After Towa inherits her parent’s fortune at the young age of 15, a bounty of several million dollars is placed on her head. Will she be able to outmaneuver her scornful family and everyone who is out for the cash prize? Luckily she’s not totally alone, as she has a rather powerful ally on her side—when he’s not also trying to claim her life, that is.
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Genre & Tropes
Info about this series (ongoing)
This series is complete with two volumes, or nine chapters, in Japanese. There is currently no English translation.
TL;DR
This is a manga series full of action, terrifying situations, and a powerless female lead with a lot of courage. Her dynamic with the hitman constantly shifts between terrifying and entertaining.
What’s this series about?
15 year old Towa is the only daughter of two incredibly wealthy parents. Their family owns one of the largest businesses in all of Japan. So large, that were they to sell that business one day, they could buy several small islands and still have some money left over. After the unexpected passing of both her parents, ownership of the company and all assets fall into the hands of young Towa. Something that her remaining family isn’t happy about.
Thankfully, her parents were aware of the dangers that come with such a fortune, so they advised her on what to do were something to happen to them: put on a mask, go to a very specific apartment complex, tell the employees that you are the notorious hitman “skull”, and take refuge. That’s exactly what she does, and somehow, it works. It’s unclear exactly how her parents knew this information, but there exists an apartment complex known for being a safe haven for criminals and villains. While inside the grounds, anyone who attempts to harm or harass another will be instantly killed. So, by pretending to be a notorious hitman, Towa would, in theory, be safe while taking refuge there.
This safety only lasts so long unfortunately, as when she finally enters her apartment and takes off her “skull” costume, the real skull is already there waiting for her. He’s rather eccentric for someone who kills other people for a living, and he finds it absolutely hilarious that Towa had the guts to pretend to be him. So, while he was indeed hired to murder her, he finds her to be just entertaining enough to let live for a little while longer.
Will Towa be able to outmaneuver the hitman who is famous in the underworld for his god-like abilities?
My thoughts on this volume (slight spoilers!)
This was a somewhat blind buy for me, as I fell in love with the character designs and synopsys I read while browsing on Surugaya. I didn’t even feel the need to read the first chapter first like I normally do, it just went straight into my cart.
It has just about everything I enjoy in a non-fluffy romance series—a dangerous, crazy ML (but never so crazy that he maliciously abuses the FL), a FL who understands she needs to stand up for herself should she want to survive in a harsh world, betrayals, action, dark comedy, and so much more.
Thanks to the nature of this story, I genuinely never had any idea where it was going to go. One chapter we have Skull telling Towa the only way he can truly protect her is by the two of them getting married, and the next chapter he wakes her up by almost strangling her—to be fair, he was very hungry. I love this type of storytelling, as I tend to get bored when I can easily guess what is going to happen next.
I would like to point out here that while this volume is full of violence, Skull never actually harms Towa. While they get into situations where he almost harms her quite often, it’s clear that he feels affectionate enough toward her that he hesitates to hurt her. He even goes as far as actively protecting her, so I was able to easily forgive some of his more outlandish behaviours.
In a world where Towa genuinely has no one left that she can depend on, there were endless opportunities for her to crack under pressure. I won’t say any big spoilers here, but many of the events in this volume would be enough to break just about anyone, let alone a 15 year old girl who just lost her parents. So, her being able to make the choice that she’d rather live even if it meant losing her entire fortune, makes her one of the most emotionally strong protagonists I’ve seen in a long time.
She really needs this strength, because again, and I can’t stress this enough, she goes through a lot of craziness in this volume. I’ll never bash on a character for succumbing to pressure, but I would be horrified to see what would happen to Towa should she decide this is all too much for her. There is not a single place in the city she can go without the constant threat of being murdered or at the very least kidnapped. Even if she were to just stay in her apartment for the rest of her life, she quite literally lives in a building full of criminals. What happens if they were to find out she lied about being skull?
As this is a two volume series, I’ll be able to see how the entire story plays out rather quickly, but I would be lying if I said I didn’t have any hopes for how it goes. Above all, I hope that Towa is able to keep both her life and her fortune. It would be extra satisfying to see the rest of her family go to jail—not get murdered, not get injured, but actually have to suffer for their crimes—at the very least, I would be satisfied with a happy Towa.
My favourite parts of this volume (spoilers!!)
🩷 Towa hitting that lying intruder in the head with a frying pan!! I absolutely did not see that coming, but was so happy it did.
💛 Skull basically playing hide-and-seek with a terrified Towa throughout the apartment grounds.
💚 Towa and the two hitmen all cooking together in her apartment. Like, nothing weird at all about having a man who was just (and still is?) trying to kill you teach you how to cook. Nothing weird in the slightest.
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