Dragon Raja 3; Chapter 234: Sakura and Red Lotus (3)

Dragon Raja 3

“Could they have escaped into the mountains?” Sakura asked. “Or maybe there’s a hidden passageway under the casino?”

Chisei shook his head and tossed the folder back to Crow. “Do you hear that? Someone’s singing.”

Crow and Sakura paused, listening intently. Sure enough, amidst the sound of the wind and the crackling of burning wood, there was a soft, seductive voice singing. It was in the style of kabuki, but the lyrics were in Chinese. Crow’s Chinese was limited to phrases like “Have you eaten?” while Sakura’s was slightly better, but neither could fully understand the ancient-sounding lyrics.

“Tired, oh so tired, the hairpin bears witness,

A gift once bestowed by the emperor;

A fleeting favor remembered,

Paid back with a moment of affection.

The promise sealed with the hairpin

Is drowned in three thousand streams of water,

As the clouds redden once more;

The moon’s shadow long since dissolved,

The path forward heavy and uncertain;

The way back lost, a glance back reveals only emptiness.”

Chisei slowly recited the lyrics. “This is Yang Guifei, sung by Bando Tamasaburo. I’ve heard him perform it live before. You two stay here; I’m going down to talk to Ryoma.”

“Hey, boss, that building could collapse any second!” Crow turned pale. “If anything happens to you, Yasha and I would have to commit seppuku!”

“Someone singing such a song in a burning building must be thinking of someone. I might be able to learn something,” Chisei replied, grabbing Kumogiri. “Besides, someone who sings that beautifully is worth meeting.”

Chisei wrapped his hand in a handkerchief and pushed open the scorching copper door. Flames were everywhere—silken curtains ablaze, wooden statues of maidens burning, playing cards on the floor curling up in the heat. If the wood used to build Elysium Hall hadn’t been chemically treated for fire resistance, the building would have collapsed long ago. Chisei picked up a burning card, lit a cigarette, and strolled through the fire. The extreme lack of oxygen in the blaze would make an ordinary person faint in seconds, but for someone of his superior hybrid bloodline, it was tolerable.

Footsteps echoed from the stairs. A graceful, noble woman descended slowly, her eyes sparkling in the firelight. She was dressed in an elaborate junihitoe, the traditional twelve-layered kimono, but her feet were clad in white high heels, which made her appear taller and more striking. The kimono wrapped her tightly, but the neckline at the back was low, revealing her pale, delicate skin. She held a wooden sword with a white scabbard, which looked more like a decorative accessory than a weapon.

When she saw Chisei, her eyes glazed over briefly, and she smiled faintly, as if in a trance. “You’ve returned…”

Chisei paused, and then Sakurai Kogure regained her composure, her smile turning sweet and professional. “Welcome.”

Her smile was so lovely that if they had met elsewhere, it would have brightened anyone’s day. Chisei couldn’t help but smile back as he stopped in his tracks.

Sakurai Kogure stopped as well. “If I’m not mistaken, you must be the current head of the family, Gen Chisei? I heard movement upstairs and assumed it was the Execution Bureau searching the building. I didn’t expect the family head to come in person.”

“Ryoma?” Chisei asked, still a little uncertain. Dressed so elegantly, Sakurai Kogure looked younger than the photos he had seen. It was hard to believe someone this young had risen so high within the Oni Clan.

“Yes, I am Sakurai Kogure.”

“So, Osho and Dragon King aren’t here, and you’re the only one left to guard this place?”

“You must be wondering how such a young woman could rise to such a high position in the Oni Clan. You’re thinking I must be someone’s mistress, right?” Sakurai Kogure laughed lightly. “Did I guess right?”

Chisei was silent for a few seconds. “Your age doesn’t quite match your status, but I’m not someone who assumes that beautiful women only gain power by trading on their looks.”

“But this is Elysium Hall, where anything can be used for trade,” Sakurai Kogure continued smiling. “If you were the highest winner tonight, you could make any request of me, even for me to become your woman.”

“According to our intel, you’ve never done such a thing, though I’m sure people have made similar requests,” Chisei said. “I can tell from your singing that you’re thinking of someone. In a moment like this, that person must mean a great deal to you.”

“You’re still asking about Osho and the Dragon King,” Sakurai Kogure shook her head. “But they’re not here. There’s no Osho, no Dragon King, just the last oni left—me.”

“We know that the Oni Clan got a new leader twenty years ago, which led to your rapid rise. How old were you then?”

“There was an Osho, but even Osho can die.”

“Are you telling me that after Osho died, you, Ryoma, took charge of the Oni Clan?” Chisei exhaled a puff of smoke. “But others say you’re just the one who gives orders on behalf of Osho and Dragon King—the big figures stay hidden, and only you get to see them.”

“Then why don’t you just take me back and interrogate me?” Sakurai Kogure said casually.

“We won’t need to interrogate. We’ve funded many medical institutions, and the latest truth serum has been developed. A week of injections, and you’ll answer anything we ask.”

“That would drive me mad, wouldn’t it?”

“Not necessarily mad, but it would damage your nervous system, leaving lasting effects for the rest of your life,” Chisei said. “We don’t want to use it, but we have no choice. We need to uncover the mastermind behind all this. If we don’t, more people may die. You’re a beautiful girl who sings lovely songs, still thinking about someone important. You deserve a better life—with that person, perhaps, somewhere with sunshine and the sea. You don’t need to die for anyone.”

“Is this the family head showing me mercy?” Sakurai Kogure’s smile grew even more radiant. “But I hear the clan has prison doors wide open for us oni—those monasteries, asylums, and sanatoriums you fund have their most secure rooms ready for us. There’s even a secret prison in the mountains of Kobe waiting. Since I was five, I’ve been labeled with unstable blood, always on the verge of rampaging into a bloodthirsty monster. Would you really send me to a place with sunshine and the sea?”

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