Shinsei Psychiatric Hospital
Office of Dr. Ken Mishima — Psychiatry & Neuroscience

The late afternoon sun filtered through the blinds of Dr. Ken Mishima’s clinic, casting golden stripes across his polished desk. A faint breeze from the open window stirred the corners of a thick book resting in his hands.

It was a hardcover—imported from the U.S.—written by one of the leading American psychiatrists in the field of trauma psychology.

The chapter he had just finished was titled:
“The Defensive Brain: Dissociation and the Anatomy of Survival.”

According to the author, Dissociative Identity Disorder—commonly misunderstood and often sensationalized—was not a flaw, but a response.

"In many ways," the book read, "the mind behaves like the body. When a virus invades, the immune system sends out antibodies to fight back. The purpose is protection. The instinct is preservation."

"But there are times when those defenses misfire. When the threat is complicated, subtle, or overwhelming—antibodies may overreact. They begin attacking not just the invaders, but the host itself. What was once protection becomes destruction."

Dr. Mishima closed the book gently.

He sat back in his leather chair, fingers steepled in quiet thought, eyes wandering to the window beside him.

Outside, in the hospital courtyard, a few patients walked slowly along the paved path—some with orderlies by their side, others with distant expressions that hinted at worlds invisible to the naked eye.

He watched in silence.

Not all wounds bleed. Not all battles are loud.
Some are fought entirely in the mind—fragment by fragment, memory by memory.

And some patients…

Some create entire identities just to survive.

Dr. Mishima exhaled slowly, his gaze lingering on a figure seated at the farthest bench—head bowed, hair tied neatly, hands trembling ever so slightly as they clutched a paper cup of warm tea.

He didn’t know her full story yet.

But he would.

Soon.