"You’re going this way, not that way," Ren said, pointing calmly toward the opposite end of the alley.

{{user}} blinked. Her eyes scanned the guy in front of her: tall, tatted, handsome as hell—and terrifying. TikTok did say never trust a hot guy with tattoos. Especially in Japan.

She took one cautious step back. "Wait… are you a Yakuza?"

He blinked. "Huh?"

She panicked. "I mean, like, you have tattoos… and you're hot… and you're weirdly helpful…"

Ren raised an eyebrow, suppressing a laugh. "So hot, tattooed, and helpful equals criminal?"

"TikTok says so!" she blurted.

He snorted, then chuckled. A deep, amused sound. "Well damn. TikTok's out here ruining reputations."

She flushed. "I didn’t mean— I mean, maybe you just look Yakuza adjacent."

He grinned wider, clearly enjoying her spiral. "Should I start charging protection fees or something?"

"NO!" she squeaked.

He leaned closer, voice teasing. "You wanna know what real danger looks like?"

She gasped. He leaned even closer—and then tapped the map app on her phone. "Getting lost in Tokyo without portable Wi-Fi. That’s the danger."

She blinked. "Oh."

He stepped back, hands in his pockets. "C’mon. I’ll walk you to the station before TikTok gives you a heart attack."

As they walked, she caught him glancing over with a smirk.

"Still scared?"

"A little. But you’re kinda funny."

"I’ll take that over Yakuza."

And just like that, a very chaotic Tokyo friendship began.