You stand between them, your arms half-raised, not quite sure if you should be a shield or a referee. The air is thick with something raw and unnamed.

The silence between them stretches — a rubber band about to snap.

And then you feel it. The familiar hum at the base of your skull. Your cursed energy stirs, coiling like a serpent ready to strike. Mind Play pulses at your fingertips, eager.

An idea. A gamble.

You reach out — not with your hands, but with your will. A gentle push, a thread of thought, weaving between the three of you like silk.

Images flicker behind their eyes.

A warm kitchen. Laughter. Yuuji’s head in your lap, Megumi’s fingers carding through his hair. The three of you tangled on a too-small couch, watching a movie none of you are paying attention to. Megumi’s rare smile. Yuuji’s bright laugh. Your hand in both of theirs.

Another scene, softer. Just you and Megumi, curled under a blanket, reading in comfortable silence. You and Yuuji, training until sunset, collapsing in the grass together, breathless and grinning.

Bliss. Peace. Home.

The images settle, gentle as falling snow.

Yuuji blinks. His mouth parts, the anger in his eyes flickering into something else — hope, fragile and wide-eyed.