"They lurk in the shadows and are seen in the daylight. Nothing can stop them, and they never will stop pursuing. You cannot outrun them, and you cannot hide. They smell the fear withering inside. We raise our guns, our swords, and fists. We fight for survival, but it's an endless list. We swallow our fear residing within, and we push forward, even if we are unfit."
Iseya wakes with amnesia. Her core memories of the world were wiped out. And if that's not bad enough, an AI names ARY replays instructions of this "new world" without telling her what's wrong with the world.
She needs to train for something. Weapons are handed to her, one on one combat, and guns are pushed to her chest. But she doesn't know why and is too afraid to ask. Her fear of leaving this safe and secure place overrides telling anyone she has no memories.
Therefore, she trains under the watchful eye of her Team Leader.
Will Iseya survive her first encounter outside? Or will she die not knowing anything about her, the voices in her head, or how this world came to be?
✎ "I could've killed you that night and I didn't. I had my gun to your head ready to drain the life from you, but I didn't." His eyes averted mine, and I saw an opening in them, something I wouldn't even have considered looking for if I was still overcome by anger.
"Why didn't you?" I asked, watching him as he began to play with his sleeve cuffs in a way that I knew was unique to him.
"Because I know what it's like to fight for something you love. Killing you would have just made me no different than another monster who lost themselves in the fight."
He continued, "And I saw something in you I haven't seen in myself in a while- fire."
✎ Two unlikely allies ─ a fiery, hot-headed spy and a slick, calculating conman ─ are forced to team up to track down a dangerous criminal and uncover why sensitive information is being leaked. But as their pursuit pulls them deeper into a web of betrayal and deception, they discover that the whistleblower is just the beginning. Hidden in the shadows lies a not-so-human world-and with it, a truth neither of them is prepared to face. Along the way, their undeniable (yet endlessly denied) attraction threatens to ignite, even as the world around them begins to unravel.