272 6.66 Goodbye Hiko-sama, It Has Been A Pleasure Being With You...

We had pretty busy, the 4 Execom were entertaining the incoming merchants and gathering the sales for the past 2 weeks and gaining quite a popularity due to the fact that these ladies were being entertained by these 4 fine gentlemen.

I had cordially sent a letter of invitation to Tokugawa Iemochi and he had agreed to be there on the 16th June, 2 days before the actual wedding day to present us 3 gifts for the newlyweds.

It was a joyous moment and a stage was being erected in front of the community building where on the 18th June, there would be a plant shutdown for 2 days to mark the joyous occasion. Inuyasha and Kikyo were fussing about picking the dress that they wanted and in the end, they ended up with the same garb that they had been wearing.

Shikon no Tama was now in the safe hands of Sango's father who had made a special room in his house as an altar to place the sacred jewel.

Hiko-sama had bought a new kimono and hakama and was wearing a black and white for that occasion. Sango and Hoshi-sama also were fussing about what to wear and had decided to wear the same coloured kimono set as one another. Hahahaha.

Now just left me and Izumi... And Izumi had fashioned out our kimono from the materials she had acquired from the tailor from the trading district. It was red and black kimono and white hakama. It was a matching pair and it took some time to make the hidden pockets that I had for all my kimonos to be able to suddenly make huge wooden chest disappear when I slip it into the sleeves. Hahahahaha.

Ruffnut and Tuffnut were also dressed up for the day and their dragons were all trussed up like a Christmas's trees with tresses, wedding bells and wildflowers. They were the one who took responsibility in decorating the stage with backdrops, lighting and colourful lantern of all sort of sizes.

"Seems that everyone got worked up for this event, right? It had never been a triple wedding before and this would be the first time. Do you intend to mark the wedding date as Fukushima's official off day or something?" Tokugawa Iemochi gestured to me since he had arrived in the date he described and can't help to wonder at all the work and setup that had been done by the residents within a short while.

"Hahahaha...its alright, Your Majesty. Having too many holidays would definitely disrupt their work schedule. Furthermore, we just had a festivities day last month and it's coming up again by the end of this month too."

"Ah...the Cake Festivities. It is really a wonderful experience and I also get to meet Princess Kazu. It's only been 2 weeks since I left and here I am again. Seems I can't get enough of this town, right, Himura?"

"Yup... It is quite a close-knit community here. Do you know that we had surpassed the 25,000 residencies here, Your Majesty?"

"Oh is it...? You had made more than double the expected residency here. It was somewhere 10,000 before right?"

"Yes, Your Majesty... That was more then 6 months ago and we had upgraded te lives if all residents here. Even the residents from theinnermost District had been employed by us since the shrinkage of the business and governmental."

"I see...according to the journal... You truly had come a long way to get to where you stand right now. It was a good thing that I had removed the ex-Mayor, and also I had adopted your system within my Shogunate as well. Majority of people were not too happy about it but somehow we managed to appease them."

"Yeah... I do agree with you, Your Majesty. I do have come a long way to reach this point. Oh... Here's the Immortal One that I had mentioned to you. Let me introduce him to you. He would be the one that would be holding the ceremony in place of Miroku the Hoshi."

I walked with Tokugawa Iemochi and greeted the Immortal One and we three exchanged pleasantries. "So, the commencement would start at 5 pm and there would be a dinner reception after this? That's great... I hadn't been involved with worldly matters for quite some time now and I would really love to taste of the Epic XO Sauce that I had been hearing from the offscreen crews past few weeks."

"Hahahaha...be my guest Immortal One. It is an honour having you onboard." I replied as I moved off when Tokugawa Iemochi and The Immortal One were having a rather engaging discussion between themselves.

It was after 3 pm and everyone was rehearsing their parts on the stage and there were 3 pairs of two-seater kind of sofas and a microphone stand in the centre as well. There was a huge majestic throne which they had emplaced to be in the centre of the stage and was prepared to be on a pedestal, which I guessed might be for Tokugawa Iemochi.

Fireworks were being set up, roman candles on the side of the stage and rockets that would be meant to be released were lined up on the 3rd floor of the open space on the community building.

Throngs of people were already there and a stanchion was erected as a form of a barricade. These people were well behaved and there was no need to deploy any patrolmen on site.

By 645pm, Inuyasha and Kikyo, Miroku and Sango, while Izumi and I were already seated at our respective two-seater sofas while we were Tokugawa Iemochi, was seated in the middle. The setting sun was behind us and fortunately, with the looming community building behind us, it cast a long shadow and shielded the gathering residents from getting sunburnt.

There was a deejay at the corner of the stage and he was belting out all the love songs on the turntable and those residents who knew the songs chimed in to sing along. The two speakers in front of the stage served as both for music and for the announcement. Huat ah...!!!

By 650 pm we were all seated and the deejay acting as the emcee announced the entry of His Majesty, Tokugawa Iemochi and we all stood up and bowed when he appeared on the stage. He was wearing his traditional kimono dressing and looked rather elegant.

The moment he entered, all the residents on the ground all bowed deeply at the direction of Their Majesty and on cue by the emcee, the residents all take up their usual positions when His Majesty Tokugawa Iemochi had taken his seat. He had a Mike on a boom near him so he doesn't actually need to walk and speak to the microphone the was placed in the centre of the stage, directly in front of me.

Tokugawa Iemochi made the first speech when the crew adjusted the microphone boom near him. Well, at least he doesn't need to Echo the Witch to help spread his voice when he makes the speech. Hahahaha. People can't see in this novel so we had deployed the use of microphones, amplifiers and those kinds of stuff since we had electricity being generated from the Windtech after all. Hahahahaha...

