Chapter 4 The Cheerful Liar (Mircea)

The taxi door shut with a hollow thump that echoed too loudly in the mountain air.

Akari slid into the back seat, the worn upholstery creaking beneath her weight. The interior smelled faintly of pine, old leather, and something sharper-oil, perhaps, or metal warmed by a long-running engine.

The driver turned in his seat, grin already in place.

"Ah! The Tanaka heir!" he exclaimed, clapping his hands once. "Welcome, welcome to Lupinara!"

He was in his forties, Akari guessed, with dark hair just beginning to gray at the temples. His smile was wide and easy, the kind meant to disarm. But his eyes-sharp, dark, restless-missed nothing. They swept over her quickly, then retreated to the road ahead as he shifted into gear.

"Mircea," he said, tapping his chest. "I drive everyone important. You will find I am very reliable."

The car lurched forward, tires crunching over gravel as they pulled away from the station. The road narrowed almost immediately, winding upward between thick stands of pine. The mountains closed in, hemming them with stone and shadow.

Akari folded her hands in her lap, fingers interlaced to keep them from fidgeting. "Thank you for meeting me."

"But of course! We were expecting you." He chuckled lightly, as if the words were a joke rather than a fact. "You must be tired, yes? Long journey. Tokyo is very far."

It was the first time anyone in Lupinara had spoken the name of her former life aloud. The distance between the city and this road felt immeasurable.

As the car climbed, Mircea launched into conversation with the enthusiasm of someone following a well-rehearsed script.

"Lupinara," he said, gesturing vaguely with one hand before returning it to the wheel. "It means 'Place of the Wolf.' Very old name. But do not worry-the wolves here, they are... how do you say... community-minded." He laughed at his own phrasing. "Protective. Good luck, some say! Tourists love these stories."

He began a tale about a lost child saved from the forest by a great wolf who guided her home beneath the moon. His voice rose and fell at all the right moments, the cadence smooth and comforting.

Akari watched the road slip past, the trees blurring into dark streaks. "Do many tourists come here?" she asked.

"Some," Mircea replied easily. "Hikers. Folklore enthusiasts. People who like mystery." His eyes flicked to the rearview mirror.

Not to her face.

To her hands.

She felt it immediately-the subtle scrutiny, the way his gaze lingered on her posture, the tension in her shoulders, the stillness she hadn't realized she was holding. When he inhaled, it wasn't just to breathe. It was deliberate, measured.

Sniffing.

The realization sent a small chill down her spine.

"You have the look of your family," Mircea said casually, as if commenting on the weather. "The eyes."

Akari met his gaze in the mirror. "You knew my uncle?"

"Everyone knew Kenji Tanaka." The smile remained, but something tightened at its edges. "He was... respected."

The road curved sharply, and the valley opened before them.

Lupinara emerged from the trees like something half-remembered-a cluster of steep-roofed houses huddled together, smoke curling from chimneys, narrow streets threading between stone and timber. It looked untouched by time, as though modernity had simply flowed around it and moved on.

On the far side of the valley, perched high on the north ridge, stood a house unlike the others.

It loomed.

Even from this distance, Akari felt its presence-a dark silhouette against the fading sky, broad and angular, commanding the slope beneath it.

Mircea followed her gaze.

"The Tanaka house," he said. "North ridge. It sees the whole valley."

His voice lost some of its practiced warmth.

"It has... good bones," he continued. "Strong. Like your uncle."

The taxi passed beneath a carved wooden sign at the edge of town.

LUPINARA – PROTEJAT DE LUPI

LUPINARA - PROTECTED BY THE WOLVES.

Mircea's smile slipped.

Just for a second-but it was enough.

"Remember, domnișoară Tanaka," he said quietly, eyes fixed on the road now. "Here, the stories are not just for children."

The car rolled deeper into the town.

"The house sees all," he added. "And the packs see the house."

Silence settled between them, heavy and deliberate.

Akari leaned back against the seat, her pulse quickening as the truth beneath the performance finally showed its teeth.

Whatever Lupinara was pretending to be for outsiders, she was no longer one of them.