Chapter 20: Haruna Answers

The grey was at her elbow before anyone moved.

Natsuki jumped down from the stairs.

Tsukumo screamed, and the nurikabe lurched away from the doorway, and every spirit on the benches rose to its feet.

Hakuro did not move at all.

He stood with his hands folded on his umbrella and his head tilted.

"I told you it was a calming blend," he murmured.

"You put a comfort tonic in her tea," Haruna said."

"Her voice came out low and hard."

""It makes people say what they want to hear."

"She can't lie, and you made her."

"I did nothing of the kind. I offered the keeper a cup of tea."

"You did this."

"Prove it."

That was when Haruna understood what the trap was made of.

It was not the poison.

It was that in front of forty witnesses no one could say she hadn't drunk it of her own free will.

The grey climbed past Kuzunoha's elbow.

She was still trying to talk, and the words were sliding out in the smooth voice that wasn't hers.

"I'm quite well, I'm entirely well, I could do this all night..."

"Kuzunoha, stop talking. Don't say anything more."

"I can't." A tear ran down her face, which was still warm, for now. "It wants me to finish."

Haruna looked at the cup.

She looked at the stone crawling up her love's arm, and at the faces of the crowd.

She thought of the rule she had been taught by this woman in her first week.

A cure works only when the patient is told the truth.

She stepped between Kuzunoha and the room.

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