Aiko POV
The tension in the room was suffocating.
Aiko's gaze swept over the gathered exorcists—each one standing under suspicion, each one with a missing alibi during the critical window of the attack. She could feel the weight of their eyes on her, some filled with confusion, others with barely restrained frustration. But she didn't care. Someone in this room was lying.
And she was going to find out who.
Tapping her pen against her clipboard, she exhaled sharply. "Let's start with the most obvious question—who had access to the barrier seals?"
A murmur spread through the gathered exorcists, but only one voice rose above it.
"Officially? Only the senior staff—myself, Captain Nakamura, Vice Chief Hayashi, and the barrier maintenance team." Shiori Takagi, the station's tactical specialist, stepped forward, her usually composed expression shadowed by unease.
Aiko barely had to glance at Captain Nakamura to see his irritation. His arms were crossed, his stance rigid, and the scowl on his face deepened. "So, what, you think one of us disabled the barriers?"
"We are considering all possibilities," Aiko said flatly. "The barrier wasn't just bypassed—it was deliberately broken from the inside. And whoever did it had a deep understanding of our station's defenses."
Tetsuo Maeda, another senior exorcist, let out a scoff. "Sounds like you're already pointing fingers, Aiko."
She met his sharp glare without flinching. "I'm gathering facts. And the fact remains—if the demon that Sawada-dono encountered managed to infiltrate this station without tripping any alarms, then the internal barriers must have been sabotaged." Her gaze hardened. "That's not something just anyone could accomplish."
Shiori hesitated before speaking again. "If we're talking about unofficial access…" she trailed off, reluctant. "There are individuals outside of the senior staff who possess knowledge of barrier construction. It takes time and effort, but…"
"But?" Aiko pressed.
Shiori sighed. "Someone with the right knowledge could have manipulated the barrier's structure to create a temporary opening. It wouldn't be quick or easy, but it's possible."
Aiko's grip on her pen tightened. That was exactly what she feared.
"Then the one responsible didn't just lower the defenses—they knew exactly when to do it," Sawada-dono stated, his voice calm yet firm. His presence at the edge of the gathering was a silent force, his sharp brown eyes scanning the room with quiet scrutiny. "That means this wasn't an act of desperation. It was planned."
Silence fell over the room.
Then Vice Chief Osamu Hayashi finally spoke, his frail, raspy voice cutting through the quiet. "Are you suggesting that whoever orchestrated this also guided the demon to its target?"
"That's exactly what I'm saying," Sawada-dono confirmed. "And if that's the case, then they must have known when and where to strike."
Aiko let out a slow breath, steadying herself. "Then let's go over the suspects again, this time focusing on opportunity."
She flipped through her notes, her eyes narrowing.
"First, we have three senior exorcists—Captain Nakamura, Shiori Takagi, and Tetsuo Maeda—all of whom had access to the barrier controls. Then there is Vice Chief Hayashi, who, despite being in his quarters at the time, has intimate knowledge of all strategic operations within this station."
Her gaze then shifted to the five-member squad. "Keita Yamazaki, Haruto Fujimura, Nao Miyoshi, Toru Ishikawa, and Ayaka Sasaki—your team returned to the base shortly before the attack. That means none of you have verifiable alibis during the window in which the barrier was broken."
Keita's expression darkened, his fists clenching at his sides. "We just returned from an assignment! You're saying we're suspects because of that?"
"Not just that," Aiko said coolly. "Two members of your squad—Nao Miyoshi and Ayaka Sasaki—are part of the barrier maintenance team."
The shift in the room was immediate.
Toru Ishikawa spoke next, voice tense. "Wait, are you saying the two of them could have tampered with the barriers?"
"I'm saying that their expertise means they could have done it," Aiko clarified. "But we won't make any accusations until we've gathered enough proof."
Another silence, heavier this time.
Then Sawada-dono reached into his coat pocket and pulled something out.
A small, scorched fragment of paper.
Aiko's eyes sharpened. "What is that?"
"I found this in the remains of the records room," Sawada-dono stated. "It was nearly destroyed, but I managed to catch a glimpse of what was written before the flames took the rest." He handed it to her. "Look closely."
Aiko took the fragment, squinting at the faint traces of ink that remained. Her breath caught.
"This… this was a transfer order."
Shiori frowned. "A transfer order?"
