Chapter 27
Discord among children often stems from flawed parenting. Back when Rum was in charge of Asuka Kazuya, he was summoned by the Boss for questioning because this kid offended ten people a day. Therefore, even though he was a weapon he had personally trained, Rum happily opened a bottle of champagne when he heard that he could hand Asuka Kazuya over to Gin.
Now the Boss couldn’t say he hadn’t trained him well.
Now it was Gin’s turn to suffer.
Rum enjoyed a whole year of leisure, listening to his subordinates’ reports about Gin’s blood pressure rising to 200, often secretly rejoicing at his wise decision.
Then Asuka Kazuya presented his shocking “Boss is the mole” theory.
“Do you also think so, Rum?”
After hearing Asuka Kazuya’s deduction, the “Boss,” identified as the mole, didn’t immediately show any signs of anger. He asked Rum this question in a calm, synthesized voice.
Even if there was no substantial loss, the matter of using Asuka Kazuya’s ability for profit was still a thorn in Karasuma Renya’s heart. He didn’t mind his subordinates being a little clever, but it was a different story if Asuka Kazuya himself discovered it.
It took a lot of time to appease that child. Karasuma Renya listened to his nonsense for two hours last time, finally concluding that “it’s all Rum’s fault for not raising him well from the beginning.”
Look at Lambo from the Vongola next door.
Look at Nakahara Chuuya from the Port Mafia next door.
Every time Karasuma Renya heard about their resumes, he couldn’t help but call Rum over for a lecture.
What was so difficult about teaching Calvados? They could just create a weakness for him, like the relationship between Sherry and Miyano Akemi. If they controlled the latter, wouldn’t Sherry have to obey?
“O-Of course not,”
Faced with the Boss’s question, Rum answered sincerely. He made a mental note, deciding to settle the score with that Calvados kid later.
Karasuma Renya chuckled strangely.
“Miyano Akemi is dead,” he said. “When are you planning to tell Sherry this news?”
“Curaçao is watching her,” Rum answered quickly. He lowered his head, bowing respectfully. “Before Sherry finishes her recent research, I’ll prepare a double for that woman.”
This statement sounded reasonable at first glance, but Karasuma Renya didn’t think Miyano Akemi was really dead.
This happened right after Tequila nullified Calvados’s ability, it was hard not to suspect that someone within the organization was leaking information, creating a coincidence to clear someone’s suspicion.
“I remember many organizations besides the Port Mafia wanted to contact that child.” Hearing this, Karasuma Renya slowly added, “This should have happened before Gin took over him, why didn’t you report it?”
Rum paused, realizing what the Boss was trying to probe.
“Calvados has no reason to leave the organization.”
This was his first explanation.
“To prevent this kind of thing, I took the necessary measures a long time ago.”
This was his second explanation.
In fact, when Rum said, “Please give me some time,” Karasuma Renya had already lost his patience.
One Gin, one Bourbon.
In Karasuma Renya’s opinion, these were the only two people who could remain calm under Asuka Kazuya’s psychological attacks.
Unfortunately, Bourbon hadn’t been in the organization long enough, Karasuma Renya didn’t intend to trust him.
Karasuma Renya sighed, pressing a button on his chair.
It was a robotic double. Karasuma Renya looked at Rum through the camera for a long time.
To be precise, he looked at the shadow behind Rum for a long time.
Gin, also called over for a lecture, stood there, watching this farce coldly.
“How’s the list of moles coming along?” Karasuma Renya asked him.
“The same as what Calvados said.” Gin lowered his eyes, taking two steps forward, standing beside Rum. “Someone leaked the information, opening that list requires special fingerprint authentication.”
Whose fingerprints it was still needed further investigation. Infiltrating the Metropolitan Police Department wasn’t easy. If it weren’t for the current lack of trust, this wasn’t Gin’s job.
“Should we let him continue contacting Bourbon?” Understanding the Boss’s intention, Gin looked up and asked bluntly.
Several crows on the windowsill spread their wings, their feathers gleaming in the moonlight. A few of them landed on the back of the chair, tilting their heads, as if trying to understand the meaning of Gin’s words.
Karasuma Renya smiled: “Why not?”
Whether Bourbon was trustworthy didn’t matter. The previous members driven away by Asuka Kazuya were all failures. In Karasuma Renya’s opinion, the three Whiskeys this time were full of promise.
“If that child can make friends, it’s a good thing for us.”
The camera with the red dot gradually dimmed. Before Karasuma Renya ended the conversation, he looked at Gin for a moment, his tone like a request, and also like a warning.
“Gin,” he said, “don’t disappoint me.”
Unlike the heavy atmosphere in the mansion, the people at the base, completely unaware of what had happened, were still engaged in an intense game of Mafia.
