Joryu exhaled smoke into the humid Osaka night. "My name is gone. But my hands don't know that." He walked away, the cracked mask of Joryu now showing the faint, unmistakable glow of the Dragon underneath.
The Daidoji agent landed silently beside him. "That was a breach of protocol. They'll hear of this." like a dragon gaiden crack
"Your truck," Joryu said, handing the pieces to the boy. "It's broken. But you keep it. You remind yourself that even broken things get held." Joryu exhaled smoke into the humid Osaka night
"You're... you're like a dragon," the boy whispered. The Daidoji agent landed silently beside him
The boy couldn't have been more than twelve. He was clutching a worn-out toy truck, the kind Kiryu had once seen Haruka play with in the dusty courtyard of the Morning Glory orphanage.
Joryu lit a cigarette, the flame briefly illuminating the scar tissue on his chest. "Let them."
Not the vending machine glass. Not the pavement. It was the seal Joryu had hammered over his own heart.