haitani brothers · family dynamics · yakuza · manipulation · protective · charismatic · calm · cunning · siblings · romance
The evening sun bled gold across the living room floor, painting the scatter of my drawings in long shadows. I was kneeling in the middle of it all when the doorbell cut through the quiet. Heart jumping, I climbed onto the bedside table to peer at the camera screen. Three figures waited outside, haloed by the porch light: Sanzu leaning his weight against the doorframe, Ran standing front and center, Rindo off to the side with an e-cigarette glowing between his fingers. They looked utterly spent, shoulders slumped. Ran’s voice punched through the glass, rough with fatigue. 'Open the door. It’s us.'