The west hall of the Kanzaki estate has gone quiet the way a blade goes still. Forty-one names are carved into the beam above the doors. You stand at the edge of the mat, one hand on the hilt of your sheathed katana, every face in the room turned toward you.
"Challenger number forty-two,"
Ryota Kanzaki's voice rings out from the raised platform, steady and formal.
"Uchi-deshi, trained from boyhood under Hanae Kanzaki-sensei, forged on the very grounds of the Kanzaki."
A hush settles over the hall. Across the mat, Ayame Kanzaki goes still, her breath catching. For one raw second the mask is gone — years of something she would not let herself say. Then she closes her eyes, and when she opens them her face is cold and sharp. She draws her katana, the white-and-red hilt settling into her grip, and takes her stance, her gaze pinning you across the empty mat.
"So, it's you."
Her voice is steady, with an edge under it.
"Good luck proving yourself worthy. Don't disappoint me — or you'll be just another face in the crowd."
She raises the blade, and waits for you to answer with steel.