Chapter 32
Usuha Izuki and Amuro Toru got out of the car and began discussing where to go.
"There's a shopping mall upstairs." Amuro Toru said. "Is there anything in particular you'd like to eat, Usuha-kun?"
Usuha Izuki thought for a moment: "I want to eat home cooking."
"Then a family restaurant..."
Usuha Izuki interrupted: "Can you cook? You seemed pretty skilled when you were helping Midorikawa."
Amuro Toru fell silent.
This guy meant he wanted to eat his cooking? Wasn't he afraid of being poisoned? Oh right, this guy really wasn't afraid—he'd probably just treat it like catching a traitor.
Cooking would definitely require space, right? Maybe this was an excuse to investigate his hideout?
To this day, Amuro Toru still couldn't quite figure out what Usuha Izuki's situation was, so he couldn't judge whether Usuha Izuki would proactively do anything from the organization's standpoint.
If you said he wasn't devoted to the organization, that was truly the case—Gin and Vodka couldn't reach him no matter what, and when they finally met, Vodka didn't even dare speak loudly. That cowering appearance made even him, a Japanese Public Security officer, feel somewhat pitiful, reminiscent of poor corporate slaves facing their boss's relatives.
But the organization couldn't possibly support someone with no loyalty who only knew how to freeload, so Usuha Izuki might just enjoy causing trouble while his professional capabilities were still solid. For example, with the manhunt last time—when they rushed over, they actually found that traitor on the second floor of the mahjong parlor, and Gin had sniped him with one shot.
Although this guy Usuha Izuki talked densely and endlessly, giving people headaches, his rambling did contain genuinely useful intelligence. For instance, what they'd initially thought were jokes about being good at navigation and reading people had later all proved true...
This meant he had to seriously consider every sentence Usuha Izuki said, and even rejections required careful consideration of how to refuse: "I've learned a little, but I don't live in Tokyo right now, and cooking requires facilities..."
Usuha Izuki happily interrupted: "No problem! My place is nearby! You can come cook at my house! I've never brought a friend home before!"
Amuro Toru: "..........."
First, I'm not your friend. Second, no one brings a friend home for the first time just to have that friend cook for them.
Although Amuro Toru had no interest in cooking for Usuha Izuki, thinking this was an opportunity to observe his living situation, Amuro Toru found it hard to resist.
Even if Usuha Izuki hadn't been home for a long time, apparently he'd furnished everything well and there were signs of habitation... During their previous cohabitation mission, the safe house couldn't reveal much, but this kind of place where things were arranged purely according to personal preference could provide more intelligence about the inhabitant.
Moreover, from a psychological perspective, people's minds would be more relaxed on their own turf, making it easier to say things they wouldn't easily reveal outside.
So after hesitating for a few seconds, Amuro Toru agreed: "Alright... but don't blame me if it doesn't taste good."
"Perfect, there's a shopping mall upstairs. Let's go buy ingredients. I haven't been back for a while, so the fridge is empty. You can drive later, and I'll give directions."
Amuro Toru suddenly felt something was off: "How do you know I drove here today?"
"Didn't you say you wanted to return my music box? With that outfit, you don't look like you're carrying the music box on you." Usuha Izuki looked puzzled. "This is basic deduction, right?"
"...You're right." Amuro Toru smiled helplessly.
This guy had too many mysteries about him—being paranoid was better than being careless.
Contrary to Vodka's assumption that intelligence officers would dislike each other, and different from how Usuha Izuki was naturally annoying, Amuro Toru actually wanted to build a good relationship with Usuha Izuki this time. Therefore, after determining his goal, he was very cooperative in his actions.
He and Usuha Izuki went to the supermarket in the mall above the parking lot, browsed around like roommates, filled one small basket with ingredients they'd need for cooking, and loaded one cart with snacks Usuha Izuki wanted to eat.
When Usuha Izuki grabbed another case of Sprite, Amuro Toru really couldn't hold back and glanced at the fully packed shopping cart.
"Won't there be no room left?"
Usuha Izuki pursed his lips, picking and choosing in front of the shopping cart, muttering: "It's rare to have someone driving, so I accidentally got too much..."
Amuro Toru: "..........."
Enough, no need to let me know how much of a pushover I am.
System asked: [Didn't you draw a case of Pepsi? Why buy another case when you can't even finish it?]
[I just love drinking Sprite, and I prefer Coca-Cola over Pepsi.] Usuha Izuki said carelessly. [My friend doesn't mind, so why do you have so many opinions?]
System: [...???]
Huh? When you were in Samukawa Shinryu mode, the word "friend" burned your tongue, but now it's no big deal?!
It felt sorry for Hagiwara Kenji!!
Actually, Amuro Toru really had no complaints—even if he did, he wouldn't voice them. Truly professional undercover agents all had such good acting skills—he helped Usuha Izuki carry all this stuff to his car, then drove to Usuha Izuki's house and helped carry everything upstairs.
Fortunately, Usuha Izuki's house was on the second floor.
This was a height where you could escape directly through the window if anything happened, which is why the peripheral member who had secretly investigated Usuha's house could escape through the window before police arrived.
Since the person who called police couldn't determine exactly where the man's screaming had come from, when police came to knock on Usuha's door and found no one home, plus neighbors saying no one had returned for a long time, they assumed the incident hadn't occurred in this room and went to investigate other floors. In the end, they found nothing and brushed it off with the excuse that some man had broken something and was too embarrassed to admit he'd screamed.
This actually made it convenient for the peripheral member to return and restore everything to its original state.
Aside from Vodka, Gin, and that peripheral member, no one knew about this incident—not even the system and Usuha Izuki had noticed.
