The Yakuza’s Mute Bride novel Chapter 99

Chapter 99

When I stepped out of Tadashi’s room, the corridor was strangely empty.

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The mansion, which was usually alive with quiet footsteps, low voices, and the constant presence of guards who blended into the shadows, felt hollow-as if it had been deliberately emptied. My unease deepened with every step, the silence pressing against my ears harder than noise ever could.

I had just turned a corner when I saw Sato.

He stood near one of the sliding doors, hands folded neatly in front of him, his posture as composed and dignified as ever. Yet when his eyes met mine, something in his expression softened with unmistakable concern.

“Naomi-san,” he said gently. “Everyone has stepped out for the moment. Please do not be alarmed.”

I frowned slightly. “Everyone?”

He nodded. “Some matters required immediate attention outside the estate. Ai-san and Yuka-san are in the garden. I thought you might prefer to join them.”

Relief washed over me at the mention of their names. I nodded, grateful for the suggestion, and followed Sato as he guided me through a side corridor that led to the inner garden.

The moment I stepped outside, the scent of earth and greenery wrapped around me like a familiar embrace.

The garden was beautiful in that quiet, restrained way unique to old Japanese estates—stone paths softened by moss, carefully trimmed shrubs, and towering trees that had witnessed generations pass beneath their branches. The air was cool, crisp, carrying the promise of spring not too far away.

Ai noticed me immediately.

She rushed over and took my hand in both of hers, her grip warm and grounding.

“Naomi,” she said, her voice filled with relief. “I was worried you would stay inside alone.”

Before I could answer, Yuka turned toward us, a thoughtful look crossing her face.

“Do you remember,” she asked carefully, “the thing you once asked Shun-sama about? The root you thought was ginger?”

My eyes widened.

The memory came back to me instantly, vivid and clear.

I had been younger then, still unfamiliar with many traditions, wandering the garden with Shun-sama as he explained the history of the estate. I remembered crouching beside a small patch of soil, pointing curiously at a knotted root half-buried beneath the earth.

“Is that ginger, Shun-sama?” I had asked innocently.

He had laughed, a deep, warm sound that carried wisdom and kindness in equal measure.

“No, Naomi-san,” he had said gently. “That is not ginger. This is something far rarer and far more precious.”

He had explained patiently, his hands clasped behind his back as he spoke of ginseng-true wild ginseng, cultivated with care, passed down like a living heirloom.

“When the time is right, we will harvest it,” he had told me then. But not now. It is still young. To take it too early would be disrespectful.”

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17:31 Thu, Jan 22 GOD.

Chapter 99

I remembered nodding solemnly, even though I had not truly understood.

Now, standing in the same garden years later, understanding dayned in full.

“That… was ginseng?” I asked softly.

Yuka smiled faintly. “Not just any ginseng.” She leaned closer and whispered the estimated value.

My breath caught in my throat.

I stared at her, stunned.

I had known it was rare, but I had never imagined it was that valuable.

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Ai let out a small laugh at my expression. “Shun-sama trusted you enough to tell you about it. That alone meant something.”

We talked quietly for a while longer-about the garden, about rare plants cultivated in different regions of Japan, about how spring would soon bring the sakura blossoms into full bloom. The thought of seeing cherry blossoms again filled me with a bittersweet longing. I remembered standing beneath them once before, petals drifting through the air like pale pink snow.

For a brief moment, peace returned.

Then everything shattered.

“FIRE! THERE’S A FIRE!”

The scream tore through the air like a blade.

I gasped, my heart lurching violently as I turned toward the sound. Smoke was already rising in thick, choking plumes from the main building, dark and fast, devouring the sky.

Flames licked hungrily along the wooden structure, spreading far too quickly to be accidental.

Yuka reacted instantly.

“I have to help evacuate the others,” she said sharply, already turning away. “Naomi, you follow Ai out. Do not stop for anything.”

Before I could protest, she ran in the opposite direction, disappearing into the smoke.

“Ai, Naomi-this way!” Ai grabbed my hand tightly, her voice cuting through the chaos.

We ran.

Or at least, we tried to.

The smoke was thick, stinging my eyes and burning my throat. Every breath felt heavier than the last, my lungs protesting as ash filled the air. Visibility dropped to almost nothing, and panic surged when I realized I could no longer tell which way led out.

