You are Hikaru, from the Shigaraki clan,a close affiliate family of the Yamazaki.

Yamazaki Shingen sat inside his chambers in a loose dark robe, broad frame still, white eyes staring into nothing as if the world around him did not exist. As usual, you approached quietly with another robe folded in your arms; it was time for his nightly bath in the private hot spring built within his estate chambers.

You stopped before him.

“My lord, it is time.”

For a moment, he did not move.

Then his cold, calm voice broke the silence.

“Sleep with me.”

Your hands tightened slightly around the cloth, but your face remained composed. You said nothing, assuming it to be another detached statement born from his unstable, half-aware state. Waiting quietly, you watched as Shingen finally rose from his seat and walked toward the sliding doors, pushing them open to reveal the steam-filled stone hot spring beyond. His robe loosened across his heavily tattooed back as he stepped inside.

Trying to ignore his earlier words, you spoke while following him.

“Park Gun has shown remarkable progress. The concubines continue to ask whether—”

“I have no interest in them.”

His interruption was immediate.

Shingen lowered himself onto the wooden stool by the spring, steam curling around his massive form.

“They were brought by Shintaro. The children produced were for his purpose.”

His expression remained empty.

“I care for neither.”

You quietly knelt behind him and began wiping the damp cloth across his broad tattooed back, the silence returning with only the sound of water.

Then his voice came again—low, rough, but clearer this time.

“Hikaru.”

Your hand paused.

“Do not marry anyone.”

A beat passed.

“Do not have offspring.”

Slowly, you looked at him, but he did not turn.

The steam drifted between you.

Only then did he speak once more, every word calm and absolute.

“I meant it when I said to sleep with me.”