Time seemed to stop. It was Yumi. Yumi was the one I was too seek guidance from.

"Do you mind if we talk inside?" I asked

She started at me blankly for a moment, then her expression went dark.

"Come in." she whispered.

"We will wait in the car." said Louis gesturing for Silk to follow.

"I am not a famine god, just saying." I shouted back crossing the threshold.

"Flip flops are in the right rack. And please put your own shoes in the left rack." She said waiting for us to switch footwear. They didn't look comfortable but they were surprisingly so. Yumi moved on. We exited the small room, and stepped onto the stone pathway. All around us were exotic flowers and trees. Though the blooming Sakura tree was especially beautiful. We crossed a little red wood bridge with a little stream flowing beneath it. All around the place life was vibrant. Fish jumped happily in their little stream, birds twitted each other from across the branches. And the wind responded by blowing a wave of Sakura pedal towards us, creating a sea of pink.

"Putting your shoes there is fine." She interrupted.

Kenai's men said a few respectful words as the party walked up the steps then set their sandals on the wooden walkway. Yumi pushed the pair doors apart with a soundless move and slipped of her wooden flip flops with one fluent motion and setting it aside perfectly. She stepped into the room and we all did the same.

"Sit please. Let me get the tea."

Though I wasn't in the mood for tea, but judging from her tone she portably won't budge. So we each sat on our own small individual round mat around the elegant square wooden table.

"There aren't enough mats." I said.

"I think you can manage with the ground."

"Fine."

I know for a fact that it is a custom for Japanese people to sit in a form known as Seiza. Which is folding their legs underneath their thighs with hand in the lap. It may sound uncomfortable but when you do it more often, it doesn't bother much. For a moment no one said anything, then Yumi took a small sip of her tea in an elegant way before setting it down ever so gently.

"Ling, I assume Toji recommended you to come here, which could only mean one thing."

"And one is that?"

"Trouble."

"Are judging me or my actions?"

"I knew you were trouble ever since we first met. So what trouble do you bring this time?"

"I guess you are right. In this period of time in my life I been running into a little more trouble, we need your help."

"You may leave now." I kinda expect that.

"Aren't you going to hear me out first?"

"Nothing good comes out of you." She taunted sipping her tea. Even though she made it pretty clear she didn't want to hear anything, I continued anyways.

"Toji said you can provide guidance to whatever this clue is."

"And why should I help you?"

I knew that was coming, so I let the silence hang on, on purpose.

Then out of silence Toji spoke up: "Ane, I know Kenai was a brother to you all these years. And now he is dead. And all that is left of him is his katana."

Yumi didn't seem surprised.

"I assume you got firsthand information about his death." I spoke up.

She didn't say anything.

"I am sorry. He must be important to you." I replied her silence. Then out of silence she spoke:

"He isn't related by blood to me but he was family to me. He was half a decade older than me, but his hearts always seem to be a decade younger. I often acted as the older sister."

"Sorry there was nothing I could do about his death."

"No I don't blame you. If there is anyone to blame it should be me." she said those words calmly though I saw sorrow peer through her eyes.

"Why?" I asked suddenly feeling the urge to comfort her.

"Our parents arranged us for us to marry, but we both knew we didn't want to. We wanted to keep our relationship where it was. So to avoid that outcome, he joined up with the Yakuza. He had really strong sense of leadership and did things his way, whenever something didn't work his way, he would fix it with his fist. So in just a few years he became one of the leaders in Yakuza. He probably went to jail a few times, got caught in countless gang fights. But despite that he was still the same brother I knew. Then there was the game...everything changed. He grew a fiery temper, and something else much darker. And a few weeks before the game started I tried to convince him to quit, he told me I was in his way and to leave him to his own business. The worst thing was ... he said... that he never recognized me as family and I should forget about him. I have a really bad feeling about the game, I suggest you should quit too."

"Kenai, had a last word for you." When I said those words, all the Kenai men bowed and existed the room. Half a minute later the only sound was the moving water coming from the small stream.

"I am all ears." she said.

"May courage be with you when you need it." She faced down for a moment, I knew she was fighting back tears and I knew trying to comfort her would only produce the opposite effect.

"There is something I need to show you. Come with me." She stood up grabbed Yuki and pushed open the door that lead further into the mansion. After a dozen turns doorways, she led me into a room with a wooden floor covered by a mat. So the room was her dojo.

"You practice Kendo sword fighting?" I asked unable to think of any other reason for her to have a dojo room.

"Yes, this dojo, the room has been passed down for ten generations. Kenai and I used to practice Kendo here. He always had more passion for it, though I always beat him."

She smiled a little, I smiled too.

I scanned the dojo and on the other end was a shelf with a black and white photograph of a young man. It didn't look like Kenai so I assumed it was her father. Laid out on the table before the photo was a Katana in a white Sheath. Then she walked up to the photo then bowed to and set Yuki on the stand beside it. Then she walked up to a different shelf and picked up another katana. Then she unsheathed the new katana in a blink of an eye, before I could react the tip of the blade was only an inch away from my throat.

"My father passed away when I was at a young age, and down his Katana Raku to me. Raku means ease, and he hops I will find ease in life in my time of need."

"I surely don't feel at ease right now." I said as she lowered her blade.

"Tell me now what I can help you with."

I told her my plan.

"That will do."