The tea in the elegant woman's cup had gone cold.
She hadn't touched it, not since she'd started speaking. The ragtag group before her sat in silence, their eyes fixed on her, listening intently as she unravelled a story that felt like it was straight out of a fictional novel. But her words came straight from the heart and were clearly the truth.
By the time she was finished, she left her listeners with a completely different view of Takeshi...
-
Sayuri, the graceful woman, let out a slow breath, staring at the steam still rising from the fresh cups they had poured. Then she began:
"I remember the night everything fell apart."
Her fingers tightened slightly around the ceramic, her gaze distant, as though she were staring through time itself.
"The rain was merciless, coming down in sheets so thick it was hard to see more than a few feet ahead. Lightning split the sky. Thunder roared. But nothing, nothing was louder than the clash of their blades."
