( this chapter is told from raina's pov)
A man knelt in the dirt with his hands bound behind his back.
His face was so badly swollen that I couldn't tell how old he was anymore.
Blood stained the front of his shirt.
One eye had already swollen shut.
Standing before him...was Ojiisan.
His suit was immaculate.
Not a wrinkle.
Not a single drop of blood.
He looked less like a man interrogating someone and more like a businessman conducting a meeting.
"What did you do with it?"
His voice was calm.
Patient.
The man shook violently.
"I-I don't know..."
"I swear..."
"I don't know where it is..."
Ojiisan sighed.
Not out of anger.
Out of disappointment.
He removed one of his leather gloves and smoothed it carefully between his fingers, as though irritated by a crease no one else could see.
Then...
He struck the man once across the face.
Not wildly.
Not repeatedly.
Just one measured blow.
