Chapter 32
If it weren’t for the Boss’s orders, Gin wouldn’t have bothered with him. The reason was that Asuka Kazuya had learned the skill of snitching from Vodka, calling the Boss for every little thing. Like the kitchen incident, Karasuma Renya didn’t even think about it, just saying, “Let him be if he wants it.”
Of course, Gin didn’t tell Asuka Kazuya the Boss’s reply. After all, Calvados was the type to push his luck. If they agreed this time, it wouldn’t be long before a perfectly good base turned into a team-building resort.
Initially, Gin still held a tiny bit of hope for the other members of the organization besides Asuka Kazuya, until Tequila wrote in his self-criticism essay that he wanted to resign and become a stand-up comedian, because he found it quite fun arguing with Asuka Kazuya, and besides, if he became a comedian, Calvados wouldn’t chase him and cause him trouble.
Having already boarded the plane to Europe, Gin was furious upon seeing this essay.
“I didn’t pollute anyone’s mind,”
Asuka Kazuya, lying dead on the training room floor, retorted.
“It’s their lack of willpower, they should reflect on their own problems!”
“And!” He sat up, somehow producing a megaphone. “It’s too much to forbid others from talking to me! This is workplace bullying! A moral decline! A distortion of human nature!”
Most importantly, Asuka Kazuya had already complained about this. But the Boss didn’t indulge him like before, only saying, “Gin must have his reasons.”
If the conversation ended there, Asuka Kazuya could understand. After all, he wasn’t really fighting for anything, he just couldn’t stand seeing others having a good time when he wasn’t. But the Boss paused for a moment, then said, “If you really can’t take it anymore, you can ask Bourbon to pick you up.”
What did it have to do with Bourbon?
Asuka Kazuya was wary, feeling that the Boss and Gin were setting a trap for him.
“Why don’t we talk about the mole Vodka mentioned before?”
The topic changed so quickly that even Gin couldn’t help but glance at him.
“What, you’re not using your lack of strength as an excuse now?”
Asuka Kazuya slowly got up from the floor: “Anyone would be exhausted after climbing a mountain five times in one day.”
Under the guise of physical training, Asuka Kazuya didn’t want to climb after the second time. As soon as he sat down, a bullet landed at his feet. Asuka Kazuya looked up, silently meeting the gaze of Gin, who was sitting leisurely in a helicopter.
That damn Gin, he must have known he couldn’t use his ability now, so he dared to take a helicopter. To prevent him from randomly using his ability when he was unhappy, the helicopters at the Japanese base were almost abandoned.
Gin snorted, scoffing at Asuka Kazuya’s excuse.
“You’re just too weak.”
Who would take a car to cross the street?
Gin believed that this was all because Rum spoiled Calvados too much in the beginning, making him develop the habit of freeloading rides to work, which in turn worsened his physical condition.
It had become even more excessive recently.
Since joining the Metropolitan Police Department, Asuka Kazuya had been shirking the organization’s missions. There weren’t any situations where he needed to run and jump to avoid danger at the police department, he just sat in the office all day.
“…We’re discussing who the mole is right now,” Asuka Kazuya said dissatisfiedly. He turned off his megaphone and turned on the ventilation. “You’re very suspicious, Gin, you always change the subject whenever I mention this, don’t tell me you’re actually the biggest mole?”
Gin: “…”
This was Gin’s umpteenth time enduring Calvados’s psychological torment today. He closed his eyes, knowing what would happen if he went along with Calvados’s words.
Discussing moles with Calvados was equivalent to slow suicide. Gin didn’t have this lesson the last time he heard him and Rum discussing how to deal with the mole, until Calvados said that the organization having so many moles was because of bad feng shui, suggesting they burn incense and pray to Buddha, or even kidnap a few monks to perform a ritual for them.
They weren’t even dead yet, what ritual?!
Recalling this, Gin changed his strategy this time: “Didn’t you say you’re the mole?”
Asuka Kazuya remained expressionless: “I was joking, you have no sense of humor.”
“Then what do you want to ask?” Gin observed his movements. “Since when were you interested in moles?”
Asuka Kazuya crossed his arms, speaking seriously: “When I called the Boss today, he said Bourbon could pick me up anytime. I thought about it carefully, Bourbon hasn’t been in the organization for long, the Boss saying that must be because you always mention Bourbon in front of him.”
