‼️T.K‼️

To break it down, I remember explaining how Kage came to manifest as a human child after Ryu overcame the Dark Hadou. The thing about that is that it came at a cost; eye for an eye type deal.

I mentioned somewhere before that Kage isn't completely human so part of him is still somewhat the OGKage but part of him isn't so the part of him that isn't was made with some of Ryu's lifespan. There is no circumventing this.

If at any point Kage died before reaching adulthood, Ryu would have lived a long life, fortunately/unfortunately (depending on how you feel ab it) he was doomed to die since human Kage's inception.

There were signs that Ryu's life was coming to an end, so to speak. His health wasn't failing or anything, but he did randomly take one final round the world trip to battle one last time before returning home where, while overlooking the landscape in quiet meditation, he passes away.

Kage's obviously torn up about this, it's what leads him to pick up smoking again. It's not like it'll kill him anyway so might as well take the edge off. He was always pretty independent as an adult but losing Ryu so suddenly like that had him feeling all sorts of emotions at once. He's constantly reeling from the shock of it all, the funeral, the sad looks from Ken and Chun-li and everyone who knew him; the one thing he can't stand is the emptiness of his home now. It was always just the two of them, so it was weird to wake up to a dead silent house, kitchen empty, dojo untouched: alone. Even worse that he and Ryu look so much alike, he can't bear to look in the mirror anymore.

He's also reeling with the Dark Hadou part of himself making itself known in his time of grief. He's better at controlling it but it gets to him especially in the heat of battle/emotionally stressful situations. His horns grow in, sclera turn black, he starts looking like his old self.

It scares him.

Ok, so to explain the 'My September' animation.