In “JIN 2” (Episode 7)

Jin: What can be called happiness in a life is when at long last, you grasp your dream. I wonder if even I won’t be granted that dream?

Saki: Nokaze-san’s dream has come true, has it not? It may be while Sensei is trying to change history for people of the future, history may be adding your life to those changes. However, if it could be said that your wish for a different future is for Nokaze-san and the people of this era to have strong wills, then this is no longer a history that needs to be changed. But just an ordinary history, is it not?

Jin: What do you mean?

Saki: Nokaze-san most likely knows… That Sensei comes from the future; that the person you desired may be one of her own descendants. That is why even at the risk of her life, she wants to give birth. Of course, you could also say she wishes for the child of her adored Lelong-san. However, it is not only for that. In the next world, does this not mean Nokaze-san will try and encounter Sensei once again? To go to the extent of crushing her wished-for dream, I would like to believe that Heaven is not so cruel.

Nokaze: Saki-sama!

Jin: There is a legend that says the person who catches the bride’s bouquet will be the next one to find happiness…

In “JIN 2” (Episode 6)

After meeting up with Ryoma-san again and learning about his smuggling of weapons, Jin felt that something had changed; that Ryoma-san was no longer the lighthearted and carefree man Jin once knew. Ryoma-san’s words had a darkness to them that disturbed and disappointed Jin. In his confrontation with Ryoma-san, Jin reminded Ryoma-san that his ideal could be achieved in many other ways than war; that whichever side soldiers were on, they were still all people of this country; that “violence will only beget violence”. These words rang a bell in Ryoma-san’s heart, yet he left begrudgingly due to his prideful self.

Back at the Western medical school in Nagasaki, Tanaka-san (famous engineer and inventor) approached Jin to thank him for his time lecturing at the school. And the conversation brought hope and a hint of enlightenment to Jin.

Jin: You can make anything, can’t you?

Tanaka: Whatever I create, the reaction is the same.

Jin: The same?

Tanaka: When people see my mechanical doll, they burst into laughter. When my inexhaustible light shines, they burst into delight. Seeing those faces is all that’s taken to get me this far.

Jin: You’ve had a wonderful life, haven’t you? I’m envious.

Tanaka: My son and grandson were both killed…

Jin: Ki-killed?

Tanaka: My son was an engineer, who together with a Soga soldier went to Nagasaki to buy a warship. That soldier slashed both him and my grandson.

Jin: Why would he do that?

Tanaka: I don’t know. That soldier too, had studied abroad and was with the enlightenment faction, so their wills should have been the same. But one day, suddenly, it became like that.

Jin: How could such… Such a heartbreaking thing have happened?

Tanaka: In the whirlpool of this era, I think he became consumed by it.

Jin: The whirlpool of this era?

Tanaka: Today’s ally may be tomorrow’s enemy. And then it reverses. Inside it, as it spins around and around, you can become confused about the place you’re standing at. You can lose track of what it was you were aiming for.

Jin: My friend right now… Is caught up in that whirlpool. I wasn’t able to pull him out of it.

Tanaka: Both of you being swallowed up by the whirlpool would be senseless. Shouldn’t your friend become a signpost for what you shouldn’t become, Sensei? From within even the darkness of the whirlpool, you can become a blinding light so that they don’t lose sight of their destination. Sensei, you can be just like that inexhaustible light.

In “JIN 2” (Episode 5)

Jin: Brandishing around my own feelings, I couldn’t properly diagnose the patient. I was caught up in trying to give them longer lives.

Saki: Is the purpose why Sensei was sent here not to just save the lives of individuals?

Jin: What do you mean?

Saki: Could it be you have a much bigger purpose that goes beyond the world of each individual’s life? Though I cannot say what it may be.

Jin: Beyond the world of life…

In their attempt to save Kichijuurou-san and resolve his relationship with Yokichi-chan, Jin found something more to life.

Jin: A momentarily longer life, yet it may even be he couldn’t have had a longer life. There is even the possibility his life was shortened by doing this. However, at this moment, there is meaning to life which can’t be told by its length. It could be said that allowing an individual to leave behind a shining moment is what makes medical care meaningful. Like a performance passed down through generations, that is what lies beyond the world of life. The power to make corrections to history, I too want to pass that down.

In “JIN 2” (Episode 3)

Jin asked Saki for a moment to speak with her. The two settled on the hilltop watching over the city of Edo, under the sky of an illuminating sunset.

Saki: You had an opportunity to return to the future?

Jin: When I was nearly killed… Well, it might have been just an illusion though. But, at the time, I… I thought that I didn’t want to go back. About not being able to see Miki anymore and not being able to see Saki-san anymore, I thought long and hard about that. Ah… Even if I feel I don’t want to return, it may be I could be returned someday. So I don’t know if I’m the sort of man who can ask you this, Saki-san, though could you and I be together?

Upon hearing such words, words that she had probably longed for since meeting him, Saki was confused.

Saki: It is a beautiful sunset, is it not? Such beauty, what makes it so?

While looking far into the distance, Saki remembered words that Nokaze-san had said to her earlier that day, “Sensei and thee… be happy. Please promise me.” The event and conversation with Nokaze-san had trembled Saki’s heart, and it trembled more so now that she was suddenly approached with what she had been longing for yet was unsure of, because she never thought it would be possible. A moment of silence passed between the two while Saki gathered her emotions. Slowly, Saki answered. 

Saki: I decline. My happiness is not by being together with Sensei. My happiness is to bequeath Jinyu-do to the future ages. When I consider that Sensei would one day return to his world, it makes me feel miserable. When I ask my heart for the reason why, it is because when Sensei does return to the future, I would not be there… In that case, I feel it would be best if things were left as is. I… We… Every day we live here with Sensei may be be fleeting.

Jin: I don’t know if I may go back.

Saki: No. You will surely return. The truth is, that is not the most important thing to me. Not knowing when you may disappear someday, I guess I do not have the courage to live a life like that. Having been only filial, I believe the least I can do is make my mother and brother happy by obediently finding a partner in marriage. Even so, I will be, as before… Sensei’s student and will do as much as I possibly can for you. From here on as well, please work with me! Well then, as I must prepare for dinner, I will go first…

Saki quickly rushed off, leaving Jin nothing more than her shadow, the setting sun, and time to reflect.

Jin: Saki-san is an adult, far more than I’ve always thought. But even if I was rejected, all of them were thinking for my happiness. Those feelings are not lies. In that case, the one thing I can do is live each moment with all of my might, and with my own will, I will change this era’s tomorrow.