Vodka: “I think it must be that Tequila guy, he’s being pushed too hard by Kazuya, weren’t the previous traitors caught using this excuse?”
Chianti: “Don’t blame everything on Calvados, a traitor is a traitor. He’s not even on a mission with Gin at this time, Vodka, your own suspicions haven’t been cleared yet.”
Vodka: “I’m suspicious? What am I suspicious of?”
Ireland: “Calvados said he didn’t use his ability during the car accident, what’s wrong with your driving skills? Don’t tell me you deliberately crashed the car to find a chance to pass information to the police?”
Vodka: “If you put it that way, no one has an alibi, wait, it’s something that can be done with a phone call, why do we need an alibi here?”
Vermouth: “You mean we should also check the call records?”
“I refuse,” Chianti said. “If you’re so capable, why don’t you go check Gin’s?”
Vodka wanted to defend his Big Brother, but Gin’s actions at the Metropolitan Police Department were a secret. He held back for a moment, finally swallowing his prepared words.
Calvados glanced at him.
“Chianti, isn’t your phone fixed? Don’t let personal feelings get in the way.”
Chianti snorted: “I think you’re only saying that because of Vermouth’s suggestion.”
Despite being world-class killers, they were now bickering. If it weren’t for the Boss’s rule against killing each other, these people might have already drawn their guns to see who was tougher.
“We don’t have a reason to report our movements in the first place,” seeing that the situation had calmed down a bit, Ireland spoke first. “Everyone’s actions here are secret, if there really is a mole among us, it would only leak information.”
Korn nodded: “Ireland is right.”
“Besides, he’s been burning paper in the alley recently, cursing Calvados to die. If he had a way to contact the police, he would have reported Calvados and had him arrested.”
Ireland: “…”
Vodka: “…”
Vodka looked at Ireland with sympathy, as if saying, “Brother, you might as well just admit you’re the mole.”
Ireland fell silent, not knowing how he had offended Korn. Under Asuka Kazuya’s gaze, he took out a pen and paper and started writing his will seriously.
[My dear old mother in America, if I don’t come back, it’s all because of a man named Coca-Cola…]
“Stop looking,” Bourbon interrupted, kindly stopping his companion’s actions. “Calvados, don’t you need to go back to your room and sleep?”
Asuka Kazuya, eating snacks, responded with a “hmm” upon hearing this: “It’s getting exciting, go back to sleep yourself, Amuro Tooru, remember to wake up in five hours for the mission.”
Vodka became alert.
What was their relationship? Going back to sleep together? They weren’t high school students anymore, needing someone to accompany them to the restroom.
With his rising blood pressure, Vodka was about to ask what methods Bourbon had used to deflect the conflict when he heard Bourbon ask, “Is it about me queuing for five hours to buy concert tickets for you again?”
Vodka: “…”
Vodka looked away: Oh, never mind.
Part of Bourbon’s missions were directly assigned by Asuka Kazuya. After experiencing a series of things he had to do to clear Rum’s suspicion, Bourbon was now indifferent.
Anyway, it wasn’t him who went personally. Public Security had recently assigned him a few subordinates, and Bourbon thought this was a good time to train them.
“About Miss Airi’s matter before,” Asuka Kazuya replied to Bourbon’s question without looking back, nonchalantly, “The Theos people have arrived.”
Tanaka Airi was currently under protective custody by Public Security. Bourbon had even visited her yesterday. The woman, wearing a breathing mask, insisted on seeing Calvados before revealing everything.
This was part of the negotiation tactic. Before fulfilling her request, Public Security had to gather more information.
Bourbon lowered his eyes, observing Asuka Kazuya’s actions: “Then how will you explain it to the Metropolitan Police Department?”
“What’s there to explain?” Asuka Kazuya shrugged. “I wasn’t absent from work, Superintendent Adachi said a cold is considered a work-related injury, so he specifically gave me a day off tomorrow.”
Bourbon: “…”
Bourbon: Actually, he just doesn’t want you to cause trouble.
“Oh, right,” before Bourbon could speak, Asuka Kazuya suddenly remembered. “I introduced Rye to them as my older brother, so you and Rye are brothers now. Rye seems to be a bit older than you? To avoid any slip-ups, why don’t you just call him ‘Big Brother’ with me?”
Bourbon: “…”
He would rather eliminate Rye than call him Big Brother.
Bourbon was expressionless, thinking that his previous strategy of not letting Calvados and Rye interact was indeed correct. They had only been together for a while, and Calvados already had so many bad ideas.
“I understand,”
However, in front of Asuka Kazuya, Bourbon still maintained the composure of an undercover agent. He decided to stabilize the situation here and settle the score with Rye tomorrow.
“So it’s just the two of us? As far as I know, the remaining Theos members are all ability users.”
