By the time Kairi's group returned to their safehouse, the night was dead silent. The tempestuous trip to the South Side casino had drained all three of them, leaving exhausted expressions on every face. After a brief discussion, they agreed to postpone decrypting and analyzing the flash drive's data until the next morning. Wearily, everyone retreated to their rooms to rest.
Yet in the middle of the night, as Yume walked down the hallway toward the bathroom, she suddenly froze. The living room door was still slightly ajar. Through the narrow gap, the grayish-blue light from a monitor flickered continuously in the dark.
Curious, Yume gently pushed the door open to peer inside. At the table in the center of the room, Kairi was still awake. The screen glow illuminated his intensely focused face as his ten fingers clacked relentlessly across the keyboard.
Seeing this, Yume quietly turned toward the kitchen. A moment later, she emerged holding a steaming cup of coffee.
Kairi was glued to the lines of code scrolling down his screen when the corner of his eye caught a shadow cast on the wall. He whipped his head around in startle, letting out a soft breath of relief upon realizing it was Yume. After a flash of surprise, he quickly turned his gaze back to his unfinished work.
"Why are you still awake at this hour?" Yume placed the coffee cup down beside his computer, asking softly. "Can't it wait until tomorrow?"
Without tearing his eyes from the screen, Kairi kept typing commands: "I'm trying to hack into this flash drive's security layer. It's an internal security drive capable of self-destructing its data if it detects too many failed logins or hardware tampering—it'll purge the decryption key automatically. Cracking it is extremely difficult and time-consuming. One wrong move, and tonight's efforts are flushed away. So if I want everyone to have something to read by tomorrow morning, I have to start now. Besides..."
Before Kairi could finish his sentence, a sudden wave of drowsiness hit him. He let out a long yawn: "Yaaawn..."
Yume offered a faint smile, pushing the coffee cup forward: "Drink up. Consider this my apology for what happened back in the casino lobby."
"Uh... thanks, I'll take it then."
Kairi took a sip. The moment the liquid glided down his throat, his eyes widened. He turned back to Yume in surprise, raising an eyebrow: "Did you brew this coffee... with grounds left in it?"
Yume paused slightly, answering in embarrassment: "Oh no... force of habit. I used to brew it that way for someone I knew. You don't like it? Should I make you another cup?"
Hearing that, Kairi waved his hand with a chuckle: "Oh no, no, I actually really like it. I was just wondering how you knew about my weird coffee habit. Turns out it's just a coincidence."
Yume nodded and turned toward the door. Before returning to her room, she looked back to remind him: "Don't push yourself too hard. If you don't finish, you can continue tomorrow—we still have plenty of time."
"I know my limits, go ahead and sleep first," Kairi replied, his eyes sinking back into the lines of code.
As the door closed, the space returned to its inherent stillness. Kairi picked up the cup and took another sip, a gentle ripple forming in his thoughts. Did Yume know someone who liked coffee with grounds left in it, just like me? And she used to brew it for them? Must have been someone very close to her, huh?
Shaking his head, he brushed the thought aside. That was her personal matter; it was best not to pry. Kairi rallied his focus, directing every ounce of concentration toward penetrating the final defensive layer of the flash drive.
The next morning, sunlight flooded the living room. Kairi, Yume, and Ginji gathered around the table, faced with the complete array of successfully decrypted documents.
Contrary to their expectations, core valuable documents were scarce. Most were financial reports on money laundering pipelines, proving the South Side casino was merely one of countlessly scattered tentacles of the Mikage Corporation. However, Yume quickly filtered out a series of extremely suspicious internal records.
Instead of simply displaying them on screen, Yume pulled a large corkboard out from the corner of the room. She tossed a freshly printed stack of documents, a box of pushpins, and a spool of red thread onto the table.
"Take a look at this series of emergency operational orders, and you'll clearly see the movement of funds."
[OPERATIONAL ORDER #882]
From: General Manager Atsushi
Content: Request disbursement of 1 billion Yen cash within 1 week, transferred to the Management Board of the International Seaport Project.
[OPERATIONAL ORDER #905]
From: General Manager Atsushi
Content: Request disbursement of 1.5 billion Yen cash within 5 days, transferred to the Management Board of the International Seaport Project.
[OPERATIONAL ORDERS #911 & #915]
From: General Manager Atsushi
Content: Inject 1 billion and 2 billion Yen cash respectively into Contingency Fund A to be laundered over time.
[OPERATIONAL ORDER #922]
From: President Takeru
Content: Request immediate disbursement of ALL funds in Contingency Fund A today, transferred to General Manager Atsushi.
[OPERATIONAL ORDER #928]
From: Office of the President (Interim Representative)
Content: The President has been hospitalized in critical condition/coma, unable to sign authorization orders. Suspend all non-essential expenditures. Demand the Casino immediately sweep all cash from Contingency Funds B and C back to Headquarters to inject into the International Seaport Project. All financial alliance networks have REJECTED requests for emergency loans.
