Morning light filtered weakly through the dormitory windows when Detective Rio Kanzaki arrived. Michelle met him at the entrance, already awake, already focused.

  “Detective! Thank you for coming.”

  “No problem. Gd I can help.”

  Aya crossed her arms, unimpressed. “The Tokyo police weren’t exactly cooperative.”

  “Sharing intel with a foreign agency and letting it lead the investigation makes them feel incompetent. Hurts their pride.”

  “And yours?” Aya asked.

  “I trust my uncle,” Kanzaki said simply. “And he trusts you. That’s good enough for me.” He gnced around the temporary command setup. “So. Where do we start?”

  “First, we confirm the person in the video is Yuno,” Michelle said. “Then we find her motive. There’s a chance she’s working with someone.”

  “Figured,” Kanzaki said. “But the locals aren’t very talkative. They’re scared. But the signs don’t point to a robbery. More like… a collection..”

  “Mafia?” Maya asked.

  “Could be unreted, but the timing fits. Tokyo has its share of gangs and middle-tier crime lords.” He pulls up a photo on his tablet. “This man—Ryuunosuke Kanda. Nine months ago, his rivals began to vanish. His territory’s been expanding ever since. Legally, we have nothing solid. But he’s got someone new backing him. Someone dangerous. Covers her face most of the time.”

  “Any footage?” Michelle asked.

  “We have some,” Kanzaki said. “But don’t expect much.”

  “We still have video from the day Yuno escaped,” Maya said. “Talia can run a digital comparison. Partial match maybe, but it’s worth trying.”

  “Do it,” Michelle said. “That’s our first step.”

  “Anything else you want me digging into?” Kanzaki asked.

  “Keep your eyes open,” Michelle replied. “We’ll head into Kanda’s district next. See what shakes loose.” She exchanged a gnce with Aya. “Let’s py good cop, bad cop.”

  ***

  The team moves through a narrow shopping arcade. Shuttered stalls, a few old men on benches, the smeared ghosts of a neighborhood that’s trying to stay open. Detective stands at the front of the group, Michelle, Aya, Aiko, and Special Agent Franklin fnking him. They stop in front of a small liquor-and-goods shop. The front is half-rebuilt already, new pster still drying.

  “Looks like they already started repairs,” Franklin muttered. “Not sure we’ll find anything.”

  Michelle stepped forward. “According to the footage, those two marines came from there. Then they went off screen for a moment. Then one flew through the wall. Meaning it had to be… from here. And for a second she appears, holds the other one in the air by his neck and snaps it like a twig. Considering the damage, that earlier punch was probably bare-handed.”

  The shop owner burst out, shouting in Japanese. “Who are you? We are closed! Get out!”

  Detective Kanzaki stepped calmly forward. “Metropolitan Police.”

  “Your people have been here already!” the man snapped. “I have nothing else to say!”

  “Yes, you do,” Kanzaki replied. “The girl. She was collecting for Kanda, wasn’t she?”

  Franklin stepped in. “I’ve got two dead marines back home. I want to know why.”

  “It was a robbery!” the shop owner yelled. “Please, leave!”

  Michelle gnced at Aya. Aya stepped to the shop owner, took off her hood, the combination of her bck skin, white mohawk and mean eyes made her scary. She grabbed him by his colr and lifted him high in the air with one hand. Even Franklin was surprised, but didn′t step in.”

  “I suggest you start talking,” Aiko transted calmly. “She’s not patient.”

  The shop owner's life just fshed before his eyes… “Y-Y-Yes! K-K-Kanda!”

  “Who was the girl?” Michelle asked

  “I don’t know her name!” he sobbed. “They call her White Fox!”

  “And the marines?” Franklin demanded.

  “Wrong pce, wrong time!” the man cried. “They tried to defend me!”

  Michelle nodded. “We have what we need. Let’s make sure they don't die for nothing.”

  Before anyone can move, two crisp voices call out from the side. Two officers step into the light. “Freeze! NPA! Put that man down!”

  “Easy,” Detective Kanzaki said, hands up. “ We’re on the same team. Detective Kanzaki, TMPD.”

  “Special Agent Tobias Franklin, NCIS,” Franklin added, fshing his badge.

  Michelle stepped forward st, chin tilted just enough to assert rank. “Junior Agents Williams, N’Komo, and Tanaka. NSA.”

  “Nice alphabet soup,” Aya muttered under her breath to Aiko.

  The NPA officer bristled. “What are you doing here? This is our investigation.”

  “We’re running a parallel one,” Franklin replied.

  “Anything you find gets reported to us.”

  “Like you reported anything about the two dead Americans?” Franklin shot back coldly.

  Tension tightened, hands hovered near holsters, everybody was shouting, the tension climbed. Then Michelle’s phone rang. She answers without looking. “Yes?”

  On the other end of the line was Talia. “Sis, I ran the facial comparison. Jackpot. It’s definitely Yuno.”

