[Hard as it may be for Eren to understand, that's exactly it: Despite knowing that he killed millions - millions! - of innocent people, Hijikata still can't look at him with hatred. He tries to see a callous mass murderer, a selfish genonicer, but in the end, he can only see Eren, who still has that same sense of sadness and vulnerability about him as before (and even if that only ever existed in Hijikata's imagination, it still does now, after everything).
There's a little curiosity in his eyes as Eren explains the issue of getting a tattoo earlier, and it takes him a moment to understand, but he does. He steps up closer to him to get a better look. A songbird, huh. He's not sure what kind of bird it is, but it's not a bird of prey in any case. Part of him wants to poke it to see if it reacts to that, but that'd mean poking Eren's chest, and he holds himself back.]
What abilities did you choose?
[It feels so normal to ask him that, because he'd have wanted to know, before all those revelations. There's still a constant voice in the back of his mind, telling him: It'd be unfair to push Eren away when you gave Mukuro a second chance. He hasn't even done it yet, not in his timeline. He left to avoid it. He's doing all he can; don't punish him for that. And it's so goddamn tempting to give in to that voice, but Hijikata feels like in doing so he'd make things to easy for himself. Don't only think about yourself. Think about Eren, too. Damn it... another argument pushing him in the same direction.]
no subject
There's a little curiosity in his eyes as Eren explains the issue of getting a tattoo earlier, and it takes him a moment to understand, but he does. He steps up closer to him to get a better look. A songbird, huh. He's not sure what kind of bird it is, but it's not a bird of prey in any case. Part of him wants to poke it to see if it reacts to that, but that'd mean poking Eren's chest, and he holds himself back.]
What abilities did you choose?
[It feels so normal to ask him that, because he'd have wanted to know, before all those revelations. There's still a constant voice in the back of his mind, telling him: It'd be unfair to push Eren away when you gave Mukuro a second chance. He hasn't even done it yet, not in his timeline. He left to avoid it. He's doing all he can; don't punish him for that. And it's so goddamn tempting to give in to that voice, but Hijikata feels like in doing so he'd make things to easy for himself. Don't only think about yourself. Think about Eren, too. Damn it... another argument pushing him in the same direction.]