Silence.
You could hear it buzz through the room, louder than any siren, thicker than any smoke.
Even Rei—arrogant, amused, always in control—had lost the usual glint of superiority in his eyes.
Akira's words had knocked something loose.
Kai's best friend's sister…
One of his dearest friends.
Made a deal with the Kurotaka Syndicate?
To eliminate Hina?
Rei straightened slightly, eyes narrowing.
The smirk that had curled on his lips earlier faded, replaced by something more dangerous—curiosity.
"The Kurotaka…" he repeated, almost to himself.
The name hung in the air like poison.
Hina looked like she'd been struck in the stomach. Her hands trembled, but she didn't speak. Couldn't.
"She… she wants to have me killed?" she finally whispered. Her voice cracked around the edges—disbelief dripping into rage.
"Apparently, yes." Akira confirmed. She kept her tone cool, but her eyes were fixed on Rei now, like she was measuring his reaction frame by frame.
"Let's say that I gave a small visit to her big bro directly in the hospital," she continued. "He was was still wounded from the burns… but he was perfectly conscious. He had called Kai to meet him , but I went in his place."
She tapped her temple with a gloved finger.
"It seems like Hana is obsessed with Kai, and cannot accept your relationship with him." Akira said, talking to her sister.
Yuto's eyes opened slowly at that.
"So, she's a problem now??"
Akira nodded. "Oh, to our force, it wouldn't be a problem at all. She's the classic fragile normal girl, but the problem is that Kai won't allow anyone to hurt her."
"This... is gonna be a real problem," Hina said, voice low. "Hana's just… she's sweet. Naive. She doesn't even know how to lie properly. There's no way she—"
Despite her hate towards Hana , coming directly from her jealousy, Hina knew that Hana was nothing more than a normal girl with zero "dangerous" contacts.
She was... sweet.
Rei raised a hand, cutting her off. Not harshly, but sharply enough to demand attention.
"No. That's exactly what bothers me."
He turned toward the center monitor again, but didn't reactivate the screen.
Instead, he just stared at the dark glass, thinking aloud.
"She's innocent. No ties. No influence. No power. She's not even involved with the criminal world."
His fingers twitched.
"And yet she made contact with the Kurotaka Syndicate?" he asked.
"To organize a hit?"
He turned slowly to face the group again, but his expression had changed.
His arrogance was gone. Now he looked analytical. Focused.
"Tell me something, Akira," he said, stepping toward her. "Are you 100% sure of what you're saying right now??"
"Yes. 100% Sure about that. I can tell that his brother was telling the truth... judging from his fear."
"But still, there's no real confirmation other than that…" Rei echoed. "That's neutral ground."
"For now," Yuto added grimly.
Rei began to pace.
"The Kurotaka have always been desperate to destroy the Kobayashi Dragons. That's a given. But they've always lacked one thing."
"Access," Akira said, finishing the sentence for him.
"Exactly." Rei snapped his fingers. "They've never had a clean in. Sabushi's circle is too tight. Too paranoid."
He turned to Hina.
"Which means… they didn't come to her with the deal."
Hina blinked.
"What are you saying?"
Rei's voice dropped.
"I'm saying that she didn't find them."
"They found her."
A beat.
"They knew who she was. They knew what she meant to Hiro. To Kai. To you."
He stepped closer.
"She wasn't the one who initiated the contact. That's the only explanation. Someone planted the idea in her head. Someone who understood her emotions better than she did."
"But how?" Yuto asked. "They couldn't have known what strings to pull unless—"
"Unless someone gave them the thread," Akira cut in again, eyes narrowing.
The room went still.
Rei's jaw clenched as the puzzle started fitting itself together in his mind.
Somewhere, someone had been manipulating the board from the shadows.
Not just watching.
Not just waiting.
Orchestrating.
He turned sharply.
"Sarah, Check every recent contact Hana's had over the last year. Teachers. Visitors. Classmates. Friends of friends. I want everyone cross-referenced against our Kurotaka intel database. Start with the student council. Then sweep the surrounding schools."
One of his subordinate moved toward the terminal instantly.
"Y-Yes, Boss! Already on it." Sarah said.
*Sarah Mc. Sailor, an american girl in her 30's, with big nerdy glasses, wearing a lab coat, with brown eyes and green hair tied in a ponytail. Ex-Worker of CIA, she was now working with Rei, to gain a freedom guided by her own sense of justice*
Yuto raised a brow. "You're thinking an operative was embedded?"
"I'm thinking," Rei muttered, "that someone knew exactly how to weaponize the softest girl in the room."
He paused.
"And I missed it."
That, more than anything, seemed to shake him.
Rei didn't like missing things.
He didn't like being outplayed.
"Shit…" he whispered.
Yuna, who had been silent until now, finally spoke.
"But why go after Hina? What does the Syndicate gain by killing her specifically? Why not Kai?"
Everyone looked to Hina.
She wasn't trembling anymore.
Her expression had shifted.
It was colder. Focused.
"Because I left," she said. "I walked away from Sabushi. I betrayed him. That makes me a target for everyone—Kurotaka included. Moreover, they used to fear me since I've killed too many people of their clan... and also a leader."
"But you were also Sabushi's prodigy," Rei added.
"The only one who might've inherited his legacy. But I never wanted something like that." Hina replied.
He folded his arms.
"They always wanted to kill Sabushi's future… before it becomes a bigger problem, because Hina is much more "
Another long silence followed.
The weight of the implications pressing against the room's thick walls.
Sarah stepped away from the console.
"I don't like this," she said. "We're being pulled in too many directions. Kobayashi Dragons. Kurotaka Syndicate. That auction. Kai's mental collapse. Now Hana…?"
"Too many threads," Yuto agreed. "And we don't know who's holding the needle."
Rei cracked his knuckles.
"Well," he said. "That's about to change."
He turned toward the doors.
"I want Hana brought in. We need to kidnap her and... ask some little, innocent questions."
Everyone turned toward him, surprised.
"What?! If she's with the Kurotaka, taking her won't be easy! " Akira exclaimed.
"Rei, you're gonna start an useless war with the Kurotakas. Do you really want that?" Yuto asked.
Hina didn't speak.
"I don't care at all. We are stronger than them." Rei said, with a superior tone of voice.
"Moreover, she's a liability. Whether she meant it or not, she opened a door. I need to know what else she gave them."
"Do you know that Kai won't allow that?" Hina started, but Rei cut her off.
"Do you really think that I care, Hina?" Rei asked, giving her a deadly glance.
He walked to the door and stopped just before it opened.
"We're gonna figure out how they reached her. And find out who gave the Syndicate her number."
He glanced back over his shoulder.
"Because if they've got access to her…"
His eyes narrowed.
"…they're closer to Kai than we ever thought."