Page 362 of Mercy Written in Blood

Mori looked through the glass. More people arrived at the edge of the crowd. Some carried umbrellas. Some cameras. A news van stopped beyond the roadblock abandoned during the attack. The Accord had prepared for secrecy to fail through evidence. Ithad not prepared for secrecy to fail through grief gathering in public.

Sota turned from the doors. Rainwater ran from the hem of his trousers onto the marble.

"You cannot stop this now," he said.

Mori's expression hardened.

"You confuse visibility with truth."

"No." Sota looked towards the crowd. "I confuse silence with what it has always been."

"And what is that?"

"A decision made by the powerful about which suffering remains private."

Mori's hand lowered from the radio. Not agreement. Recognition that the argument could no longer be managed as an operational threat.

Haruki looked at Sota. He had admired him once. Not wholly. Never safely. But enough. Years earlier, before the Unveiled had a name, Sota's organisation had existed as a small legal fund for families whose missing-person cases had been abandoned. Haruki had approved Ishida money through intermediaries because the work seemed humane. No ideology. No public declarations. Only investigators, counsellors and lawyers helping people institutions had decided were no longer worth the cost.

Haruki had admired the reports. Their precision. Their refusal to promise answers where none existed. He had increased the funding himself. He had not known the man writing them had slept in the same orphanage. Had not known Sota's missing sister belonged to the history the Ishida Family helped conceal. Had not known each grant financed a search moving closer to the truth Haruki's own organisation protected. Perhaps thathad been cowardice. Funding mercy while preserving the system that made mercy necessary.

Sota looked towards him. The distance across the Casino seemed larger than the room.

"You funded us," Sota said.

Mori turned slightly. Haruki did not.

"Yes."

A faint expression crossed Sota's face. Not triumph. Something like regret.

"You never asked why so many families needed us."

"I did."

"But not enough to stop."

"No."

Haruki accepted it. Sota had earned that answer.

The crowd outside shifted. A woman near the front raised a photograph higher when she saw Sota through the glass. He looked at her. Haruki recognised Mrs Okada from the meeting. Her missing brother stared from the photograph in her hands.

Sota walked closer to the doors. Mori stepped into his path.

"You remain under Accord jurisdiction."

Sota looked down at the hand Mori had raised.

"Do I?"

"Yes."

"On what charge?"

"Conspiracy. Obstruction. Incitement. Unlawful acquisition of restricted material."

"Not murder?"