Chizuru Yukimura is goaded by Soji Okita to be an undercover geisha again. Okita’s tuberculosis starts to plague him. Commander Isami Kondo becomes worried and orders Okita to be grounded.

Hajime Saito is attracted by a fine sword in a display case and rattles on about the importance of a good sword to Chizuru, who starts laughing at his passionate outburst. Flashback at the Shinsengumi, Chizuru is asked to be an undercover geisha by Kondo and Toshizo Hijikata. Chizuru becomes extremely uncomfortable at the thought of the dangerous mission, but Saito immediately proffers himself and Susumu Yamazaki as bodyguards for Chizuru.

Sanosuke Harada takes Chizuru out shopping for groceries and meet Bakufu inspectors on the way back ripping apart the belongings of civilians during checks and roughing them up. Chizuru becomes affected and so does Harada. When a man loses his letter for home, he is stopped by the inspectors and accused of treason.

Heisuke Toudou gets into a brawl on the street while out with Chizuru. Chizuru tries to stop him, but Harada holds her back. Heisuke later catches a duck back for dinner and Chizuru makes stew with it. While snatching a piece of duck with Shinpachi, the meat flies into Hijikata’s forehead. Shinpachi quickly moves to another table while Heisuke makes things worse by rattling non-stop and ultimately blaming Hijikata for it.

Hijikata wakes up to first snow, and sees Kondou inviting his comrades to leave their first foot imprint in the snow. He composes a haiku and is overheard by Chizuru and Souji, and Souji teases him about it while asking Chizuru to compliment on his poetry. Hijikata becomes embarrassed and covers it up with angry words.

Chizuru Yukimura goes undercover as a geisha to spy on some rogue samurai. After barging into Chizuru's room, Heisuke dashes off to demand Kondo and Hijikata take Chizuru off this dangerous mission.