[Now it's Hijikata's turn to avert his eyes after a moment. He needs to think about it. Is it their job to hold on to their lost loved ones' memories?]
...
Eventually, even these memories may disappear. But if, in the meantime, we pick up those people's principles and carry them with us, it'll be meaningful. That's what I think.
[It's strange to actually ponder these matters. Not long ago, Hijikata would have said that he's nothing like his mother or brother, those two people who nurtured him as a child. He became a violent man who lives by the sword, after all. Yet he ended up mentoring a young boy himself, took even more children partway under his wing... Is this you guys' legacy? It's a surprise to him, really, something he never before became conscious of.]
no subject
...
Eventually, even these memories may disappear. But if, in the meantime, we pick up those people's principles and carry them with us, it'll be meaningful. That's what I think.
[It's strange to actually ponder these matters. Not long ago, Hijikata would have said that he's nothing like his mother or brother, those two people who nurtured him as a child. He became a violent man who lives by the sword, after all. Yet he ended up mentoring a young boy himself, took even more children partway under his wing... Is this you guys' legacy? It's a surprise to him, really, something he never before became conscious of.]