Operation "Strix"

SPOILER WARNING! This article may contain major plot details for the SPY x FAMILY manga. This article may contain unmarked spoilers. Read at your own risk.

Operation "Strix"
Japanese	オペレーション〈梟 (ストリクス) 〉
Rōmaji	Operēshon <Sutorikusu>
Start	Chapter 1 (Manga) Episode 1 (Anime)
Objective	Stop the National Unity Party from starting a war between Westalis and Ostania
Targets	Donovan Desmond Damian Desmond Melinda Desmond
Location	Ostania

This article is about the Operation called OPERATION STRIX. For information on the episode, see Operation Strix.

Operation "Strix" (オペレーション〈梟 (ストリクス) 〉, Operēshon <Sutorikusu>^?) is "Twilight"'s current assignment as a spy for Westalian Intelligence. The overarching goal of the mission is to maintain peaceful relations between Westalis and Ostania by probing Donovan Desmond for any seditious activities.

To get close to his target, Twilight takes on the identity of "Loid Forger" and creates the Forger Family, procuring a wife and a child to infiltrate Eden Academy, an elite private school that Donovan's sons attend. Anya Forger, Loid's daughter, also secretly helps her father carry out this mission to achieve world peace.

History

General

Creation

A dossier on Donovan

Over ten years after the end of the second East-West war, a Westalian diplomat was killed alongside his driver in a car accident in Ostania. This incident awakened a new conflict between the two countries, as Westalian Intelligence believed the death was an assassination orchestrated by Donovan and his political party and further suspected that they were attempting to instigate a war. To prevent this, WISE created Operation Strix, making Donovan its number one target.

The Forgers

The newly minted family

After completing his previous assignment, Agent "Twilight" is tasked with Operation Strix. His orders are to stop Donovan from harming the truce efforts between the Ostanian and Westalian governments by getting close to him and probing for any seditious activities. However, since Donovan's only public appearances are at private events held by the prestigious Eden Academy, Twilight must marry and have a child who can enroll at the school, giving him one week to do so.

To this end, Twilight takes on the alias of a psychiatrist "Loid Forger," securing himself an apartment in Berlint, Ostania, and adopts Anya from a rundown orphanage with little paperwork. After Anya passes Eden's admission exam, he receives a letter saying both parents must be present for the family interview. During his search for a wife, Loid encounters Yor Briar, an office clerk working at сity hall, at a tailor shop, and the two decide to form a partnership out of convenience and later agree to marry to protect their secret identities.

Eden Enrollment and New Briefing

Sylvia briefs Loid

After Yor joins the family, they prepare for the Eden Academy interview. On the day of the interview, the Forgers make a great impression on housemaster Henry Henderson, who lends a hand in getting Anya into the school. After Anya is successfully enrolled, Loid meets with his handler, Sylvia Sherwood, who briefs him on the second phase of Operation Strix, with the new goal of making Anya an Imperial Scholar. During Anya's orientation, Loid thinks over his further actions, unaware that his daughter, being a secret telepath, learns about the existence of his new Plan A and Plan B. Inspired by her father's job, the girl also makes this operation her own, deciding to help Loid meet with the "main boss" and achieve world peace. However, on the same day, she hits Donovan's second son, Damian Desmond, thus almost putting the entire operation in jeopardy and makes Loid believe that his relationship with the Desmonds had soured before it even started.

First Meeting with Donovan

Loid meets Donovan

Sometime after Anya's unsuccessful attempts to establish a relationship with Damian, Loid finds out that Donovan will attend Eden Academy's semi-annual event, the Imperial Scholars mixer. The event is too well-guarded by the SSS agents, leaving Twilight's best opportunity to meet Donovan as "Loid Forger." Loid finds another chance to meet his target when he learns that Donovan will be meeting with Damian after the mixer. After Anya inspires Damian to go through with meeting his father, Loid takes the opportunity to meet Donovan.

Donovan's dark worldview

Loid tries in every possible way to interest Donovan in himself, carefully considering his words and actions, but Desmond politely dismisses any of his attempts to get close to him and get into his manor. Only for a brief moment does Loid manage to get a reaction from his target when the conversation turns to parenting. Donovan reveals that he believes no one can truly understand each other and that he considers even his own children strangers, which shocks Damian. Loid responds by saying that it is important to compromise with others to gain an understanding, then compliments Damian's school assignment on Donovan's work as the party chairman, which he also praises. Donovan decides to wrap up the conversation, but not before remembering Loid's name and saying he enjoyed their colloquy. Loid thanks his target for sharing his time with him, then takes his leave after briefly chatting with Damian. As Loid leaves, he and Donovan quietly glare at each other.

