Chapter 2
As the saying goes, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
By analogy, Asuka Kazuya believed that viciousness is mutual.
As an undercover agent for the Special Abilities Division, and a PTSD sufferer worried about someone beating him to the back door, Asuka Kazuya planned to eliminate these members of the evil criminal organization.
So the question became:
First, if he fought three at once, it would probably cause a big commotion.
Second, he needed to frame them for something before eliminating them.
While being disliked, Asuka Kazuya was also psychologically plotting his assassination plan.
Anyway, the Black Organization had been secretly targeting members of their Special Abilities Division these past few years. Asuka Kazuya, unaware of the Whiskey Trio’s true identities, thought it wasn’t excessive to retaliate.
“Bourbon’s face isn’t a book, you know.”
Vodka, who had been observing from the side, suddenly interrupted his train of thought.
“Kazuya, you’ve been staring at him for ten minutes.”
Asuka Kazuya’s scheming smile froze on his lips.
Everyone in the organization was sharp, except Vodka, who he could talk to without worrying about information being extracted.
“Vodka.”
Thinking of this, Asuka Kazuya crossed his arms, sat in the middle of the sofa, and started cosplaying some important figure.
Vodka was momentarily intimidated by this serious scene, then watched as the other opened his mouth to complain relentlessly.
“Are we good friends?”
Vodka: “…”
Vodka: “I… I guess?”
“Useless.” Asuka Kazuya said profoundly. “Even if you say so, I still hate you.”
Asuka Kazuya, who didn’t want to do this job at all, prayed every night for the early demise of everyone in the organization so he could reunite with his respected Ango-senpai.
But Vodka didn’t understand.
Vodka, fully aware of Asuka Kazuya’s true abilities, fell silent, subtly understanding Big Brother’s desire to throw him far away.
Why! Why?!
Wasn’t he just hating on Bourbon a moment ago?! Wouldn’t this make him the unlucky one now?!
Calm down, calm down, you can do it, Vodka!
But then again, Kazuya’s psychological attacks surpassed “You’re worse than Sherry, a mere child” for first place in the organization’s most annoying person rankings last year. He and Big Brother didn’t actually care whether Kazuya trained the newcomers, they only cared about whether they could deflect the damage.
“So that’s it.”
Bourbon, gradually understanding, raised an eyebrow, his mood calming down. He crossed his arms and stated his deduction with interest.
“I was wondering why Rum suddenly transferred us back.”
“Calvados, the people here—or maybe just Gin, he probably finds you too annoying, lowering his mission efficiency, so he wants to divert your attention.”
“…”
Asuka Kazuya looked up, staring into Bourbon’s eyes. His crossed arms loosened, and he became expressionless after hearing this.
“As if,” he snorted. “I’m not even that sad.”
Really, they made it seem like he really liked Gin. Please, he was doing it for the mission, okay? Who wears a black trench coat and hat in the middle of summer without taking them off? That hateful Gin who stole his promotion opportunity was really pretentious.
“No, I still need to take a look.”
Asuka Kazuya, now fully intending to get revenge on Bourbon, snatched the mission file from Vodka’s hands. He flipped through a few pages, finding that it was nothing more than having him assist the Whiskeys in catching a traitor who had leaked information.
Asuka Kazuya thought the traitor’s name looked familiar.
He thought for a moment, belatedly realizing that this was the Public Security undercover agent he had deliberately let escape from the dungeon a few days ago.
It was an order from his contact executive officer. Asuka Kazuya had perfectly accomplished everything, and incidentally framed another member of the organization.
Completing the mission while also eliminating a criminal, Ango-senpai would definitely praise him if he knew.
Scotch couldn’t help but feel that little stars had suddenly appeared behind the gloomy Calvados. He seemed to have thought of something happy, his little dog tail wagging like a blur.
“Calvados.” Scotch paused for a moment, finally interrupting the other’s fantasy. “As far as I know, the Port Mafia is also after this person.”
They perked up!
Not just a little dog tail! Little dog ears too!
Scotch thought he might be hallucinating, but he maintained his lukewarm attitude, carefully observing Calvados’s every move.
“Port Mafia?” Asuka Kazuya repeated. “Why?”
“Probably because he’s an undercover agent from Public Security.” Rye smiled, ignoring a certain Public Security officer’s death glare. He calmly stated the facts he had investigated. “Matsumoto Yamato was in a relationship with a member of the Port Mafia before joining the organization. He extracted quite a bit of information from them, supposedly causing tens of millions in losses to the Port Mafia’s dealings.”
Asuka Kazuya blinked, suddenly understanding why the executive officer had risked having him let the other party escape.
What a resourceful talent for fighting crime!
Thinking this, Asuka Kazuya’s expression became very serious.
He nodded and started blabbering in front of Bourbon and Scotch: “I knew it, these cops are so bad.”
There were too many things wrong with that statement, so Bourbon didn’t comment.
