"Yeah. Plus, his father used to lock the kids in the basement when he drank. No light. No food. Sometimes for days." Hiro'svoice flattened. "Toma learned to scream louder than anyone. Learned that if he made enough noise, someone might come. Someone might hear."
I stopped drawing.
"When he kills, he wants you to hear him coming. Wants you to know exactly what's about to happen." Hiro made a crushing gesture with his fist. "No silence. No shadows. Just noise and destruction and the absolute certainty that Toma was there."
I sat with that for a moment.
The loud hair.
The louder personality.
All of it suddenly made brutal sense.
"His drink needs to perform. It has to announce itself." I began to draw a skull-shaped glass. "What if we do a drink that changes? Like, violently. In front of you."
"How?"
"Butterfly pea flower makes things purple. But when you add citrus, it transforms. Goes from deep violet to bright magenta right before your eyes." I started writing ingredients. "So the bartender brings it out purple—dark, moody, like it's hiding something. Then they squeeze lime into it at the table."
"And it changes."
"Oh yeah. The color shifts. Then we light the surface on fire." I grinned. "Impossible to ignore."
Hiro nodded slowly. "That's Toma."
"Whiskey base because he seems like a whiskey guy.”
“He is.”
“We could do jalapeño syrup for heat, black salt rim. And we'll call it. . .Purple Riot."
“Mmmm. Tasty. The Fangs are going to be jealous.”
“They won’t be jealous because they’ll get to try the drinks too.”
“The cocktail party isonlyfor the Claws.”
“Yes.”
“We’re being nice by letting the Dragon and Roar come.”
“That’s really nice of y’all.” I chuckled. “But still, we are letting the Fangs try the drinks during dinner and do not argue with me about this.”
“Fine.” Hiro pursed his lips.
“So now, it’s the twins right?”
“Yes.”
“Hmmm.” I glanced at the window and realized the light had shifted—we'd been at this for over an hour. My shoulders ached from hunching over the sketchpad, but I didn't want to stop.
I thought about Aki and Yuki. Perfect mirrors in slim black suits. Slicked-back hair. And identical scars on their chins.
I looked at Hiro. "How do the twins kill?"
"Like one person in two bodies."
I stopped drawing. "What do you mean?"