[OPERATIONAL ORDER #930]
From: Mikage Corporation Board of Directors
Content: Emergency order. Revoke all privileges and lock access to underground cash flow systems from Mr. Atsushi and the Office of the President. Adjusted Seaport financial reports have leaked. Board officially dismisses Mr. Atsushi from his position. Shift all contingency funds to defensive stance; prioritize buying back bonds as the Shiraishi Investment Fund is aggressively buying up all corporate bad debts in the market.
[OPERATIONAL ORDER #935 - RED ALERT]
From: Legal & External Affairs Department
Content: Immediately cancel monthly "diplomatic" funds to Vice Minister Suzuki. Mr. Suzuki has refused funds, severed communication lines, and officially signed an indefinite SUSPENSION order for the International Seaport Project due to suspected financial fraud. Other political contacts are unreachable.
[OPERATIONAL ORDER #936 - RED ALERT]
From: Board of Directors
Content: Find ways to launder or destroy all remaining dirty money; immediately withdraw all contingency funds back to Headquarters.
Yume pulled out a pushpin, thrusting it firmly into the center of the board along with a rendering photo of the International Seaport Project. Next, she pinned General Manager Atsushi's photo above it, running a red thread directly from him down to the project.
"In the first two withdrawal orders, #882 and #905, Atsushi requested consecutive disbursements totaling 2.5 billion Yen in cash for the Seaport Management Board. The project's funding was clearly facing severe issues, requiring desperate capital. Something definitely went wrong on the investors' side." She pinned the two order sheets next to the Seaport photo.
"But immediately after that," Yume pinned orders #911 and #915 to the right edge of the board. She pulled a strand of red thread from Atsushi, pulling it taut and pinning it directly to an empty space without a photo. "A total of 3 billion Yen in cash was injected back into Contingency Fund A by Atsushi to be laundered over time. Where he got such a massive sum to fill the previous void is unknown. It's very likely he found a hidden investment fund that stepped in to bail him out."
"And here comes the real issue," Kairi tapped his fingers on the tabletop, his eyes following Yume's thread. "In Order #922, the one issuing the command wasn't Atsushi, but President Takeru himself demanding the urgent disbursement of the entire Contingency Fund A. Something disastrous must have struck the seaport project, forcing the President to step in personally and clean up his son's mess."
Yume nodded. She took President Takeru's portrait and pinned it right over Atsushi's photo. Crossing a new strand of thread, she wound it tightly over Atsushi's old thread—a visual gesture of stripped authority.
"And coincidentally," Yume dragged her finger along the spool of thread, her tone turning cold, "right after that, the President suddenly fell ill and was hospitalized in a coma. The Office of the President—falling back into Atsushi's hands—issued Order #928, frantically scraping Contingency Funds B and C clean to pump into the project after financial alliance networks refused high-interest emergency loans." She pinned order after order, weaving a tangled web of red thread flowing from contingency funds toward the Seaport photo.
"However, once the President lost control, the Board immediately issued Order #930 to strip Atsushi of his post." Yume drew a bold red line across the General Manager's face with a marker. "And the most telling part is this..."
She pulled out the logo of the Shiraishi Investment Fund and pinned it at the highest corner of the board. From that point, she pulled multiple red threads, pinning them sharply into the freshly printed "bad debt" listings of Mikage Group. "...The Shiraishi Fund has been aggressively snatching up bad debts with incredible speed. They've been preparing for this for a long time."
Yume picked up Order #935 labeled Red Alert. A photo of Vice Minister Suzuki was pinned in an isolated corner of the board. Initially, she connected a thread from Mikage Group to him. But then, Yume reached for a pair of scissors on the table.
Snip.
The red thread was severed in two, dangling onto the table.
"Order #935 reports Vice Minister Suzuki severed communications and indefinitely suspended the Seaport project. His betrayal was a lethal blow. Mind you, Mikage poured immense funds into backing him. Why would he discard his own meal ticket?" Yume drove a final pin onto Vice Minister Suzuki's head, pulling the remaining segment of red thread straight toward the hidden space on the board—where she had drawn a massive question mark.
"There are only two possibilities: either he found a stronger backer, or he's being threatened. The fact that other high-ranking officials turned off their phones simultaneously indicates a systematic betrayal. Leading to the final Order #936, where the Board desperately sought to purge dirty cash and retreat."
By now, the corkboard was crisscrossed with tangled red threads, forming a massive web that suffocated the photo of Mikage Corporation at its center. Every thread, no matter where it originated, ultimately pointed toward that enigmatic Question Mark.
Ginji scratched his head, grimacing at the bright red tangle on the board: "Hold on, hold on. What on earth is this Seaport Project that made both the President and his son cling to it for dear life?"