But he turned his head, directing his words at his “partner”: “How come I didn’t know you investigated this, Rye? Rum told us not to act alone before.”
“I’m not the only one who investigated privately.” Rye, with a clear purpose, turned and calmly countered. “Bourbon, you left the base for two hours last night. Leaving privately during a mission, someone who didn’t know better might think you leaked the information.”
Bourbon suddenly smiled: “You were watching me?”
Rye also smiled: “Isn’t it normal to care about your partner’s whereabouts?”
Left and right, Asuka Kazuya looked back and forth, finally letting out a “Whoa.”
“Enough.”
Scotch coldly interrupted them. The young man in the hood raised his deep blue cat-like eyes.
“Now is not the time for infighting.”
They had to find the traitor, Matsunaga Yamato, before the Port Mafia, otherwise the Port Mafia might use this opportunity to pry out information about the organization.
Everyone was very clear on this point, including the Port Mafia.
Only Asuka Kazuya wasn’t concerned at all.
He slammed the mission file shut and said, “I’m not doing it.”
Vodka: ?
Scotch: ?
“Wait, Kazuya.” Confused, Vodka tried to salvage the situation. “I thought you said you hated them just to tease the newcomers.”
“What does that have to do with them?”
As Asuka Kazuya spoke, his gaze shifted to Bourbon, who was still bickering with him.
“You should have investigated it, right? The person who was sent to get ahead of us.”
Bourbon narrowed his eyes, surprised that the other party could guess this.
So he really was deliberately playing dumb just now.
“The time was too short.” Bourbon said. “I only saw that guy once.”
“That’s a good thing for you.”
Asuka Kazuya’s tone was casual, tossing the information in his hand aside.
“Bourbon, if you get inexplicably sold out by him, I’ll burn a dollar for you every year.”
Dazai Osamu.
This name haunted most people in the underworld like a nightmare.
Asuka Kazuya originally had no particular feelings about his achievements, but after discovering that the person in the cell next to his might be Dazai Osamu, he tried to eliminate him.
That was a year ago.
At that time, seventeen-year-old Asuka Kazuya was sent to take over the mission of a certain unlucky fellow. He pretended to be a hostage in that dark and damp dungeon for half a year, having nothing to do every day but chat with Dazai next door.
The two fake hostages cursed their bosses every day for being inhumane, snarking at each other, and sometimes even playing chess in their minds.
On the day the mission ended, to create chaos and to better carry out his assassination plan, Asuka Kazuya took advantage of the confusion to release all the hostages except Dazai Osamu, then pointed his gun at him.
But clearly, Dazai Osamu had the same idea.
Touched by [No Longer Human], unable to use his ability, Asuka Kazuya lay on the ground unable to move.
When the Black Lizard reported to Dazai Osamu, Asuka Kazuya, understanding in his heart, stared at the ceiling. He was losing consciousness from blood loss, viciously cursing the other party in his mind for eating instant noodles without seasoning packets.
Then Dazai poked him awake with his bandaged hand.
The young man’s eyelashes lowered, the curve of his lips ambiguous as he tucked his bloodstained golden hair behind his ear.
“See you next time, Kazuya-kun.”
“If you survive, that is.”
He would blast the evil Dazai to death with a cannon sooner or later, Asuka Kazuya gritted his teeth, thinking that even mutual destruction wouldn’t be excessive.
“So you’re scared?”
“You’re the one who’s scared.”
“Are you?” Bourbon raised an eyebrow. “So you’ve been tricked before?”
Bourbon’s expression remained unchanged as he effortlessly laid out the cruel truth to Asuka Kazuya.
“Like the Port Mafia member you just ‘whoa’-ed at, who was deceived by Matsumoto Yamato?”
Asuka Kazuya: “…”
Although he didn’t know what was so annoying about him, Bourbon seemed quite annoying overall.
And was it like that? Something seemed off.
Asuka Kazuya tilted his head, not noticing Gin, who had witnessed the whole scene from the second-floor corridor.
After all this teaching, still no brains.
Gin, who had just returned from reporting, looked at Asuka Kazuya with eyes so dark they could drip water. He remembered the half-dead state the brat had been in when he went to retrieve him. With Asuka Kazuya’s unguarded scream, he grabbed his golden head and once again unilaterally dragged him into the small dark room.
Asuka Kazuya: !
Asuka Kazuya: “Big Brother! Who made you angry again, Big Brother!”
The Special Abilities Division undercover agent, eighteen-year-old Asuka Kazuya, despaired at the thought of his daily self-criticism essays.
He didn’t even bother writing reports to the executive officer, conveying messages through abstract doodles, but with Gin, he had to write a book a day.
Asuka Kazuya couldn’t understand. Holding a pen, a gun pressed against his head, he felt heartbroken, thinking that Gin was just like Chief Taneda, who would clutch his chest in joy whenever he saw him—
Probably going through menopause.
