"Ayame-sama has been kidnapped by Morosuke!!"
Silence fell following these words.
Nathan stood with Kyomei in his hand and turned it over quietly. Ayame. Morosuke. The pieces arranged themselves into a shape he didn't like and liked even less for being predictable. He should have seen it. He had seen it, in some form — had stood over that man after taking him apart and made a calculation. Killing Morosuke would leave Minato leaderless, and a town like Minato without a leader was just a war waiting to find its shape. Unnecessary deaths. Chaos that would take months to settle. The pragmatic choice had been to leave him breathing and diminished, humiliated enough to retreat into irrelevance.
He had underestimated the man's stubbornness. Or his anger. Either way, the mistake was his.
"Are these reports confirmed?" Hanzo's voice had shed every trace of the morning's distraction. She was looking at the messenger seriously.