“Artificial ability users,”
Asuka Kazuya corrected him.
“Although I don’t really care about the term, you better not say that in front of other ability users, they have quite high self-esteem.”
Bourbon continued to be expressionless: “Chasing after people with paintballs is a sign of self-esteem?”
Asuka Kazuya choked, unusually speechless.
“Whose side are you on?”
Ignoring Chianti and Ireland, who had already started arguing in the distance, Asuka Kazuya turned around resentfully.
“Amuro Tooru, you should be on my side, fighting against Dazai with me.”
“You can do that kind of thing that invites retaliation on your own.”
Bourbon smiled, politely refusing.
“Didn’t you say before that it was a good thing for me that I didn’t see Dazai?”
Asuka Kazuya pondered. He turned his head, continuing to stare at Chianti in the distance, thinking that Bourbon’s words made sense.
“Fine.”
Bourbon lowered his head, hearing his agreement.
Asuka Kazuya sat on the sofa, his expression looking troubled from this angle.
“Sorry, I forgot that my friends are all fragile.”
This sentence might have been sincere, but coming from Asuka Kazuya, it sounded annoying.
“I need to develop some sustainable friends.”
Bourbon: “Speak normally.”
Asuka Kazuya: “I need to develop some strategic partners who won’t be killed by Dazai.”
Bourbon: “…”
Bourbon remained expressionless, feeling that their relationship was a bit strange.
One would stay up all night with a rifle and a sniper scope, his eyes bloodshot from staring, the other would take a taxi in the middle of the night, going through all the trouble just to electrocute the other from his bed to the floor. These two probably knew that the other’s vitality was like that of an unkillable cockroach, so they interacted with each other without regard for others.
Maybe they should join forces.
Bourbon thought.
These two together might be able to annoy all the black organizations in the world to death with their methods.
Dazai Osamu actually felt quite unlucky recently. It wasn’t because of Asuka Kazuya, but because Nakahara Chuuya’s last mission had ended, and his next mission would keep him in Yokohama for a month.
“Now even the air is annoying.”
Dazai Osamu propped his chin, sitting on a shipping container and sighing.
The young man looked listless. If it weren’t for the surrounding gunfire, passersby might have thought he was a pitiful child kicked out of his home.
“Hey! I heard that!”
Nakahara Chuuya, currently stepping on an enemy, turned around and gritted his teeth at the slacking Dazai Osamu.
“Who wants to be with you?! Bastard Dazai!”
Dazai Osamu, scolded, was expressionless. He turned his head, pointing at Nakahara Chuuya, and ordered Hirotsu Ryuro beside him: “Go find Kazuya, I want Kazuya to curse him.”
…You’re thinking of him now?
Hirotsu Ryuro sighed. He had just heard from Ozaki Kouyou this morning that Dazai Osamu had also been having a paintball fight with someone last night.
The deep hatred between these two originated from the incident a few years ago when Dazai Osamu almost succeeded in harming Asuka Kazuya. Hirotsu Ryuro didn’t know why, but these two didn’t fight properly. They looked like enemies who wanted to kill each other, but in reality, they both held back.
“Sorry,” Hirotsu Ryuro replied. “I don’t know his current whereabouts.”
Dazai Osamu frowned, bored by the serious answers from those around him.
He looked away at Nakahara Chuuya in the distance, who had no time for him: “Where else could he be? I heard the Theos people secretly crossed the border yesterday, he’s probably on a mission with that gloomy face.”
Hirotsu Ryuro thought for a moment about who the gloomy face Dazai was referring to was.
“Amuro-kun? His information gathering ability is very impressive.”
There it was again, siding with outsiders.
Dazai Osamu glanced at Hirotsu Ryuro beside him, recalling what Ozaki Kouyou had told him this morning.
Not only did they have a grudge against Kazuya and the others, but Theos also had a grudge against the Port Mafia. It was a crucial time to obtain the ability business license. Ruling out the possibility of directly asking Public Security for the person, to avenge his dead subordinates, he could only start with the smuggled remnants.
“I’m going to do what Kouyou-nee asked me to do.”
Thinking of this, Dazai Osamu lightly jumped down from the high ground, tilting his head to avoid a bullet.
“If Chuuya finds out, tell him I’m working hard.”
The young man waved his hand, one hand in his pocket, looking nonchalant.
Hirotsu Ryuro didn’t stop him: “Are you going to play with Asuka-kun?”
Dazai Osamu: “Nope.”
Hirotsu Ryuro: “I understand, I’ll explain it for you.”
The promising youngsters in every organization these days were all very young, Hirotsu Ryuro often felt like he was also raising children.
But compared to Dazai Osamu, Nakahara Chuuya was relatively less troublesome.
“Working?” Nakahara Chuuya snorted, walking over after dealing with some enemies. “I think he’s gone to play with that Coca-Cola.”
