Hurt

[Okamura]

Inbound for Kyoto

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The atmosphere inside the shuttle was almost deafeningly quiet, Ryu had not spoken since the bomb had detonated all those hours ago. Neither had he slept or eaten, his only accompaniment in the shuttle was the Guard-Captain who must have elected to come purely to ensure the standard-bearer did not do anything rash in such an overwhelmed state of mind. At least that is why he presumed she was here, and with full honesty being exercised that seemed like a necessary precaution.

The helmet helped conceal a great deal of burdened facial expressions, it was centuries older than the person wearing it, passed down as a keepsake along with the rest of his possessions. It was decided early on that obscuring fear or other undesirable reflections of ones inner turmoil behind a facade of enduring blankness was necessary to meet expectations of the family name. A defeated demeanor seemed to reign triumphantly over the bearer's otherwise wise and composed attitude.

It was a harsh contrast, like nails on a chalkboard for those that were familiar with the sort of person he truly was. He seemed to languish like this even as the shuttle pulled in for a docking procedure with the secondary hangar-bay, the other had been rendered inoperable for the time being and several critical systems had likely been overloaded across various sections of Kyoto.

Every scorched tile and destroyed lighting fixture felt like failure, and he seemed to visibly hesitate taking those first few steps out of the shuttle, afraid of what he might see and how his conviction in the oath he'd sworn might be shaken.