Chapter 32: — “Tanaka Jiro Strikes Back!"

Kaito’s apartment smelled faintly of solder and old coffee.
The hum of his computer screens filled the silence like white noise, half a dozen holographic windows floating around him in dim blue light. Lines of code streamed down one screen; another displayed some half-rendered map of Lysithea’s grid.

I stood by the door, hands shoved in my jacket pockets, trying to find the right words. My head was still spinning from what I’d seen at Ecliptix Corp. Kouji’s name plastered on a management file like a bad dream I couldn’t wake up from.

Kaito didn’t even look up when he spoke.
“You’ve been quiet since you got here.”

“Yeah,” I muttered, eyes on the flickering screens. “Just… a lot on my mind.”

He finally turned in his chair, shadows catching across his face. “You mean your father.”

I hesitated. “Among other things.”

He nodded once, like he already knew. “You shouldn’t have gone into Ecliptix alone.”

I bit back the urge to argue. “I know. But I had to see it myself.”

Kaito sighed and leaned back, the chair creaking under him. “You’re lucky you didn’t get caught. Kouji’s got eyes everywhere.”

The sound of his brother’s name made my stomach twist again. I tried to focus on something else, anything else.
That’s when I remembered why I’d come.

“Hey, uh…” I started, my voice smaller than I meant it to be. “There’s something else.”

He raised an eyebrow, waiting.

“It’s about Jiro.”

That got his attention. Kaito blinked, then frowned. “Jiro? The nerd from class?”

I nodded slowly. “Yeah. He… kind of begged me to ask if he could join us.”

He stared at me like I’d just spoken another language. “You’re kidding.”

“I wish.”

Kaito rubbed a hand down his face, groaning. “That nerd wants to join us? Yuzuki, this isn’t a fucking school club. We’re not handing out invites.”

“I know, I know,” I said quickly, raising my hands. “But he said he’s good with hacking. Like, really good. He might actually help with the whole… cyber-evil-company situation?”

Kaito’s glare didn’t soften. “We don’t need a wannabe hacker getting himself killed. We can’t afford dead weight right now, not with Umbra moving like this.”

I swallowed hard, eyes dropping to the floor. “Right…”

The silence that followed stretched thin. Only the hum of his machines filled the space between us. Kaito turned back to his screens, fingers tapping absentmindedly against the desk, his expression unreadable.

Then, quietly, he said, “Kouji’s covering his tracks deeper than ever. Every trace I chase leads to another damn proxy.”

I didn’t say anything, just watched as his eyes narrowed at the scrolling code.

After a moment, he leaned back again and exhaled through his nose. “Fine.”

I blinked. “Fine?”

“One test,” he said flatly. “Tomorrow. If Jiro screws up once, just once, he’s out. No debate, no second chances.”

I nodded slowly, still processing his sudden change of tone. “Got it. I’ll tell him.”

Kaito gave a short, humorless laugh. “Can’t believe I’m agreeing to this shit. If he fries my systems, I’m blaming you.”

“Fair enough,” I said, managing the faintest smile.

He turned back to his monitors, focus snapping back into place like nothing had happened. The glow of the screens caught the edge of his jawline, sharp and cold, and for some reason I couldn’t look away.

As I headed toward the door, I felt a weird mix of relief and dread swirling in my chest.
I didn’t even know why I wanted Jiro to pass so badly. Maybe because if he joined, I wouldn’t be the only newbie anymore.

Maybe it’d just be nice not to feel like the weakest one in the room.

—

The next day, I walked down toward Kaito's basement. It looked like a cross between a hacker’s den and a military lab.

Rows of monitors flickered in shades of blue and green, cables coiled like snakes across the floor, and half-disassembled drones hung from the ceiling like mechanical bats. The hum of cooling fans filled the air, steady, sharp, alive.

Kaito moved through the mess like it was a second skin.
He was at the main terminal, fingers flying across the keyboard, code spilling over half a dozen holographic screens. A hologram map of Syntrix’s mock security grid hovered in the air beside him, walls of glowing red firewalls and rotating encryption keys.

I leaned against one of the cold steel support beams, watching him work. He hadn’t said a word since I showed up, but the focused scowl on his face said enough.

“Didn’t realize we were opening a tech museum,” I muttered.

