Many in the Motoyoshi Clan were outspoken about the sufferings and trials that had faced Katsuko, yet no one had ever asked her how she felt or for her view on the things that happened in those days. Katsuko was a little surprised, maybe even caught a little off guard by the question that her sister asked, "There is a difference between being asked to do something and being expected to do something. No one asked me to step down, rather the situation was nothing like what you will find written in some history book..." she said, as she searched her own mind and emotions. "When I confronted Uesu, I had suggested to him that Himiko was better suited for the job, after all, he had invested his life in preparing her for it. When I took the throne I felt alone, while Empress might be the greatest seat in the entire Empire it is a position of responsibility that hinges on a level of almost divinity. The harder I worked, the greater the push back was. Smug faces like Ketsurui Kotori lined up ready to watch me fail and every action I took had those who supported it and those who hated it and as a result, hated me for it," Katsuko said as she thought back to those days upon the highest seat in the Empire.
"I had yet to come to terms with the fact of who I was, what I had become. I knew the military and that's what I knew. What some call the Freespacer Genocide was really a coordinated response to what was a real threat, we had solid evidence they planned to compromise PANTHEON. Yet when the fire and smoke cleared we took responsibility for what was what any sovereign nation should and would do - defend itself," she realized her answer was a lot more than just how she felt when she stepped down, it was everything that went with it. "I felt alone, when Tio, Kiyoko, and their Tange associates broke off and took the goddamn colonies that I and the rest of the elders in the Motoyoshi broke our goddamn backs to claim they took with them everything I had; every KS, every friend, comrade, and the person I believed in. The Empire thinks I stepped down for shame, but I really stepped down for was my own restraint. Had I remained on that throne I would have killed every living thing in that sector in the name of revenge. They took my dignity, and I wanted to bathe the entire Kikyo Sector in their blood for it," she had never spoken the truth of her feelings to anyone, it had always been the rest of the clan who spoke for her. She had tears that worked down her cheeks as she remembered the trapped, unfair fire of it all.
Katsuko looked at Kazue and said in a quiet voice, "It has taken everything I have in me, every bit of strength in this Nekovalkyrja heart to rebuild this family. When I vacated the throne, I thought of myself as dead. I almost made that the truth too. I had people like Yaichiro, Yui, Ayano, Sui, and Taro though, who were there." On the other end of the communication it was more than disarray, thankfully it didn't show. Her makeup dripped with her tears and stained her cheeks. "It is our job, our place, as the elders of this clan to preserve and make sure that the new generations of Motoyoshi understand not only our history, our struggle but the future we seek for them. A better world, a better Yamatai that is not plagued by the pain of war. In peace or War Kazue, we lose people and sometimes ourselves. Our clan has something to bring this Empire, we have something to offer and I plan to show that. I've retired from the Star Army, but I have not retired from Yamatai," she declared in answer to Kazue's statement.