Meiji Gekken: 1874

Shizuma Origasa, a former samurai of the Aizu Domain, has struggled since his homeland's defeat by the imperial government. Now scraping by as a rickshaw puller in Tokyo, he refuses to give up his search for Sumie Kanomata-his missing fiancée and the younger sister of his late friend Gennosuke, who made Shizuma swear to protect her. When Shizuma thwarts an assassination attempt, he joins the police force, hoping the position will help him track down Sumie. Instead, he becomes entangled in a web of political schemes, caught between loyalists, rebels, shrewd courtesans, interfering foreigners, and the enigmatic yakuza Kyoushirou Shuragami.