My chest caved as memories clawed their way back—the blood, the bodies, the sacrifice.
I dropped to my knees, fists pressed into the floor. Not again. God, not again.
Sana stood there, grinning like a ringmaster. “Emperor Titus organized one hundred days of games to appease the people. We only need three to give them what they crave.”
His grin widened as the words echoed. He spread his arms to the empty stands.
“Welcome to the stage, Jiro. Welcome to Nokoribi.”
Part III
Nokoribi
25
Akiko
I sat in the back of the van as it jolted along the uneven road. The metal walls rattled with each bump, the tires humming and growling beneath us, with the occasional squeak from somewhere in the suspension.
It was stifling inside. Heat clung to me, sweat collecting at the base of my neck and sliding down my back. My legs ached from sitting on the hard floor, and the beginnings of numbness crept into my butt.
Neither the driver nor Keiko spoke, their eyes fixed forward. The two Chopmen across from me didn’t look away, watching me like I might bite.
The truth was unavoidable: This wasn’t a search for answers anymore. I was a captive. Again, I was being tested to survive.
But what gnawed deepest was that I’d dragged Miki into it.
My whole life had been about fighting and surviving. Since my father vanished and my mother died, it was just me—scraping, clawing, refusing to fold. I was used to being the underdog.
Miki wasn’t. She didn’t deserve this. All she’d ever done was stand by me, trying to shield me from the endless curveballs life kept hurling. And now she was paying the price.
After what felt like twenty minutes of jolts and silence, the van came to a stop. The locks clicked. A blast of cool air rushed in as the doors swung open. I stepped out, sucking in a grateful breath, my legs shaky from sitting so long on the metal floor.
Keiko appeared beside me, as calm as ever, like this was nothing more than a routine errand.
Ahead, the trees thinned, giving way to a narrow dirt path that cut through what little vegetation clung to the hillside. At the end of it sat a modest two-story building—plain, its windows dark. An office, maybe. Or living quarters.
Beyond it, I caught the outline of something much larger. A massive structure loomed in the distance, its bulk rising above the tree line. From here in the shadows, it looked kind of like an arena.
We moved in silence along the narrow path, the crunch of gravel underfoot the only sound. The night pressed close around us, thick with the smell of damp earth and salt air.
“What is this place?” I asked. My voice came out lower than I meant, barely above a whisper.
Keiko didn’t bother to answer. She kept her eyes forward, shoulders squared, her stride steady. Ever since we’d set foot on this island, she had become someone else. The warm, nervous girl who used to steal glances at me across the prep table in the kitchen was gone. What walked beside me now was colder.
I tried to read her profile in the dim light—tight jaw, eyes flat, no flicker of acknowledgment. She refused to look at me.
As we approached the building, a single bulb over the entryway hummed faintly, casting a weak cone of yellow light onto the path. Everything else was swallowed by the night. I still couldn’t tell if it was residential or industrial. By my guess, the latter. Who would want to live on this island?
When we reached the entrance, Keiko stepped up onto the small landing. I was about to follow when the men grabbed me and held me back. She turned, her hand on the door handle, eyes meeting mine for the briefest moment.
“No, you aren’t deserving enough.”
Before I could ask what she meant, a black cloth dropped over my head, blinding me. Rough hands yanked me away, dragging me into the unknown.
After what felt like a mile walk over rough terrain, smooth concrete, and what I imagined could only be cobblestones, the cloth was yanked from my head, and I squinted into the dim light. The air reeked of damp stone, sharp in my nose. As my eyes adjusted, I saw the bars—thick black iron bolted into rough walls: a cell.
The men shoved me inside, and the iron gate slammed shut with a clang that rattled through my chest. The lock clicked.
