[If Hijikata (in a clearer, calmer mindset) were asked to describe exactly what it is that he feels about Ozymandias, he'd adamantly deny that it's jealousy. He doesn't want to be like him, nor does he want to have what he has! It's animosity, he'd say, dislike, that strong, unambiguous he-rubs-me-the-wrong way feeling. It's been the same each time they met (and inevitably clashed), from the very first meeting on.

What we would concede (and maybe will concede here and now) is that he was wrong about how Medusa felt, both at that time and on the whole.]

Well, we exchanged words - he and I don't get along -, and when he called her his concubine in such an uppity way I really had enough of his disrespect for her. She was...

[He pauses, shamefully aware of just how badly he misinterpreted Medusa's "timid" silence.]

I thought she was intimidated, trying to not make waves... so I wanted to give her strength, and courage, and my backing to rise up and turn on him and show him that she isn't someone he can disrespect like that.

...

She didn't protest. I know that doesn't make it better that I made all these assumptions about what she was feeling, but that's why I only realised it a moment before she...

[Before she turned into a monster.]