The hand at Raizen's collar didn't tremble. It didn't hesitate. Whoever grabbed him didn't do it like a thug - it was clean, efficient, practiced. Almost... Elegant.
Raizen's mind tried to catch up, but it was too slow.
Too many hours. Too much noise. Too many fragments of the day stacked wrong in his head. He was just too tired to think straight.
He blinked hard, eyes adjusting to the alley's darkness.
The first thing he saw wasn't a face.
It was a cloak.
Dark fabric, close to black, catching the faint lantern glow from the street. And on the shoulder, stitched with pride, sat a symbol Raizen knew too well.
A lotus emblem.
The Lotus Academy.
Raizen's breath hitched.
But before he could do anything, the grip eased.
Not slowly.
Immediately. Like whoever held him already decided he wasn't a threat the moment they recognized who they grabbed.
The hood came off with one swift movement.
