The short old man had a dismayed look on his face, looking as though he would rather be dead than alive.

Decades of hard, bitter work had been destroyed in that instance, it was tantamount to shattering all his dreams and courage. He lay on the ground, looking up at the ceiling. Only desperate, incoherent mutterings remained in his mouth.

It wasn’t anything being said in English either, but Japanese.

Alex took a few steps forward and grabbed the short old man. “Waltz, I’ll be taking away this