Nagoya Central Hospital
The VIP Ward of Nagoya Central Hospital, located on the top floor, felt oddly sterile for a place full of worry—white walls, soft carpet, and a hum of muted machines.
Outside the ward, two Shinsei Security agents stood motionless, their earpieces blinking, both fully alert.
Inside, under a pale blanket and thin hospital gown, Takamura Ren sat propped against pillows with the same composed neutral look, save for her slightly pale face. Her dark hair lay damp at her neck, though her eyes were clear and very much awake, fixed on a small television across the room where NHK's studio analyzed yesterday's events.
Knock! Knock!
Suddenly, the door of the ward was knocked twice before being slid open. The hospital director—an immaculately groomed man in his fifties with a practiced smile—entered the room.
"Lady Ren, sleep did you no harm, I hope?" He swept in on soft shoes, voice syrupy. "We are tremendously relieved—physically, you are perfectly fine. Nothing a few days of rest won't cure."
Ren turned her head just enough to return a light, almost indifferent smile. "Thank you, Director. The care here has been… adequate." The dryness in her tone did not prevent the director from visibly swelling with pride at the praise.
Knock!
Another knock brought the director back from his world of pure bliss. Minami Aizawa entered, eyes steady and efficient, followed by Chief Hayashi Takeru and Director Okabe Masahiro, each wearing the pale fatigue of men who had nearly been killed by gas and shame.
"I won't bother you any further, Lady Ren. Please don't hesitate to call me if anything is required."
The director's practiced smile faltered, sensing the change of atmosphere in the room. Taking leave from Ren, he bowed and left the room.
Ren watched the door click shut, then turned that light smile on the three who remained.
"Thank you for coming." Her voice was soft, but the room felt colder from it. "I hope you all slept well after such an… educational night."
The compliment was honeyed poison. Takeru's jaw tightened, and Masahiro took out a tissue, wiping the sweat suddenly building on his forehead.
Suppressing his unease, Takeru forced a professional smile and spoke. "President, we are relieved to see you unharmed. We are conducting a full-scale investigation. We will—" He stopped when Ren's look made him feel like a child scolded for bad manners.
Aizawa stepped forward, hands folded, and produced a slim tablet. "Preliminary findings," she said crisply. "The gassing of the building can, without a doubt, be attributed to the teams of Mirai Reform who visited the building for a full-scale renovation a week ago."
"Only then could it have been possible to fill the vents with anesthetic gas." Ren listened, her expression staying unchanged, and Aizawa continued her report.
"Shortly after the gassing, our investigation and the testimony of those passing by the building proved that the whole building suffered an all-out blackout, and when the power returned, all cameras in the building stayed shut. Shortly after this, a squad comprised of thirty well-trained agents raided the building and even hacked the main entrance door."
"It's really well planned," whispered Ren, her eyes showing confusion, but before she could ask, Aizawa answered her doubts.
"What's puzzling is that in such circumstances, when all of our agents were down, the enemy should have no doubt succeeded in executing their plan—but as we know, they failed. Our reinforcements only managed to capture ten of the thirty conscious; the rest were already knocked out before they arrived."
"Both of us being in the compartment is puzzling also. Who hid us there?" asked Ren, curiosity evident in her tone. She clearly remembered getting knocked out in her suite on the 60th floor, but when she woke up, she found herself along with Aizawa in a compartment above the stairs on the 20th floor.
Hearing her question, Aizawa showed a look of uncertainty, finding what was written in the report on her tablet a bit redundant, but for now, there was no other possibility. "A worker from Mirai Reform was requested to fix the loose vents on the 60th floor, but our early arrival meant he was still there when we entered the suite."
"The vent in the suite clearly showed signs of being forcefully removed, and the footprints in the suite also tell of the presence of a third person. Even more clear proof is the smart door of the suite showing a record of you leaving the suite around 07:46 p.m., approximately three minutes after the blackout."
Hearing this, Ren's eyes narrowed, and she turned slightly to gaze at Aizawa. "You mean… it was the worker…?"
"Yes, Ren-sama!" assured Aizawa, clearing her throat and then continuing. "The removal of the vent tells he entered the suite from the crawl space and then carried us both to the 20th floor, hiding us in the compartment."
There was silence in the room for a while after Aizawa's last words. Masahiro and Takeru were thanking the Mirai Reform worker thousands of times inwardly—he may have indirectly saved their jobs and lives.
