Chapter 3

The air was thick with the scent of blooming sakura and the faint, sweet smoke of roasting chestnuts. Paper lanterns, glowing in shades of soft pink and deep crimson, hung from the branches of the ancient cherry trees, casting a dappled, dreamlike light over the stone pathways of the garden. It was late evening now, the crowds having thinned out into a few wandering couples and families, leaving us with a solitude that felt heavy, charged with the static of things unsaid. We had been walking for twenty minutes, the rhythmic crunch of our shoes on the gravel the only sound between us, yet the silence felt louder than the distant shamisen music drifting from the main hall. He walked beside me, his presence a warm weight against my side. He hadn’t said a word since we left the crowded food stalls, but I could feel his eyes on me, tracking the line of my neck, the way I kept my hands tucked into my pockets to hide their slight tremor. I was wearing a light linen dress, suitable for the mild spring night, but as the breeze picked up, carrying the chill of the coming night, I shivered. He