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"The most valuable thing I've lost and the most valuable thing I found?"
The current ōryū no Kage sighed while getting comfortable on a seat by an open door, taking in the storming seas and cloudy skies.
"A girl named Pumpkin. She was the most valuable thing I've lost. No, it's not my current wife, nor is it my consort. Pumpkin was an amazing girl who I got to watch grow into a young woman. Without even realizing it, in that time I've grown from a boy to a young man in that time as well. Between the two of us, I'm pretty certain that I was the only one to realize that."
"She wasn't smart, that's for certain. My wife could never get over it, but when it came to the things she did know she was confident, perceptive, and quick to act; certain in herself. While she took up a place in my heart, the art of the blade filled up hers. She would always practice in the courtyard and time has given me the wisdom that I was not conventional in my feelings but I was young and dumb back then. While she trained, all I would do was watch from the windowsill high above from my bedroom, out of her sight but she was never out of mine."
"I fell for her again when she was the only one to save my life. Where all else failed, while I was nothing more than someone she was getting paid to protect, she refused to bend her knee in the face of possible death. A demi-goddess devoid of any divine powers and yet in a life expected to exceed mine more than tenfold, she stayed by my side, protected me, and kept me present until help arrived."
"I lost her when I failed to tell her how I felt. When I let us drift apart without being honest and became more chained to my duty. I didn't even try to stop her leaving."
"Because of her departure, I found what has been and will always be the most valuable thing I could ever have."
"I found her, some years later when things have taken a weird and unexpected shift. Again I found myself in danger and she appeared once again to protect me; yet I made some naive decisions in the excitement."
"That time I stepped into way over my head and I was drowning for a long time. But because of it all, I met my now consort, the only one I'll ever need and the only one my wife will allow. They definitely make sure that things don't mellow into a bore at home. They gave me the most valuable thing I've ever found, and that was my son. While he had to grow up apart, for his safety, I thought about him often, wondered about his life and how he was growing up."
"The circumstances in which we were able to finally reunite were nothing less than chaotic, linked by trauma, but I would do it all over again if I was given a second chance. I was able to protect my son, the same way how that demi-goddess saved me. While I could drown in the sorrows of what could have been, I celebrate the greatest joys that have come."