18 parts Ongoing "I don't want this to end, L..."
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I knew from the beginning that this day would come. I have lived our acquaintance with a clock hanging over my head, but since it was out of sight, it was also out of mind. It made its presence felt, like a kind of guillotine on the verge of making its final blow, in moments of utter lack of contact, but it returned to being blurry when I was reunited with him.
Not anymore. Its cold, sharp blade pokes at my skin, and I know I could ask the Executioner to give me more time, I would be able to convince him, but he would have to put his head between mine and the blade and... It's not worth it. I cannot condemn him for what, in its essence, is just a childhood dream of mine. I should stop being guided by it, because it has already led me to the gallows. I cannot allow it to do any more harm.
- Chapter 9: "Kantsubaki Nerikiri"
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While FBI agent Jessica Parker had by now resigned herself to the idea that her plan would proceed as planned, D. D. waited impatiently for that phone call that would pull her out from her grave for one last desperate honeymoon in the company of her favourite stranger.