The hallway felt smaller with them in it.

Steam drifted out behind me, curling around their boots like it didn’t know where to go. No one spoke. Even the house seemed to hold its breath.

I had bumped into him—yet somehow it felt like I was the one in the way.

Mikey didn’t move.

Didn’t blink.

His eyes stayed on me a second too long, like he was waiting for something that wasn’t going to happen.

“…You’re calm,” he said.

It wasn’t a compliment.

“I’m in my house,” I replied. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

That answer didn’t satisfy him. I could tell. His head tilted slightly, like a stray thought had hooked itself into his mind.

Behind him, Draken frowned.

“Hey,” Draken muttered, low. “Let’s not—”

Mikey lifted a hand.

Draken stopped instantly.

That was when it hit me.

This wasn’t just a gang. This was order. Obedience so natural it didn’t need words.

Mikey took a step closer.

Not aggressive. Not threatening.

Still, every instinct I had screamed at me to move.

The space between us closed until I could feel the warmth from his jacket, hear his breathing—slow, steady, unnervingly controlled.

“You didn’t ask who we were,” he said.

“I know who you are,” I answered.

A flicker crossed his face. Not anger. Something colder.

“Then why aren’t you scared?”

The question hung there.

Takemichi’s voice cracked from the living room. “J-Jinnie, please—”

I didn’t look away from Mikey. “Fear makes noise. I don’t like noise.”

Silence followed.

Heavy. Pressing.

Mitsuya shifted. Pah-chin looked uncomfortable. Even Draken glanced between Mikey and me, jaw tight.

Mikey stared at me like he’d found a loose thread in a jacket he’d worn for years.

“…What’s your name?” he asked again, slower this time.

“Jinnie.”

He repeated it under his breath, testing the sound.

Then, suddenly, he stepped aside.

“Go,” he said.

Not a suggestion.

I walked past him, every step measured. I didn’t turn around, but I knew—knew—he was watching.

When I reached the end of the hallway, I felt it shift. The air loosened, like something had decided to wait instead of strike.

Behind me, Mikey spoke to no one in particular.

“She doesn’t belong here.”

Draken frowned. “What do you mean?”

Mikey didn’t answer.

But as they moved deeper into the house, I stood still, heart pounding, certain of one thing:

I hadn’t just met Manjiro Sano.

I’d crossed into something I wasn’t meant to see yet.