"Getting my hair done in the back of the theater. My stylist sets up in the rear corner—visible but not front and center. It looks like I'm just multitasking. Catching a movie while getting ready."
Yoichi let go of the wolf charm. "I like this. It’s a controlled environment with limited exits."
"And if there are spies we don't know about—staff working outside the main house that we haven't vetted yet—they'll try to come too." Reo looked around the table. "For better access. To blend in with the crowd."
"What time do the showings start?" Toma asked.
"First movie at 1:00pm," Reo said, already pulling up something on his tablet. "Then staggered every few hours. We can run them well into the night if needed."
Hiro nodded. "That gives the spies multiple opportunities. Multiple showings to choose from. They won't all come to the same one—that would be too obvious. They'll spread out, try to look natural."
I smiled. "Which is exactly what we want.”
Now came the hard part.
I squeezed Kenji's hand under the table, then said it. "Kenji can't be there."
"No." His response held absolute violence within the tone. “That’s not happening.”
"If you're there, the spies won't move. They'll know I’m protected." I kept my voice steady. "You and Reo both have to be gone. Publicly gone. Somewhere visible doing something else."
Reo saw the logic immediately. "She's right. If the Dragon and the Roar are absent, the Tiger looks vulnerable. Unprotected."
"I'm not leaving her—"
"Yes, you are." I turned to face him fully. "That's the only way this works."
A standoff.
I could feel the fury radiating off him in waves. The absolute refusal to leave me exposed. Every protective instinct screaming at him to shut this down.
But I held his gaze.
"The Claws will be there," I said softer. "Scattered throughout the theater. Some watching movies, some standing in back, some near exits. They'll look relaxed, casual. But they'll be watching everything."
Kenji looked at his brother.
Hiro met his eyes without flinching. "You think I can’t protect her?”
Kenji frowned. "If anything—"
"It won't." Hiro’s expression softened. “I would die before letting anything happen to her.”
“Make surethatdoesn’t happen either.”
“Of course, brother.”
The silence stretched.
Finally, Kenji sat back. But I could feel his body vibrating with barely contained rage beside me. "If we're doing this, we control every detail."
Everyone looked at him.
"The stylist," Kenji said. "What time does she arrive?"
Reo considered it. "We can schedule her for whenever—"
"Make sure she’s there an hour and a half before the first movie.” Kenji's tone left no room for argument. "The theater opens at one. Movies start, crowd settles. I don’t want us making time for the stylist to set up."
