Midnight – Hana's Apartment
The spider lily crumbled to ash between Hana's fingers.
She stared at the blackened petals staining her fingertips, the cryptic message still glowing on her phone:
[Ren]: Ask Kurosawa about Operation White Petal.
Her thumb hovered over her director's contact. This is a trap.
But the alternative was walking blind into a war between the Tanakas and whoever had orchestrated today's attack.
She pressed call.
Kurosawa answered on the first ring. "You saw the flower."
No greeting. No pretense.
Hana's grip tightened on her phone. "What is Operation White Petal?"
A long silence. Then—
"Meet me at the old clocktower. One hour. Come alone."
The line went dead.
1:17 AM – Abandoned Clocktower District
The Blackwood Agency's abandoned safehouse smelled of mildew and betrayal. Hana's boots clicked against rotting floorboards as she approached Kurosawa, who stood silhouetted against the cracked clock face, its hands frozen at 3:33.
"Twelve years ago," Kurosawa began without turning, "we made a deal with the Tanaka family."
Hana's hand drifted toward her sidearm. "The Agency doesn't make deals with syndicates."
"We do when they offer us a weapon." Kurosawa finally faced her, his expression grim. "Operation White Petal was an exchange—Tanaka Hiroshi's political enemies for access to his grandson's predictive algorithms."
Hana's breath caught. Ren's calculations.
"You used a child?"
Kurosawa's smile was razor-thin. "We trained one. Ren was never just an heir—he was Hiroshi's living supercomputer. Until he refused to play along."
A cold realization settled in Hana's chest.
"Today's attack wasn't a test." She stepped closer. "It was a cleanup. You're tying loose ends."
Kurosawa didn't deny it.
"The question, Agent Shiraishi, is whether you'll die as one."
His hand moved toward his coat—
Hana drew first.
2:49 AM – Ren's Safehouse
The door swung open before Hana could knock.
Ren stood in the dim light, his glasses reflecting the glow of multiple monitors displaying Blackwood Agency files—her files.
"Took you long enough," he said, stepping aside.
Hana didn't lower her gun. "You knew."
"That Kurosawa ordered the hit? Obviously." Ren gestured to a screen streaming security footage of Kurosawa's body being removed from the clocktower. "Though I expected you to shoot him sooner."
Hana's finger tightened on the trigger—
"But you didn't come here to kill me." Ren turned his back, walking toward a wall covered in interconnected strings and photos. "You came because you finally realized the truth."
He tapped a photo at the center—a younger Hiroshi shaking hands with a man in a Blackwood uniform.
"The attack wasn't just Blackwood's doing." Ren's voice dropped. "My grandfather allowed it."
Hana's blood ran cold.
"Why?"
Ren adjusted his glasses.
"To see which of us would survive."
3:33 AM – The Queen's Price
Hana stared at the web of connections—Blackwood operatives, Tanaka enforcers, even Elite Heights faculty—all leading to one name.
"Your grandfather is purging both organizations," she realized.
Ren nodded. "And we're the sacrificial pawns."
A monitor lit up with a live feed—Hiroshi at his estate, toasting an unseen guest.
Hana exhaled sharply. "What now?"
Ren held out a silver shogi piece—the queen.
"We play his game." His fingers brushed hers as she took it. "Right into checkmate."
Dawn – Blackwood Agency Headquarters
Alarms blared as every screen in the command center flickered to life, displaying the same message:
[SYSTEM BREACH]
[OPERATION WHITE PETAL ARCHIVES – DECLASSIFIED]
[INITIATING DATA DUMP]
Kurosawa's successor stared in horror as twelve years of buried crimes flooded the dark web—including the order to eliminate Hana Shiraishi.
On the rooftop across the street, Hana lowered her binoculars.
"Happy now?" she muttered.
Beside her, Ren smiled.
"Almost."
He pressed send on his final command—erasing every trace of Hana's involvement.
The price?
Her loyalty.
Her gun.
And one last secret he'd keep until the game ended.