It is my fault. After they died, and after the clan after them died, people started saying that I was a cursed sword that brought death to everyone near it. And then — I stopped being loved. People wanted to own me as a famous blade, but they always handed me off, because they were also scared of me.

[ see: oda nobunaga, and all of the insignificant people that came after him. ] But the rumors aren't true at all — I can't really kill anyone just by being there. Still, everyone that I ever came in contact with kept dying before their time, and when you start hearing stuff like that, it really gets beneath your skin, you know?

[ he continues trying to hold things back, biting his bottom lip — but in the end, it doesn't work out; when he blinks and looks back up, his cheeks sting uncomfortably, and he's angry, at a world that he'd wanted to love but failed to love him back. (and he'd gone ahead and gotten attached to it anyway.) ]

And you — I was foolish to spend much time with you, just because I enjoyed it. It's dumb, it's stupid — visiting you and dragging you around everywhere was fun for me, and for the first time in centuries, I liked being around a human, but what if I ended up shortening your lifespan, too?

[ lifting his arm hurts — but he braces himself, slowly aiming until he holds the point of his blade at hijikata's chest. ]

If you die somewhere else, out of my sight, I absolutely won't forgive you. That's why killing you right now will make it more certain for me.