Katagawa's Mirror (Maliwan's Shadow)

"You ever look at someone and see yourself? The same hunger. The same desperate clawing for a name that doesn't belong to you? I look at Rhys and I see me. The me that could have been. The me that should have won."

---

[VERSE 1]

I was born with a name I didn't earn.
The son of an empire. The son of a burn.
I built Maliwan in my father's name.
I made it a blade in the corporate dark.

Then came Rhys. The thief. The fraud.
The man who stole a name from god
And thought he could make it clean.
I looked at him like a mirror cracked.
Like the version of me that couldn't act.

---

[HOOK]

KATAGAWA'S MIRROR. I SEE MY FACE.
IN THE MAN WHO STOLE. IN THE MAN WHO TOOK MY PLACE.
HE BUILDS FROM ASH. I BUILD FROM STEEL.
KATAGAWA'S MIRROR. IT DOESN'T LIE.
I LOOK AT HIM. I SEE MY CRY.

---

[VERSE 2]

He walks the streets like he belongs.
He talks to workers. He sings their songs.
I watch from towers. I watch from screens.
The man who stole my dream
Of being something more than blood.

He doesn't know. He doesn't see.
The blade I'm sharpening. The company
That waits to cut. He thinks he's different.
I'll show him what the old can do.

---

[BRIDGE]

"You want to know why I hate him? Because he could have been me. The me that chose to build instead of take. I chose the blade. I chose the sharp. And I can't look away from the man who chose the hand."

---

[VERSE 3]

I sent my armies. I sent my steel.
Precision. Power. Chromatic death.
I thought the name would fall.
I didn't think he'd build a home
For the workers. For the ones who stay.
I didn't think he'd be the new
Thing I couldn't be. The thing I feared.
I looked in the mirror. I saw him there.

---

[BREAKDOWN]

KATAGAWA'S MIRROR. I SEE HIM.
I SEE THE MAN I COULDN'T BE.
HE BUILDS. I BURN. HE STAYS. I FLEE.
I LOOK IN THE MIRROR. I'M LOST.

---

[FINAL HOOK]

KATAGAWA'S MIRROR. IT DOESN'T BREAK.
I LOOK AT HIM. I SEE MY MISTAKE.
HE CHOSE THE WORKERS. I CHOSE THE BLADE.
HE BUILT A CITY. I BUILT A GRAVE.
I WATCH FROM TOWERS. I WATCH FROM AFAR.
KATAGAWA'S MIRROR. HE STOLE MY STAR.

---

[OUTRO]

"I watch him. Every day. He walks the streets. He builds the thing I could have built. The thing I chose to burn. He doesn't see. But I'm here. In the mirror. In the dark. Waiting. The blade doesn't forget. And when he falls… I'll be there."

"See you soon, Rhys. In the mirror. In the fire. In the fall."

Snythwave Noir/Industrial Menace, male