Gin narrowed his eyes, not refuting his slander, wanting to see what this guy could deduce.
However, Asuka Kazuya slapped the table, a confident smile on his face.
“You don’t have a grudge against Bourbon, so you definitely weren’t badmouthing him. Based on my rigorous deduction, there’s only one possibility–”
“Do you want me to give Bourbon to you? How is it? Did I hit the mark? You must be trying to slander Bourbon as a mole, and then take advantage of his distress to drive a wedge between us.”
“I’m telling you, you can forget it, I don’t want Vodka as my partner, I didn’t read the entire Sherlock Holmes series for nothing!”
Gin was expressionless, suspecting he read a pirated version of Sherlock Holmes.
Good news, Bourbon did have some value to Calvados.
Bad news, after spending time with Bourbon, Calvados’s brain had deteriorated further.
Come to think of it, he might also have a problem with his brain for wanting to hear Calvados’s deduction.
“It has nothing to do with Bourbon,”
Briefly wondering if his thinking had also been affected by Calvados, Gin’s expression darkened, getting straight to the point.
“Do you really have to wear Bourbon’s listening device every time you talk about the mole?”
Asuka Kazuya didn’t expect Gin to discover this. But he snorted, having become accustomed to speaking unreasonably: “What do you know? I learned this from the police, to leave criminal evidence, so no one can falsely accuse me later.”
Should he call the police?
Gin didn’t bother arguing with him about this, nor did he tell him that the police would put his wanted poster on TV if he disappeared for a few more days.
But this was a good thing for the organization. It would prevent Calvados from being overly sympathetic and getting injured again for some police officer ABC, damaging the organization’s interests.
“Okay, it’s off now, can we talk?”
Seeing Gin’s silence, Asuka Kazuya cooperatively removed the listening device.
“I know you secretly went to the Metropolitan Police Department a few days ago, what did you find there?”
“A file.”
Gin stated the facts indifferently, subconsciously testing Calvados’s reaction.
Asuka Kazuya: ?
Asuka Kazuya: “Wow, the Boss asked you to get the list, and you went to look at someone else’s file? And you say I’m slacking off, aren’t you also slacking off?”
Gin’s blood pressure rose again.
A vein throbbed in his forehead, but he had nothing to refute. Because he hadn’t reported this to the Boss after returning, it wasn’t related to his mission, noticing that file was just Gin’s intuition as a killer.
If there was no important information, the police wouldn’t have bothered to encrypt a list of police academy graduates.
Thinking of this, Gin glanced at Asuka Kazuya again.
Besides him and Rum, there was also Calvados who had access to all the information and could allow the police to anticipate the organization’s actions and prepare accordingly.
Gin didn’t believe Calvados was a police officer.
But this guy’s brain was problematic, it wasn’t impossible for him to be turned or tricked.
“Your phone, hand it over.”
After so long, Gin finally caught something.
A gloved hand extended towards him. Asuka Kazuya looked up, meeting Gin’s eyes.
“If you keep playing dumb, you’ll go back to climbing mountains.”
“Calvados, I remember you have two phones.”
Five days had passed since Asuka Kazuya’s disappearance. In the First Investigation Division office, Superintendent Adachi repeatedly studied the surveillance footage. The restored video was blurry, someone must have tampered with it before they obtained it. The only thing that could be confirmed was that Asuka Kazuya retreated to the window and then, without warning, caught Makino, who had been thrown from upstairs.
In the eyes of ordinary people, this was of course a good deed of saving a colleague.
But Superintendent Adachi had many things to consider, one of which was why Kato could anticipate that Makino would be thrown down.
According to the police officers who escaped from the building, Kato should have known that Makino was attacked by something invisible. But even though he couldn’t see, the young man’s method of intercepting the attack was still very skillful. Superintendent Adachi frowned, unable to explain this with the current information.
Coincidence? How could there be so many coincidences in this world? If Kato’s luck was that good, he would have made a fortune just by buying lottery tickets.
“There’s still no sign of Makino waking up?”
“Yes,” the waiting officer lowered his head, showing unwillingness at this outcome. “We can’t contact Director Kato from the Ministry of Internal Affairs either. I think in this situation, we should apply for a search warrant and pursue both of them with all our might.”
