The world snapped back into the pristine, sunlit past. Kenjiro stood in the opulent bedchamber, face to face with the younger, more vibrant Jōmitsu Ren. The immortal guardian's orange eyes, which had been filled with a weary boredom just moments before, now held a new, profound understanding. He had seen the flicker of time, the brief, shared vision of his own thousand-year-long, lonely future.
"The time spell is unstable," Ren said, his voice quiet, a sad smile playing on his lips. "You vanished for a second, but you returned. I can see it in your eyes... that determination. You met me, didn't you? The old me." He looked at Bombom, his expression no longer that of an enemy, but of a man pleading for release.
