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Spy X Family Chapter 81 was released in Shueisha’s Shonen Jump+ Online Magazine on Monday, May 29 at 12:00 JST. In the continuity of the previous chapter, the mangaka Tatsuya Endo finally kicks off a new arc and introduces a new character who is likely to become essential in the arcs to come.
In the previous chapter, Yor and Loid experience a hilarious misunderstanding regarding their relationship, and Yuri’s interference causes Yor to follow Loid. However, Loid and Yuri soon learn of an Ostani double agent on the run from WISE after stealing important information on numerous ongoing operations, including Operation Strix.
Spy X Family Chapter 81 features the Spy Winston Wheeler as WISE and SSS prepare for conflict.
Spy X Family Chapter 81 begins by introducing Winston Wheeler, a former WISE communications officer who was recently revealed to be an Ostanese sleeper agent Fiona talked about in the previous chapter. Twilight and Nightfall are currently traveling to Shellbury in northwestern Ostania with two other ESI agents in order to foil the handover of Wheeler’s sensitive documents to the SSS.
The four WISE agents dress up and arrive at Shellbury. SSS agents, along with Yuri Briar and his superior, also arrive in disguise in the city. Yuri finds it strange that they have to be so low-key in their own country, but is told that the government wants to keep everything under the radar so they can claim plausible deniability if the case blows up.
Spy X Family Chapter 81 then shows Wheeler, who changed his costume and thus was able to spot the WISE agents following him.
Wheeler encounters a disguised Yuri near a designated meeting point and informs him that WISE agents are nearby. He changes the meeting place and Yuri agrees to join him there after confirmation from the SSS hierarchy. At the new meeting place, Wheeler is greeted by a man in a black coat who is presumably a high-ranking SSS officer.
Final Thoughts
Spy X Family Chapter 81 strongly implies that the man who meets Wheeler is Twilight in disguise, as he was seen donning the same black coat earlier in the chapter. There’s just as much chance that Wheeler is also Twilight in disguise, given the similarities between their appearances. However, given that the manga has always used Twilight’s disguises as a deus ex machina for any situation, it would be refreshing for the spy to resolve this conflict in his own skin.
Additionally, Spy X Family Chapter 81 explicitly mentions that Winston Wheeler is not only competent, but well versed in WISE’s modus operandi. He easily detects the three WISE agents except for Twilight, and even recognizes Yuri as a green recruit before talking to her. If mangaka Endo makes Wheeler a recurring character, he could very well become a worthy adversary for Twilight and a seasoned mentor for Yuri.
Yuri Briar isn’t the main obstacle in WISE’s way, but he’s the only one with a personal connection to Loid within the SSS team. The SSS have made it clear that their secondary objective in this mission is to capture Twilight, and no one is more motivated for this than Yuri, who is not only devoted to his country, but also hates Yor’s husband with a vicious passion. .
However, Yuri’s love for her sister may become the only deterrent between Twilight’s unmasking and her incarceration at the hands of the SSS, should Endo indeed choose that path. Yuri’s devotion to his sister’s happiness may set him against the man he suspects of making her happy.