Loid concludes that although he was unable to learn anything worthwhile, he gained a first impression of his target and his relationship with Damian, concluding that the closer the two become, the better the odds of success are for Plan B. He also decides that laying the groundwork for the future is his next best strategy.

Theft of Secret Files

WISE's stolen files on Operation Strix

For many months, Loid does not have the opportunity to meet his main target again, but Yor is lucky to meet his wife, Melinda Desmond, and thus, Loid creates a Plan C, to Anya's secret displeasure. However, Anya's activity in helping her father begins to prove fruitful. Following the arrest of the Red Circus members after a failed bus hijacking, she becomes the owner of two Stella Stars, and when it seems that she is getting closer to Damian, she creates her own B Plan. While things seemed to be moving along slowly for Loid, a crushing incident occurred that once again put the entire operation at risk. A report came from Westalis that Winston Wheeler, an Ostanian mole, stole many top-secret files, including one regarding WISE's operations in Ostania. Winston manages to cross the border between the countries while evading capture and lays low in Shellbury, where his meeting with SSS agents will occur. Loid and his other co-workers are sent there to detain Winston and retrieve the documents to avoid the collapse of Operation Strix.

The WISE agents retrieve their files

While Loid keeps the SSS from meeting Winston, Agent Nightfall (also known as Fiona Frost) and her teammates capture Winston and retrieve their files after a successful ambush. However, Winston, who is also a source of valuable information, escapes into the sewers, where he finds and beats Loid and almost unmasks him. Fiona pursues Winston and defeats him in a rage but injures herself while doing so.

The files for the VIP patients

Before Fiona can kill Winston, Loid reawakens just in time to stop her, after which he and the arriving WISE Agent exit the sewers and leave Shellbury while evading the SSS. The captured Winston is then sent to WISE HQ for interrogation, thus avoiding the leakage of information about Operation Strix through him. Meanwhile, Fiona is hospitalized in Berlint General Hospital due to her combat injuries, and her beauty and traumatic condition prompt the hospital's chief medical director, who is infatuated with her, to give her the medical files about VIP patients, which Loid had requested from him earlier. Following this, Loid begins working with VIP patients.

First Meeting with Demetrius

Demetrius Desmond is Donovan's first son, for whom he still continues to come to the Academy despite his paranoia. WISE and Loid knew about him since the beginning of the operation, but for some unknown reason, they did not use the boy as a way to get closer to his father. Later, Loid became interested in the opportunity to find out more about his entire family thanks to Yor's acquaintance with his mother. Anya also knew about the existence of Demetrius through Loid and Damian's thoughts, but she did not pay attention to him because they had not had points of contact for a long time.

Anya finds out about Demetrius's dissociation from his thoughts

After the award ceremony for the middle schoolers following their term final exams, Anya and her friends witness a conversation between Damian and his older brother. Although Demetrius does not pay any attention to the other children, they begin to actively gossip about him and his school achievements. Impressed by this new acquaintance, Anya decides to read his thoughts to become the same genius. However, to her big surprise, while the teenager was in her field of vision, Anya could not read his thoughts except for the rare moments when she was able to recognize his inability to understand Damian, their father, and other people.

This cold and creepy meeting strengthens Anya's notion that Damian's relatives are "such weirdos." Nevertheless, still impressed by Demetrius's success and filled with the desire to strive to become a genius like him, she returns home and begins to imitate his behavior and even his gaze, much to Loid's exhaustion as he once again fails to understand her.

First Meeting with Melinda

"In truth, my husband... is an alien."

