My name is Kana Katsuki. Currently, I am on the run from the people of my clan who want to drag me back.

Why am I running away from my own people?

That’s simple.

Our clan is one with decades of history and we deal with a lot of illegal matters in the shadows. I myself had gone on numerous missions as the heir to my clan. Be it assassination, infiltration, guarding, stealing, I did it all.

But that wasn’t the problem. No, the problem lay elsewhere.

After my birth, my mother died of food poisoning. She was a poison expert, so how was that even possible?

At that time I was still an infant and had no way of knowing.

At the age of 5, my father never returned after going on an infiltration mission. He was an expert at disguises and the head of our clan. So how was that even possible?

I was still helpless at the time.

My grandfather was my only close relative from the members within the main family and took custody of me. We went to train in the wilderness; he taught me all kinds of skills to survive no matter where I may be.

But, as the years passed by, I began to question the cause of my parents’ death. Thus, I went to investigate things.

The 12 year old me was more than capable of taking lives away without blinking an eye. Thinking back, I was a little scary, wasn’t I?

Each time I snuck out and returned, I would always find my grandfather sitting in my room with a grim expression. Each time he would repeat the same words.

“Child, do not look into this matter anymore. The clan has secrets that should never be revealed, even to you, who is the heir.”

I was immature and stubborn. I didn’t take his words to heart and kept investigating, ignoring him each time I returned. Because, as the days passed by and the information I uncovered increased, so did my suspicions.

I began to suspect my fellow clansmen and started listening in on their conversations whenever they held a meeting as I hid in the ceiling. The words I heard them speak almost broke me apart.

My mother was threatened and forced to take in poison. My father who knew of this tried to get rid of the traitors but was also threatened and killed in the end.

Why? Why did they have to kill them?

I couldn’t even remember the faces of my parents, there were no portraits of them either; they were all destroyed by someone.

I was consumed by my own anger and filled with hatred. I began to act rash. I took actions that would label me as a traitor. But, who were the real traitors; I asked myself this question even now.

By the time I turned 14 I had somewhat calmed down, but that was only on the surface.

I could feel people constantly watching me from the shadows, monitoring my each and every move.

At night, I would slip away and disguise myself. I would sneak behind the very people who were supposed to watch me and I would torture them endlessly until I drained every ounce of information I could get out of them. The next day they always found out that another member was missing.

I continued with this routine, until they finally decided to make their move.

It happened when I was 15. I had just returned from another mission when I got called by the elders.

I looked around, but no matter how much I searched, I couldn’t find a trace of my grandfather.

That’s when they told me- or more accurately, they threatened me.

I was told to stop snooping around and quietly obey their commands. Naturally, I refused straight away. That’s when they threw a tablet at me; in it was a recorded video.

On the other side of the screen, my grandfather, although a strict teacher, he still took care of me like a grandfather would. Chained up and bruised all over, two other clansmen were pressing their kunais against his throat.

The elders repeated their words.

But no matter what, my answer remained the same.

It seems like they were prepared no matter what my answer would have been. The next moment, the entire room was filled with my fellow clansmen, all pointing their weapons at me. I still sat there in seiza, my eyes coldly sweeping over them.

The dam blocking all my emotions that I had kept buried within me broke. My killing intent petrifying them as I let out mad laughter. I killed them. Anyone who blocked my path, I cut them down. Guilt was something I didn’t have, something I was taught to discard.

To my grandfather, I apologize. This was just the way you had trained me to be. My life before anyone else’s.

Perhaps he knew something like this would happen, perhaps that’s why he told me never to attach myself to these feelings.

I fled. Covered in the blood of my own clansmen. They want to make me their puppet, I refused. Just like my parents, they decided to get rid of me. Unlike them, I chose to run than to rather die. That was just how I was trained to be. I was a failure of a human who didn’t know the meaning of life.

That’s when we met.

He was just a college student who led a normal life. We were two completely different people from completely different worlds.

Without even an ounce of suspicion, he brought the half conscious me who had been seriously injured into his apartment and treated my wounds. I didn’t have a clear memory of what happened afterwards, but when I woke, up I found myself in an unfamiliar room all bandaged up.

It was done really sloppy.

As if it was normal, he began to introduce himself as he handed me a cup of coffee.

I thought to myself; was he another one of their pursuers or just a genuine blockhead. I really couldn’t decide. But there wasn’t anything weird in the coffee, so I acted according to the situation.

He never asked me who I really was or how I got injured. He never held any suspicion against me.

After that, I don’t know what happened, but 7 years passed by peacefully. The person I once was, was but a phantom of the past. He taught me the value of human life, the joy in living and the meaning of love.

Without my knowing, the façade I had kept up all those years was no longer a simple act, but a new me. Emotions I was never capable of feeling, a life I never would have known was possible; it felt so unreal.

I eventually found a job and helped with the design of a game that he was looking forward to. My boss, Isui, was an old friend of his, so we were one of the few people who got the firs copy.

I was living a life without worry.

To the point where I almost forgot who I really was.

Even after all these years, I was still naïve.

Did I seriously think that THEY had given up on me?

The first rule within the clan; any traitors, no matter who they are, are to be killed without fail.

They were toying with me.

They wanted to see me suffer.

So, that’s why they let me life till now.

This peaceful dream-like-life came to an end.

All after I received his call.

I heard his voice

That familiar voice of the person who I fell in love with

The one I still love even now

His voice was different

It had almost no strength

I heard him speak…his final words

My mind went blank

My body moved on its own

The next thing I knew, I stood behind our apartment. There, I saw his body lying on the ground, in a pool of his own blood.

I didn’t even sense anyone. When I heard the gunshot, it was already too late-

*Bang!