alias_sqbr

Part of the the tragedy of Hijikata and Kondou for me is that Hijikata also loves Kondou more than Kondou loves him. And part of the tragedy of Okita and Hijikata is that they both love each other more than either of them is willing to express. Both of them are 100% dedicated to Kondou and while Kondou cares about them, his main dedication is to his goals. (And then they all die)

I mean there are definitely ways Kondou connects with Hijikata that he doesn't with Okita, since they have always related as peers while Okita has always been a junior or underling. But Okita doesn't want to be Kondou's peer, he just wants to be more important to him. I kind of think of it as Hijikata as the new step-dad with Okita as the resentful kid :) And I'm not sure Hijikata is more important to Kondou as a person rather than as a tool.

I played the Hijikata path first which stopped me resenting him on Okita's behalf, and Hijikata clicked with me much more than he did with you. But while I'm more sympathetic to Kondou than you are, I resent him on Hijikata and Okita's behalf. I don't think he's a totally terrible person, but he still hurt both of them.