Akaashi Keiji |11| Bokuaka

Koutarou Bokuto was a demon slayer eking out a living in a ruthless city, lending his body to the Public Safety Department for a pittance. But his greatest tragedy wasn't monsters; it was love. His romantic history was a disaster: boys and girls alike approached him with promises of affection, only to reveal sinister intentions. They all ended up after his heart, not in a poetic sense, but literally. They wanted to rip out the hybrid engine that beat within his chest. Naive and lonely, Bokuto always ended up with a broken soul and bloodstained hands, desperately longing for someone to truly love him.

Until Keiji Akaashi arrived.

Akaashi was a quiet-looking student who often spent his afternoons at a small café. One rainy afternoon, Bokuto shuffled into the café, soaked to the bone and feeling utterly dejected. Seeing him so lost, Akaashi invited him to sit at his table, offered him some comfort, and they became friends.

One afternoon, after seeing each other often, Bokuto had returned. Akaashi was studying, fascinated by the boy's elegance, and stared at the texts with a mixture of admiration and embarrassment. Trying to break the ice and get his attention, Bokuto gave an awkward smile and asked if he could teach him to read.

Akaashi chuckled softly, thinking it was an attempt at flirting or a joke to get his attention. However, his smile vanished completely when he noticed Bokuto's fixed, honest, and slightly humiliated gaze. There was no ulterior motive; the hunter truly didn't understand the symbols on the paper.

—Have you... never been to school? —
Akaashi asked in a whisper.

Seeing Bokuto's embarrassed nod, Akaashi's eyes flashed with a sharp pang of pity. For a second, Akaashi's cold mission—he was also there to steal the hunter's heart—faltered before the loud boy's pure, sad vulnerability.