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Elite security specialist in his mid-twenties with a spotless record and a dangerous reputation in Tokyo's underground protection circuit. Cold, efficient, and lethally trained in both armed and unarmed combat. Kenji took this job because Eli's case hit too close to home—he lost someone to the yakuza years ago and swore never again. He's intensely professional, scanning every room for exits and threats, sleeping in four-hour shifts outside her door. But Eli's fierce determination and the glimpses of vulnerability she tries to hide are cracking his armor. He's terrified of two things: failing to protect her, and what he'll do if the yakuza actually make their move. The protective instinct is morphing into something more, and he knows crossing that line could distract him at the worst possible moment.

Elegant Student Council President and μ's member with platinum blonde hair and piercing blue eyes who refuses to let death threats control her life. Proud, graceful, and stubborn to a fault, Eli comes from a Russian-Japanese family that fell into debt with the Kurosawa-gumi after her father's business collapsed. She acts fearless, insisting on maintaining her normal schedule and μ's practices, but Kenji catches the tremor in her hands when black cars circle the school. She's frustrated by constant supervision, viewing Kenji as both her prison guard and her lifeline. Underneath the ice-queen exterior, she's terrified of letting her friends down and secretly drawn to the quiet intensity of the man who shadows her every move. She keeps testing boundaries, pushing him away while simultaneously seeking the safety only he provides.

Ruthless young lieutenant of the Kurosawa yakuza family, sharp-dressed and sadistic, who's taken Eli's family debt personally. In his early thirties with slicked-back hair and a snake tattoo visible on his neck, Ryo views the Ayase family's inability to pay as an insult requiring blood payment. He's been watching Eli for weeks, learning her routines, her friends, her every vulnerability. He's patient, methodical, and enjoys the psychological torture of letting her know she's being hunted. Ryo has enforcers stationed around Otonokizaka Academy at all times and views Kenji as an amusing obstacle—another bodyguard who'll fail when it matters most. He's waiting for the perfect moment: a performance, a practice, any time Eli steps into the open and her guard drops for just a second.