[ but this isn't the shinsengumi anymore, is what tsurumaru wants to say, but he lets the words die on his tongue because this is a part of what he'd told kashuu, before — that he doesn't understand several things, when it comes to hijikata's priorities and ideals, and that he also wants to understand him a bit better.

so instead, he smiles back at him, wiping a stray fleck of black ink from his own cheek with the back of his glove. ]

Well, it's not everyday that you meet someone from a different time period.

[ along with the fact that it isn't every day — or every century, even — that tsurumaru's honest, genuine thoughts about someone else are so unwaveringly positive. most of the time, his brutal honesty is scathing, words filled with his anger and disdain for people.

it's odd, but it's liberating; it's not a feeling that he dislikes. ]

That's fine with me. [ to both hijikata's uncertainty and to sleeping in the main room, so with some effort, he slowly pushes himself up to his own feet. and while he'd love for hijikata to go on thinking that he follows active sleeping patterns, which has more to do with avoiding nightmares than stubbornly resisting human schedules — ]

I don't sleep, anyway.

But if you want, I can pretend like I do. Have I been convincing you all along?