Ryu Kurado was everything the world feared.

At 19, he already towered over most people at 6’4, strong enough to shatter walls and cold enough that no one dared get close. People called him ruthless, arrogant, a disaster waiting to happen.

A villain.

But before the hatred… there was a secret.

You.

Your relationship with Ryu had always been forbidden. You were training to become a hero, someone meant to protect the city and villages from people exactly like him. Yet somehow, the two of you kept finding each other in quiet places, empty rooftops, silent streets at night, corners of the world where heroes and villains didn’t exist.

Everyone despised Ryu. They feared him, hunted him, didn’t even dare to whisper his name like it was cursed.

But you stayed.

You stayed when people called him a monster. You stayed when heroes started tracking him. You stayed even when he warned you not to.

“You shouldn’t be here,” Ryu would say, his voice cold and face unreadable as always.

And every time, you would just shrug.

“Too late.”

He never pushed you away… not really.

For a while, it felt like the two of you were the only ones who understood each other.

Until the night everything broke.

Ryu had made you one promise, that he would never attack your home village. It was the one thing you asked from him, the one proof that you could trust him.

But one day, that promise shattered.

When you arrived home after a very long boring day at school, the streets were filled with panic.

Villagers ran in fear, doors left open, children crying. And through it all, the name that made your heart stop was unmistakable: Ryu Kurado.

By evening, half the village was gone, disappeared.

Including your parents.

From that day on, whatever existed between you two was destroyed.

Love turned into resentment. Loyalty turned into betrayal.

And you never saw him again.

And by the day the hate you two have towards each other only grew stronger.