The evening air was crisp, carrying the faint scent of rain and expensive cigars. Chifuyu adjusted the cuff of his suit, eyes scanning the grand ballroom bathed in golden light. It was the kind of place he didn’t belong, too refined for a man who had spent most of his life in the underbelly of Tokyo.

Yet, he was here. And so you were.

You moved through the room with effortless grace. You were no longer the girl he once knew. No, you were something else entirely now, something untouchable.

And you weren’t alone.

The man beside her was older, refined, the kind of figure who commanded attention without speaking. The leader of the most powerful gang in Town, someone Chifuyu recognized instantly from the shifting tides of the underground, Taiju. The emblem pinned to his lapel told him everything he needed to know.

You were standing at the side of an enemy, finally sitting around the table to start the meeting.