Then, I released her body but stayed on my knees beside her.
The blood seeped into the petals, blooming outward in slow, crimson veins until the white disappeared.
Kneeling next to her, I checked behind us, gunfire cracked from the rafters. I looked up and saw the Claws already handling the snipers.
Kaede fired. The crack split the rafters.
The sniper’s head snapped back, and his body tipped off the catwalk. He fell through beams of stage light, arms flailing, coat twisting in the air before he slammed onto the stage below. The impact shook the floorboards.
Daisuke’s blade flashed silver. It struck deep into the second man’s throat.
He tried to scream but only managed a wet choke as blood spilled over his collar and down onto the lighting grid.
Toma finished the third before the echo of the first shot faded. The body crumpled against the rigging, then hung there—swaying slightly above the stage.
On the other side of the curtain, the orchestra swelled. Applause broke out. Standing ovation energy for a performance, while Hiroko's blood soaked into white petals on the other side of the curtain.
"Snipers are done!" Reo called from somewhere to my left. "But we need to move. Now."
I would have to leave Hiroko here.
My eyes watered.
She deserved more than this. For the woman she was. For all she'd done in her life. For the guidance she'd given my Tiger.
She deserved better than to die in the back of some fucking theater near the exit of a pleasure district while strangers applauded on the other side.
"Kenji! Let’s go!” My brother shoved at me.
My chest ached. My heart felt like it was breaking open. And I was shocked at how much it hurt.
How deep the grief cut.
Reo kneeled by me. “Kenji, we have to go. Akiro and his men are here."
I kept staring at her lifeless eyes. “Who killed Hiroko?”
“There were three snipers above us, guarding the Yoshiwara entrance and must have caught us sneaking out of the service exit. They’re dead now. Put her down.”
“I want their family’s information.”
“I’ll get it once we are safe, but we have to besafefirst. Which means. . .we have to leave her here.”
I’m sorry, Hiroko. So sorry.
I closed her eyes with my thumb, and my hand was shaking.
When I stood, the world narrowed.
The gunfire dulled. The orchestra became distant.
All I could hear was my own breathing.
"Goddamn it, Kenji!" Hiro got in front of me, and his eyes were wild. The same grief carved into his face, but something else sat on top of it.
Fear.
"Akiro is here." Hiro scowled at me. "Coming down the center aisle with at least twenty men. All branded as commanders."
