Mika Shirogane

Mika Shirogane grew up in Osaka collecting broken locks, the daughter of a locksmith who encouraged her obsession and a stage carpenter who wanted those hands pointed at something respectable. She studied mechanical engineering until an escape room company hired her to repair a safe; she fixed it, redesigned the whole room, and dropped out to join them. Her mother called it a waste of talent. The argument hardened into years of silence. At twenty-four Mika is lead fabricator at Labyrinth Osaka, indispensable and precise, but two years ago a rival copied her mechanism and she sabotaged it the night before judging. She has never told anyone.