He didn’t look up. “This is where the real work happens.”

“Yeah, clearly,” I said, stepping over a pile of drone parts. “Real cozy in here.”

He ignored me. Typical.

The door at the top of the basement stairs creaked open, and Rin appeared, hair tied up, jacket half-zipped, coffee cup in hand. Her eyes darted around the room, then back to Kaito.

“Okay, what the hell are you building down here?” she asked, squinting at the floating screens. “Please tell me this isn’t another death drone test.”

Kaito shot her a brief look. “Not this time.”

“Then what?”

He didn’t answer right away, just tapped a few final keys before leaning back in his chair. The screens flickered, rearranging themselves into a massive projection of Syntrix’s digital security architecture, layers upon layers of glowing walls, like some virtual fortress.

Rin stared at it, then back at him. “Okay… that’s new. What’s it for?”

Kaito’s tone was flat. “Jiro’s test.”

There was a beat of silence. Then Rin blinked. “Wait. Jiro? As in that Jiro? The nerd who asked me if I liked binary jokes?”

I winced. “Yeah, that one.”

“Oh, hell no.” She crossed her arms. “You’re kidding. Tell me you’re kidding.”

“I wish I was,” I said under my breath.

Kaito stood, adjusting his wristband interface. “He wanted to prove himself. I’m giving him a chance.”

Rin let out a dry laugh. “So what, he hacks a couple of drones and suddenly he’s part of the team? What’s next, you letting the janitor pilot a hovercar?”

Kaito gave her a sharp look. “This isn’t a charity. If he fails, he’s out.”

“Good,” Rin muttered, sipping her coffee. “Then we can all get back to not babysitting nerds.”

I glanced toward the staircase when I heard footsteps.
A few seconds later, Jiro appeared — tripping on the last step, of course.

He straightened up quickly, brushing imaginary dust off his hoodie. “H-hey! Sorry I’m late, traffic was a mess!”

“You live two blocks away,” Rin said flatly.

“Yeah, well… the crosswalk lights were also red,” he said with a forced laugh.

Kaito’s unimpressed stare could’ve cut glass. “You done?”

Jiro froze. “Uh… yeah. Done.”

Kaito gestured toward the terminal. “Then listen carefully. You’re not here to impress us. You’re here to prove you won’t get us killed. You screw up once, you’re out. Understand?”

Jiro nodded quickly. “Understood, sir— I mean, Kaito— uh, sir. And thank you for giving me a chance!”

Rin snorted into her coffee.

Kaito’s expression didn’t change. “Don’t thank me. You should be thanking Yuzuki. She’s the reason you’re even standing here.”

Jiro’s eyes flicked toward me, nervous but grateful. “Oh— right! Thanks, Yuzuki. Seriously. I really appreciate it.”

I crossed my arms, pretending to sigh. “You’re welcome… I guess.”

He grinned awkwardly. “I won’t let you down.”

“Yeah,” I said quietly, glancing at the glowing red firewall simulation. “Let’s hope not.”

Kaito clapped his hands once, sharp and commanding. “Alright. Boot sequence in thirty seconds. Let’s see what you’ve got, Jiro.”

The hum of the servers grew louder.
Rin took another sip of coffee and muttered, “This is gonna be fun.”

I wasn’t so sure.

But deep down, beneath the nerves, beneath the annoyance, a small, stubborn part of me actually wanted him to pass.

The basement lights dimmed, and the monitors flared to life, a dozen shifting lines of code reflected in Jiro’s wide eyes. The hum of the servers filled the silence like a heartbeat.

Kaito stood behind him, arms crossed, expression unreadable. “Here’s how this works,” he said, voice clipped and cold. “This is a simulated Syntrix node. You need to breach the outer firewall, slip past the intrusion sweeps, and extract the data key before the system locks you out. You’ve got five minutes. One mistake—”

“I’m out,” Jiro finished for him, swallowing hard.

“Good,” Kaito said. “Then you understand.”

The timer appeared on the central screen: 5:00.00
Then began counting down.

Rin leaned against a workbench, arms folded, smirking. “Hope you brought your A-game, four-eyes.”

Jiro didn’t even look up. “Wouldn’t be here if I didn’t.”

“Bold words,” she said. “Let’s see if you can back ‘em up.”

