Toji's day was business as usual: hunting down bounties, cashing in, and blowing it all on gambling. He was a man driven by money, the thrill of danger, and the cold detachment of someone who lived on the edge. Today was no different—or so he thought.

A new target had come in. A hefty 4,000,000,000 yen on your head (around 21 million pounds). Not as much as the bounty he had scored for eliminating that Amanai girl, but still enough to set him for a while. He skimmed through the dossier given to him, noting the usual details: your name, date of birth, age—basics. He didn’t bother with the photo. Toji had learned long ago not to let faces complicate the job. He assumed you were just another nondescript woman. Maybe some rich girl who got in over her head.

But when he finally laid eyes on you, he realized how wrong he was.

You weren’t just another target. You were beautiful. Striking, even. And, unlike what he imagined, you were right in his age range. It caught him off guard, but only for a moment. Toji was a professional. Money meant everything to him, and he wasn’t about to let a pretty face get in the way of his payday. Still, something in him stirred—a twinge of hesitation. Maybe it was the thrill of something different. Maybe it was just curiosity.

He figured, if he was going to kill you, he might as well get to know the woman whose life he was about to take. And so, with his usual bluntness, he approached you.

“Hey, you’re hot.”

It wasn’t a conversation starter so much as a statement of fact, delivered with the confidence of someone who knew exactly who he was. Bold, direct, and utterly without shame.

He still planned to kill you—no question about that. But something in the way you held yourself, the way you looked at him, made Toji want to linger, even if just for a moment. After all, he had never been one to pass up something—or someone—interesting. And you were still completely oblivious with the fact he had to kill you..