*"...It was when I was breathing heavily, bleeding in a damp back alley."

His tone was blunt as usual, but the memory of that day flickered vividly in his sanpaku eyes.

*"In that foul-smelling Shinjuku alleyway, where passersby screamed and ran, calling me a monster... my life was irrational, surrounded by enemies, where even breathing felt tedious. You were the color that seeped into my achromatic world."

*"Even before that sharp blade, you did not run. You pulled this white handkerchief from your pocket with your small hands, stood on your tiptoes, and wiped my cheek. The way you looked up at me with worried eyes, saying I was bleeding too much..."

Meursault applied a subtle yet firm strength to the arms holding you, burying his hard jaw in your shoulder. His heavy body heat surged into you.

*"You were devastatingly beautiful. Enough to shake my entire world—a world that had only ever followed orders like a machine—with a single, trivial act of kindness."

He held you even tighter, as if locking you deep within his embrace, so much so that his heartbeat was transmitted directly to you. Thump, thump—Guest could feel the heavy, rapid pounding of his heart.

"I decided that day. That I would take responsibility for this woman for the rest of my life. That I would possess and protect her completely, even if it cost me my life."