The first rays of sunlight slowly covered the village, The empty streets were no longer devoid of people. It was as if the village had come back to life with all the hustle and bustle everywhere.
Keiko walked through the familiar path towards the rooftop where they usually meet, her mind still focused on what she had discovered inside Kaito Harvest.
The keys of Kudo's office.
She was finally close to finding the truth, the mission has run for too long now. The moment she reached the rooftop, all those thoughts disappeared.
Tatsuo was sitting against the wall, his head lowered, hiding the bruises from a plain view. For a moment, Keiko didn't recognise him. That was the extent of damage that Tensei had done to him.
His face was swollen, bruises covering his skin with shades of purple and blue. One of his arms was wrapped awkwardly, and even sitting still seemed to take effort.
"Tatsuo? Are you okay?" Keiko asked as her voiced changed immediately as she realized he wasn't okay.
She rushed towards him, dropping beside him. "What happened? Who did this to you?"
Tatsuo slowly looked up at her, trying to force a smile but failed.
"Keiko...You're back!" Tatsuo said softly, it hurt to even move his jaw.
Keiko ignored his words and immediately began checking his injuries, taking out medical supplies from her pouch.
"Don't move. I'll patch you up!" Keiko said. Some could say that there was a hint panic in her voice maybe even...regret?
"I'm fine." Tatsuo tried to use his good hand to adjust himself, but all it achieved was another wave of pain.
"No, you are definitely not okay. Just don't move and let me do this." Keiko said in a tone that left no room for argument.
She carefully applied bandages over the bruises, her expression became darker with every injury she found. 'Who came here before me, that guy? Was he tormenting Tatsuo, THAT SICK FUCK!'
Tatsuo watched her quietly, the guilt within him doubled when he saw a vien pop on her neck in anger.
"Did anything happen last night?" Tatsuo coughed, but continued, "Your shift...did you find anything? Any problems?"
Keiko's expression softened into concern as she looked at Tatsuo. Even now, that was the first thing he asked.
"Tatsuo, you should worry about yourself first. Trust me to do this." Keiko frowned.
"But—" Tatsuo was interrupted.
"I said worry about yourself." Keiko's words left him with nothing to say. Tatsuo looked away, staring at the ground.
"I just hope..." His voice became quieter. "I hope only one of us failed."
Keiko stopped for a moment. Tatsuo's fingers tightened against his clothes. "If you are failing too because of me..."
"You didn't make me fail. You won't."
"But I already have. I have become a liability to you now." His voice was barely above a whisper. "I went after him. I thought I could handle it. I thought because I became a chunin, I was ready."
He looked at his injured hands. "And now..." He swallowed. "I just want to go home."
Keiko didn't say anything, she couldn't. She wanted to go home too. So, she let those words fester in her mind.
Keiko looked down at the medical supplies in her hand before quietly speaking. "I found something."
Tatsuo looked up in surprise, "Really?"
Keiko nodded. "I don't know what I will find there but I have something worth searching."
She stood up, packing away the supplies. Keiko looked at him. "If it works, we go home." She paused. "If it doesn't...we still go home after this."
Tatsuo stared at her for a moment before letting out a quiet sound. Keiko understood that He was relieved.
She helped him stand up, supporting his weight as they moved away from the rooftop.
The clinic she chose was far from Kaiyo Harvest.
Maybe the distance didn't actually matter as Tensei could still find him but the physical distance between Tatsuo and Tensei could provide a little comfort to him. Tensei will be far away from him.
---
Keiko watched as the bodyguard approached Keiko's shadow clone. The clone was still sitting beside him, laughing at whatever drunken joke Kudo had made while pretending to be the real Keiko.
The bodyguard took the keys from the clone without suspicion. 'Good.' she thought, standing beside the bodyguard who took the key.
Keiko had already done her research.
Out of all the guards surrounding the executives of Kaiyo Harvest, the one she was impersonating was the easiest to imitate. He rarely spoke, kept an stoic expression most of the time and stayed behind the others.
People rarely remembered someone who didn't interact others much.
The real bodyguard was currently unconscious inside a dumpster hidden in an empty alley. Keiko had made sure he was alive and found once the garbage collectors arrived in the morning.
It wasn't ideal, but neither was the situation they were in.
Keiko transformed into his appearance, adjusting her posture and expression to match his. The bodyguard, Ritsu, began walking back towards the Kaiyo Harvest headquarters.
Another guard, Ito, followed behind him and Keiko was trailing behind Ito.
Exactly like the man she was pretending to be.
As they entered the building, the familiar glass walls reflected their figures. Even at this hour, the place was still alive. Employees leaving late, security moving around and lights shining from multiple floors.
Keiko looked towards the upper floors, a hint of irritation on her face. She had hoped for someone higher. The CEO would be convenient, The COO would be a godsend.
Anyone who would directly know the truth. Instead, she had to settle for the CFO's right-hand man.
Still, that was enough. Money, despite being a deceptive thing revealed facts people tried to hide. The flow of resources, investments, payments, suspicious transactions...all of it left traces.