Hirotsu Ryuro choked, thinking that Nakahara Chuuya was past the age of believing everything others said, feeling a slight headache.
“Asuka-kun’s mission conflicts with ours, in a sense, Dazai-sama is indeed working hard.”
Nakahara Chuuya, who was instructing his subordinates to clean up the mess, paused, turning around and repeating Hirotsu Ryuro’s words with a strange expression: “Asuka?”
“That organization uses alcohol-based names to address each other. If I remember correctly, Asuka-kun’s codename should be Calvados.”
“…That’s not what I meant,”
Faced with Hirotsu Ryuro’s serious answer, Nakahara Chuuya was a bit embarrassed.
“Sorry, I just thought of someone I know—is that Coca, no, Calvados very troublesome?”
Hirotsu Ryuro briefly recalled the things he had done since joining the industry.
After pondering for a moment, Hirotsu Ryuro adjusted his wording: “Not very troublesome, it’s just that he’s very lucky, so besides Dazai-sama, basically no one can catch him.”
Hirotsu Ryuro wanted to say something else, but saw that Nakahara Chuuya was standing there, not intending to continue the conversation.
The young man’s brows furrowed, as if recalling something from a long time ago.
But even so, the copper bullets stopped 5cm away from Nakahara Chuuya’s subordinate. Nakahara Chuuya simply raised his hand, and the bullets flew back along their original trajectory at twice the speed.
Then came the man’s screams.
Nakahara Chuuya listened to his subordinate’s thanks, but what he recalled was his argument with that person.
The golden shadow slumped listlessly at the corner of the table, asking why he wasn’t allowed to go out.
Nakahara Chuuya took out the first-aid kit, saying it was because he was an idiot who would be used by others for a piece of bread.
[“…Wow, that’s so mean!”] Then a protesting hand reached out, and Nakahara Chuuya watched the shadow angrily raise its head. [“But I predicted the winning lottery numbers for them, weren’t they happy?”]
Nakahara Chuuya was also very young at that time.
He was picked up from the streets by that person, so he naturally felt that protecting him was his mission.
[“That’s why I said you’re an idiot.”]
With a face like that, and a useful ability, that guy seemed to unconditionally trust everyone in the slums. After seeing him running back with a fever again in exchange for food, Nakahara Chuuya finally couldn’t help but explode.
[“I’m not angry,”]
Nakahara Chuuya said.
[“But don’t use your ability casually next time, understand, Kazuya?”]
He hadn’t told anyone.
Nakahara Chuuya joined the Sheep for that person.
He had originally intended to raise him properly. Once he saved enough money, Nakahara Chuuya would take him out of the slums.
[“Of course he’s dead!”]
But when the knife pierced his body, Shirase, faced with the questioning, said in despair.
[“That guy overheard us talking about you, and he angrily said he would go back and tell you. There was no other way, we actually liked him quite a bit, but that guy couldn’t swim, he accidentally fell into the water and never resurfaced.”]
[“So, isn’t it your fault, Chuuya? You were the one who brought him here, that guy really trusted you.”]
For a moment, Nakahara Chuuya couldn’t control his dark impulses.
If he was still alive…
If that guy was still alive…
“Do you know his full name?” Nakahara Chuuya suddenly asked.
He looked up at Hirotsu Ryuro, a cold expression like that of an ordinary mafia member on his face.
“Appearance, characteristics, speech habits, anything is fine.”
Hirotsu Ryuro was a bit puzzled as to why Nakahara Chuuya suddenly asked this. Even if it was to avenge the Boss, he wouldn’t personally take action, right? Besides, Mori Ougai himself didn’t seem to mind the offense, even happily talking about his childhood with Elise.
“Golden hair, about this long… I didn’t pay close attention to his eyes, probably green? Maybe it’s a side effect of his ability, Asuka-kun doesn’t look like a mafia member, he seems a bit malnourished.”
“Their organization conducted many experiments on him, so his hand was bandaged that day.”
Nakahara Chuuya’s anger came without warning.
Cracks spread across the concrete floor as he used his ability. Almost the moment he heard the name “Asuka Kazuya,” Nakahara Chuuya understood what had happened.
Tachihara’s words, Kouyou-nee’s words—it was natural that they didn’t know the situation, but Dazai Osamu was also present the day Shirase spoke.
“Do you know him too?” Unlike the other frightened subordinates, Hirotsu Ryuro only glanced at the floor, asking his question.
After a long while, Nakahara Chuuya responded.
His voice was low, his cobalt blue eyes suppressing his emotions.
“It’s more than just knowing him.”
Hirotsu Ryuro watched him lower his eyes, slowly taking off his bloodstained black gloves.
“Using his ability to escape pursuit, I personally taught him that.”
