Seimei closes the cigar case. "I am making a Japanese Tarot deck," he says. "It is styled after the Tarot of Marseilles, but with iconography drawn from our history, literature, and art."

He does not feel the need to justify this: after all, there are multiple variants on the Tarot deck. Seimei's is just one more.

"I am having difficulty with one particular card," he says, holding the brass cigar case out to Tower.