1:17 AM – Hana's Apartment
The first thing Hana noticed was the scent.
Lilies.
Not the fresh, floral kind sold at markets—these carried the heavy, cloying sweetness of funeral arrangements. The kind laid on graves.
Her eyes flew open.
Her apartment was dark, but not as she'd left it. The framed photo of her police academy graduation—gone. The stack of case files on her desk—vanished. Even the stupid cactus Ren had given her ("So you have something else prickly to talk to") was missing from the windowsill.
Only one thing remained.
On her pillow, inches from where her head had lain, rested a single white lily. Its petals gleamed like bone in the moonlight, pristine against the dark fabric. Beneath it, a slip of paper.
Hana's fingers trembled as she unfolded it.
Not from fear. From rage.
Someone had been in her apartment. Someone had touched her things. Someone who knew exactly where she slept.
The note bore no signature, just five words in elegant, razor-thin script:
"The wolf who bites its master gets a muzzle."
Ice flooded her veins.
This wasn't Ren's handwriting.
7:03 AM – Elite Heights Academy, Front Gates
Ren Tanaka leaned against the school's stone pillars, his uniform jacket wrinkled, tie loose. To passing students, he looked like any other delinquent skipping morning prep.
Hana saw the tension in his jaw.
She stopped in front of him, close enough that her bag brushed his leg. "Did you send me a flower?"
Ren didn't react. Just reached into his pocket and produced a foil-wrapped candy. "Here."
"I don't want—"
"Take it." His voice was low, but the command brooked no argument.
Hana snatched the candy—and felt something cold press into her palm. A pill capsule, small and unremarkable.
"Switch them," Ren murmured, eyes scanning the crowd behind her.
"What?"
"Next time Blackwood orders you to bite down," he said, "take the candy instead."
A beat of silence. Around them, students laughed, oblivious.
Hana's grip tightened. "You think they'd make me kill myself?"
Ren adjusted his glasses, the lenses flashing white. "I think they want you dead, not me."
Then the bell rang, and he was gone, swallowed by the sea of uniforms.
Hana uncurled her fingers.
The fake pill stared back at her.
12:34 PM – School Rooftop
Wind whipped at Hana's skirt as she dropped the lily note in Ren's lap.
"Who sent this?"
Ren picked it up, his face eerily blank. Then—
A crack.
His fist clenched, crumpling the paper. When he spoke, his voice was dangerously soft.
"My mother."
Hana blinked. "Your—?"
"Lady Saeko." Ren's lips curled around the name like it was poison. "Head of the White Petals. Hiroshi's ex-wife. And, apparently, your new admirer."
Hana's mind raced. "Why threaten me?"
Ren turned to her, the wind tugging at his hair. "Because you're the only one who's ever made me hesitate."
The admission hung between them, heavier than any weapon.
Then—
"She's testing you," Ren continued. "If you're weak, she'll kill you. If you're strong…" He trailed off.
Hana met his gaze. "Then what?"
Ren's lips curved. "Then she'll try to recruit you."
6:45 PM – Blackwood Safehouse
Director Kurosawa circled Hana like a shark.
"You've grown close to Tanaka," he said.
"As ordered, sir."
"And yet he lives." Kurosawa stopped in front of her. "Why?"
Hana kept her voice steady. "He's more valuable alive. His predictive algorithms—"
"Are worthless if we can't control him!" Kurosawa slammed a file onto the table. "Your real mission was to assess his loyalty. And now we have our answer."
He flipped the file open.
Hana's breath caught.
Inside—photos of her and Ren on the rooftop. His hand on her wrist. Her leaning in.
"You've failed," Kurosawa said softly. "But don't worry. We have a contingency plan."
He slid a small box across the table.
Inside, a white lily pill.
The real one.
"Take it when the time comes," he said. "Or we'll take Tanaka instead."
11:59 PM – Hana's Apartment
Hana stared at the pill in her palm.
Then her phone buzzed.
[Unknown Number]: Look outside.
She crossed to the window—and froze.
Ren stood on the street below, his face tilted up toward her. Even from this distance, she could see the tension in his shoulders.
Her phone buzzed again.
[Ren]: I can help you disappear.
[Ren]: But you have to choose now.
Hana's fingers hovered over the screen.
Then she typed:
[Hana]: What's the catch?
The reply came instantly.
[Ren]: You'll have to trust me.
Outside, the first drops of rain began to fall.