Thanks to a recommendation from Yor during the Winter Sheep Festival, Melinda visits Loid at the hospital for a consultation. Wanting to get any useful intel for Operation Strix out of her, Loid welcomes Melinda with open arms but quickly notices her hesitation to talk about her feelings. After some encouragement, Melinda shares her desire to change herself for the sake of her and her family. However, the conversation takes a turn when Melinda asks if Loid believes in aliens, leading her to tell him that she suspects Donovan is an alien. Loid is dumbfounded and suspects Melinda is being abused, which she denies. Melinda explains that sometime between their sons' births, Donovan suddenly changed into his current personality, which she believes was due to an alien taking him away and assuming his identity. To back this conclusion, Melinda says that, through their little interactions, she and Demetrius have observed that Donovan can read minds. Melinda admits to her intense fear of this alien, which has made her unable to protect her sons from it.

Hearing Melinda's situation, Loid offers a solution: a peaceful conversation with Donovan. He explains that by doing so, Melinda may be able to discern the true nature behind her husband's change, and he even offers to help as a neutral third party. However, Melinda is skeptical about the idea. At the end of their session, Loid asks to see Melinda again for another consultation and gives her a notebook to record her experiences with Donovan, expressing his desire to help resolve her problem. Melinda's revelation about Donovan lingers in Loid's mind as he contemplates the possibility of telepathy actually existing. Meanwhile, Anya reads his mind and is shocked to learn that the "evil superboss" might have the same powers as her.

Plan A

Overview

• Objective: Make Anya Forger a member of the Imperial Scholars
• Performers: Anya, Loid Forger; Yor Forger (supporting)
• Interferences: Anya (unwillingly; periodically), School Rivals, Donna Schlag

Loid imagines Anya as an Imperial Scholar

Shortly before Anya's orientation at school, Loid receives a new order from Sylvia, which becomes known as Plan A. This is the first and main plan to achieve the goal of Operation Strix. Loid is instructed to ensure Anya becomes one of the special Eden students known as the Imperial Scholars. This elite group is part of the narrow circle of communication of Donovan Desmond, who periodically attends school events with his first son, Demetrius. For a student to become an Imperial Scholar, they must earn eight merits called Stella Stars and avoid getting eight demerits called Tonitrus Bolts.

According to WISE's planning, Anya is expected to earn eight merits within four months. Aware of Anya's lack of great talents, Loid does not believe in the success of this plan but continues to help and support his daughter in achieving this elite status, rejoicing and being proud of her school achievements. With the help of her telepathic abilities, Anya also finds out about Plan A and actively tries to fulfill it. However, the plan becomes jeopardized twice after Anya receives two Tonitruses, and even she begins believing she cannot accomplish this goal. After some motivation from Henry, Anya resumes her efforts to work hard to one day become an Imperial Scholar.

First Tonitrus

Although Anya was eager to fulfill Loid's wish to make influential friends, she was bullied by Damian and his friends, Ewen and Emile, on their first day at school. Unable to stand the insults, the girl punches the bully, which is why Henry was forced to intervene. Showing ingenuity, Anya pretends to hit Damian while protecting Becky Blackbell, which earns the admiration of her new acquaintance and the respect of Henry. However, to Loid's shock, although Henry was able to commute the punishment, he was unable to cancel it completely, and Anya gets her first Tonitrus.

Interclass Dodgeball Match

Anya's first attempt to get a Stella Star fails

This match is Anya's first attempt to get a Stella. After hearing a rumor circulating among the first-year students that the MVP of the game would get a Stella, Anya trains hard with Yor to improve her skills. However, a rival from Wald Hall, known as "Bazooka Bill," gets in her way. Thanks to her telepathy and Damian's self-sacrifice, Anya goes against Bill one-on-one. Despite all the training she did with her mother, Anya delivers a weak throw, and she loses the game to Bill. However, it is revealed that the rumors were false, and no one would have received an award in the first place. Meanwhile, Henry contemplates the idea that Anya and Damian deserve a Stella Star for their joint work during the game, but when he watches them have their next quarrel, he changes his mind.

First Stella

Anya gets her first Stella Star

Loid tries to help Anya find any hidden talents but comes to the sad conclusion that she is not very good at academics, arts, and sports. They decide to try another way to implement their Plan A and get a Stella Star by doing community service, so he takes Anya to the hospital to build a foundation for it. However, Anya's actions only spoil everything, and the nurses eventually lose patience and ask them to leave the hospital. On the way to the exit, the girl telepathically hears a call for help and finds a boy drowning in the pool. Together with Loid, she manages to save the drowning kid, and this heroic act earns her first Stella Star.