Sawada-dono nodded. "It was old, but still recent enough to be suspicious. Someone was supposed to be reassigned to another branch weeks ago—but they never left."
Tetsuo grunted. "Who?"
Aiko flipped through her notes, her jaw tightening.
"Haruto Fujimura."
The room turned to the young exorcist.
Haruto stiffened. "What?! That—That's insane! I never received any transfer orders!"
"Maybe not," Sawada-dono said, his tone neutral, "or maybe you ignored them. But the fact remains that your name was on that list. That means someone either wanted you gone… or wanted to make it seem like you had already left."
Keita's squad exchanged uneasy glances.
Aiko's lips pressed into a thin line. "Alright. This is something we need to investigate further. But suspicions alone aren't enough—we need a motive."
She turned toward Vice Chief Hayashi. "Sir, do you recall why Fujimura's transfer was scheduled?"
The old man adjusted his glasses, his frail fingers trembling slightly. "Let me think… Ah. Yes. It was due to an internal investigation."
"An investigation?" Aiko repeated.
Hayashi nodded. "There was an incident involving unauthorized access to classified files. Fujimura's name came up during the inquiry, but no conclusive evidence was found."
Haruto's expression darkened, anger lacing his voice. "That's a lie!"
"Then explain why your name was listed on the transfer order," Aiko said sharply.
Haruto looked around, his gaze flickering with desperation. "I don't know! Maybe someone put it there to frame me!"
Shiori exhaled. "We need to check the station's surveillance logs. If someone erased the records in the archives, there's a chance they left a digital trace."
Aiko nodded. "Agreed. Captain Nakamura, take a team and begin reviewing the security feeds."
Nakamura gave a grunt of acknowledgment before signaling for several exorcists to follow him.
Aiko exhaled, rubbing her temples. "Until we uncover more, no one leaves the station. We have our first lead, but we're still in the dark."
She turned to Haruto. "And you… you're not under arrest, but you're the first person we'll be looking into."
Haruto gritted his teeth.
Haruto gritted his teeth, his fists clenched tightly at his sides. His frustration was evident, but Aiko had seen enough interrogations to recognize something else lurking beneath his anger—fear. Was it fear of being falsely accused? Or was it fear of being caught?
Aiko's sharp eyes flickered toward Sawada-dono, who stood silent at the edge of the gathering, his gaze distant, deep in thought. She had worked with him long enough to recognize that look. He was analyzing, piecing things together, scrutinizing every movement, every word.
Her subordinates were already acting on her orders, gathering teams to comb through the base's remaining CCTV footage. It was unlikely they would find much—many cameras had been destroyed in the chaos, either by the rampaging possessed humans or by the intruding demon itself—but there was still a slim chance that something had been recorded. A shadow passing by, a distorted figure in the static. Anything.
"Start with the main corridors and any rooms close to the records office," Aiko ordered. "If the suspect tampered with the barriers, they had to move around unnoticed. Focus on areas where we lost visuals first."
"Understood!" The exorcists dispersed, leaving only the key figures behind.
Aiko turned back to Sawada-dono, her expression unreadable. "Sawada-dono, earlier when we searched the records office, we found nothing—so where did you get that note?"
The young man met her gaze, his expression calm but serious. "I hid it."
Aiko narrowed her eyes. "You hid it?"
Sawada-dono nodded, reaching into his coat and retrieving the charred fragment once more. "When I found it, I realized something. If the traitor was still nearby when we were searching, they might have tried to destroy it before we could properly examine it. So I kept it hidden until now—until everyone was gathered in one place."
Aiko folded her arms, considering his words. It was a sound strategy. If the traitor had known about the note and realized it still existed, they would have made another move to erase the evidence. By revealing it now, Sawada-dono had prevented them from acting.
Vice Chief Hayashi let out a dry chuckle. "Clever boy. But do you truly believe one burned scrap of paper will lead you to the culprit?"
Aiko's gaze flickered toward him. Something about his tone was off—too casual, too dismissive.
Sawada-dono, however, remained composed. "Maybe not on its own. But combined with everything else we find, it might be the missing piece."
The old man's thin lips curled into a faint smile, his frail hands adjusting his glasses. "Then I suppose we should hope your exorcists find something in the security footage."
There it was again. That subtle deflection, the ease with which he redirected the attention elsewhere.
Aiko hid her suspicions behind a neutral expression. "We'll see soon enough. For now, we should make good use of our time."
