Page 120 of Mercy Written in Blood

"This seal."

Haruki leaned closer.

"What about it?"

"The lotus surrounds text."

"So?"

"That usually indicates authority."

"Meaning?"

"The seal doesn't belong to the person."

"It belongs to…"

"The institution authorising it."

Haruki looked again. She was right — the flower enclosed the writing rather than accompanying it, like a government seal or a royal crest. Not merely decoration. Authority.

"Everything belongs to them," Ken murmured.

Takeda nodded.

"The manuscripts."

"The coins."

"The archive."

"The chamber itself."

Haruki thought of the attackers. They had ignored valuables. Ignored equipment. Ignored witnesses until they threatened the journal. Their objective had never been theft. It had been erasure — because someone might rediscover whoever the White Lotus had been.

"Can you translate any more of the journal fragments?" he asked.

Takeda shook her head.

"There aren't enough surviving pages."

"The Accord has the rest."

"Yes."

"They won't share."

"No."

Silence settled. Haruki looked around the room. The archive no longer felt like evidence. It felt like the beginning of something. Not merely an investigation. A story deliberately buried.Someone had built an entire institution around the White Lotus. Then someone else had erased almost every trace they existed. Now people were still killing to keep them forgotten.

Haruki found himself wondering less about the murders than about the people who had inspired them. Who had they been? Why erase them? Why leave the chamber at all? Questions multiplied faster than answers. He realised, with faint annoyance, that curiosity had replaced obligation. Three weeks ago he wanted justice. Now he wanted to know.

Late afternoon sunlight stretched across the archive floor. Most of the team had left to rest. Only Haruki remained, standing before the largest surviving photograph — the mural, the white lotus spread across ancient stone. He had looked at it dozens of times already. Still something felt unfinished.

His phone vibrated. Ken.

"They've finished processing another backup."