Kairi crossed his arms, leaning back in his chair to explain: "In recent years, Mikage's market capitalization shrank drastically following the economic bubble burst. The state-tendered International Seaport Project was their final lifeline. If completed, Mikage would control the nation's premier logistics network. They poured endless blood and capital into it."
"Exactly," Yume stepped back, crossing her arms to admire her work. "And Mikage was the primary contractor, receiving funds from the State and foreign investment firms. If capital hit a snag from the start, either Atsushi embezzled and hollowed out the project... but an heir apparent to the entire corporation wouldn't be foolish enough to destroy his own meal ticket like that."
"Then the remaining possibility," Ginji swallowed hard, "is that those foreign firms suddenly vanished into thin air?"
"More accurately," Kairi said with razor-sharp eyes, "from the very beginning, they were shell companies."
Kairi continued: "I just looked into the operational history of those companies. Not a single project on their records is real."
He slid his finger across his phone screen, his gaze turning colder.
"They were created almost exclusively to participate in this single project. But the most suspicious part isn't that they vanished..."
Kairi looked up.
"...it's that they passed the vetting process in the first place."
"This is a national project. A company with no actual capability should never have passed screening. If their credentials were fabricated, someone on the inside definitely helped them clear it."
Ginji asked immediately: "You mean... someone manipulated the entire bidding process?"
Kairi didn't answer right away. He stared intently at the board covered in red thread.
"Not just manipulated."
"Someone arranged everything long before Mikage even realized they were stepping into a trap."
Yume tapped her finger gently on the corkboard, summarizing the entire chessboard: "The shell companies pulled out, creating a massive void. An 'investment fund' stepped in to rescue Atsushi. But immediately after, that fund reneged, pulling out with an enormous sum and forcing President Takeru to cover the hole out of his own pocket. State cash flow stalled. Financial alliances refused aid. The Board ousted leadership. Officials turned their backs. All of this, combined with the Shiraishi Fund acquiring bad debt... fits together with frightening perfection."
Staring at the massive Question Mark linked by countless red threads, Kairi concluded in a heavy tone: "The mastermind behind this is extremely dangerous. They orchestrated a masterstroke scenario, manipulating everyone like pawns on a chessboard and timing every single second to strangle Mikage to death."
"We have two key leads: the Shiraishi Fund and Vice Minister Suzuki," Yume stepped forward, patting her palm against the Vice Minister's photo. "I'll have someone look into Suzuki. Even if he's a high-ranking official, we can surely find a way to get close to him."
Ginji waved his hand in surrender: "Alright, alright, you two handle the discussions. Looking at that tangled mess of red string is making my brain explode—capitalist conspiracies give me a headache."
With that, he reached for the remote and turned on the TV, hoping for some background noise.
The screen lit up, revealing a news anchor with a grave expression:
"Breaking News: Last night, a massive fire gutted the VIP Casino in the southern district of the city. Although firefighters contained the blaze to prevent widespread damage, we regret to report that Mr. Kurosawa, the casino owner, has been confirmed dead after becoming trapped in his office during the fire. Authorities are currently investigating the cause..."
Hearing this, all three held their breath simultaneously, swallowing hard. Their eyes locked in silent understanding: this was 100% the work of the lion-masked man from last night. He was covering his tracks. If Kairi's group had tarried a few minutes longer or had their identities exposed, their fate today might have ended in those very ashes.
As they stood dumbfounded, the TV screen flickered erratically before flashing a bright red header: FLASH NEWS.
"Shocking news this morning: City police have just confirmed that Vice Minister of the Ministry of Planning and Investment, Mr. Suzuki, has died at his workplace. Following an autopsy and security footage review, authorities have tentatively concluded that Mr. Suzuki died from an accidental slip, falling from an 8th-floor corridor to the ground..."
"Ginji! Rewind to the crime scene footage immediately!" Yume stood up abruptly, her voice laced with tension.
Ginji frantically pressed the remote, freezing the frame on the crime scene photo showing the 8th-floor corridor.
"That's impossible," Yume frowned deeply, pointing at the screen. "Look at that safety railing. It's an anti-suicide design—at least 1.3 meters high. How could anyone 'accidentally slip and fall' over that?"
Kairi clacked away rapidly on his phone. A few seconds later, he looked up with a dark expression: "I just checked Vice Minister Suzuki's public medical records. He was barely 1.65 meters tall."
Cold air suddenly gripped the living room. Someone 1.65 meters tall couldn't possibly flip over a 1.3-meter railing out of "carelessness"—unless he took a running leap over it himself... or...
The three looked at one another, speaking four words in unison: "Silencing the witness."
Goosebumps broke out across Ginji's arms. Yume bit her lower lip hard, while Kairi clenched his fists tightly. Only now did they truly feel the chilling breath of the enemy pressing against the back of their necks. The shadow mastermind was not merely brilliant and manipulative—their swiftness in swinging the executioner's blade was far more ruthless than anything they could have imagined. Their fragile lead on Suzuki had been severed right under their noses.