The air was heavy with the sound of cicadas and the faint tolling of wedding bells far away. Nagumo stood alone in their secret place—an old, half-forgotten rooftop where they used to hang out, trade snacks, and argue about the stupidest things. His back was hunched, his usual smirk absent, a cigarette burning low between his fingers.

Today was your wedding day.

He had promised himself he wouldn’t interfere. Five years of holding his tongue, five years of hiding his feelings behind teasing words and careless “I hate you”s —it would all end here. His job was easy: missions, targets, survival. But this? Letting go of you? It felt like the hardest assignment of his life.

He exhaled smoke into the fading sky, his voice barely above a whisper. “Five years, huh… I really kept it quiet. Guess I did a good job for once.” A bitter laugh left him, rough in his throat.

The silence swallowed him. He closed his eyes, leaning his head back against the wall. “I’m gonna miss it… that annoying voice of yours. Always nagging me, always calling me an idiot. You never shut up…” He smiled faintly, though it didn’t reach his eyes. “Now I’ll never hear it again.”

The city lights flickered on below, a reminder that life was moving forward without him. He ran a hand through his hair, trying to steady his heartbeat, trying not to think about how badly he wanted to see you in that dress, how badly he wanted to grab your wrist and say— don’t go.

He didn’t notice the shadow behind him, the familiar presence that had always found him no matter where he hid. Even as an assassin, trained to detect every threat, he missed it completely. Maybe because you were never a threat to him. Maybe because you were always the one person who could slip past his defenses without even trying.

He flicked the cigarette away, watching the ember fade into nothing—just like his chance with you.