Page 266 of Mercy Written in Blood

"It is what the cause asks the living to become."

Then he walked away. No guards joined him. No vehicle waited beyond the path. He moved through the garden among visitors who did not know his name, thanking the volunteer as he passed.

Haruki watched until the trees concealed him. Ken exhaled.

"I liked him better when I thought he was a murderer."

Renji looked at the envelope.

"He may be."

"That would be simpler," Haruki said.

He picked it up. It was lighter than expected. No dramatic weight. Just paper. Information. Another fragment someone wished them to believe.

Renji stood beside him.

"What did he mean?" he asked.

Haruki kept his eyes on the path where Sota had disappeared.

"About what?"

"Knowing you."

"He researched the Family."

"He said, 'as well as I once did.'"

"I heard him."

Ken looked between them.

"You know that guy?"

"No."

The answer came too quickly. Haruki corrected himself.

"I don't remember him."

That was worse. Renji studied him. Haruki could still feel the orphanage at the edge of his thoughts. White walls. Metal beds. A boy promising they would leave. No face. No name. Only conviction spoken in the dark.

He placed the envelope inside his coat.

"We'll verify everything."

"And then?" Ken asked.

Haruki looked towards the pond. Sota had offered no ultimatum. No deadline. He had not told them to stop investigating. He wanted them to continue. That disturbed Haruki more than any warning could have.

"Then we decide what he wanted us to find."

Renji stepped down from the pavilion beside him. They began walking towards the entrance. Behind them, the mismatched cups remained on the table, tea cooling inside them.

Sota Fujimoto had not threatened their lives. He had not demanded their silence. He had looked at Haruki as though he recognised something Haruki had forgotten, laid out a philosophy built from truths and dangerous conclusions, and asked them to imagine that they were already on the same side.

He had asked them to join him.