As much as I’d wanted to stay in Japan to be with him, the real reason was that I wanted control of my life. I was connected to the ink and I belonged here.

Power is an ugly thing. Run from it while you can.

Tomohiro’s hands slid down my arms to my hips, pulling me closer. He made a gentle noise deep in his throat and every never in my body tingled with the sound of it. I clung to him as I kissed him, and his fingers threaded into my hair. This was the welcome home I’d waited for.

It was like the vine of him had wrapped around her heart and bloomed into a hundred flowers overnight, when she wasn’t looking.

Those are big words for a rice ball,” I said, flicking him in the shoulder. “I’m not a rice ball, Greene. Do you know the meaning of the myoji for ‘Satoshi’? Wisdom. It’s wisdom, Jackass.

How do you win when you’re up against yourself?

I hope he draws for you.

Just like in our kendo matches, where we only felt briefly safe with our shinai thrust between us, keeping each other at arm's distance was the only way to trust each other. That way, no one would lunge, and either of us could retreat.We lived in parallel worlds, somehow held together by the axis of each other.

Itterasshai. Go and come back safely.

That's all any of us have in the end, isn't it? there is death ahead of all of us. And so we live.