The one treating Makino was a famous surgeon in Tokyo. He also expressed disbelief that Makino was still alive, after all, all of Makino’s organs had been damaged, and a bullet even passed through a major blood vessel—an ordinary person would have stopped breathing in less than two minutes.
Before the police arrived, only Kato himself was with Makino.
Adachi Yuhei stood up, making his guess.
“You can go back first,” he said. “I need to talk to Matsuda and Hagiwara.”
“But…”
“Directly suspecting a police officer without concrete evidence would ruin his career prospects.”
Superintendent Adachi looked up, interrupting the officer.
“I’d like to ask, why didn’t you bring Makino out with you when Kato went over there?”
The officer opened his mouth, finally clenching his fists silently.
The answer was that he was too scared.
He hadn’t thought too much at the time, only wanting to find backup, until Kato stopped him at the door and asked him where Makino was…
“Sorry,” he said. “I’ll call them in now.”
Although they weren’t from the same division, within the Metropolitan Police Department, only Matsuda Jinpei and Hagiwara Kenji had more private interactions with Kato.
Adachi Yuhei rubbed his forehead worriedly, looking at their files.
Graduates of Onizuka’s class at the police academy, the files of the two classmates were heavily encrypted, even he didn’t have the authority to open them.
“Superintendent Adachi?”
Hagiwara Kenji entered first, looking like he had just returned from a mission, his bomb suit half-removed.
Matsuda Jinpei, carrying his helmet, scanned the room as soon as he entered.
A living person disappearing, Matsuda Jinpei naturally noticed. But matters of the First Investigation Division wouldn’t reach those outside the task force. Superintendent Adachi didn’t say anything, and his understanding of the sniping incident that day was limited to TV reports.
“I heard someone in your division was injured?”
“Just ask directly if it’s Kato who’s injured.”
Superintendent Adachi sat back in his chair, not bothering to beat around the bush.
“It’s not that brat, it’s Makino who’s injured. I called you two here to ask if Kato has contacted you recently.”
“Little Kato’s phone has been off for a few days,” Hagiwara Kenji replied, observing Superintendent Adachi’s expression. “Someone answered once at first, but there was no sound from the other end, not sure if it was an accidental press or something.”
Adachi Yuhei’s expression became serious, immediately thinking of the worst possibility regarding Kato’s disappearance.
That organization, which committed such a crime against Makino, took Kato away right under their noses before their backup arrived.
Then the only source of information was the hat-wearing young man who arrived at the scene first and the person who called himself “Amuro Tooru.”
Adachi Yuhei had been thinking about this for days, finally recalling his name.
It wasn’t Amuro Tooru at all, when he awarded him the graduation certificate before, it clearly said Amuro Tooru.
However, no matter how much he pestered the National Police Agency, they wouldn’t admit to the existence of Amuro Tooru.
Then he would settle for the next best thing.
Adachi Yuhei thought.
Matsuda and Hagiwara couldn’t possibly be tighter-lipped than the National Police Agency.
However, just as Adachi Yuhei asked if they were classmates of Amuro Tooru,
The two exchanged glances—
Hagiwara Kenji: “I don’t know him.”
Matsuda Jinpei: “Never heard of him.”
Hagiwara Kenji: “But what does this Amuro Tooru have to do with little Kato?”
Matsuda Jinpei: “Were they also involved in the sniping incident a while ago?”
Hagiwara Kenji: “Why aren’t you saying anything? Could Jinpei-chan be right?”
One after another, Adachi Yuhei couldn’t help but roll his eyes listening to them.
“Didn’t you just say you don’t know him?” he said. “If you don’t know him, why are you so worried? Or do I look like a bad guy? Keeping it a secret from me.”
Hagiwara Kenji: “…”
The young man sighed, compromising.
“What about Zero?”
“Same as Matsuda said.” Adachi Yuhei turned the computer, and Amuro Tooru’s face from the restaurant that day immediately appeared on the screen. “I suspect he and Kato are on a secret mission together, it should be related to this attack.”
Perhaps noticing the camera, Amuro Tooru was wearing a hat that day, only half of his face visible from the surveillance angle.
Even so, Matsuda Jinpei still recognized him as the guy who punched him in school.
“I understand what you mean,”
Hagiwara Kenji watched the footage, saying seriously after a long silence.
“But we haven’t been in contact with Zero since graduation.”
Superintendent Adachi hummed indifferently, not surprised by this.
