[center][color=red][sup][h1][b]Jae-eun Yoshihide[/b][/h1][/sup][/color][img]https://i.imgur.com/MUw7E9R.png[/img]

[b][sup][color=red]Location:[/color] [color=white]Hashira Meeting[/color]
[color=red]Mentions:[/color] [/sup][/b][/center][hr]Jae-eun's eye snapped open, his breath catching sharp and sudden like someone surfacing from deep water. The meeting room swam back into focus, Takaya's concerned face, Gin standing exactly where they'd been, the assembled Hashira and slayers watching with varying degrees of concern or indifference.

[color=red]"I'm—"[/color] His voice came out rough. He cleared his throat, straightening in his seat with practiced composure. [color=red]"I'm fine, Oyakata-sama. My apologies.  I must have... drifted for a moment."[/color] His hand moved to his chest, fingers pressing against where he'd felt the phantom stab wound from Michikatsu's blade in the vision. No blood. No wound. Just the steady thrum of his own heartbeat and the fading echo of someone else's death, but his mind was racing, pieces clicking together with sickening clarity.

The Blood Moon 1 in Hiroshima. [i]"I hope you find this interaction, very educational."[/i]

His words to Gin. [i]"I hope you'll find working with us very... educational."[/i]

Hikaru's ghost in the dream. [i]"I hope you'll find this very educational."[/i]

The same phrase, echoing across decades, across lives, across whatever cursed connection now bound him to memories that weren't his own.

His gaze shifted to Gin with renewed scrutiny, studying them with new suspicion. Two weeks old, they'd said. A joke. But what if it wasn't? What if Gin was something else entirely, something old wearing a new face? That woman in Hiroshima, Sagamiya, the unified Japan, the fallen king, the crown crumbled since Honnoji, pieces of a puzzle he'd never known existed until something in his blood had sang. Honnoji, what was so important about the place where the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven fell?

[color=red]"Takaya-sama,"[/color] Jae-eun said carefully, his voice regaining its usual pleasant timbre. [color=red]"We were discussing the Tokugawa Files. The Black Chapter Tapes. Three threats disclosed, four withheld."[/color] He paused, meeting the young Oyakata's eyes. [color=red]"You asked whether we'd rather be leashed by the Imperial Government or maintain independence, but I think the real question is: can we even survive as we are? The Mark kills Slayers young. The old ways are failing. Our enemies have centuries of adaptation on their side while we're still using tactics from the Heian Era."[/color]

He straightened his posture, hands folding neatly in his lap once more. The mask reassembled itself, but behind it, his mind raced. Yuichiro Tokito dying from the mark's curse, writing about their falling-apart Corps while Michikatsu rose to power. The cycle repeating itself, Hashira dying young, the Corps fragmenting, demons adapting faster than humans could respond. Now, a decades later, here they sat discussing the same existential crisis.

[i]"Nothing changes. We just keep bleeding."[/i]

[color=red]"Forgive me for the interruption,"[/color] he continued, inclining his head toward Gin with perfect courtesy. [color=red]"Please, continue. I'm... very interested in hearing what Sagamiya-sensei has to say about the special cram class."[/color]