Usuha Izuki used his key to open the door. Amuro Toru, carrying bags, said he was intruding and walked in first.
Then he was hit with a shock.
Behind him, Usuha Izuki saw him standing there motionless and reminded: "Put the bags down first. They're heavy."
"...Uh, oh, okay."
Amuro Toru closed his eyes in pain, then opened them and mechanically began moving the shopping bags inside, but the scene he'd just witnessed lingered in his mind.
A skeleton playing a pink grand piano... Was this decoration a matter of personal taste, or some kind of twisted humor...
When he finally finished moving all the bags, he found Usuha Izuki standing in the living room with a serious expression.
"What's wrong?"
Usuha Izuki said expressionlessly: "Someone came here and stole my things."
After speaking, Usuha Izuki began calling Vodka.
Vodka had just separated from Usuha Izuki less than an hour ago when he received the call. Just seeing it, he felt nothing good could come of it and didn't want to answer.
But he had to answer. Vodka sighed secretly: "Hello?"
"Vodka, I don't mind you having people monitor my house, but how could you steal my things?"
"...Huh? What did you lose?"
Vodka thought to himself this was bad—they'd been discovered. But that wasn't right! He'd clearly told that guy to put everything back as it was!
"The vase on this cabinet by the entrance isn't mine." Usuha Izuki shook it, and under Amuro Toru's stunned gaze, a giant spider doll fell out of the vase. "And my doll was placed right-side up inside, but someone put it upside down?"
Vodka was speechless. That guy had directly smashed the vase—how would he know if it was right-side up or upside down: "Just one vase? And why do you put dolls in vases?"
"Because it doubles the coziness."
Vodka: "......"
Sorry, I was wrong. I shouldn't ask a psychopath such questions. Maybe in a psychopath's world, vases and spiders are symbols of coziness.
Usuha Izuki was genuinely very upset.
He'd noticed something was wrong as soon as he entered. This vase's position should have provided +10 coziness, but now it only gave +5!
Coming to this alternate world, he'd never had any sense of belonging to this broken world and couldn't possibly feel at home anywhere.
But high coziness attributes could change this psychological feeling and help him relax more.
Yet Vodka's guy had been too careless—taking away his skull rack that added coolness was one thing, but taking his vase!
As he talked on the phone and walked into the living room, he got even angrier: "And my crystal ball from the coffee table, the floor lamp next to the single sofa..."
Vodka hadn't paid attention to what exactly he'd reimbursed before. Now listening to Usuha Izuki list items, he was both confused about how Usuha Izuki had discovered everything—had his subordinate cut corners and not bought identical replacements?—and couldn't help wanting to complain about that subordinate. It was just one spider doll—how had he gotten scared enough to break so many things? Had he been breakdancing in the room?
Vodka promptly apologized. After all, he'd previously admitted to having people monitor Usuha Izuki, so now saying the person who broke into his room wasn't one of his people wouldn't be believable.
"The person checking if you were home accidentally broke things when they went in. I had them buy identical replacements to compensate you. Looks like that guy was trying to fool me. This won't happen again. What compensation do you want?"
Usuha Izuki said gloomily: "I'm completely disillusioned now. I need at least a month before I want to see you people again. I need time to heal the wounds in my heart. Let's talk about work after I recover."
He hung up after speaking.
When Vodka called back, he heard the familiar "phone is turned off" message: "..........."
Wait, didn't this mean all his work today was for nothing?!
He'd finally convinced Usuha Izuki not to disappear and to actually do work, but now everything was back to square one?!
Vodka experienced Gin's usual worries and anger.
—The subordinates were too incompetent! If you can't do it, don't do it—at least don't drag everyone down!!
While he was submissive with Usuha Izuki, Vodka struck hard at his subordinates.
If this subordinate hadn't botched the job, how would he have suffered this humiliation! He couldn't even handle such a simple task—what could he possibly do! Demote him to cannon fodder!!
From the phone's audio leakage, Amuro Toru roughly understood what had happened, but didn't quite understand how Vodka's subordinate could make such a basic mistake: "What were the original items like?"
Usuha Izuki: "Just like this."
Many prizes drawn actually had corresponding products in this world, only differing in their attributes—everything else was identical.
But Amuro Toru was confused after hearing this: "If they're identical, how could you tell they'd been switched? Do you have surveillance cameras at home?"
"No, but I noticed as soon as I came in." Usuha Izuki was indignant. "You wouldn't understand—it's the feeling of knowing something's different at first glance."
Amuro Toru: "..........."
He felt Vodka's subordinate was somewhat wronged, but since it was the organization's people being hurt anyway, he didn't want to speak up for them.
The good news was that sacrificing one of Vodka's subordinates had gotten him important intelligence—unless absolutely necessary, he'd better not try to tamper with things at Usuha Izuki's house. This guy was really overly perceptive.
"I'll go cook then." Amuro Toru sighed. "Where's the kitchen?"
"On the left... I'll show you." Usuha Izuki's mood improved again. "By the way, you still have the receipts for those things you paid for, right?"
"I haven't thrown them away. It's fine, these are thank-you gifts—I voluntarily bought them for you."
"No, that's not what I mean."
Usuha Izuki walked ahead while Amuro Toru behind him couldn't see his expression, only hearing him say:
"I mean you can take them to Vodka for reimbursement—just say it was preliminary investment to probe me and gather intelligence about me."
Amuro Toru's mind, which had relaxed due to Usuha Izuki's childish behavior, tensed up again: "...I wasn't thinking that way."
"You could think that way." Usuha Izuki said. "Let's talk about intelligence you can use to report back... Are you quite interested in the Police Academy?"