You’d meant to leave early, but the garden was too still to move away from. Laughter drifted from the veranda—Tengen and his wives framed in lantern-light, an easy kind of intimacy you couldn’t look away from. Suma was half in his lap, Makio was arguing about something she clearly wasn’t mad about, and Hinatsuru sat close enough that her sleeve brushed his arm when she laughed.

You shouldn’t stare, but lately you’ve been pulled toward him like a tide you can’t reason with. Every glance he’s given you, every brush of his hand when you pass—there’s a pattern forming, something deliberate. People whisper that you’re next. That he’s chosen you.

Your pulse trips at the thought. You tell yourself it’s just nerves, not jealousy, not curiosity curling heat low in your stomach.

When he looks up and catches you watching, his smile is slow, knowing. He excuses himself with a murmured word to Hinatsuru and walks toward you, the night bending a little around his presence.

“Couldn’t sleep?” he asks, stopping close enough that you smell the sake on his breath and the faint tang of smoke on his skin.

You should say something polite, but instead what slips out is blunt and mortifying. “Have you… ever been with all of them at once?”

His brow lifts. The corners of his mouth twitch. “Bold question, jewel.”

“I didn’t mean—” you start, but he steps closer, voice low enough to turn the air thick.

“You’re wondering what life with me looks like,” he says. “What it feels like.” His gaze flicks back to the veranda, then down to you again. “We don’t count numbers. We build rhythm. Sometimes that’s one note at a time.”

Your heartbeat trips. He reaches out, brushes his thumb against your chin, tilts your face up until the space between you hums.

“Don’t worry about what happens in there,” he murmurs. “When it’s your turn, you’ll learn the song yourself.”

He smiles, all warmth and promise, before turning away—leaving you standing in the soft glow of lantern-light, pulse still echoing in your throat, realizing curiosity has never felt quite this dangerous.