“Public Security said someone secretly broke into the archives a few days ago. Although there are no clues yet, if the intruder found something, Kato and Amuro’s current situation would be very dangerous.”
“You two be careful too, inform me immediately if anything happens.”
“And then?” Matsuda Jinpei suddenly asked. He met Adachi Yuhei’s gaze directly, asking the question.
“If they’re confirmed to be in danger, will the Metropolitan Police Department take action?”
Adachi Yuhei couldn’t answer.
Theoretically, he couldn’t answer this question either.
“Let’s just say, we rarely mobilize a large police force for one or two undercover agents.” The man’s voice was calm as he stood in front of the police emblem behind him. “So for safety reasons, to prevent undercover agents from acting on personal feelings, generally speaking, police officers undercover in the same organization don’t know each other.”
“I don’t know the relationship between Amuro and Kato. You should also know that, as of now, the best-case scenario is that after the operation ends, Amuro secretly takes him back.”
Of course, these were just comforting words.
Adachi Yuhei knew very well that with such serious injuries, Kato couldn’t be completely fine.
“Can’t the technical department locate them?” Hagiwara Kenji took a deep breath, calmly analyzing the situation. “Even a rough location would be good. Little Kato answered my call four days ago, we should be able to find the signal location from then, right?”
“We already tried,”
Superintendent Adachi shook his head.
“Locating isn’t that simple, that kid’s phone has something installed on it, the signal jumped between several cell towers, and finally ended up in Russia.”
Being overly cautious was sometimes troublesome.
The more Adachi Yuhei thought about it, the more contradictions he found in Kato.
That kid was definitely playing dumb, he would beat him up when he found him.
“Why can’t we contact this person?”
Lost in thought, Adachi Yuhei turned around to see his mouse in Matsuda Jinpei’s hand.
The curly-haired officer was a man of action, directly zooming in on Nakahara Chuuya’s figure in the surveillance footage.
“He’s not a police officer, right? There seems to be information about him in Makino’s statement.”
Adachi Yuhei: ?
Adachi Yuhei: “How do you know he’s not a police officer?”
Matsuda Jinpei: “Kato immediately turned his head when he first saw him. If this guy was a police officer, that kid definitely wouldn’t have that expression.”
“Besides, every accessory on him is expensive, and it’s summer, but he’s still wearing gloves when he goes out. Only someone trying to hide hand characteristics would do that, or…”
Matsuda Jinpei paused for a few seconds.
“Or someone who would get their hands dirty when acting. In some murder cases, criminals also do this to avoid leaving fingerprints.”
“But combined with his attire, it’s more likely he’s a mafia or yakuza member.”
Wait, how did a mafia member get involved?
Did this mean that he, a superintendent, not only failed to prevent his subordinate from getting injured, but also let a mafia member escape right in front of him?
Adachi Yuhei was speechless, wanting to resign.
And according to Matsuda Jinpei, Makino’s statement was also meaningless. What mafia member would actually write their real address in a police statement?
Adachi Yuhei had a splitting headache. He called his subordinate from the door and asked him to take the surveillance footage to the technical department for further analysis, to see if there were any registered mafia members in the database that matched this person.
No, wait, didn’t Amuro also give a statement?
Adachi Yuhei hesitated. He pulled up Makino’s statement and dialed the number in front of Hagiwara Kenji and Matsuda Jinpei.
Why not try his luck…
What if it really was a real number…
The other end rang a few times. Just as Adachi Yuhei sighed, thinking no one would answer, there was a slight click.
“I’m not buying insurance, thanks.”
Amuro Tooru was quick, politely saying this before hanging up.
Adachi Yuhei blinked, not understanding what had happened to this number.
However, Matsuda Jinpei was even faster. The young man, with a gloomy face, snatched the phone from Superintendent Adachi.
“Who told you to buy insurance?! You don’t answer other calls, but you answer this one?!”
Having been plagued by eight hundred telemarketing calls a day because of Calvados, Amuro Tooru was yelled at by his former companion as soon as he pressed the answer button, leaving him baffled. He looked at the phone screen again, confirming that the contact name was indeed that of an insurance company.
When did his phone have Matsuda’s number?
No, wait, when did his phone end up in Calvados’s hands, and why was Matsuda’s number labeled as an insurance salesman?
