"I assume you're here about X Reveals." He said again .
I stared at him.
Every question I had prepared on the flight dissolved before I could reach for a single one. I had expected resistance. Careful evasion. The particular patience my grandfather used as armour when he did not want to be known.
I had not expected him to say the name first.
"How did you know?" I asked.
Katsuro took a slow sip of tea. "You don't have to make that face, Himari. I've been aware of what's been going on."
"How long?"
"Long enough."
It should not have surprised me. The estate had always operated on information. Katsuro rarely moved without knowing ten things before anyone else knew one . Still, there was something unsettling about realizing that while I'd been chasing X-Reveals, being dragged into Malcolm's mess, and trying to stop my life from falling apart, my grandfather had been quietly watching from the sidelines.
"I've already had men investigating him," he said.
I sat up straighter.
