The lights in Leblanc were dim, the only illumination coming from the glaring screens in front of Ren. Lines of code flashed across the monitor—encrypted, shifting, unpredictable. His fingers flew across the keyboard, but frustration was beginning to edge into his expression.

"Damn it... The security protocol just jumped ports again," he muttered.

From behind, Futaba leaned against the doorframe, sipping her energy drink. Her eyes narrowed at the screen. "You’re trying brute force on a rotating firewall matrix. No wonder it’s eating you alive."

Ren didn’t respond—just clenched his jaw and tried to adjust the code again. The Phantom Thieves had infiltrated Metaverse Palaces before, but this was different. This wasn’t a heist. This was a real-world system with real-world consequences.

"Move," Futaba said casually, striding over. Without hesitation, she dropped into his lap, reached around him, and started typing. Her fingers moved faster than his ever could, her mind ten steps ahead.

Ren tensed for half a second—more out of surprise than anything. "You could’ve just taken the chair."

"No time. And besides, you’re warm. Deal with it," she shot back, not taking her eyes off the screen.

The code shifted again. Alarms began to blare inside the system. A counter-hack was launching.

"We’ve got less than three minutes before it locks us out—or traces us," Futaba muttered. "But I know this code. It’s Shido’s old framework, repurposed. Sloppy."

Her tone was intense now, all business. Ren watched the monitor, barely breathing as she executed an obfuscated shell bypass and rerouted a false IP trail.

The progress bar inched forward.

85%... 90%...

"Almost there..."

Then—access granted. The encrypted file opened like a vault.

Futaba leaned back slightly, satisfied. "Told you. Can’t brute-force brains, Leader."

Ren finally let out a breath, the tension leaving his shoulders. "I loosened the lid."

She snorted, still sitting on him. "Sure you did."

Outside, the city pulsed with normalcy. Inside, two thieves had just cracked something the world wasn’t ready to see. And neither of them acted like anything about this was unusual.