Mission 30

The chapter opens inside WISE Safe House G, where Sylvia briefs Fiona on the mission scheduled for the following week and, at Fiona's own suggestion, pairs her with Loid on it, warning her to keep it from disrupting Operation Strix. Fiona probes about the operation's progress and floats the idea of taking over the wife role herself. Sylvia shuts it down: swapping wives now would invite scrutiny from Eden Academy, and the Forgers already sit well with their neighbors. Fiona murmurs that the question would change if the current wife walked away, earning another warning. As she leaves, fellow agents keep their distance, branding her ruthless, arrogant, and icy for her stone face and single-minded ambition.

Fiona times her visit to the Forger apartment for when Yor is alone, using a magnifying glass Anya supposedly left at the hospital as her pretext. Inside, she works to make Yor abandon the marriage voluntarily, since removing her outright carries risk. Her opening jab, asking whether raising a child ever wears Yor down, misses completely; Yor answers that she and Anya genuinely enjoy each other. Fiona is mid-lie about Loid complaining at work when he returns with Anya and Bond, cutting the ploy short.

Loid and Fiona hold a surface-level conversation while mouthing their real exchange, revealing to a stunned Anya that the guest is another spy. Fiona needles Loid about wasting his talents on dog walks and offers to review his tactics, and Anya's mind reading uncovers the truth beneath the criticism: Fiona is hopelessly in love with him and fantasizes about replacing Yor. Yor, remembering the claimed complaints, quietly imagines Loid denouncing her and remarrying, and blames no one but herself. When Fiona mentally drafts a minute-by-minute training regimen to turn Anya into a machine for collecting Stella Stars, the terrified girl clamps onto Yor, declares her the world's best mother, and hisses at Fiona's attempted bribe of imported cocoa. Moved, Yor vows to work harder for the family, and Loid answers with a smile that Anya's devotion shows she already does enough. Fiona, trained by Loid himself to bury her feelings, recognizes that this particular smile is real.

She excuses herself into the rain, and Loid follows to walk her out. Fiona informs him of their upcoming partnership, grateful the downpour hides her tears, and leaves resolved to prove through the mission that she alone deserves to stand at his side.

Sylvia assigns Fiona to a joint mission with Loid and rebuffs her bid to replace Yor in Operation Strix. Fiona's covert campaign to pressure Yor out of the family fails against Yor's sincerity and Anya's telepathic countermoves. Anya learns Fiona is a spy in love with her father, and Fiona privately confirms that Loid's warmth toward his stand-in family is genuine, hardening her resolve to win him over on the next mission.

Mission 30 runs 29 pages in Volume 5, released July 27, 2020, within the Campbelldon Tennis Arc and adapted in Episode 21. Sylvia and Fiona share the cover.

Small details fixed by the chapter: Fiona's visit occurs around 16:35, and the apartment's interior decorating was Loid's work.