In the Mass Effect universe, not everyone is a soldier, mercenary or a biotic superstar. Master thieves, hackers and infiltrators still have a place, and the best thief around is a woman named Kasumi Goto.

Kasumi is a chaotic neutral sort of character, finding thrills in stealing from rich and powerful people simply for the pleasure of success. She has a virtuous streak, though, such as her willingness to pick up stray orphans and help them find a new and better life. Eventually, though, she had the tables turned on her, and she needed Commander Shepard's help to retrieve stolen memories.

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Best in the Business

Kasumi Goto is quick to inform Commander Shepard that she is the galaxy's best thief, not the most prominent. Besides, fame and repute would actually work against her in a way. Her early life is largely unknown, but at some point, she partnered with a fellow thief named Keiji Okuda. They became friends and allies, often performing heists together and falling in love in the process. Earlier in her career, Kasumi had a gimmick of leaving a single rose in place of whatever she had stolen (often rare art pieces), but she stopped doing that when she met Keiji. At some point, they decided to steal from a powerful crime lord, Donovan Hock, on the world of Beckenstein.

Kasumi and Keiji were air-dropped onto the premises, and all was going well until Kasumi heard Keiji cry out on their personal comm system. Kasumi overpowered the guards and found Keiji mortally wounded. She couldn't get him out of the estate in time. Reluctantly, and with Keiji's encouragement, Kasumi fled, vowing to return to make things right. Keiji had a rare and valuable "graybox" memory storage device in his brain, and Kasumi would need to retrieve it somehow before Donovan Hock could crack it open first. She needed an ally.

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Beckenstein and Beyond

Kasumi was on the Citadel when she indirectly met Commander Shepard. To speak to Shepard, Kasumi hid nearby while hacking a nearby advertisement screen, and she used it as a live video chat app. In this manner, Kasumi briefed Shepard on her mission, and Shepard agreed to travel to Beckenstein with her. Kasumi then returned the ad screen to normal and promised to be on the Normandy by the time Shepard was done with shore leave.

En route to Beckenstein, Kasumi invited Shepard into a rented aircar and elaborated a great deal on her mission. It's a heist, and Shepard would have to go in wearing formalwear rather than guns blazing. Shepard and Kasumi were to pose as guests, then break into Donovan Hock's art vault underneath the estate and retrieve Keiji's graybox intact. Of course, Kasumi also snuck along Shepard's weapons, armor and gear inside a statue that was (on the outside) a gift for Mr. Hock.

Kasumi is tense the entire time, and not because of minor setbacks during the heist. The memories inside Keiji's graybox, whatever they are, contain vital information that could shake up the entire galaxy, which Donovan Hock hoped to steal and sell. However, the graybox also contains Keiji's memories, and Kasumi is desperate to see her deceased lover one more time even in that form.

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Shepard and Kasumi fight Mr. Hock's Eclipse security forces, destroying Hock's gunship on the estate's landing pad and killing him. Kasumi views Keiji's memories, but the happy reunion turns sour when Keiji urges his girlfriend to destroy the graybox to maintain peace in the galaxy. Kasumi is distraught because doing that means losing the last bit of Keiji Okuda. Shepard can choose whether Kasumi finishes the job or keeps the graybox and goes 100 percent off the grid to protect its contents.

Months later in Mass Effect 3, if Kasumi survived the Collector mission, she will appear on the Citadel again. She has been using Keiji's memories to aid a Salarian Spectre named Jondam Bau, and it turns out Keiji knew about an Alliance black ops mission in Batarian space that involved spying on Batarians who were studying Reaper tech. Hanar operatives know about this, and Kasumi is helping Jondam Bau stop them. Those Hanar are indoctrinated, as it turns out, and they nearly shut down their homeworld's automated defenses to allow the Reapers in. Kasumi stops the Hanar responsible, even faking her own death to maintain peace. If anyone else knew about the Alliance operation in Batarian space, war between those two species would have followed. Kasumi, however, wasn't going to let that happen. She later goes to assist in the Crucible project, enticed by the idea of stealing advanced tech "no one will miss" along the way.

Finally, Kasumi can get her happily ever after if Keiji's graybox is still intact and if Shepard chooses the "synthesis" ending. In that case, Kasumi will be seen holding hands with a hologram of Keiji, meaning that they can be together once again. Otherwise, Kasumi is simply seen holding the graybox as a personal treasure.

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