They entered the elevator, the silence between the three guards making it easier for Keiko to maintain her disguise.
The elevator doors opened and they could see the office in the distance. The office was nearly empty now. Only a few lights remained on, including the one belonging to Kudo's office.
A woman sat outside the office, organizing the final documents before leaving. The secretary. She looked up when they approached.
"You're finally here to close the office?" She asked, to which Ritsu nodded. "Yes."
The woman stood up, picking up her belongings. "Good. I was wondering when he would finally send someone. He always leaves everything for me to do...at least he pays well." She mutters the last to no one in particular.
She walked past them without another thought. Keiko watched her leave.
One opportunity to find out what Kaiyo Harvest was hiding. But she knew better than anyone that plans rarely survived contact with reality.
If her disguise failed, then there would be no point hesitating. She would have to remove anyone who stood between her and the truth.
The door closed with a click, Ritsu placed the keys in his pocket before turning to Keiko, a frown appearing on his face.
"Didn't wanna talk to your sister? You didn't say anything to your drinking buddy either." Ritsu's eyes narrowed, his hands reaching for the taser.
"I wasn't feeling like talking." Her eyes fell on Ritsu's hand that held the taser, "Why the taser?"
"You weren't feeling like talking to the one who took care of when you both lost your parents? The person who brought you both out of poverty and helped you get a job?" Ito, read the room and took out his baton, "You always light up like a puppy when you see her."
Keiko has already come to terms that she will not get away without a fight. She removed her sunglasses with sigh, placing into the breast pocket of her suit. "I still don't feel like talking to anyone today, not after everything that has happened."
Ito hesitated for a second, maybe the man in front of him was just having a bad day. Ritsu noticed something—that was not accent that was used in this region of the country.
"Hey...tell me her name. Your sister's full name." Ritsu asked,
"Sui Ozawa." Keiko has heard Kudo talk about her, and the badge contained this bodyguard's family name.
Ritsu paused for a second, as if he was thinking, "You invited me to her wedding a year ago. She took her husband's name. Ito, get this imposter!"
Ritsu charged at Keiko, who sidestepped the stab from the taser, picking him up with ease and throwing him at Ito. Ito jumped to the left of the hallway, before standing up and throwing his baton.
Keiko parried the baton, making it hit Ritsu and knocking him out at that very instant. Ito couldn't even comprehend what happened as she appeared behind him.
"Wha—" Keiko gave a chop to his neck, knocking him out as well.
Keiko took the keys and opened the door, dragged both of them in and then closed the door. Her eyes scanned through the room looking for something of use. "What the hell should I do here?"
She couldn't leave empty handed, but also was unsure if what she was doing was contributing to the mission. If Kudo didn't have anything then...
Keiko stood in the middle of the office, looking through every possible place where information could be hidden.
Drawers next the desk that seemed to be made of imported wood. Cabinets that were left half open in a hurry, the documents of many different colours peeking out them.
Keiko opened a drawer, searching through the documents inside before closing it again. As the wooden panel slid back into place, her eyes narrowed.
She opened again, taking out all the contents before closing it with some force. Something felt wrong. Why? She heard a sound something moving, despite the drawer being empty.
She looked at the drawer for a few seconds. Her fingers traced along its edges.
Keiko sighed before reaching into her pocket and taking out a small torch and turned off all the lights.
The faint glow of the UV torch moved across the room as she carefully searched again. Places that were regularly touched would have traces, Kudo's fingerprints.
It took some time, but she found them. That drawer and some books on the bookshelf.
Keiko tried the drawer first. She carefully opened it, she pressed the ballbearing mechanism.
*A click.*
The entire thing came off, leaving behind a hidden compartment. She opened it carefully.
Inside were documents.
She quickly scanned through them, her expression slowly changing into something...hope, maybe?
Tax reports. It showed some some undeclared assets which were hidden, thus, not taxed. Expenses, there were no explanation for these expenses—purchase of properties in land of rice, and rent for properties in land of Iron.
Last but not least, Payments. 'Why does so much of their profits just disappear into thin air.' Keiko took the financial statements from Kudo's table and compared it.
The value of assets were too high in these hidden papers, the profit distribution did not make sense. Why would they—a fishing based company, buy residential properties in countries that are landlocked and have no access to any major waterbodies.
At first, nothing made sense. Then some dots began connecting.
Money was disappearing through fake expenses. Payments were being redirected through different accounts, hidden under the name of business costs.
They were stealing from the company.
Keiko stared at the documents for a moment. It will be useful to her later on. This alone could give the Fire Capital a reason to investigate Kaiyo Harvest's upper management.
She placed the documents aside and turned towards the bookshelf. The fingerprints were everywhere. 'Makes sense. Kudo is a reader in his past time. The number of books he has unconsciously referenced was surprising.'
Books were touched often. 'But that one seems different.' The marks around it were far more frequent than the others, as if it was touched routinely.
Keiko slowly reached out and pulled it only to find...a sealing tag.
A chakra-based keypad.