Page 364 of Mercy Written in Blood

Isao looked towards the crowd.

"They came because of us."

"They came because they were grieving."

"We gave grief direction."

"You gave it an enemy."

"There is an enemy."

"There are many."

Sota glanced towards the restrained Shibata agents. The dead near the western tables. The Accord officers. The Ishida guards.

"Some are vampires. Some are human. Some wear uniforms. Some wear white bands." He looked back at Isao. "You wanted the truth to become simple enough to kill for."

Isao smiled.

"And you wanted it clean enough to remain admired."

That struck. Haruki saw it. Sota's face did not collapse. It opened. A moment of private recognition made public. There had been vanity in his restraint. Not only morality. He had wanted disclosure. He had also wanted to remain the man who could claim he had not caused the blood following it.

"You are right," Sota said.

Isao's smile faded. Sota continued.

"I believed rules would separate me from what followed." He looked towards Haruki. "They did not."

The admission did not absolve him. That was why Haruki believed it.

Outside, the crowd pressed closer to the glass. Phones raised. Sota's face appeared on hundreds of screens. The founder of the Unveiled standing inside a damaged Casino surrounded by armed organisations whose existence none of the witnesses fully understood.

"What happens now?" Mina asked.

She stood near Riku with her white band still visible. Sota turned towards her.

"You leave."

Her face hardened.

"That's it?"

"You take the civilians and leave."

"We came for answers."

"You came into a battle."

"Because you called us."

"I called witnesses."

"You knew what that meant."

"Yes."

The word came heavily. Sota looked through the doors again.