It was music for temples. . .and endings. . .
Rest in peace, Hiroko.
Nyomi turned her face slightly toward my throat and exhaled.
Hiro closed his eyes.
I set the remote down and pulled her closer.
With Hiro’s eyes still closed, he whispered, “This is nice.”
Nyomi snuggled up against me. “It is.”
And I wasn’t sure if they were talking about our moment on the bed or the music. Maybe they meant all of it. Maybe there was no difference.
The music played another bar. Then another. The shakuhachi vibrated through the speakers and the koto answered in pure harmony.
Hiro opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling for a long moment like he was reconsidering the koi mural in real time.
A minute later, he sat up, reached into his front pocket, produced a single joint, and held it up between two fingers. Itwas rolled tight. The red paper was thin, and the ends were twisted closed.
I leaned my head to the side. "Where did you get that?"
"When Reo sent me to grab Hiroko, she was getting dressed." Hiro turned the joint slowly between his fingers. "Her slave was rolling five of these. I thought they were cute and said so. Hiroko heard me, came out, and told her slave to give me one."
I eyed him. "Slave?"
Hiro shrugged. "Love slave. Sex slave. I don’t know. He crawled out of a cage. When he was finished rolling the joints, he crawled back in."
What the fuck?
Nyomi sighed into my chest. "We'll have to figure out what to do with him. Zo should know what Hiroko wanted."
"Either way." Hiro looked at the joint one more time. "Hiroko would have wanted us to smoke this in her honor."
The room held that.
I shook my head. "I'm already pretty tipsy."
"Yeah." Hiro met my eyes. "But you need to get high."
He glanced down at Nyomi, then back at me. "With this war. . .and now we have an idea about where our father is hiding. . .when are you going to get another chance to do this?"
I thought about what was coming.
The chaos.
The death.
The endings.
The beginnings.
What could go wrong? Hiro, my Tiger, and me high. This will be interesting.
I shrugged. "Light it up."
Chapter two