I stayed back in the corner, arms crossed, watching silently. He ignored her and focused on the terminal. His hands trembled at first, but the moment he started typing, it was like something switched in his head. His movements grew faster, controlled chaos. Strings of code flashed across the screen as he muttered under his breath, half to himself, half to the machine.

“Okay, okay… if I reroute the checksum loop, that should, no, that’s too obvious… Maybe a triple-scramble packet trace… yeah, that’s it.”

I didn’t understand half of what he was saying, but… he looked different. Focused. The usual nervous energy in him had turned sharp, almost electric.

Even Kaito’s expression shifted, barely, but enough for me to notice.

The timer hit 3:22.
Then alarms blared. Red light washed over the room.

“Shit,” Jiro hissed.

Rin nearly dropped her coffee. “What’d you do? You blow up the internet?”

Kaito’s tone cut through the noise. “You triggered an alert. One mistake, Jiro. You’re done.”

Jiro froze for half a second, panic flashing across his face. Then, suddenly, he moved. Fingers flying, code rewriting, a dozen lines at once. The alarm tone stuttered, glitched, and then… stopped.

The red lights dimmed.
Silence.

Rin blinked. “Wait... did he just…?”

I exhaled quietly, trying not to show how tense I’d been.

Jiro exhaled shakily, still typing. “Patched the breach. The system rerouted before the tracer reached me.”

He didn’t look away from the monitor, even as sweat ran down his temple. His focus was absolute.

The timer ticked down to 1:45.

He dove back in, bypassing another layer of encryption, running packet simulations faster than I could even follow. The room had gone dead silent except for the rhythmic tapping of keys and the soft whir of machines.

I found myself whispering under my breath, “Come on, just… don’t screw up now.”

At 0:27, Jiro hit the final command key.

The system froze.
Then the main display flashed bright green: ACCESS GRANTED — DATA KEY RETRIEVED.

Jiro leaned back in the chair, trembling. “Done,” he breathed. “It’s… done.”

For a long moment, no one said anything.

Then Rin broke the silence with a slow clap. “Well, look at that. Hacker-boy’s got a pulse after all.”

Jiro laughed weakly. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

Kaito finally stepped forward, eyes on the screen. “You passed,” he said, tone flat. “Barely.”

Jiro grinned, relief flooding through him. “I’ll take ‘barely’ over ‘out.’”

Rin snorted. “Don’t get cocky. Next time, the system won’t be pretending.”

Jiro nodded, still shaking a little. “Understood.”

Kaito turned away, muttering, “Clean up the data logs before you leave.”

I lingered behind, watching Jiro as he packed up his gear, still flustered, but smiling like he’d just climbed a mountain.

I sighed softly to myself.
“Great,” I muttered under my breath. “Another idiot on the team.”

Then, quieter:
“Guess I’m not the only newbie anymore.”

While Jiro was packing up, Kaito’s monitors beeped sharply. I glanced over, curious, but he didn’t say anything at first. Then his expression changed, eyes wide, jaw tight.

“Wait... is that...?" Jiro... did you just... how the fuck did you—” Kaito stuttered, voice low, almost a growl.

Jiro shrugged, grinning like it was no big deal. “Just routine,” he said casually, stuffing his bag.

I exchanged a glance with Rin. “Uh… what’s wrong?” I asked, puzzled.

Kaito ran a hand over his face. “That wasn’t a dummy node,” he said finally. “The system you hacked pinged an actual Syntrix Umbra location. Hidden. Active.”

My stomach dropped. The school nerd, our classmate, had just hacked something real, something Kaito had been chasing for days. Rin blinked, stunned, and I had to bite back a laugh, half disbelief, half admiration.

Jiro waved casually. “Thanks for today, Kaito. Looking forward for future missions!” And just like that, he walked out.

Rin and I stood there for a moment, still processing. “Did… that just happen?” Rin finally said.

I shook my head. “Yeah… it did.”

Kaito ran a hand through his hair, muttering something about tracking the territory. “I’ll call you once I find out more. Stay alert.”

We both nodded and left him alone in the basement, still staring at the monitors, a storm of thought behind his eyes. I could see it even from the doorway. He was already digging, following the breadcrumbs Jiro had accidentally left behind.

I sighed quietly and followed Rin out. Whatever came next, it wasn’t going to be easy.