The Pastry of Knowledge

Anya eats a "Pastry of Knowledge"

After hearing more school rumors, Anya and Damian become rivals in an attempt to get the last macaron set, a legendary pastry that supposedly contributes to becoming an Imperial Scholar. Because of her charm and sad appearance, the girl manages to get the last macaron and eat it, which, to the surprise of others, charges her with energy for many hours and motivates her to write the quizzes with a fiery passion. However, Anya's results turn out to be as bad as ever. Upset, she returns home and goes to mope in her room, leaving her quiz results for her parents. In her absence, Loid makes the unexpected discovery that, despite spelling mistakes, Anya has a good knowledge of the classical language, but decides to postpone thinking about how it can be used for his mission until later.

Second Tonitrus

Anya receives her second Tonitrus

Donna Schlag, a member of Eden's disciplinary committee who returned from hospitalization, is filled with a sadistic wish to punish everyone for the slightest discrepancy with school standards. Sacrificing her interests to save Damian from this fate, Anya gets her new Tonitrus. Although the girl herself copes with the chagrin quite quickly, Loid does not share her enthusiasm and, upon learning about another obstacle to her mission, falls into a long swoon.

Anya learned from this punishment and briefly became more farsighted so that a similar situation with Donna would not happen again, to which she was given a lesson by Henry to take her time in achieving her goal of becoming an Imperial Scholar.

Second Stella

On the way to a field trip, Anya and her classmates are taken hostage by the Red Circus, who seek to free their political allies. Using her telepathic power as well as her wits and strength of spirit, she prevents the situation from climaxing with their bus exploding and manages to persuade the group's leader, Billy Squire, to surrender to the police. After the incident, she receives her second Stella Star for her heroic actions.

Third Stella and Third Tonitrus

• Anya finds out about her third Stella...
• ...and Tonitrus

1/2

Loid and Anya face a new hurdle as the term finals are fast approaching. Despite being distressed with Anya's academic ability, Loid sees a ray of hope in her Classical Language subject, which Anya appears to be quite good at, and decides to focus on honing it to get the top score and earn a Stella Star. Loid struggles to help Anya study, but the Forgers receive unexpected help from the elderly Authens, their new neighbors. Sigmund Authen, a former university professor with experience in Classical Language, helps Anya study while showing her and Loid the joy of learning. Anya studies hard with Sigmund until the day of the exams. When the exam results are revealed, Anya learns she is the second top scorer in Classical Language but also failed her Math exam, getting both Stella and Tonitrus.

Plan B

Overview

• Objective: Make Anya Forger become friends with Damian Desmond
• Performers: Anya; Loid Forger (supporting)
• Interferences: Anya and Damian

Loid imagines the success of his plan

Believing there will be problems with the implementation of WISE's Plan A, Loid creates a Plan B: "The Friendship Scheme." Shortly before Anya's orientation, he tampers with the school papers so that she ends up in the same class as Damian, Donovan's second son. Loid believes that the friendship between the two kids will ensure close contact with Donovan.

Through her telepathy, Anya finds out about this plan and initially tries to make friends with Damian, but his arrogant behavior pushes her away, and on the same day, angry at his bullying, she punches him in the face. Despite her attempt to apologize to him, Anya could not establish relations with Damian for a long time because of his behavior, their school rivalry, and his secret crush on her, which he aggressively tries to deny.

Dogs

Anya imagines the success of her plan

When Anya fails to impress Damian with her first Stella Star, she makes a new attempt to make friends with him. Having telepathically learned that the second son has a dog, she believes that if she too gets a dog, it will ensure her friendship with Damian and allow their fathers to meet and "achieve world peace." When she returns home, she asks her parents about getting a dog, to which they agree.

While looking for a dog, the Forgers become involved in a terrorist plot to assassinate a Westalian foreign minister in order to start a war between the two countries. The criminals are arrested, and the Forgers end up getting a new family member, Bond. When Anya tries to tell Damian about this news, she ends up wasting his time since she had yet to give Bond a name, and the boy felt that Anya was unfit to own a pet. Later, during their art class, Anya attempts to make a 3D model of Bond to show off to Damian, but he dismisses it as garbage, much to her dismay.

