I didn't bow back. Didn't wave. Didn't know what the protocol was for something like this. So I just nodded and kept walking.
But my hands were shaking at my sides. Because no one had ever bowed to me before. Not once in my life. And here, on an island full of killers and loyalists who had just watched a hundred bodies burn, I was being honored.
When we reached the golf cart, the assistants climbed in the front. Hiroko and I settled into the back.
The cart hummed to life and pulled away from the embers, heading deeper into the island.
I took that time to fully take the space all in.
Trees thickened around us. The sunset filtered through the branches in golden shafts.
Hints of the smog from the pyre still lingered faintly in the air, but it was clearing.
Lifting.
Making way for the clean salt of the ocean and the soft char of woodsmoke.
Hiroko glanced at my neck again.
I felt her eyes trace the left side. Then the right. Her expression didn't change, but her jaw tightened.
She said nothing.
The cart continued down the path. Further along the island, more people appeared—gathered in clusters, playing cards, sharing food. A group of children kicked a ball across a clearing. Someone had even set up a small grill and was cooking fish over open flames.
A woman at the grill looked up as we passed. She smiled at me and held up a skewer of fish like an offering.
I smiled back.
And something cracked open in my chest. Because this morning I woke up to ash falling like snow and a mountain ofburning bodies. I thought morale would be shattered. Thought people would be hiding in their homes, terrified of the Dragon's wrath.
Instead, they were grilling fish and kicking soccer balls.
This island doesn't mourn traitors. It celebrates their deaths.
"You've been very busy since I’ve last seen you."
I turned to her. "I have."
"You found the spies."
I blinked. "How did you know that?"
"The whole island knows, Nyomi, that you're the one who found them. Reo definitely made sure the news spread. You're becoming quite important around here."
I didn't know what to say to that. So, I said nothing and glanced over my shoulder.
The pyre was far behind us now—just a faint orange glow through the trees. The crackling had faded. The smoke had thinned. But I could still see the embers. Still feel the heat of it in my memory.
"What did you think?" I looked back at Hiroko.
“What did I think about what?”
“What did you think, when you woke up this morning and saw that pyre of traitors?"
Hiroko didn't hesitate. "I felt safe for the first time since the Dragon bombed Tokyo."
"Safe?"
