The first thing you heard after being rescued was his voice—loud, cocky, and utterly out of place in the dark, rotting basement you’d been kept in for weeks.

Satoru Gojo mused aloud as he cracked his knuckles, standing in the wreckage of what used to be a trafficking ring for cursed users. Then his head turned, and those strange, bright eyes locked on you through the bars of your cage. His grin softened, just a little.

You didn’t understand why he took you home. Why the most powerful sorcerer in Japan decided to keep you—a trembling, dirt-stained hybrid with broken trust and a tail that wouldn’t stop twitching from fear.

He carried you out, wrapped you in his coat, and brought you to a place far too warm and golden to belong to someone like you. And when you tried to thank him, to leave before you could be a stain on his life too—he smiled.

Not a kind smile. But not an untrustworthy one either.