“…Matsuda?” Amuro Tooru glanced at Scotch beside him, turning on the speakerphone as he put his phone back on the dashboard. “How did you know my number? Could it be…Kazuya told you?”
Matsuda Jinpei rolled his eyes: “What ‘could it be’? Have you forgotten what you wrote in your statement?”
Amuro Tooru fell silent, receiving a suspicious look from his childhood friend.
It wasn’t him! How could he do such an unprofessional thing?!
“That must have been Kazuya’s doing, I wrote a fake number.” Amuro Tooru added, “Did something happen at the Metropolitan Police Department? Sorry, I’m currently…”
“Someone broke into the archives at the Metropolitan Police Department a few days ago, you know that, right?” Matsuda Jinpei said in a deep voice, telling him directly despite Superintendent Adachi’s attempts to stop him. “Is Kato okay? I saw he was bleeding a lot.”
Amuro Tooru stepped on the brakes, swallowing the words “I’m a bit busy.”
He recalled how Asuka Kazuya crushed the listening device a few minutes ago, not knowing the situation there either.
“You really became friends with him, huh?”
Matsuda Jinpei: “…What do you mean ‘really became friends’?”
Matsuda Jinpei: “Although that guy is a bit annoying, a bit clueless, and a bit crazy,”
“He’s still very serious sometimes.”
Amuro Tooru chuckled, almost able to imagine Matsuda Jinpei’s expression as he said this.
“Hey, are you mocking me?” Sensing Amuro Tooru’s meaning, Matsuda Jinpei said angrily. “You haven’t answered my question yet, that kid…”
[“I don’t know.”]
The young man’s downcast expression in the apartment that day was vivid in his mind.
[“I don’t know what I’m doing, and I don’t know what’s the point of it all.”]
[“But! Bourbon! I also have friends!”]
His green eyes were bright. Amuro Tooru sometimes felt that Asuka Kazuya really was like a little bird in the sunlight. It was like when you opened your hand, even if your palm was pecked until it hurt, you would still indulge him hopping around in your hand.
The only person whose whereabouts were unknown a few days ago at the base was Gin.
If Kazuya removed the listening device because of this…
Anyway, if Kazuya couldn’t escape, he probably couldn’t either.
Simply hiding wouldn’t work, the way to obtain first-hand information was to take the initiative.
“Ah,” Amuro Tooru looked up, continuing Matsuda Jinpei’s words. “Although Kazuya is a bit childish and a bit clueless in some aspects, he has helped me a lot. That guy is an idiot, sometimes very smart, sometimes not even knowing why others asked him to get along with me.”
His grayish-purple eyes lifted, Amuro Tooru naturally changing direction.
“I’m not mocking you,” Amuro Tooru said, the Mazda making a sharp turn on the road. “After all, to me, Kazuya is…”
A junior? A friend? A partner?
Amuro Tooru’s eyes were momentarily blinded by the sunlight, recalling why Calvados targeted him when he first arrived at the Japanese base.
It was supposedly because they both had golden hair.
Amuro Tooru couldn’t help but chuckle.
“There’s no need to worry about him, that guy’s spirit is very good. But if you see him in the future, please emphasize the importance of life to him.”
Matsuda Jinpei: “Why don’t you say it yourself?”
“Just like Hagiwara-neesan telling Hagiwara to be careful when driving, did he listen?”
Amuro Tooru raised an eyebrow, hanging up the phone after saying that.
Matsuda Jinpei’s expression worsened.
Hagiwara Kenji was curious, asking what Zero had said.
Matsuda Jinpei walked out, his tone seemingly calm: “He showed off how he’s closer to Kato than we are, basically saying Kato is like his younger brother.”
Hagiwara Kenji blinked.
What younger brother, older brother? Weren’t little Kato’s three older brothers all scumbags?
He watched Matsuda Jinpei drive the car out from the parking lot, getting into the passenger seat after realizing.
“Where are we going?” Hagiwara Kenji asked. “Did Zero tell you the location?”
“No,” Matsuda Jinpei snorted. “But I more or less guessed it, he’s probably driving, I heard the sounds of the newly opened shops nearby.”
Everyone in Onizuka’s class was a Sherlock Holmes.
Hagiwara Kenji shut up, praying that his childhood friend would remain calm when he saw those two.
Forget about Zero, little Kato was still injured.
He looked very fragile, one punch might kill him.
