[He leans down and puts his forehead against hers in what he hopes is a comforting gesture. If anyone else were walking on this part of the beach right now they'd doubtlessly think the two of them were having a good time, standing in a close embrace with the waves gently rolling past them. Sadly Hijikata thoroughly brought in the gloom.]

It's a fucked-up world, yours maybe moreso than mine, what with all the war you told me about. We people do all kinds of horrible things to each other.

[He pauses. He can't excuse atrocities, but he also can't judge anyone else's deeds, really, with all the blood on his hands. Officially he's the embodiment of law and order, but isn't the rebels' anger at the Shogunate that all but sold out its people understandable? He's no better than them, and he knows it. In any case he doesn't think that LB is a malicious person. No matter what she may have done, nothing could make him believe that this woman took joy in making others suffer.]

I can't promise that you'll get better, but we can only try. We may have made the wrong choices - or maybe you didn't have a choice at all -, and in our worlds it may be too late and we may just be hellbound, but at the very least we can not make the lives of the people here worse. If we protect this world, then maybe we can make up for it all, if only a little bit.