The Assassin

Inside the Grand Heiwa Hotel’s security control room, dozens of men were stationed, carefully monitoring every camera and every communication.

They operated like a well oiled machine, ready to spot and respond to any threat within seconds.

But even the best machine breaks when a spanner is thrown into the works.

Across every screen, the same warning message popped up simultaneously.

ERROR: CONNECTION LOST

“What’s going on!?” The security director immediately reacted.

“Sir, the entire security system has disconnected!” The security operator furiously switched through tabs. “Communications, cameras, all of it!”

“What!? Why!?”

“We don’t know! It looks like a glitch with the software!” Fear covering his face, he looked over his shoulder at the director. “Should we declare an emergency?”

“Absolutely not!” The director slammed his fist on the desk. “We can’t blow up the conference over a computer glitch! How long until you can get everything back online!?”

“I don’t know! I think we’ll have to reboot the systems!”

“Then do it!”

The system reboot would take a few minutes. Each person present waited with bated breath until the systems were back online.

***

The entire security team had been thrown into a tizzy thanks to the cut comms. Everyone except for Naoki and Yoji who were acting independently.

“This can’t be good…” Naoki stood tall, not moving an inch from his post in front of the Imperial Lounge.

Yoji leaned over and asked, “You think this could be the work of a Ghost?”

“Well…” Naoki winced. “Kind of…”

But as the confusion continued, someone had made their way through…

“Hey…”

Naoki took a breath before turning around.

“It’s good to see you.” It was Akemi.

“It’s you!” Yoji called out. “The Ghost!”

“That’s me.”

Strangely enough, Yoji didn’t seem too bothered by the introduction of what was the SSU’s ultimate enemy.

Naoki was conflicted, however.

“Have you thought about what I said?” Akemi took a step closer. “Do you want to do this together?”

But Naoki didn’t respond.

Whatever was happening in the Imperial Lounge wasn’t his concern. He was ordered to stand guard outside to protect against Ghosts.

He should’ve already summoned Michael, yet he hadn’t even reached for his phone.

Was he really going to fight Akemi?

“Count me in!” Yoji stepped forward, volunteering himself.

Akemi smirked. “Ah, Yoji Honda, right? I wasn’t expecting you to want to join me.”

“I can just tell when something reeks, and whatever scheme is going on in there needs to be stopped by someone.”

“All right, that just leaves you, Naoki.” Akemi extended his hand, smiling. “I’ve told you the stakes. Now will you choose to just stand by?”

Naoki stared at Akemi. His glare was as cold as ice, but Akemi’s smile didn’t falter. More than anything else, Akemi wanted Naoki’s help with this.

But Naoki only gave a grimace as he swatted Akemi’s hand away. “I won’t join you…” Naoki slowly turned towards the door. “But I can’t ignore this…”

Akemi's smile faltered, but as he looked away, a grin returned. “Thank you…”

***

“I’ve been very clear on our stance.” Jian Wei stiffened his posture. “Taiwan will be integrated as a special administrative region. Anything else is unacceptable for our national interests.”

“We understand that, but the balance of power must be maintained in East Asia,” Eiji Aoki argued.

The two sides were fiercely debating. However, slow but steady progress was being made.

Two men were left out of the discussions, however. Deputy Prime Minister Junichiro Akayama and Ambassador Yuan Fu.

Akayama just wasn’t a very adept negotiator, so he left this to Aoki.

However, Fu was waiting for his moment to strike.

“Excuse me for a minute.” Aoki straightened out his suit and got up. His absence was barely noticed as he headed over to the side of the room to get himself a drink.

Shortly afterwards, Fu got up himself. At a brisk pace, he walked up behind Akayama.

As he was a few steps away, he pulled out a knife from his jacket pocket.

The strike just had to be quick and lethal.

He could imagine the headlines and the chaos already.

This would be his last mission.

But it had to be done.

As he raised the knife, ready to strike, he knew that this was for Japan.

But just as he was about to plunge the blade down…

He flinched as the doors to the room burst open.

“Michael!”

Before Fu could even react, a burst of light flew through the air, slamming right into his hand.

He cried out in pain as the light burned his skin and melted his flesh. He fell to the ground, the knife falling out of his hand.

“W-what the hell!?” Akayama spun around, his mouth agape at the scene before him.

“What’s going on here!?” Aoki had jumped up and run over, Wei not far behind him.

Naoki walked closer. “That man… Yuan Fu, or whoever he is, just tried to assassinate Deputy Prime Minister Akayama.”

“Impossible!” Wei yelled. “Fu is one of my closest advisors! He would never do something like that!”

“Then what was he doing with that knife?” Naoki pointed towards the weapon next to Fu.

Even Wei couldn’t come up with an excuse for that.

Fu, however, was having a meltdown internally. The plan was rocksolid. Every variable had been accounted for. But somehow Akemi Kashima himself and two SSU traitors ruined everything! He had Akayama inches away, and it was gone! But maybe it wasn’t over yet…

Fu grit his teeth, and, with pleading eyes, turned to Wei. “Sir! Do you seriously believe this nonsense! They’ve attacked me! This is obviously a ruse! An insult! They never had any intention of negotiating at all!” Fu’s voice was filled with passionate fury.

But Wei only looked away in response.

“Sir! We cannot let this stand!” Fu gripped his burned hand tight, the pain fueling his rant. “We cannot allow the Japanese to trample on our goodwill like this! This is practically an act of war!”

Once again, Wei didn’t respond…

Fu was starting to get nervous. “Sir…?” Surely Wei was outraged, right?

“That’s enough,” Wei said flatly. Slowly, he approached Fu. “Yuan Fu was many things, but above all else, he hated war. Other than serving his country, his only goal was to foster China and Japan’s friendship.” Wei crouched down, looking at Fu right in the eyes. “And I’ll never forget what he said to me when I asked him about a hypothetical war. ‘If such a thing were necessary, I would support it. But a war with Japan would truly be a tragedy.’” Wei paused. “‘Too many pretty Japanese girls would die.’” Wei stood up tall before looking at Naoki. “Hopefully the Japanese authorities can figure out who this rat is. For now, I’ll be retiring to my room. Consider the conference cancelled.”

Fu’s eyes hardened as Wei walked out of the room.

In an instant, his facade completely disappeared. He still had the body of Yuan Fu, but it was clear that that man was long gone.

Only Rei remained.

And he knew it couldn’t end like this.

For a millisecond, his eyes glanced at the knife on the ground next to him.

As fast as lightning, he dived for the knife.

Yoji reached out. “Stop him!”

But before Naoki could even react, Rei had picked up the knife and thrown it.

It flew through the air, heading right for Wei.

But just as it was about to land in his back…

“Okiku!”

Rei let out a cry of pain as he fell onto his stomach.

The knife was sticking out of his shoulder blade.