Chapter 50
Organization members publicly declaring they wouldn't target good people should have been a very serious matter, but when it came to Usuha Izuki, for some reason, it didn't make people nervous.
Even Gin only reflexively got serious for a moment, then as if remembering something, his mouth twitched and his expression relaxed again.
Vodka was even more in a "let me hear what nonsense you can spout" attitude, asking: "Why?"
Usuha Izuki said righteously: "Because someone like me who was forced into prostitution—"
Vodka: "Huh? If your Japanese isn't good enough for idioms, don't use them. Use English..."
Usuha Izuki coughed: "No, I mean, someone like me, an ordinary person forced to join an illegal organization, needs to have some bottom line to stick to, or wouldn't I become just like you guys? I'm a proper good person!"
Everyone: ".................."
What do you mean "just like us"?! What exactly is your self-positioning?!
Morofushi Hiromitsu even felt a sense of black humor.
As a Japanese Public Security undercover agent, to gain the organization's trust, he worked diligently, killing whoever he was told to kill. Even though he was in agony inside, he couldn't openly protest. He could only secretly pass information when the target really couldn't die, trying to get them to change their schedule.
Yet this Organization's second-generation was openly proclaiming not to be like the other organization members—which should include him too.
Judging by actions alone, Usuha Izuki actually seemed more like someone with a police background than he did.
Vodka, perhaps having been tormented by Usuha Izuki too much, had actually developed resistance to his logic. He could even guess the second half of Usuha Izuki's sentences from the first half.
He was too lazy to argue with Usuha Izuki about whether he was forced to join or negotiated to join, since he'd long known this guy especially liked to add drama to himself. So after listening, he just asked with twitching mouth:
"How do you judge who's a good person and who's a bad person? For example, a mayor who contributes greatly to city construction and is deeply trusted by citizens, but privately embezzles and takes bribes. Removing this mayor and replacing him with our person might do a better job..."
Vodka thought Usuha Izuki would answer "I have my own judgment" or "I have good eyesight"—some very subjective criteria.
But Usuha Izuki answered very seriously:
"Through divination."
Everyone: ".................."
Even Gin, who could remain unmoved even if Mount Tai collapsed before him, couldn't help but close his eyes and pinch his nose bridge with a slightly pained expression.
To think he expected Usuha Izuki to say something proper—he really had been staying up too late and his brain wasn't working well.
Morofushi Hiromitsu's hand holding the phone for Usuha Izuki trembled slightly.
He knew Usuha Izuki was absurd, but he hadn't expected him to be this absurd about such important matters. He'd encountered too few mental patients before.
If he had the chance, he'd need to suggest to the Public Security instructors who trained undercover agents to add training for resistance to illogical thinking, to prevent exposure when encountering people prone to going crazy.
At this moment, it was still Vodka with strong immunity who stepped up to save his colleagues who didn't want to or couldn't speak: "Isn't relying on divination too frivolous?"
"What are you saying?" Usuha Izuki was displeased. "If we don't use divination to distinguish good from bad people, what else can we rely on? Nothing else is reliable! After all, if we kill the wrong person, it's easy to get karmic feedback. At times like this, of course we can only ask the gods to judge! You bunch of faithless people can mess around however you want, but I need to take care of my happiness in the next life... Such a legitimate reason—why don't you agree?"
".................."
With that keyword, everyone suddenly understood.
Shocking! They'd thought that Usuha Izuki's usual jingling mess of decorations—crosses, prayer beads, Taoist flowing beads and whatnot—was just him trying to follow trends without understanding anything. They hadn't expected him to genuinely believe in this stuff!
Thinking about it carefully, among people in their line of work, quite a few believed in these things. Groups like the XX-gumi would visit shrines at the drop of a hat, even had shrines at their headquarters, and everyone would burn incense before big operations. Quite a few did charity work too.
The Middle East was indeed more conservative in terms of faith. Yalijiu's financial aid for construction might have been both for relationship-building and genuine belief. It was quite normal for Usuha Izuki to follow suit. As for the lack of devotion, maybe his thinking had become somewhat open after coming to Japan...
Open, but not completely open, so he still believed in these things, just worried the original ones might not work, so he believed in several.
As for whether Usuha Izuki was making excuses to fool people...
