BACK AT TAKEDA'S PENTHOUSE.Ren sat at the kitchen island, watching Takeda expertly sear a cut of high-grade steak on the stove."You really know your way around a kitchen," Ren offered, hoping to break the quiet and coax a conversation out of him.Takeda didn't answer right away. Instead, he smoothly flipped the steak in the iron skillet, the sharp sizzle and rich, savory aroma filling the pristine, modern kitchen."Ren," Takeda began without turning around, "there's something you need to understand about the ZZE."Ren nodded immediately, listening with total focus. Honestly, even a stern warning was better than the heavy silence."In the ZZE," Takeda said, gripping the handle of the spatula with white-knuckled intensity, "no one is coming to save you.""Right..." Ren blinked, trying to gauge the man's angle. "Isn't that the whole point of a tournament?""I don't mean the rules of the competition. I mean literally—no one comes to save you," Takeda repeated, his tone dropping into a g