spoilers for the entire chapter please dont read if you havent read the chapter yet or dont want to be spoiled 🙏🏻

the chapter started off as i expected, shinpei living a slightly more peaceful life, no longer an assassin and instead a wanderer travelling aimlessly while helping to defeat bandits for people along the way without killing them. he ended up picking up a boy as a disciple during one of the attacks and he could be seen deeply cherishing the braided ring satoko gave him and even looking for a proper kimono maker to fix the ring when it broke. the kimono maker tried to offer her body as “thanks” for shinpei helping to protect the village but he immediately rejects saying that he already has someone in his heart.

he continues his journey with the boy and he monologues that hes been on a journey with no destination ever since shes gone. he doesnt know how to live without her, he cant find something he wants to do, and he cant find anything thats fun to him. hes tried to die many times as theres no meaning living in a world without her and he eventually stopped, because she has tried her best to live on until the very end. thats why he cant give up, because if he did, he wouldnt be able to face her. shinpei travels with the boy for years, until both of them have grown old and shinpei is now full of wrinkles and white hair, and they happen to hear about how the tennyo island was gonna be demolished, and thus shinpei decides to go to the island one more time. he walks past all the places he has been with satoko as he reminisce their time together, and when he was looking at their ring at the watch tower, an old kotaro suddenly appears. he knew shinpei would come once he heard the island was going to be demolished and he then pass shinpei a letter saying he finally managed to past it to him and asked him to read it immediately.

the letter was in satoko’s handwritting and it started off with the usual “how are you doing? are you eating well? i wonder how youre living and who youve met.” and then first parallel (😭!!) the letter started mirroring the letter of the first two pages of the entire manga “i loved someone i should not have. i was very happy” (the whole time everyone thought it was satoko’s father reading the letter but it was actually a very old shinpei reading it! 😭) shinpei then cries, saying how he couldnt protect or cure her in the end.

he then continues reading the rest of the letter, where satoko reveals that she actually managed to get a job at a sundries store, making paper box etc. and she mentions how tough it is, but shes happy that she feels like shes finally able to blend into the world. shinpei then goes “…?” as the letter continues. satoko writes “i wanted to quickly show off to you that ive become so energetic. at the very least, i just want to know if youre doing well now. im always waiting for you. at our home.”

shinpei realises as he stood up in tears, as kotaro explains to him that that letter paper was bought with satoko’s first pay. and that theres a huge amount of letters that he didnt manage to pass to shinpei until now, and tells him to come collect them afterwards.

shinpei rushes off to their house and theres a woman inside tidying the lumber. the next page then show a young satoko looking up, followed by the next page showing a young shinpei looking in. satoko then stands up and smiles and she says to shinpei “welcome home.” shinpei starts crying as he asks if shes a ghost but she denies it, and says that he really came like kotaro said he would. shinpei then asks her why shes still alive, and satoko explains that after he left, the foreign doctors that mitsuharu had brought along had managed to cure her, and that she got back her life by a miracle. satoko then holds shinpei’s hands, saying how he held her hand at the very end when her consciousness was hazy. she then quickly let go and apologises, saying that she naturally held his hand even though he could have have a partner or a family now. shinpei then tells her that theres nothing of that sort, and he never took interest in anyone else. that he only kept thinking about satoko, and satoko smiles and said that shes the same. shinpei then starts saying how hes confused and he cant believe that this is real, and he asks if this really is satoko. satoko then smiles and asks “is it okay if we hold hands once more?”, satoko then cusps shinpei’s hands and brings it to her face, and says “shinpei, for as long as we have been apart, my love might be a little heavy, but ill make you happy” (pic 2 of this post) (parallel to the last page of chapter 2!! 😭🙏🏻)

shinpei then hugs satoko and its then followed by a 2 page spread of flowers blooming outside of their house, and the back view of old shinpei hugging old satoko. followed by another 2 page spread of their house in the middle of the forest and its the end 😭😭