Ten years ago, he led a different life.  Ten years ago, it was a different world.  Now it's the Meiji era, and he too has changed...  But he's not the only one.
    This is another one of those, "What if?" stories I seem to be so fond of.  This time, though, it's an after-the-fact change/realization issue, but not all relaizations are necessarily painful in the end...