"Hello and good evening, I am Tokugawa Iemochi, the 14th Shogun in Japan and I hereby welcomes everyone to this auspicious gathering as we announce the matrimonial oath that would be made by our newlyweds. Starting from Inuyasha and Kikyo on the left, then by Miroku and Sango on the right and lastly by Yours Truly, the Town Mayor and Governor of Fukushima, Himura Kenshin and his partner, Izumi... "

Some thoughtful AV technicians had set up several 150 inches projection screen all over New Kitakata Town to enable the residents to view the event since the grounds were unable to accommodate all the 25,000 over residents.

Everyone clapped wildly when Tokugawa Iemochi announces the matrimonial oath that will be made in sequence and when they announced my name, the crowd went ecstatic.

"*Ahem*... "Tokugawa Iemochi cleared his throat and everyone's claps and cheers slowly subsided before he continues..."Here is to the groom with a bride so fair, and here is to a bride with a groom who is so rare." before offering a toast to Inuyasha and Kikyo in which they returned their toast to him.

"Even before this day, I have seen Sango and Miroku fall in love over and over many times. That is the recipe for a successful and happy marriage. A toast to you both, I know I speak for everyone here when I say that we all wish you a long, healthy, and happy life together." Tokugawa Iemochi raised his glass to Miroku and Sango and every resident cheered for them.

"And last but not least, to my dear friend who had taught others to be humble and respectful even to this day, Himura Kenshin...would you have anything to say before I make the toast to you?"

I slowly stood up and looked at Izumi as she sat there with a thin veil across her face. I looked to my left and saw Inuyasha was giving me a thumbs up and on the right, Miroku was putting his hand to his chest as a kind of salute. I saw Tokugawa Iemochi and he gestured me to move ahead and reach for the microphone as I would be making my speech that would reach every corner of New Kitakata Town.

"I would like to have Sensei, Hiko Seijuro up in the stage with me..." and when I said that some residents were ushering him up and up he went and stood beside me, a towering figure with a permanently frown face, a jar of yumeshu and a cup in his hand.

"Hahahahaha... As expected by my Sensei... Hiko-sama who would not leave his jar and cup by his side." when u made this statement, the residents can't help but laughed since it was normal for Hiko-sama to be drinking most of the time and not getting drunk.

"Ladies and gentlemen, kind residents of New Kitakata Town, here stood before you a fine Samurai that had brought new light and hope to this New Kitakata Town and without him on a cold, wintery afternoon, he would not have found me half-buried and half froze with my face in the snow."

"Without him and the rest of his Comrades, Hide-sama, Toshi-sama, Miroku-sama and Kami-sama... I would not have existed to this day. Without his Comrades, I would not even have the chance to earn the first silver coin in my life."

"I remember the time when I was working as a housekeeper, going through his Comrades houses one day at a time, cleaning their houses, doing their laundry, cleaning the furnaces and rocket stoves and also cleaning their floors... Each of these jobs, I had fulfilled it with my heart and full of determination."

"That's right, ladies and gentlemen... I started off as a humble and lowly housekeeper just to earn something and support myself at that time. Even if that period of time, I was looked down upon by some people here, but I never bear a grudge for I knew where I come from."

"To conclude all this, without my Sensei here, I would not have lived if he hadn't found me and brought me into his household, adopting me as his son and I, respectfully look up to him as my Father."

Somewhere between the crowd, I saw someone holding up a rather cumbersome camera and a flashbulb on the other hand and he was peering behind the black cloth of the camera. When he looked up he gave me a big smile and my emotions suddenly get choked up.

"Father..." when I said these words, the choked feelings suddenly raced to my throat and I seemed to have lost my voice and tears began to jerk at the corners of my eyes.

"I present to you, Dragon Scales Kodachi as my parting gift as I enter the passage of my adulthood. Please raise your hands, your left palm over your right, please...."

Hiko-sama was doing what I had instructed and he looked at me with a more frowned look as tears start to stream down my face like a burst pipe and Izumi was standing beside me and was clutching my arm. We stood in the centre of the stage, facing each other when I said "Bow" and we bowed each other.

I went close to him and presented the Dragon Scale Kodachi and placed it in his left hand. My face seemed to have melted and I was literally sobbing on stage as the rest of the residents watched the scene unfold.

"This is for you, Father... Thank you for taking care of me and watching over me like your own son... I never had a father like you and I appreciate all the things you had done for me. Remember to wind your pocket watch daily and keep it close to your heart... "

The residents who watched the extremely emotional scene were taking out their handkerchiefs and blowing their snot in them and used their sleeves of the kimono to wipe away their tears.

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I stood a few paces back and said 'Bow' and both of us bowed deeply to each other. 'About turn' I said and we faced Tokugawa Iemochi and 'About turn' I instructed once more and we both faced the crowd and bowed deeply to them.

Tokugawa Iemochi took the cue and cleared his throat, for he was equally affected by this moving scene.

"To love, laughter, and happily ever after. To Himura and Izumi, your fairy tale is only beginning." Tokugawa Iemochi made the closing speech and raised his glass to the three of us.

I turned to Hiko-sama and said in a jittery voice, "Goodbye Hiko-sama... It has been a pleasure being with you all these months... Father..."

The moment I mentioned this, Hiko-sama placed the Dragon Scale Kodachi on the floor and rushed at me and embraced me while he was kneeling on the floor. I looked at the cameraman and he raised his thumbs up and clicked the camera and the light bulb burst into blue dazzling light.

"Take care, Father..."I said as I felt myself slowly disintegrating into the familiar dazzling blue light. I can feel Izumi embracing me from behind as I fall to my knees, embraced for the first time by Hiko Seijuro and that was the last thing I felt.

"Swwwwooooooossshhhhh........"