Art Project

Anya imagines Donovan will be impressed with her talent

Although Anya's attempt to impress Damian with Bond failed, she finds another opportunity to get close to Damian. After deciding to partake in an art contest, Damian plans to make a griffin craft from his family seal, imagining that his father will be very proud of him if he manages to create a masterpiece. Anya reads Damian's thoughts and develops her hew scheme: if she helps him make the griffin, she will impress "the boss," which, in turn, will encourage him to meet with her father so that peace will come. Despite her diligence and efforts, Anya only hinders Damian, and, as a result, they lose time and materials to create even decent art. As an apology, Anya gives Damian her paper model to use as another griffin. To their surprise, Henry informs them that their griffins won the contest, but the second son refuses to show it to his father or even tell him about it, making Anya's "Operation Griffin" a failure, to her chagrin.

Handkerchief and Progress

Anya looks forward to her meeting with Donovan

Back at school, Donna Schlag, infamous as "Old Lady Tonitrus," orders the first-year students of Cecile Hall to show her their bags, wanting to scrutinize them for something wrong. While in line, Damian is horrified to discover that he does not have a handkerchief, and this will undoubtedly provide him with Tonitrus. After reading his thoughts and fearing for the safety of her plan, Anya decides to help Damian out. She confidently gives him her handkerchief and fantasizes about how his father will be so grateful to her for saving his son that he will decide to stop the war. Damian managed to avoid a Tonitrus, but Anya herself was left without a handkerchief, which prompted Donna to punish her. Anya managed to read the Old Lady's thoughts about handing over new Tonitrus Bolts for cheating and stopped Damian before he confessed, which saved them both from a new punishment.

Although Anya herself was upset that she was not as ingenious as Loid and received a second Bolt, her elegant gesture ensured Damian's gratitude, and he swore to her that he would repay this debt one day.

Damian's Apologies

Damian's opinion about Anya gradually begins to change for the better when she helps him avoid a Tonitrus Bolt from Donna, but their skirmishes and quarrels still continue due to his inability to give her the promised cake. On the other hand, following Loid's creation of a new Plan C involving Yor and Damian's mother, Melinda, Anya becomes competitive with her mother and hurries to befriend Damian out of fear of getting abandoned in case of their success. This leads to a series of unsuccessful plans for another rapprochement with him, such as "Friendship Crash," saving him from expulsion, or showing herself not afraid of a bomb, which in the end only angered the boy.

Damian apologizes to Anya again

However, after experiencing the shocks associated with the bus hijacking and the arrest of the Red Circus, Damian apologized to Anya for his cruelty toward her and admitted that he and Anya are friends, although he immediately took back his words when she again began asking to visit his house. When returning to school, despite the fact that Damian continues to periodically mock Anya, his friends and Becky notice that he has been "going sweet" on her lately, which he denies. And even when he apologizes for his rudeness, they start bickering again, and the two end up arriving late to class.

Sweets and Big Misunderstanding

Damian gets flustered and Anya gets creeped out

Intending to repay Anya for her help in the previously mentioned incidents, Damian prepares expensive tea cakes to give her but stubbornly tries to do it in private. Anya reads Damian's mind and decides to help, inviting him to meet in the school courtyard. After Damian gets help from Henry in giving Anya the tea cakes, it is revealed that his mother, Melinda, helped obtain the sweets in the hopes that he and Anya will become closer. After Anya has her tea cakes, she tells Damian they can be good friends. Damian misunderstands why she invited him to meet earlier and imagines an exaggerated version of her wanting to be friends with him. Anya gets creeped out when she sees this mental image and takes back her words about being friends.

End-of-Class Gala

Anya imagines the success of her plan

The end-of-class gala is the final event of the school term. Becky's advice awakens Anya's fantasy that she is an amazing dancer who will impress Damian. Seeing a chance to progress with Plan B, Anya invites him to be her dance partner at the party but gets rejected. Loid learns of this from Anya and infiltrates Eden on the day of the gala in the hopes of removing whatever is causing the friction between them. Anya and Damian get invited to dance by other students, but Anya insists on dancing with Damian. As other girls try to compete for the Desmond scion, Damian's friends Ewen and Emile decide to hold a series of tests to see who will be worthy of being his dance partner. As Anya partakes in the competition, Loid backs her up to ensure her victory.

