After entrusting Sakura and Akiko to Hanzo, Nathan stepped out of his room and pulled the door shut behind him.
The inn was louder downstairs. Voices drifted up through the stairwell in thick waves, mixed with bursts of laughter, the scrape of stools across old wood, and the warm, bitter smell of sake. By the time he reached the bottom step, the tavern had opened before him in full. Lantern light bathed the room in gold, catching on rising steam from bowls of food and the polished necks of bottles passed from hand to hand.
It did not take long for him to spot Shigeru and the others.
They were gathered around the same table as always, relaxed as if the world outside did not concern them in the slightest. Sake cups were scattered between them, and Sana was laughing at something Yuwa had just said, while one of the others leaned back so far on his stool it looked as though he might topple over at any second.
For a brief moment Nathan considered slipping past without being noticed.
