“Hey, I’m sorry.” Jiro’s tone softened. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I just finished my chores in the restaurant and was heading to the library. I saw you and thought I’d say hi.”
I sighed, the tension in my shoulders easing. “It’s fine. I guess I am on edge.”
“We all are.” He tilted his head, studying me.
For a hot second, I debated telling him about the man I’d seen, my father’s ghost haunting the compound. But why give him something he might use against me when I didn’t know his true intentions?
“I’m fine,” I said instead. “Just tired. This place is getting to me.”
He raked his hand through his hair, clearing his eyes. “If it makes you feel any better, I’m tired of it too.”
That surprised me. “You?”
“Why not me?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. You just don’t seem like the type to… Never mind.” I shook my head. “What are you doing here, anyway?”
“I told you. I was heading to the library. You want to join?”
“I can’t leave until Iron Face checks the linens.”
“Well, you know where to find me.”
As I watched him leave, I caught sight of Reina in the mansion’s second-floor window. There she stood, her silhouette a chilling still life of herself, her gaze pinning me in place. When I raised my hand to wave, she stepped back into the shadows, leaving me with the unsettling feeling that I’d just failed another test.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
I waited much longer than usual for Iron Face to arrive for inspection. He acknowledged me with a grunt before moving through the rows of hanging linens with his hands clasped behind his back, scrutinizing each tablecloth as if hunting for a microscopic stain that would send me back to square one.
I trailed a few steps behind him, my stomach grumbling with hunger. Each time it did, Iron Face would pause and tilt his head slightly in my direction. It was enough to give me a complex.
When he finally reached the last row of linens without uttering a word of criticism, he gave me a curt nod of approval. Relief rushed over me. Even laundry felt like a matter of life and death.
I glanced back at the mansion as Iron Face disappeared. The window where I had last seen Reina remained empty. I stared until Jiro’s face appeared in my sight line.
“Why are you still standing here?” he asked.
I blinked, nearly stumbling as I took a step back. “I, uh, I had to wait for Iron Face to inspect my chore. He just left.”
“Well, it’s lunchtime. Shall we?” He held out his arm, and I ignored it.
I made sure to keep a step behind him as we walked. Whenever we fell into step, our arms occasionally brushed against each other. I didn’t need reminding of our time dating.
“Was anyone else in the library earlier?” I asked, breaking the silence.
“Taka and Dori were just leaving when I got there. They were flipping through books on ramen noodles.”
“Ramen? Do you think that’s the next challenge?”
He shrugged. “Maybe. Or it was a misdirect to throw me off. I wouldn’t put it past them.”
The idea of planting false flags hadn’t occurred to me before, but of course it made sense. Fantastic. Just one more delightful way to meet my end here.
Inside the dining room, everyone sat in their usual seats. The arrangement felt more like a battlefield than a dining hall. Jiro and I on the high ground. Taka and Dori in the valley. And Kenji, lurking along the edges of a tangled black forest where shadowy creatures roamed.
The tension broke as Taka lifted the cover off his bento. “What the hell?”
The bento held only shrimp tempura. No rice. No vegetables. Just golden-fried shrimp.