Anya and Damian fight on the dance floor

With Loid's help and her own efforts, Anya passes all three challenges and wins the right to dance with Damian, who also accepts the terms and agrees to dance with her. The dance begins awkwardly, but thanks to Henry's comments, the two begin dancing properly. While Loid is relieved and lets them be, walking away with a smile, Damian remembers their meeting when he learns that Anya had dance practice with her father. They both agree that Loid is a passionate person, and Damian calls Anya's family nice but then asks how she found out personal things about him during the final challenge. Anya confesses her mind-reading abilities to Damian, and her words shock him for a moment, but he quickly comes to his senses and, not believing her, begins to insult her. Angered, Anya completely forgets about Plan B, insulting Damian in response, and the two begin to fight.

The Winter Festival

During Anya's end-of-term break, Loid takes the family to Berlint's Annual Winter Sheep Festival. Anya learns from his thoughts that he has taken them there in the hopes of running into Melinda and progressing Plan C. Reminded of her fears if he succeeds, Anya decides to prevent Loid's plan by promoting her own friendship with Damian, who also came to the festival. Hearing their mutual insults, Loid realizes that the plan is not looking good, and Anya tries to convince him otherwise. Anya, Damian, and Becky attract the attention of the other families at the festival, who rush to express their gratitude for their heroism in the bus hijacking, and Loid is impressed by the connection overload for his mission.

Damian sees Anya's crying face

When Damian's family is also thanked for helping with business matters, Bill compares their families by popularity, angering Damian. Wanting to drive the girls away, he challenges them to a game of ring toss where the losers will have to leave the festival, to which Anya agrees. Loid fears that one of them may leave and considers arranging a tie, but he ultimately decides to just watch the game in his exhaustion. One of Anya's rings accidentally hits Damian in his face, causing a conflict between the children again. And although she tries very hard to win, she loses the game and begins to cry, fearing that Plan B is over. Damian decides to let Anya stay after seeing her crying face, and the group sticks together a bit longer. However, Becky calls Anya into a hall of clairvoyants, which the boys do not want to participate in. Anya forgets about the plan again and goes with Becky, Yor, and Martha to meet fortune tellers, while Loid stays with the rest of the group to get new intel.

Anya requests a reading from Melinda to become friends with Damian

Inside the hall, Anya and Yor run into Melinda, who is posing as a fortune teller. To advance Plan B, Anya asks for a reading so she can befriend Damian. During the reading, Anya perceives Melinda's true feelings toward Damian, as well as her fear of Donovan. After Anya and Yor return from their reading, Becky asks Anya about her love reading. Attempting to make some progress, Anya lies about being told that things would go smoothly if she gets invited to his house, eliciting an angry response from an eavesdropping Damian, whose anger turns to embarrassment when Becky teases him. Loid plans to leave to search for Melinda, but Anya, knowing she has already left, convinces the group to stay together longer, which influences Loid to remain and gain more intel from the adults. At the end of the day, the group splits up as they go their separate ways home. While parting ways with Damian, who comments about Anya's clinging to Yor, the two tell him that he is loved by Melinda, which surprises and flusters the boy. Later, thanks to an earlier recommendation from Yor, Loid successfully makes contact with Melinda, who visits him for a consultation. When he returns home from their meeting, Anya reads his mind and is shocked to learn that Donovan may have the same mind-reading ability as her.

The Second School Term

Anya and Damian end up together in Class F for Language Studies

After the break, the Eden students return to school for the new term. Wanting to investigate Donovan and his ability, Anya asks Damian about his father. However, when his thoughts reveal that he has not seen Donovan for a while, Anya quickly deems Damian useless. After being reminded by Becky that they are now being rearranged into new classes based on the results of their term finals, Anya worries that Plan B will be in danger if she gets separated from Damian, as she got poor grades on almost every test. Much to her relief, however, the two find themselves attending Language Studies in the same class, as Damian's grades were just as poor in the subject.

Plan C

• Objective: Develop Yor Forger's friendship with Melinda Desmond
• Performers: Yor (unknowingly)
• Interferences: Anya Forger; the Shopkeeper (potentially)

Overview

Continuing to comprehend the role of a mother and wife, Yor goes to a department store to buy Anya's cakes and saves a rich woman from falling down the stairs. The lady is very grateful to Yor and invites her to a volleyball game and later to a gathering with her narrow circle of friends in the Lady Patriots Society. During their conversation, it is revealed that Yor saved the former first lady of Ostania and Donovan's wife, Melinda Desmond. When Yor returns home, she mentions this acquaintance to Loid and Anya, which activates a stormy activity in their heads. Loid and WISE knew about Melinda but thought she had little information value due to Melinda distancing herself from her husband and children.

