Sanosuke is visiting the sukiyaki restaurant Akabeko, where he always leaves his bill on a tab. One of Akabeko's workers, Tae, asks him to go buy a Nishiki painting from the painting shop on her behalf. Though Sanosuke had no interest in paintings, he finds one at the store that catches his eye. It was a painting of the man he looked up to as his master back when he was a member of the Sekiho Army, Captain Sagara. With a gleam in his eyes, Sanosuke makes his way to meet with the artist of the painting.

Kenshin and Aoshi engage in a battle on the deck of the ironclad Rengoku. Behind the scenes, Sanosuke manages to board the ship and tries to blow up the engine room with the explosives he got from Tsunan. However, Shishio's underlings Hoji, Shuzo, Toshiro prevent him from going any further. Meanwhile in Kyoto, Arato faces off against Kamatari and Henya alone to buy time for the police forces to evacuate.

The engine room of Rengoku. Hoji manages to catch the explosives and prevents the room from blowing up. However, Sanosuke delivers the Mastery of Two Layers to the ship's Kingston valve, flooding the perimeter. Meanwhile, Usui reveals himself to Kaoru, Yahiko, and Misao as Arato faces off against Kamatari and Henya. Goichi begs for Megumi's help at her clinic to heal Tokuji, his younger brother. As these passions clash with each other in all places of Kyoto, a small, over-looked fire begins to flare up.