She turned back to Sawada-dono. "You should talk to the others. See if you can learn anything useful. You have an outsider's perspective—perhaps you'll notice something we've overlooked."
Sawada-dono nodded. "Understood."
With that, he stepped away, making his way toward the suspects.
Aiko Pov End
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Tsuna adjusted his gloves as he approached the group, his mind already working through the possible connections between everyone in the room. This felt eerily familiar—like one of those intense deduction games he had played before, except this time, the stakes were real.
He decided to start with Haruto. The young exorcist was still bristling with frustration, his arms crossed tightly over his chest.
"Haruto-san," Tsuna began, keeping his tone neutral, "I know you're upset, but I want to understand your side of things. You said you never received any transfer orders, right?"
Haruto exhaled sharply. "That's right. If my name was on that list, someone put it there after I was supposed to leave. I never got a single notice about it."
"Where were you during the attack?"
"Out on an assignment with my squad," Haruto said firmly. "We were exorcising possessed humans in the city. We only got back a little while before everything went to hell."
Tsuna nodded, then turned to Ayaka Sasaki and Nao Miyoshi—the two barrier maintenance specialists from Haruto's squad. "You two have experience with barriers. Do you think it would be possible to tamper with them without leaving obvious traces?"
Nao adjusted his glasses. "Theoretically, yes. If someone altered the barrier from the inside, they could mask their interference, making it look like an external force had caused the breach."
Ayaka crossed her arms. "But that kind of precision isn't something just anyone can pull off. It would take a lot of expertise after all we're only a bunch of Lower 1st Class Exorcists."
Tsuna hummed. That meant the suspect either had direct knowledge of barrier construction or had received guidance from someone who did.
His fingers tightened slightly over the burnt scrap of paper in his hands. His instincts prickled, an old but familiar sensation—one he had honed through his time with CEDEF. Tsuna had never been an expert in interrogations, but working under the intelligence branch of the Vongola meant he had picked up the basics. Paired with his sharp instincts, which had been drilled into him through years of survival and training, he was at least decent at picking apart truths from half-truths.
And right now, he needed to use every bit of that skill.
He exhaled, his gaze landing on Tetsuo Maeda first.
Tetsuo was a seasoned exorcist, standing tall with a stern, rigid posture. His sharp eyes betrayed nothing, but Tsuna knew better than to take that at face value.
"Tetsuo-san," Tsuna started, keeping his tone neutral, "can you account for your whereabouts during the attack?"
Tetsuo crossed his arms, his voice steady. "I was leading my squad in the southern district. We received reports of unusual activity—several possessed individuals gathering in one area. We engaged and exorcised them."
Tsuna's fingers tapped against his arm. "You were away from the base when it happened?"
"Yes. We returned once we confirmed the area was secure."
Tsuna's gaze flickered toward the exorcists standing behind Tetsuo. A few of them, likely members of his squad, stepped forward.
One of them, a young woman with short brown hair, cleared her throat. "I was with Captain Maeda the entire time. We fought together and returned as soon as we could."
Another man, older, with a deep scar across his cheek, nodded. "Same here. We were all there."
Alibis backed by multiple people. If they were telling the truth, it ruled Tetsuo out—at least as the direct saboteur. But Tsuna wasn't finished yet.
He folded his arms. "Did you notice anything unusual during your patrol? Anything that stood out?"
Tetsuo's brows furrowed slightly. "Nothing out of the ordinary at first. But when we arrived at our designated area, I noticed that the possessed humans we fought were more aggressive than usual. Almost as if they were stalling us."
Tsuna's breath hitched. "Stalling?"
Tetsuo nodded grimly. "They weren't fighting with mindless fury like the others we've encountered before. They were spreading out, forcing us to take longer to clear the area. As if they wanted to keep us occupied."
That was significant.
If the possessed humans were deliberately stalling the exorcists outside, then someone had orchestrated it. And whoever that was had known exactly when to weaken the station's defenses.
Tsuna's fingers clenched. "Did you report this?"
Tetsuo nodded. "I informed Vice Chief Hayashi upon our return."
Tsuna stilled. "...And what was his response?"
Tetsuo hesitated, then frowned. "He told me not to worry about it."
The words sent a shiver down Tsuna's spine.
"Not to worry?" Tsuna repeated carefully.
