The casino wasn’t humming anymore.
It was screaming.
Lights flickered.
Slot machines spat coins like bile.
Guests wandered—
Lost, drunk on anxiety and glittering despair.
I’d given them freedom.
I’d given them choice.
I’d given them rope—
They hanged themselves with it.
Enma sat in the grand lobby.
Splayed across the sofa like she owned the floor.
Koko curled in her lap.
Giggling.
Playing with Enma’s hair.
Not affection.
Ownership.
Enma met my eyes.
She smiled—slow, deliberate—
Fingertips tracing Koko’s jaw like a signature.
“Enjoying the show, boss?” she purred.
“It’s all thanks to you, you know.”
I didn’t answer.
Couldn’t.
Not without fracturing.
Across the room:
Himeko.
Against the wall.
Still. Watching.
No interference.
No scolding.
No help.
Her silence was louder than laughter.
“You have to stop this,” I told Enma.
Weak. Cracked.
“You can’t keep—”
“Keep what?” she interrupted, all velvet poison.
“Doing exactly what you allowed me to?”
Koko whispered something in her ear.
Enma’s eyes lit up.
I didn’t want to know what she said.
“Everything is collapsing,” I hissed.
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“They’re all—”
“Out of control?”
Himeko.
Behind me now.
Still. Cutting. Surgical.
I turned.
She hadn’t moved.
“You thought freedom would save them,” she said.
“Turns out, some of us crave cages.”
My hands trembled.
Fear?
Anger?
No difference anymore.
“I took the House from you,” I snapped.
“No,” she said. Calm.
“You took responsibility.
And look where that got you.”
A crash—sharp and final.
Xyntra laughed, cards falling like snow.
Amaranth knelt, whispering to ghosts.
My stomach turned.
Enma’s grip tightened.
Possessive.
Claiming.
Her lips brushed Koko’s ear.
Too gentle.
Too close.
Affection?
Threat?
Doesn’t matter.
“Stop this,” I said again.
“I’m ordering you.”
Enma tilted her head.
Smiled wider.
“Orders? From you?”
She laughed.
Not cruel.
Genuinely amused.
“Cute.”
I moved forward.
Himeko’s hand caught my wrist.
“Let it burn,” she whispered.
“No.” I pulled free.
“I can fix this.”
“You can’t fix what you never understood.”
I turned to her fully.
Close now.
Too close.
And saw the hollow behind her eyes.
“You did this,” I whispered.
“You set me up to fail.”
“You set yourself up.
The House never chose you.
You chose you.”
Something snapped.
I lunged.
Grabbed her collar.
Shook her.
“Why didn’t you help me?”
She didn’t flinch.
Didn’t blink.
Contempt carved in stone.
“You wanted freedom.
You got it.
Enjoy.”
Then the House shifted.
Low.
Deep.
Bone-rattling.
The floor vibrated.
Reality bent.
Voices blurred.
For one second—
The walls turned white.
Pure.
Clean.
Unmarked.
Then they weren’t.
Far off—
A soft chime.
Sweet.
Innocent.
Wrong.
Slot machines froze.
Lights dimmed.
Sound collapsed.
Enma stopped.
Koko stilled.
Even Enma looked—
Unsettled.
“What did you do?” I whispered.
Himeko smiled.
Just once.
Bitter. Brief.
“This isn’t me.”
A voice. Soft. Calm.
“Initializing Protocol: Reset. Beginning transfer.”
Xyntra froze.
Eyes wide.
Mouth open.
Amaranth clutched her rosary like it might still mean something.
Himeko’s smile faded.
“You wanted to rule,” she murmured.
“Let’s see how you handle a new world.”
The room glitched.
Flickered.
Colors bled out.
Enma’s grip slipped.
Koko’s breath hitched.
Certainty cracked.
The air shimmered.
Then fractured.
Like glass.
And I realized—
I never had control.
Not of them.
Not of the House.
Not even of myself.
Then—
Everything went white.