Maybe it was best if Xingyu was just honest. It wasn’t as if this Eryu man couldn’t just look up the name of Liu Baiyan’s second son. “His name is Xiaokai. I call him Little Xiao. What was your brother’s name?”

Yamashita glared at him again.

“Ryuichi,” said Eryu. “I called him Ryu. How much younger?”

“Six years. How old is Ryuichi?”

Eryu’s smile flickered. “Ah. He was my twin, but he’s dead now. My father killed him.”

A small fire lit itself in Xingyu’s chest. “Oh. I’m…” He couldn’t imagine how much he would have lost it if Liu Baiyan had killed Xiao-Xiao, or even hurt him in front him. He wouldn’t have killed him with poison, that’s for damn sure—he wouldn’t have been so merciful. “I’m sorry.”

“This man you’re looking for, the one who hurt your brother. What’s his name?”

“White Snow. Pronounced Bai Xue.”

Eryu’s eyebrows rose.

“I know. You understand why it’s so difficult to find anything about him.”

“Bai Xue…Daichi, the man who visited last week to waste our time. Do you remember his name?”

“He didn’t give us a name.” That dangerous glare softened again when he looked at Eryu.

“Do we still have the footage?”

“Is that question supposed to be redundant?” Yamashita pointed at one of the bodyguards. “You. Go get the footage from last Thursday, between ten and eleven.”

“Yes, sir.” The guard disappeared through the door.

“A man visited last week wanting to use some of our resources,” said Eryu. “He didn’t give us his name, but he did say that he was with the List.”

Xingyu leaned forward.

“I’m not sure how much I can tell you, though. He wanted quite a few things from me, but wasn’t able to offer very much in return.”

“Could I ask what he wanted from you?”

“I’m sure you can guess.” Eryu picked up his drink again, but he didn’t take another drink. “He wanted protection. But from what I could tell from some shallow research, the List has been falling apart from the inside, and even if he had absolute and total control over the List, he would have nothing to offer me.”

Yamashita let out a soft huff. “He did offer something,” he said, and then Eryu laughed too.

“That’s true. He wanted to become one of the Kishi of Kami no Ha. He kept saying that he knew about secrecy and being a leader…unfortunately we demand a little more than secrecy, and the positions aren’t exactly open. Unless…?” He eyed Xingyu.

“No,” said Yamashita. “Absolutely not.”

“It was just a joke. I’m not actually going to give him a title. Mr. Liu, I really don’t think I have anything for you. He came to make a deal, we turned him down, and then he left.”