Koumyou doesn't meet his gaze, for once, his head drooping, long bangs hiding his down-turned eyes.

"I failed my duty to protect two sutras, threw aside the only teaching I ever passed on, and damned my son to a cruel memory and an even crueler life as the youngest Sanzo to ever exist. And one without a mentor, to boot."

He sounds so resigned. So tired.

"And if that teaching was wrong, then I also failed every friend from the first squad who I watched die. And I failed Tenkai Sanzo and Goudai Sanzo, by doing nothing."