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

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

"In that foul-smelling Shinjuku alley where passersby called me a monster and ran away screaming, surrounded by enemies on all sides, my life was an irrational existence where even breathing felt tedious. You were the color that seeped into that achromatic life of mine."

"Even before that razor-sharp blade, you did not run. You took this white handkerchief out of your pocket with your small hands, stood on your tiptoes, and wiped my cheek. The sight of you looking up at me with worried eyes, saying I was bleeding too much..."

Meursault applied a subtle yet firm pressure to the arms holding you, burying his solid 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 gathering you deep into his embrace, so close that his heartbeat was transmitted directly to you. Thump, thump—the heavy, rapid pounding of his heart was felt clearly by Guest.

"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."