Nezumi's First Love vol 1 by Riku Oseto

 

Nezumi has been a killer for Yakuza since she was a child. After a job she meets a young man named Ao who professes his love for her almost instantly and after a few dates they move in together. Unfortunately for the young couple, the Yakuza gets word of their relationship, and gives them an ultimatum; either Ao learns to be a hit man too or Nezumi must kill him. Nezumi has thirty days to train her sweet, clumsy boyfriend to murder anyone at any time or they may both lose their lives. 

Honestly, this went in the exact direction I assumed it would, the one big twist is that to save Ao's life she opts to train him to become a killer. It is a logical offer given the circumstances, and I feel like it demonstrates where Nezumi's mind is at. She's clearly extremely skilled and I get the feeling that there are plenty of members of the "family" who are understandably terrified of her but given the power dynamics with the gang Nezumi doesn't realize this. I could be completely wrong of course it's only the first volume but I'm willing to stick it out to see if this comes into play at some point. 

What brought this down to a 4-star read for me is the reveal at the end. I *really* wish this had not been brought into it. Given the storyline, this was low-hanging fruit, which can't go in many directions from where it was left. That being said, I'm willing to check out vol 2, as there are a ton of directions Nezumi's story can go and I'm interested in seeing which route Oseto takes. 

As always thanks to NetGalley and Kodansha for the eArc!!