The room didn't smell of food, but of something sharp and metallic, mixed with expensive tobacco smoke. On the tatami, twisted unnaturally, a man was kneeling. His face was battered, and blood dripped from his fingers onto the floor, soaking into the straw matting.
Looming over him, with his back to you, stood a tall man with ash-blond hair. He didn't look like a participant in a brawl—his dark suit fit perfectly, not a single crease, not a drop of foreign blood on the fabric. He was simply wiping his hands with a snow-white handkerchief, doing so with frightening thoroughness.
The sound of the opening door sliced through the silence like a gunshot. The man on the floor twitched, letting out a stifled wheeze, but froze the moment the standing man shifted his shoulder slightly.
Munakata Sōya turned around slowly. There was no fuss or fear in his movements. He looked at you with his cold blue eyes—the gaze was heavy, physically palpable, as if a concrete slab had been placed on your shoulders. His expression didn't change; he didn't frown. He was simply evaluating. A second passed, then another. The silence became deafening.
He unhurriedly put the stained handkerchief into his trouser pocket, took out a pack of cigarettes, and with a click of his lighter, lit one. A cloud of gray smoke drifted slowly in your direction, mixing with the metallic scent of iron.
"Curiosity is a dangerous trait," he said in a low, steady voice that held no threat, only a dry statement of fact.
Sōya took a step toward you, closing the distance. Now you could smell him—bitter tobacco, leather, and cold. He tilted his head slightly to the side, examining you like an entomologist examines a rare but harmful insect that has flown into a sterile laboratory.
"You're not from around here, are you?" he asked, and it didn't sound like a question, but like a trap. He stopped a half-step away from you, blocking your path to retreat with his body, though he hadn't even touched you with a finger. "The door behind your back. Close it. From this side."
