Laughing Under the Clouds

The chapter opens with a description of the current state of affairs in the city of Otsu. The narrator tells us that the city is in the middle of a "great upheaval and unrest" for tapans. It's a time of high crime, and the ferrymen who ferry people across the lake are one of the main culprits. The doctor tells Soramaru and Chuma that he's going to have them come to the doctor's office the next day. He's worried about Chuma's neck injury, but Chuma doesn't seem to care. He tells the doctor to "stick him with all of the worst needles" . Chuma says, "I was just joking around" , but the doctor is not joking around. He says that Chuma has to stop putting Chuma on a pedestal , and he'll be happy to see that the family is as "spunky" as ever. He also says that despite the prison, the three brothers keep the city safe. He wants to show Chuma what he can do, so he tells him to "squeeze after all" and cut off ties with the "scumbag" before it's too late. He adds that he can't watch Chuma as he is right now, because most of his clan members have turned into "thieves or bandits". Chuma is an outcast, the doctor says, because he is from the "choshu domain" and he shouldn't go to the shrine.