[This must be the first time they talk to each other earnestly without being anonymous. As a matter of fact he hasn't learned her name and story - only that she's really, really internalised her role as the evil witch. That must have been how everyone perceived her back in her day, and that impression seems to pervade into her present.]

Even if history reviles us, there'll always be at least a few people who'll look at us differently. That's been true throughout the ages.

[He briefly wonders what will be left of him, if anything. The image of a violent, merciless swordsman, a demon to his enemies? Or that of an honourable warrior who protected Edo? A mix of both would perhaps be most appropriate, but what ends up in the scrolls of history will largely depend on politics, and those can change tremendously in only a few decades.]

You love your home, even now, right? I think that matters. Someone who loved their homeland until the end shouldn't be forgotten by it.

...

[He's growing increasingly uncomfortable at how both her and his usual abrasive facades towards each other are starting to get cracks, so he takes out his cigarettes and turns away from her and the statues.]

I need a smoke. Best of luck with at the End of the World, group leader. The rest of us will be counting on you.