Hijikata looked over at the kid, expression a little startled. He didn't smile, but the words had been the sanest conversation anyone had offered him all day. That and 'Harley Hartwell'...

...hn. Maybe the kid wasn't so big a moron after all.

On the other hand, the words that came after the kid's were much more typical. Homura's words were hard and more than just a little on the egotistical side, but they were still preferable to the kind of things Hijikata'd had said to him before. At the very least, the man didn't mince words.

"Focus, huh?" A rather bitter smile tugged at his lips, but nothing more. This wasn't the time to look for irony in his life; it hadn't yet sunk in properly that Kondo-san could be gone, that maybe this whole thing wasn't a dream or some gimmick to get ratings the producers were going to use for a day and a half before discarding. No, it hadn't sunk in.

Hijikata wasn't sure he wanted it to.



"Fine. All I need to do is stay away from them, right? Then it's settled."

He stood up.

"I'm not 'your' Hijikata, and I have nothing to do with what he was. So long as your people remember that and don't make trouble, I won't start anything. And if it's a fight they need, tell them to do whatever the hell they want."

He looked directly at Homura, eyes dark.

"Just don't come crying to me when they get more than they asked for."