"Sanosuke," Kenshin said heavily, sighing. "It's very likely that his disappearance means that he has not, in fact, gone back home. He isn't back in Tokyo with..." he faltered. "With the rest of us. This one has it on very good authority that those who are 'released' are brainwashed into actually thinking that they are the person this place tells them they are. They're just as trapped as we are here, only this time they're not able to fight back.

"You've learned by now that one cannot merely leave the walls to escape--you'll just wind up right back where you came from come morning. Before we can help those other former prisoners, we must break the hold Landel's has over us ourselves. In order to do this, we must continue to work with Homura and his group. Now that it's just the two of us, this work is even more urgent. This one finds...taking orders to be distasteful, but necessary." Kenshin peered at the boy, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Yahiko, if you don't want to be tied down to a group every night, this one understands. But if you do agree to work with this one, you need to know that full cooperation is...expected. Our relationship with Okita is a delicate one at best. You are this one's friend, and that's enough to make you an enemy in his mind, never mind that you were born in the first year of Meiji and missed the Bakumatsu entirely."