[At some point during the battle against the 'all-consuming darkness', Hijikata heard Eren's titan roar resound through the mansion (or at least thinks he did), and where before he'd have worried for him, irrational as that might have been, this time he felt something like a small second-hand PTSD sensation. The image on his mind was the last one he saw of the Attack Titan, the one from that Marleyan boy's - Porco's - memories, an image of it towering over a crowd of terrified civilians, many injured, many dead.
Being a seasoned combatant, he did manage to push those witnessed memories aside and focus on the battle at hand, and afterwards, when all was over, he had other things to think about first... until now, on the fancy airship, where he runs into Eren on deck. Of course, their eyes meet before he can make a discreet 180° turn. Of course.
He can't say that he hasn't had enough time to come to terms with everything he saw in Eren's and the other Eldians' memories - it's been a month, give or take -, but he still hasn't really sat down and thought about what he should do about it all. (Maybe he's been procrastinating on purpose, because he can sense the discrepancy between what he thinks he should do and what he wants to do.) Anyway, now he's out of time.]
Eren.
[After a long awkward moment of just staring at him, his eyes settle on his tattoo, where the bird just returns to its seat, soaring across Eren's collarbones. (With Hijikata still in his dirty uniform, his own is concealed, for better or worse.)]
Epilogue
Being a seasoned combatant, he did manage to push those witnessed memories aside and focus on the battle at hand, and afterwards, when all was over, he had other things to think about first... until now, on the fancy airship, where he runs into Eren on deck. Of course, their eyes meet before he can make a discreet 180° turn. Of course.
He can't say that he hasn't had enough time to come to terms with everything he saw in Eren's and the other Eldians' memories - it's been a month, give or take -, but he still hasn't really sat down and thought about what he should do about it all. (Maybe he's been procrastinating on purpose, because he can sense the discrepancy between what he thinks he should do and what he wants to do.) Anyway, now he's out of time.]
Eren.
[After a long awkward moment of just staring at him, his eyes settle on his tattoo, where the bird just returns to its seat, soaring across Eren's collarbones. (With Hijikata still in his dirty uniform, his own is concealed, for better or worse.)]
I like your tattoo.
[Good. Nailed it.]