"Mr. Hijikata..." Even Sogo Doma hadn't expected Toshiro Hijikata to get so worked up. They could clearly communicate through eye contact alone thanks to their tacit understanding, yet the other man had actually been unable to stop himself from speaking.
Come to think of it, did he care about Kondo the Gorilla's image? No, was he trying to protect the man's image, or... was this some sort of resistance against being seen as part of a violent organization?
"Traitor Hijikata, is this why you betrayed us..." Before Sogo Doma could make a snide remark, Kotaro Katsura had already turned back around and said righteously, "You think Kondo the Gori~ral is a gorilla, so you joined the Great Demon King's side..."
"Fourteen..." After hearing that, Isao Kondo, who had been silent for a long time, finally roared again.
"No..." Toshiro Hijikata hurriedly said, "I didn't..."
"Fourteen..." But before he could finish, Isao Kondo cut him off. "You don't need to say anything. I heard it very clearly. I know that, in your hearts, I'm just a gorilla. Even Katsura thinks so. Just now, you wanted to call me Kondo the Gorilla, not General Kondo..."
"Kondo the Gori~ral..." Kotaro Katsura instinctively turned his face away again. "That wasn't what I meant. As a samurai, judging people by their appearance..."
"Katsura, if you don't know how to use an idiom, then don't use it. What do you mean, judging people by their appearance..." Faced with the deeply grieving gorilla and all these people making things worse, even Sogo Doma felt a headache coming on. Was that really something he could say? Wasn't that basically the same as saying Isao Kondo was a gorilla? Better let him handle this.
"Boss Kondo is a gorilla to begin with, so there's no such thing as judging