also I’m 100% sure kouen did love and respect hakuyuu and hakuren, and I’m sure he beat himself up every day for not being there the day of the fire, and not being strong enough to protect his cousins. and he’s right about gyokuen and al thamen and biding his time to study them in depth before making a move, because hakuryuu seems to think that cutting off the snake’s head will kill the snake, but he fails to see that the snake in question has more than one head. and now, instead of a gyokuen who can be physically seen and monitored, we have the shadow of arba and her faceless organization just waiting to make their move