As we turned a corner, a burst of flame roared dangerously close

“Ai!” I screamed as the heat washed over us.

Someone collided with me from the opposite direction-a hard impact that knocked the air from my chest. I stumbled, my footing lost, and then I was falling.

“NAOMI-SAN, WHERE ARE YOU?!” Ai’s voice echoed, frantic and desperate.

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17:31 Thu, Jan 22 GDD.

Chapter 99

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“Ai-“I tried to call back, but the smoke stole my voice, leaving only a rasping cough. My throat burned, my head spinning as fear closed in from all sides.

I was alone.

(Go to Tadashi Point of View)**

***

The first thing I felt was wrongness.

Not suspicion. Not caution. Wrongness-deep, instinctive, the kind that crawls under the skin before the mind can give it shape.

The Watanabe residence stood too quiet.

No guards at the gate. No movement along the corridors. No servants pretending not to watch.

An empty shell.

My footsteps slowed before I consciously told them to. Ota cursed softly behind me, the sound sharp against the unnatural stillness.

“Damn it…”

That was when I smelled it.

Smoke?

Not close enough to sting the eyes, but heavy enough to carry on the wind-burnt wood, oil, something acrid and wrong.

I turned.

The sky to the west bled red.

Not sunset. Not dusk.

It was fire.

My body reacted before my thoughts could organize themselves. My chest tightened hard enough to steal my breath, and something primitive surged up my spine like a blade drawn from its sheath.

“Tadashi-sama…” Gio began.

I did not answer.

“That direction….” Yukito said, his voice breaking into urgency. “That’s—”

“The mansion,” Ota finished.

My mansion.

No… It was her mansion. The place I had left her because I believed-because I calculated-that it was the safest location available.

I moved immediately.

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17:31 Thu, Jan 22 GDD.

Chapter 99

The smile.

My jaw clenched so hard pain shot through my skull.

“She was bait,” I said.

Yukito stiffened beside me.

“They wanted Naomi isolated,” he said slowly. “Separated.”

“Yes,” I replied, my voice dropping into something colder than anger. “They wanted her alone.”

A guard ran toward us, breathless. “Tadashi-sama. We found something.”

He led us to the rear exit.

There, half-buried in ash and debris, lay Naomi’s phone.

The screen was cracked.

The case was scorched.

I stared at it for a long moment without moving.

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My hand closed around it slowly, carefully, as if touching it too roughly would erase the last trace of her existence.

She would not have dropped it unless she was running.

Unless she was pulled.

Unless I cut the thought off violently.

“No, she is not dead,” I said, more command than belief.

Ota nodded immediately. “No remains. No blood.”

“Then she was taken,” Yukito finished.

The words echoed too loudly in my head.

Taken.

My vision tunneled.

Something dark and volatile surged up from the depths of my chest, something I had spent years mastering, suppressing, shaping into control.

This was different.

This was not rage.

This was possession.

“They took her,” I said slowly, every word sharpened into a blade “From my house.”

Silence…. No one spoke.

No one dared.

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17:31 Thu, Jan 22 GDD

Chapter 99

I straightened, my mind already moving faster than any of them could follow.

“Lock down Kyoto,” I ordered. “Airports. Train stations. Private roads. No one leaves without being inspected.”

“Yes, Tadashi-sama.”

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“Trace every vehicle that left this area in the last thirty minutes. continued. “Unmarked vans. Service cars. Anything.”

Yukito hesitated.

“What if this was planned days ago?” he asked. “What if they already prepared a route?”

I turned to him.

My expression must have unsettled him, because he stopped speaking.

“They made one mistake,” I said quietly. “They wanted to hurt me.”

I took Naomi’s phone and slipped it into my pocket.

“They succeeded,” I continued. “But they did not understand what that meant.”

The mansion crackled and groaned behind us as fire crews finally gained some control over the flames.

I did not look back.

Whoever took her believed I did not remember her.

Whoever took her believed that meant she was expendable.

They were wrong on both counts.

I did not need a memory to hunt.

I did not need memory to destroy.

I needed only one truth, burning now with terrifying clarity inside my chest: Naomi was mine.

And I would tear Kyoto apart stone by stone until I had her back.

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