The burned strip curled away from the drawer.
Omina set it flat with two fingers. The paper lifted again as soon as she let go, shedding black grit into the groove where the drawer met the desk. JJ tore two strips from the spine of her ledger and pressed them over the corners. The cold came through the tape fast enough to stiffen her knuckles.
"That paper is making a complaint with furniture attached."
The tape held. The strip buckled under it, but it stayed where JJ put it.
Heissman leaned in far enough for his shadow to cross the first forming line. Omina tapped the wood with the end of her hilt.
"Read from your side of the drawer, Heissman."
He straightened and kept both hands where everyone could see them.
"I can read from here without donating my face."
Ty stood one pace behind the boot mark Yun-Jin had drawn for him. The mark was chalk, nothing more. That was why it mattered. If he crossed it, the room would treat the choice as something he had offered.
