Kuro didn't say a word.
For the first time since Raina had met him, since the first distorted voice behind a bunny mask and the first anonymous video uploaded under the name X-REVEALS, he simply... stood there.
The room had slipped out of his hands.
Ethan remained standing beside his chair, his eyes moving between Katsuro, the armed men surrounding the warehouse and Kuro himself, as though he was still trying to understand when the evening had stopped making sense. Malcolm had unconsciously taken half a step backward, his jaw tight, his attention fixed on the soldiers occupying every exit. Even Tengu, who had spent the last hour acting as though nothing could shake him, stood rooted to the floor behind the camera, both hands gripping it so tightly his knuckles had gone pale.
Only the quiet hum of the recording equipment remained.
Then Kuro laughed.
It wasn't loud.
It wasn't manic.
