Listening carefully to the explanation, he could tell there were things left out, but he decided not to push it. They didn't know each other well enough yet for Okita to know just where the barriers were and he wasn't quite ready to test him either. Thus, he just looked like he was listening intently, taking in bits of Guy's life with Luke.

"You're like family, then?" he asked, voice bright as ever. "And you taught him the sword? That's quite an accomplishment, Guy-san. I trust he's doing well then?"

Four people. Okita wouldn't wish this place on anyone, but at the same time, it would be nice to have his friends around. He heard Guy's attempt to brush the subject aside and smiled faintly. Guy was a good person, but he worried too much about others. "Good luck in the meeting then and I hope it proves useful. All the ones I've ever been to are long and boring. Perhaps yours will be more interesting."

He would have preferred to have been outside playing with Saizou than hearing how the Choushu went to Shimabara and got drunk. Again. Even here he'd rather be outside playing than stuck indoors all day. He really couldn't stand the smell of the place anymore. Coming back to the conversation, Okita stopped writing and peered over at him. "More understandable than...? If you like swordplay, perhaps we can spar sometime. I haven't had much of a chance to practice since coming here and I'm afraid I'm getting rusty."

It wasn't entirely a lie. He did want to spar and he was going to try tomorrow with Hattori, but seeing new styles always interested him. He could never stop learning new forms. The other side of him demanded it.

"Of course! I'll keep these safe then and we can trade off tomorrow during dinner so the nurses can't see." Okita laughed - really, he giggled - at the thought of keeping secrets like these from the nurses. He felt like he was trying to emulate Yamazaki with his sneaky ways.