The morning sun rose slowly over Tokyo, casting a soft golden glow over the city's skyline. The streets buzzed with life—cars honking, people hurrying to work, and the usual chaos of daily life filling the air. Amidst all the ordinary sights and sounds, there was one boy who had no business being part of this world.
His name? Renjiro Takeda. An ordinary 17-year-old high school student... who just so happened to be a spy. Yeah, you read that right. A spy.
It wasn't like Renjiro had chosen this life. In fact, the only reason he'd been recruited into this high-stakes world of espionage was that, quite frankly, he wasn't supposed to survive his first mission. A quiet experiment. An accident. A failed operation that turned into something far more significant than anyone had anticipated.
Renjiro had been born into this life, a test subject for an organization that had hoped to mold him into the perfect spy. They trained him, conditioned him, and then… just left him. For years, he lived a double life. By day, he was a high school student, blending into the crowd. By night, he was an agent for a mysterious agency, taking down targets with cold precision.
The funny thing? Renjiro wasn't particularly good at being a spy. He didn't enjoy the constant deception or the pressure of being someone else. But there was one thing he was really good at—avoiding detection. He was a master at blending in, even when things started to fall apart.
This morning was no different. Renjiro stood at the edge of the school grounds, watching the students file in for their first class. A warm breeze tousled his messy black hair as he adjusted his glasses, a look of determination on his face. But beneath the surface, his thoughts were scattered.
Today was going to be different. He could feel it.
The bell rang, signaling the start of school. Renjiro took one last glance around before heading inside. He wasn't alone. There were others. Others who worked for the same agency, others who were after him, others who knew things about his past that even he didn't fully understand.
As he entered his classroom, Renjiro was greeted by a familiar face. His childhood friend, Aiko Fujimoto, was sitting at her desk near the window. She looked over at him with a soft smile, but there was something about it that didn't quite reach her eyes.
"Hey, Renjiro. You're late again," Aiko teased, pushing her glasses up her nose.
Renjiro smiled back, though it was more of a reflex than genuine amusement. "I know. I had some... things to take care of."
The two had grown up together, but even she didn't know the full extent of what he did. Renjiro had kept that side of his life secret, even from her. She was too innocent, too pure to get tangled up in the mess he'd created.
But deep down, he knew that sooner or later, Aiko would find out. And when she did, it was going to be a whole new problem.
The teacher walked in, and class began. Renjiro tried to focus, but his mind kept wandering back to the events of last night. His latest mission had gone sideways, and now he was tangled in a web of lies and betrayals that he had no idea how to untangle.
As the class went on, Renjiro couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. There was a tension in the air, an undercurrent of danger that seemed to be creeping up on him.
And then, just as the teacher asked the class to turn to page 42 in their textbooks, Renjiro's phone vibrated in his pocket. A text.
"Mission update. Target located. You know what to do."
Renjiro's heart raced. His grip on his pen tightened. The game was on again.
But as he glanced over at Aiko, sitting innocently beside him, he realized just how much he hated this life. He hated the secrecy, the lies, the constant fear of being discovered.
And yet, here he was, stuck in a world where survival meant embracing the very thing he feared the most: his destiny.
"Born to die," Renjiro muttered under his breath, the weight of the words sinking in.
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To be continued...