Ledger of Shadows

Intro

(reverb swells)

Taiko low, far — the guitar sighs and never lets go

(ha) slow pad, glass on ice, a skyline made of steel

(ah-ah) oyabun names on paper, folded like prayer

(uh) the solo climbs, a long silver blade through rain

Verse

I walk the alley with my ledger and my scars, giri on my tongue

Cold ledger, cold breath, sakazuki passed — the promise is sung

I keep the lines tight, shadow ledgers under lacquered doors

Rice paper contracts, blood ink, on the floor where the koi don't show

Oyabun calls at midnight, voice like iron, soft as silk

He says, "Keep the peace, keep your on, keep the children from the mill"

I was born for the ledger, taught the knife and the bow, and where to stand

Honor like a coin in my palm — spend it, flip it, bury it in sand

Black market lullabies hum through payphones and ramen steam

We move the law sideways, trade favors for futures and for dreams

My mother taught me how to fold a face like paper fans, hide the cut

My father taught me how to hold a blade and never flinch at blood

We grow gardens inside concrete, plant silence, water code

Every debt is a story; every story is owed

(yeah) giri, on — the words taste like metal when you say them at dawn

(uh-huh) kobun at my back, eyes like moths, waiting for a signal to swarm

(soft) I don't pray, I account — commandments scratched on a blade

(soft) I don't cry, I collect — loyalty is currency paid

Pre-chorus

(choir) Ahhh — ahhhh (ma-ha)

(choir) Raise the hymn in five tones, fold it into one

(choir) Hana of the night, sing (sing) in a gospel run

(choir) Giri and grace — lift them up, let the wind become the drum

Verse

(skrrt — yuh) After the drop the streets speak in staccato, neon-affected rain (watch)

I move like a ledger in motion, numbers violent as trains (yah)

Payment in the alley, palms meet, blood on the sleeve, but we don't show pain

Chains of favors, threaded through clubs and tea houses, secret lanes

I learned to smile with a katana hidden where my rib remembers hunger

I learned to count the breaths before a storm, name the traitor by thunder

(ayy) I cut deals with moons, signatures pressed in sash and smoke

I sell protection in syllables, every promise a choke

My voice is the scale, my silence is weight, my oath is the knife

I keep the family fed in the dark; we barter shame for life

(yeah) I am oyabun's shadow, I am the ledger that never sleeps

I am the hand that signs your name when your last secret weeps

Geisha at the window like a lost poem, lacquered, patient, cold

She bows to the room, hides a razor smile — petals on a hold

(ha) Beauty is a weapon that remembers how to kill quietly

(ha) Beauty is a language that keeps a man from telling the whole story

I make a map of loyalties, draw borders in cigarette ash

Every border a promise, every promise a match

(ah) Watc