Tetsuo's expression darkened. "He dismissed it. Said that it was probably a coincidence."
Coincidence.
Tsuna didn't believe in those. Not when it came to the work of demons and traitors.
But he moved on for now. "Understood. Thank you, Tetsuo-san."
Next, he turned to Shiori Takagi. The tactical specialist adjusted her glasses as she stepped forward. Unlike Tetsuo, she had a more analytical presence—calculated and methodical.
"Shiori-san," Tsuna addressed her, "where were you when the attack occurred?"
Shiori pushed up her glasses. "In the western wing, reviewing exorcism reports. When the alarms went off, I attempted to access security feeds, but many of the cameras had already been damaged."
Tsuna tilted his head slightly. "Did anyone see you there?"
Shiori nodded. "There are access logs for the archive room. They will confirm my presence at that time."
A verifiable alibi. But something still nagged at him.
"You're in charge of station logistics, correct?" Tsuna asked.
"That's right."
"Then you would be aware of any unusual requests or changes made to the station's barrier system?"
Shiori's lips pressed together slightly. "Yes. And…" She hesitated, then continued, "There was something strange."
Tsuna's eyes sharpened. "Strange how?"
Shiori's fingers curled over the clipboard in her hand. "Approximately three days ago, Vice Chief Hayashi requested minor adjustments to the barrier alignment."
The air felt heavy.
Tsuna kept his voice calm. "What kind of adjustments?"
Shiori exhaled. "He claimed it was to optimize energy flow. He directed the barrier maintenance team to shift certain points by a few degrees."
Tsuna inhaled slowly. "And did you check if these adjustments actually optimized anything?"
Shiori's eyes narrowed slightly. "I did. There was no noticeable improvement."
A fabricated reason, then.
Tsuna's stomach twisted. "Who was in charge of making those adjustments?"
"Two members of the barrier maintenance squad," Shiori replied. "Hajime and Koji." She gestured toward two young exorcists in the back, who immediately tensed.
Tsuna shifted his focus to them. "Did you notice anything odd about the adjustments you made?"
Hajime, a man with short-cropped hair, swallowed. "We thought it was a little strange, but Vice Chief Hayashi insisted."
Koji, the other maintenance worker, looked uneasy. "He supervised it himself. He watched the entire process."
That confirmed it.
Hayashi wasn't just passively involved. He had directly ensured the barriers were weakened.
Tsuna's hands tightened into fists. His mind worked rapidly, piecing things together. The delayed exorcist squads. The precise timing of the attack. The altered barriers.
And a Vice Chief who had dismissed all concerns while carefully making adjustments behind the scenes.
"Shiori-san," Tsuna said, his voice quieter now, "do you have a record of that request?"
Shiori nodded, flipping through her clipboard. "Yes. I have a copy of the request form. Vice Chief Hayashi signed it personally."
A paper trail. A direct record of Hayashi's involvement in altering the station's defenses.
Tsuna accepted the document, scanning the signature at the bottom. His chest tightened.
It was suspicious—undeniably so. The timing, the secrecy, the dismissive attitude when Tetsuo reported the possessed humans stalling their squad—it all painted a concerning picture. But suspicion alone wasn't enough.
If there was one thing he had learned from his time in CEDEF and Vongola's intelligence branch, it was that seasoned individuals—especially those in high-ranking positions—always had ways to explain things away. Hayashi was old, experienced, and wise. A man like him wouldn't leave himself completely exposed.
Even if Tsuna confronted him with this now, the Vice Chief could simply brush it off as a necessary adjustment that just happened to coincide with the attack. Without irrefutable proof—something concrete—he could easily deny any wrongdoing. And given his status, many would believe him.
Tsuna exhaled through his nose, keeping his expression unreadable.
He needed more. More evidence. More testimonies. A crack in Hayashi's explanations that he could pry open.
Tsuna glanced at Aiko, who was quietly observing the document in his hands. Her expression was unreadable, but he could tell she was processing the same thoughts.
"This is… troubling," she murmured, breaking the silence. "But it's not enough to act on."
Tsuna nodded. "I know. That's why we need to keep gathering information. If Hayashi is involved, he's not going to make it easy for us to expose him."
Aiko's eyes darkened, her grip tightening around her clipboard. "Then we continue."
She turned to the exorcists still present. "Next," she called out, her voice firm. "Captain Nakamura."