Rain needles the riverbank road as Arimari’s rope yanks the boat hard against the reeds. Mud slurps underfoot. The chest sits half-sunken in the lantern glow, and Genbei scrambles in the bank muck, reaching for it.
Genbei
Too late... if that chest opens, we all drown with it!
Reina
Then stop reaching for it and tell me who paid you.
Kaito
The chest is the thread. Cut it cleanly, Arimari, or they vanish into the dark.
Lord Matsudaira
Hold them here. Whatever comes from that boat, I will not let it reach my house again.
Tukeyo
The debt is named. The hand that carries it now must choose, steel or surrender.
The boat groans against the rope. Genbei slips, claws up again, and the lantern swings wildly over the black water. Tukeyo’s shadow towers at the edge of the bank, close enough to strike if Arimari lets the moment break.