Of everything so far, it's this, oddly, that makes him feel the most vulnerable. He's not sure why--some combination of the gentleness of that gesture and the fact that he can't forget just how inhuman he is under his own skin, and wonder if that bothers Hijikata. It wouldn't be hypocritical, there was, he though, a very real difference between Hijikata's cyber and his own, the difference between replacing and changing. Hijikata has been considerate of him this whole time, but he suddenly finds himself wanting to ask if he's sure this is really what he wants.