  Michelle cuts the call, meeting the group with steady eyes. “We have what we need. We’re leaving.”

  No one argued. The detective gives a curt nod and the team melts back into the street. The shop owner crumpled with a hand at his throat, the officers watched the retreat like tidal water.

  ***

  The dorm was quiet when they returned tired from the day. Talia sat behind her ptop fortress, multiple windows glowing in the dim light. “You guys look like hell. Anyway, I’ve got something. I ran the facial analysis through the deep pattern matcher. Garbage footage or not — it’s her. Ninety-six percent certainty. Yuno Toyama.”

  “So the White Fox is confirmed," Aya muttered.

  “That girl did this?” Franklin said. “You weren’t kidding about her strength.”

  “There’s something else too,” Talia continued. “I dug through Kanda’s transaction records. He’s smart . Everything’s scrubbed through shell companies, but I found one pattern that stuck out. A signature code hidden in some of their financial encryption. I almost thought it was one of ours for a moment.”

  “One of ours?” Michelle asked.

  “It mimics an old bck market cipher style — deliberately. Somebody knows how to hide their tracks and make it look official. But there’s no trace of the serum data. Whatever Milena erased, it’s gone for good. This is just someone using clever math and stolen ideas to make ghosts.”

  Aya folded her arms. “So Yuno isn’t selling the formu. She’s working for the guy who knows how to make crimes disappear.”

  Detective Kanzaki nodded slowly. “That fits Kanda. Layers of smoke and mirrors.”

  Franklin’s jaw tightened. “Then why would Yuno serve under someone like him?”

  Michelle answered without hesitation. “Maybe she isn’t serving. Maybe she’s using him. Or maybe she finally found someone who treats her like she matters. That’s what makes her dangerous.”

  A short silence follows. The tension in the room feels heavier than the humid Tokyo night outside.

  “All right,” Michelle said quietly. “Tomorrow, we’ll start peeling yers. Kanda’s businesses, contacts and anyone tied to the White Fox nickname. We’ll find her. We bring her back one way or another.”

  “I’ll keep digging into Kanda’s servers overnight,” Talia said

  “Not too deep,” Michelle warned. “I don’t want to expin to Lang why Japan’s financial watchdogs go to red alert.”

  Talia grinned. “No promises.”

  The team disperses. Later that evening Michelle sits alone in her room, ptop screen casting a pale glow across her face. Her eyes widen as the data unfolds.

  “Oh, shit…” she whispered. “Please tell me this isn’t— damn it…”

  She leaned back, rubbing her eyes just as Aya passed by and stopped.

  “Hey… everything okay? You don’t look too good.”

  “Thank god,” Michelle breathed. “I need your advice. Close the door, please.”

  Aya quietly shuts it and pulls a chair. “What’s wrong?”

  Michelle turned the screen toward her. “Take a look at this.”

  Aya leans closer and her expression hardens. “Oh, crap… Does she know?”

  “No… And I don’t know if I should tell her. You all carry so much already — pieces of what the Organisation did to you, even with the memories erased. I don’t know what this might trigger.

  “She’s strong,” Aya said.

  No, she’s silent. There’s a difference. When I read your old mission reports, I saw what happened to Trel in Italy back then..

  Aya frowned. “Don’t remind me. Took a whole strike unit to pin her down. We were this close to getting the elimination order. You think Aiko could break like that?”

  “Not rage… but conflict. If she chooses blood over us, we could end up on opposite sides. I don’t want that.”

  Aya sighed. “Well, nobody could’ve guessed Kanda was her uncle… or that he’s her only living retive.”

  “After her parents died in that turf war, he rebuilt their organisation from scratch.”

  “That’s a rough one. But… I think you should tell her. She’s smart. Colder than most, but smart. She’ll do the right thing. I’d bet on it.”

  Michelle smiled faintly. “Thanks… for the advice. And for being my moral anchor.”

  Michelle smiles softly and hugs her. Aya, caught off guard, hesitates for a second before patting her back.

  A few minutes ter…

  “Aiko, could you come in, please?”

  Aiko enters, quiet, composed as always.

  “Judging by your face,” she said calmly, “this concerns me.”

  “How much do you remember about your life before the Organisation?” Michelle asked.

  “Almost nothing. Why?”

  “Do you know your mother’s maiden name?”

  “No.” Aiko shook her head.

  “It was Kanda,” Michelle said softly.

  Aiko’s eyes widened. The first visible crack in her usually calm face.

  “What?”

  “Ryuunosuke Kanda is your uncle.”

  The silence that followed was absolute. Aiko stands there, the information sinking in like ice water.

  “I understand… But why were you so concerned?”

  “Because he’s your blood,” Michelle said. “And I didn’t know what that might mean to you. I didn’t want to trigger something that—”

  Aiko cut her off, calm but firm. “My blood? What does that even mean? He’s not my family. You are. To me he is a stranger.”

  Michelle blinks. That caught her completely off guard.

