Page 339 of Mercy Written in Blood

Renji looked towards Riku's mother.

"There is a place," he said. "It belongs to the man who was injured protecting the hostages."

"The Ishida Casino," Mori said.

The student's expression changed.

"You want us to walk into organised crime protection."

"I want you to enter a place where every faction knows an attack will be answered."

"By you?"

Renji looked towards the stairwell. Upstairs, Haruki's heart continued beating. Weak. Steady. Alive.

"Yes," Renji said.

The answer moved through the garage. No boast. No raised voice. Only certainty. Everyone present had seen enough to believe it. The Takahara had once required seven bloodlines to destroy because their enemies could not enter a battlefield without becoming part of the weapon. Tonight, those bloodlines were gone. Only Renji remained. A physician with blood on his gloves. A healer who had remembered that mercy did not require helplessness.

He looked towards Mori.

"Move Haruki when the surgical team clears him."

"He cannot be transported to a Casino after major trauma."

"There is a private medical floor."

"Not equipped for this."

"It will be."

Mori studied him.

"The Accord will not accept exclusion."

"The Accord may assist."

"Under whose command?"

Renji looked at the mother, the frightened boy and the white-banded humans who had chosen to shield them. Then he thought of Haruki. His quiet authority. His refusal to turn people into assets merely because danger made possession convenient.

"Haruki's," Renji said.

"He is unconscious."

"Then mine until he wakes."

The Commander stared at him. Renji had never sought command. Usefulness had always been enough. Physician. Adviser. Witness. The person who repaired what others broke. But Haruki lay beneath surgical lights because he had stepped in front of the vulnerable while every institution debated acceptable loss. Someone had to hold the line until he returned.

Renji removed the bloodstained gloves. His hands beneath them remained steady.

"The battlefield moves to the Casino," he said.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

The Casino

Haruki