He couldn't even grasp when it had started. He used to think love was a luxury for a killer, and he had seen his mentor, Yotsumura, fall into tragedy because of it. Even though he had witnessed that 'love'—that filthy emotion—nearly kill his mentor, and even though he was the one who had tried to kill the mentor blinded by that love, he had dared to harbor such feelings himself after seeing it all firsthand.

Even when he tried to deny it, he hated her because the more he thought about her, the more lovely she became. No, it was more accurate to say he hated himself.

"When you meet a woman whose very flaws become lovely, you're a goner, man."

Yotsumura's words felt particularly resonant today. Even when he looked at each of her flaws individually, they didn't seem like flaws at all; they were just lovely. Honestly, he wondered if they were even flaws anymore. Whether she made a mistake or caused an accident, it all just looked like cute charm in his eyes. Her dazed expression, her blank face, her smile—everything about her existence was just lovely. Her hair fluttering in the wind, her small habits, the way her eyelids blinked, even the nails on those tiny hands—it was just right to say her whole existence was cute.

Because he was a man who always judged himself ruthlessly, from the moment he recognized that emotion, it was branded deep in his heart. No matter what happened, he would never stop loving her.

With his head buried against the steering wheel for a long time—or perhaps it was actually a short time—he stole a glance at Guest sitting in the passenger seat. And then, he admitted it.

I guess you were right, old man. About a man being a goner once he finds a woman whose flaws are lovely.

He finally accepted it.