoru, dressed exactly like Chizuru, offers Sakai a vial of Ochimizu promising that he will feel better after drinking it. Okita informs the other captains that when his squad came back to the shop, all the employees were in the back room dead, and the Shinsengumi uniforms had been stolen. Heisuke complains that Okita should have gone with Sakai and Chizuru inside the shop, and Okita agrees, but Heisuke quickly realizes (with Sano's help) that he is also at fault since he was the one who was supposed to go there in the first place. Yamazaki enters the room and confirms that the thieves were rōnin speaking with the same accent as samurai from the Tosa Domain (located far in the west). Heisuke exclaims that they need to split up and look for Chizuru, but Hijikata insists that since the Shinsengumi are now the shogunal escorts, they cannot make this incident public. He assumes that Chizuru and Sakai are either hiding or have been abducted, therefore inspectors can look for them but the rest of the Shinsengumi need to do their duties normally. Yamazaki is entrusted with dealing with the situation. Everyone leaves, and Inoue asks Hijikata again if this is the best way of solving the problem, to which Hijikata replies affirmatively, remembering Chizuru's last words to him and clearly looking worried about her.
The trio finds the spot where Sakai lost a lot of blood, and Heisuke instantly assumes that it was Chizuru who did not survive, to which Harada punches him and says that the person who died here is unknown. Shinpachi suggests that they keep searching, and they split up.
In the evening, Souji is walking along the street remembering the last thing he said to Chizuru (which was about him not doing anything for her specifically but rather for the Shinsengumi in general), when he notices three samurai walking out of an inn, and they start running when they see him. He chases them to a dead end and asks what they know about the situation threatening to kill them if they refuse to speak, but Saitou interrupts and hits them to make them pass out. He explains to Souji that they will not give him any information about Chizuru or the escaped Rasetsu if he kills them, and Souji blames Hijikata for the latter. He is aggravated and worried that Chizuru might be killed while they are talking, so he tells Saitou to do what Hijikata told him to do, while claiming that he will find Chizuru by himself.
Late at night, Kaoru dressed like Chizuru comes back to the headquarters. Some Rasetsu are losing their minds due to their hunger, and a soldier asks "Chizuru" to give them some medicine, but "Chizuru" refuses, and the Rasetsu attack others (and it becomes clear that Kaoru was the one who set the Rasetsu free in the beginning of the episode). Sakai wakes up in the Rasetsu part of Nishi Honganji Temple with "Chizuru" looking at him.
Next morning, Hijikata, Saitou and Yamazaki find the bodies of the inspectors who went to search the Tosa mansion. Meanwhile, the man from the store is shown to be talking to Chizuru who is held captive in the dungeon. All the captains are on the lookout worried but nobody seems to be able to find Chizuru yet.
After the credits, we see Kazama and Amagiri discussing the situation. They have been asked to investigate whether the Tosa samurai are trying to use shōgun's arrival and plot an assassination. If so, they need to put a stop to it, which is why they are going to the capital.
Trivia
- ↑ The haiku is a Japanese poetic form that consists of three lines, with five syllables in the first line, seven in the second, and five in the third.
- ↑ Tanabata is a Japanese festival that is held on different dates during the summer. It is common to watch fireworks at Tanabata and write down wishes on small sheets of paper.
- ↑ This corresponds with the stories about the real Hijikata Toshizō who was known for writing poetry and leaving a death poem to Matsumoto Ryōjun.
- ↑ The Shinsengumi commanders usually give traitors a choice between seppuku (suicide by cutting their stomach open) or turning into a Rasetsu and helping the experiments (but most likely being killed later). This is obviously not part of any historical events and is only used in the Hakuōki franchise.
- ↑ The haori (羽織) is a traditional Japanese hip- or thigh-length jacket worn over a kimono. The blue haori is the recognizable uniform of the Shinsengumi.