"What about those raiders? How were they knocked out before our reinforcements arrived?" inquired Ren after pondering over the previous information for a while, breaking the silence.
At this, Aizawa once again revealed a hesitant look but, taking a deep breath, went through with the report. "Every single one of them that we captured—whether it be those who were awake when the reinforcements arrived or those out cold already—when we tried to interrogate them, they died. They had cerebral shock devices implanted, and someone triggered them remotely."
"So no information about how they were knocked out cold?" asked Ren, a look of disappointment in her sharp black eyes.
"We examined the bodies of those who were found unconscious, and their bruising patterns and fractures all suggest blunt force, most likely done by a trained hand—strong, controlled. None of our agents did that, as mentioned before; they were out cold, and the bruising patterns also suggest that all of them suffered wounds from a single person."
"Impossible!" Masahiro failed to control his emotions at the information, not even waiting for Ren to say anything in response.
Takeru also showed a face full of disbelief, and he couldn't stop himself from speaking. "Since the masterminds behind this whole incident had planned everything so meticulously, they shouldn't have made a rookie mistake of raiding the building with a bunch of amateurs."
"You are telling us that a single man, with just blunt force, managed to take out nearly twenty elite agents on his own? No offense, but reality is not a movie. What you hypothesized is not possible."
Aizawa seemed to have expected such a reaction, as she herself found it absurd—but irrefutable facts that proved this was most likely the case were before her.
"Are you sure that report is credible?" Even Ren found this absurd—not doubting the intelligence of her secretary, but the authenticity of the report in the tablet in her hands. Being an absolute elite in the world, what had she not witnessed and what was she not aware of? Secrets only available to the top 0.1% of people in the world were available to her, and even those secrets didn't include anything this absurd.
If a person was armed and used hidden weapons, then she could understand a single person being able to take down a squad—but with just bare hands? Utter nonsense and fantasy.
"Please watch this." Aizawa didn't say anything to defend the report any further and just pointed towards the small TV in the room, tapping her laptop once.
On the TV, the NHK news channel disappeared, and CCTV feed began to play. Ren and the rest watched closely.
The feed seemed to be from a camera that was pointed towards the main entrance of the Shinsei building from a distance, the timestamp on the camera showing 08:02 p.m. The camera suddenly zoomed in as everyone saw the entrance door sliding open and a man stepping out. He was tall, about 185 cm, donning a grey shirt soaked with sweat and navy cargo pants.
They saw the man had a respirator on his face, taking it off the next second to reveal a fair face attractive enough to make one turn around and take another look, framed with slick dark hair.
They saw the man turning his head back to gaze at four bodies lying motionless behind him near the open door, a complicated look on his face. The feed ended with the man walking off from the camera's view, heading towards the parking lot.
With the feed ending, silence returned in the VIP ward as no further explanation seemed needed. They could see that man—the renovation worker—had at least taken down four of the raiders lying bruised behind him at the door.
"A renovation worker seems more capable than all the agents in Japan's biggest security company. Isn't it interesting, Chief Takeru, Director Masahiro?" questioned Ren, turning her head to gaze at them with a light smile on her face. Their faces immediately turned red at her question, but they were unable to say anything and just lowered their heads in shame.
Seeing them ashamed, Ren didn't press further and, leaning back, spoke in a light tone. "I want this man before me within a day. Make sure of that."
"Yes! Yes, Lady Ren! I'll make sure to bring the savior of Shinsei before you as soon as possible. He clearly deserves praise from you personally," assured Masahiro hurriedly, finally getting a chance to prove himself.
"Savior? Praise? Why would I praise someone who gassed the building and tried to kidnap me? I need him on his knees before me within a day so that I can put a bullet in his head myself."
Her words fell, and there was immediate silence—shock and confusion clearly on the faces of the three in the room.
"But President… that man clearly sav—" Takeru, confused, wanted to say something, but Ren's chilly eyes met his, showing a look of frustration but still keeping his mouth shut.
"Yes, Lady Ren! I'll bring that kidnapper before you as soon as possible," Masahiro didn't even bat an eye and tagged the savior he himself declared a while ago as a kidnapper.
"Good."
Nodded Ren, and not saying anything further, closed her eyes to rest. Aizawa, Takeru, and Masahiro retreated, leaving Ren alone—in her head, moments before she was knocked out by the gas playing, those eyes in the vent which had witnessed her in her private moments. They needed to be gouged out for their audacity.