[Hijikata pauses, assessing the situation. He doesn’t recognize the voice — young, obviously a bit anxious. A quick peek around the edge of the tree he’s hiding behind shows that the young man is dressed in modern clothes, which means he’s more likely to get flustered by a bit of full frontal nudity than men in Hijikata’s own time — or worse, to think he’s up to something nefarious out here in the middle of the night.]
[He’s still dripping wet, and it’s cold, but back to the hot spring doesn’t seem like a good option, and the boy’s between him and the direction of his shrine.]
[Maybe if he just waits, he can leave after the kid does? So he stays, for the moment, still and more or less silent, watching Shinji for his change to run.]
Yessssss gooooood Shinji needs more relatively non-garbage men in his life
[Hijikata pauses, assessing the situation. He doesn’t recognize the voice — young, obviously a bit anxious. A quick peek around the edge of the tree he’s hiding behind shows that the young man is dressed in modern clothes, which means he’s more likely to get flustered by a bit of full frontal nudity than men in Hijikata’s own time — or worse, to think he’s up to something nefarious out here in the middle of the night.]
[He’s still dripping wet, and it’s cold, but back to the hot spring doesn’t seem like a good option, and the boy’s between him and the direction of his shrine.]
[Maybe if he just waits, he can leave after the kid does? So he stays, for the moment, still and more or less silent, watching Shinji for his change to run.]