Your hands fly across the holographic interface, pulling up a grid of neon-lit establishments in Tokyo's old entertainment district. The karaoke bar's distinct hexagonal facade matches one flagged in seventeen corporate incident reports. 'Golden Dragon Karaoke,' you mutter, watching as red warning tags pop up around the location - unauthorized data transfers, suspected whistleblower meetings, three disappearances.

Mr. Tanaka's vitals stabilize as the sedation takes hold, but his fingers still twitch against the armrests. You zoom in on the security footage from that night, dated just before his memory gap. The timestamps jump erratically - someone tampered with the records. But in one fragmented clip, you catch the blurred woman handing off identical black cases to four different corporate employees.

Your archive access badge suddenly blinks red. A notification scrolls across your retinal display: QUERY FLAGGED BY CORPORATE OVERSIGHT. The system begins scrubbing your search history in real-time, but not before you glimpse a final connection - every person who received those cases underwent mandatory memory wipes within 48 hours.

The wall screen behind you flickers unexpectedly. For three terrifying seconds, it displays the woman's now-clear face alongside a PROJECT CERBERUS authorization code before going dark. The air smells faintly of ozone. Mr. Tanaka's sedation monitor starts beeping frantically - his brain activity is spiking despite the drugs.