  “You’re worried we’ll have to eliminate him?” Aiko continued.

  “That too.”

  “Then so be it. If it means protecting my family — you, all of you, I’ll do it myself.”

  Michelle's voice became shaky.”Aiko, you-”

  “When my parents were killed, he didn’t come for me. He didn’t save me. The Organisation did. And you — you were the ones who gave me a life. You, the girls, you’re my sisters. My true family.”

  Michelle smiled faintly, eyes glistening. “You have no idea how much that means to me.”

  The two stand there for a long moment. The quiet hum of the dorm lights filled the space between them.

  ***Dawn filtered weakly into the makeshift briefing room. A whiteboard leaned at an angle against the wall, district grids sketched in hurried lines. Coffee cups sat untouched. The team gathered with sleep still clinging to them, but the air was sharp with purpose. Detective Kanzaki stood near the board, tablet in hand. Franklin paced, fingers hooked into his jacket, restless energy barely contained.

  “Kanda’s main office is two blocks from the market. We’ve observed his men. He keeps a tight inner circle. Bodyguards, drivers, a few trusted lieutenants. We know where he is at predictable hours. The problem is not locating him. It’s pinning anything on him. He’s legally clean. He runs on influence and fear.”

  Michelle nodded. “Which means we need someone who can get close enough to see what paperwork he signs, who moves money, who can gather intel from within his walls.”

  “An insider,” Franklin said. “That’s a big ask.”

  “We’ve tried wiretaps and surveilnce. Nothing. He’s careful. His guards vet everyone. No one new gets through without an introduction.”

  Silence hangs. Michelle looks around at the team. Then Aiko steps forward, quiet, controlled with the same stillness she wears like armor. “I can do it.”

  Every head turns. For a beat, no one speaks.

  “What?” Franklin snapped. “No. Absolutely not. She’s thirteen. You can’t be serious — sending a child into a yakuza den?”

  Aiko’s face says nothing; her voice is cold and steady. “I am his niece. I can be near him without raising suspicion. I know the customs. I know how to behave and what to say. I can get into pces strangers cannot. I can blend in.”

  Kanzaki considered her carefully. “Anyone ciming family would be questioned — unless they had proof. A niece…” He nodded once. “It gives access that other covers don’t. It’s pusible.”

  “Pusible doesn’t make it acceptable,” Franklin said sharply. “She’s a child. If anything goes wrong—”

  “If anything goes wrong,” Aiko cut in, “I can handle myself. I was trained. You think being thirteen makes me less capable? I am not a child in that sense.”

  Samira, who’s been quiet till now, mutters under her breath. “She’s not a child on the street. She’s one of us.”

  Michelle watches Aiko for more than a heartbeat, seeing determination and that steel in her eyes. She turns to the detective.

  “If we’re forced to do this, we do it carefully. Aiko goes in as family. She must have a story, documents and a practiced demeanor. Limited contact, strictly monitored. A protocol for extraction at the first sign of trouble — and agent Franklin, you will be the fallback. You will not be charged with babysitting; you will be charged with extraction.”

  Franklin’s face is a knot of concern and professional obligation. “You want me to stand against Kanda’s guards if things go south? You want her to be bait?”

  “I want her to be a controlled asset,” Michelle replied. “Not bait. We do everything to reduce her exposure. We have contingencies: rapid extraction, local support, and a hard rule — if Aiko is identified by Yuno or anyone else, she gets out immediately. No heroics. No martyrdom.”

  Aiko’s eyes meet Michelle’s. “If she recognizes me, I will step back. But if I can get a foot in the door without her seeing me, I will. I will not let him use me.”

  A heavy silence. Franklin exhales like a man trying to move a mountain. “You understand your legal position if you’re captured? And the diplomatic shitstorm if an American agency uses a minor in foreign criminal territory?”

  “We avoid capture,” Michelle said. “We keep it clean. Lang approved this in principle. The only way to get evidence on Kanda is through someone he trusts. Detective Kanzaki vouched for the idea. We have local cooperation if this goes properly. If it doesn’t, we pull Aiko out by any means necessary.”

  The room is steady then, not from agreement but necessity — a brittle, hard kind of resolve.

  “I’ll prepare the introduction,” Kanzaki said. “I’ll arrange the paperwork so he believes it. I’ll watch her the first time. If Kanda accepts, we have a window.”

  “You’ll also be her safety net,” Michelle said. “Agent Franklin, you’ll coordinate the vehicle and the med-extraction team on standby.”

  Franklin nods slowly, the fight going out of him and repced by grim resolve. Michelle turned back to Aiko. “If you go in, you do not go alone. We’ll wear you like armor. And Aiko… only you decide what you will do if she recognizes you. We will not force you.”

  Aiko meets every face in the room, words short, iron-cool. “I choose. I will do this.”

  The room fell quiet as the decision settled in. Michelle nodded. “Then we prepare. No shortcuts. No surprises.”