Loid creates Plan C

However, now Loid feels that Yor could be his key to a new path to Donovan and lets Yor continue meeting with Melinda when she asks him, after which he devises a Plan C: "The Mommy-Friends Scheme," which is along the same vein as Plan B. Anya, meanwhile, begins to regard her mother as a rival for her Plan B. While the girl does not voice this displeasure, this prompts her to develop her new battle plan of the friendship schemes where she was going to pull ahead of her mother and befriend Damian first.

Yor secretly asks permission from her employer, the Shopkeeper, to be friends with Melinda. He good-naturedly gives Yor the go-ahead but warns her that she may have problems with her husband because of Melinda's conservative alignment. However, he suddenly becomes gloomy when he learns from Yor that Loid has already met with Donovan and expressed interest in his party.

Meetings

Anya imagines the success of Loid's plan

Despite a brief chance reunion at the charity bazaar, Yor did not have the opportunity to meet Melinda again. Upon learning that the Lady Patriots Society helped organize Berlint's Annual Winter Sheep Festival, Loid takes his family there, hoping to advance Plan C. Anya also recalls her war with Yor and decides to interfere with Loid's plan to promote her Plan B. Loid does not see Melinda anywhere but gets acquainted with her family servant, Jeeves, and the influential parents of other children. Seeing a lot of potential intel, the spy goes with the other adults and boys when the group briefly splits up.

Yor reunites with Melinda at the festival

An unsuspecting Yor lets Loid go while she leaves with Anya, Becky, and Martha into a hall of clairvoyants. The girls split up to see different fortune tellers, and Anya and Yor come to a new fortune teller called Lunaluna☽Selena. Much to Yor's surprise, the woman is actually Melinda in disguise. While Yor learns about Melinda's affinity for the occult and deepens their bond, Anya interferes by asking Melinda to read her fortune so she can befriend Damian. The mention of her son and the consequent realization that he is at the festival affect Melinda as she contemplates her role as his mother. When the visibly exhausted Melinda decides to end the reading and go home, Yor suggests she pay Loid a visit at Berlint General Hospital for a consultation. Despite her aversion to hospitals, Melinda heeds Yor's advice and visits Loid, making big steps for Operation Strix.

B Plan

• Objective: Make Damian Desmond become friends with Anya Forger
• Performers: Anya
• Interferences: Anya (unwillingly); Becky Blackbell (unknowingly)

Anya makes up B Plan

Having become popular after the Red Circus incident, Anya realizes her mistake in Plan B. She understands that earlier, she tried too hard to get into Damian's house, whereas it was necessary to invite him to her house. Anya develops a new plan to impress Damian with her "strong" life as a commoner, which she believes will bring Donovan to her home when Damian comes over to learn more about her family. However, Anya goes too far in bragging to her classmates as she begins lying to get their approval and becomes envious of her mother's strength when Becky brings it up. Suspecting Becky as an enemy spy and a threat to her scheme, as well as being offended by Damian for his rude statements, Anya gets angry and loses sight of her goal as she enters into a new skirmish with Damian.

Neo Strix (Rejected)

• Objective: Fiona Frost in the placement of Yor as the wife role
• Performers: Fiona
• Interferences: Sylvia Sherwood

Neo Strix was a proposed revision of Operation Strix with Fiona replacing Yor as the wife. While Loid, worried about the possibility of Yor leaving the Forger family, agreed that this plan may be sensible, it was quickly shot down by Sylvia, who explained that any significant changes to the mission could jeopardize it and cause them to lose their reach on Donovan Desmond, and she ordered him to keep Yor in her current position. Loid accedes and decides to learn more about Yor before fully advancing Operation Strix.

Trivia

• The name of the operation, Strix, is of an owl. In Greek and Roman mythology, a strix was a bird of ill omen that fed on human flesh and blood. In ancient Greek, strix means "owl."
  • It is noteworthy that the main target of the operation, Donovan, has the same huge eyes as an owl.
• Demetrius is currently the only Desmond who has not been designated as a target by either Twilight or WISE.