Halfway through the fight onstage, sand rolled up from the edge, climbed past the second tier, and held there without dispersing.
A white curtain stood at the stage entrance, rising far above the platform.
From the stands, all anyone could see of what happened behind it was a layer of floating sand.
Dust hovered over the curtain's top, falling slowly, then scattering halfway down.
The back rows stood first, one person bringing an entire row to its feet, and the whole section retreated three steps.
The people in front surged forward after them. Kiyoshi stayed in his section, his back pressed against the base of the wall.
Someone stepped on his foot, the sole scraping across it before grinding forward another fraction.
The wall was cold through his clothes, weighing against his back.
The curtain swallowed most of the patch of sky above the stage entrance.
A white light shone through it, flashed once, and vanished.
When he looked at the stage again, Sasuke's shoulders tightened an inch, then settled.
He stopped watching the stage and looked at the exit instead.
The cloth curtain across the passage entrance had not moved again even now.
The gaps on either side of the stands were completely blocked by people.
Two stagehands had originally been stationed beside the gap. Now everyone was packed so tightly together that he could no longer tell who was on duty.
A seat marker lay against the base of the wall. The wind lifted one corner, then let it fall.
He was too practiced at knowing his way around, practiced to the point of nausea.
Which door led where, which corner had a guard-he could walk it all with his eyes closed.
Someone beside him stood on tiptoe to peer ahead, murmuring the names of the two fighters