Normal people wouldn't make this kind of excuse. Given Usuha Izuki's importance, even if he gave no reason at all and just refused to act, the organization couldn't do anything about it.
Only a mental patient would think this reason was so legitimate, speak so righteously, and expect the organization to understand him.
This behavior suggested Usuha Izuki had probably fallen into his illogical world and couldn't get out.
Everyone now felt that the previous claims about being forced to join and so on were indeed just fooling people—this was Usuha Izuki's real thinking.
Even Vodka, experienced in dealing with Usuha Izuki, didn't know what to say at this point and could only cast a pleading look at Gin beside him.
Gin was a tough guy. He'd almost never regretted anything, because he felt that was an emotion only weak people had.
But now he was starting to regret a little.
Why had he taken that Hakata mission back then? If he hadn't taken the Hakata mission, the Boss wouldn't have had him find Usuha Izuki next, so he wouldn't have been the first to find Usuha Izuki, and the Boss wouldn't have had him continue being responsible...
Gin took a deep breath, pulled out a document and handed it to Vodka, then lit a cigarette in melancholy.
Previously he'd thought as long as someone was capable and wouldn't betray the organization, personality didn't matter. Now he felt maybe they should consider this aspect more, or it would create unnecessary consumption and affect others' efficiency...
Vodka quickly scanned the document and saw it was an assassination list, knowing Gin still hadn't given up on figuring out the principle behind Usuha Izuki's miraculous sniping... Well, the Boss had spoken after all.
But to get Usuha Izuki to cooperate, they could only follow Usuha Izuki's train of thought.
Vodka had no choice but to ask: "What do you need for divination?"
"I want the Boss's photo."
The atmosphere fell silent again.
Morofushi Hiromitsu, who had been restraining his emotions and trying not to show his attitude, now breathed a bit heavily.
The organization's Boss was very mysterious. Even executives might not be able to contact the Boss directly. Very few people had the Boss's contact information. Anyone with eyes could see that the Boss wanted to maintain a mysterious image, rarely appearing before people, and was very cautious about revealing personal information.
He and Zero had been racking their brains to climb up and carefully probe for more information about the organization's boss. No one with a normal brain would so brazenly ask for the Boss's information, let alone casually demand a photo...
Oh, it was Usuha Izuki. His brain wasn't normal, so never mind.
Gin thought the same way.
So after contributing a wave of suspicion values, he seemed to turn off like a faucet and returned to calm.
Unlike those undercover spies who sneakily gathered information indirectly, Usuha Izuki asked too openly. Considering this guy often went crazy, in his logic, this request might be perfectly normal.
So Gin took the phone from the bewildered Vodka who was hesitating whether to speak sternly, and asked calmly: "Are you sure divination requires this?"
"I don't talk to you. Give the phone back to Vodka."
Gin: "..........."
You're still holding a grudge?!
Gin took a deep breath, ignored this trash talk: "You have the Boss's phone number. Ask the Boss yourself if it's okay."
If it were normally, Gin certainly wouldn't want Usuha Izuki bothering the Boss with such trivial nonsense, much less suggest it himself.
But the Boss said he wanted to understand how Usuha Izuki achieved that miraculous sniping. Currently it seemed stuck at this point. Gin hoped the Boss could understand why his mission would fail, but didn't want to explain it himself. Just typing out Botanist's codename made his ears feel like they were having auditory hallucinations. He hoped that after receiving the call, the Boss would understand the difficulty of this mission, or find a way to convince Usuha Izuki.
Morofushi Hiromitsu saw Usuha Izuki fall silent for a moment, then get up and go into the bedroom.
Vodka asked on the phone: "Botanist?"
"...He took his phone into the room." Morofushi Hiromitsu reported.
Vodka was shocked: "He's really going to ask the Boss for a photo?"
Morofushi Hiromitsu hesitated: "Maybe he doesn't want to talk to Gin, so he left...?"
"...If he doesn't come out in ten minutes, go knock and ask."
Morofushi Hiromitsu agreed.
Ten minutes later, Usuha Izuki still hadn't come out, but Gin received an email from the Boss first.
The Boss first consoled him, saying he'd worked hard dealing with Usuha Izuki, then said to make a small sacrifice for Usuha Izuki's superstitions, that it wouldn't affect anything, and hoped he could understand.
Gin: "...?"
No, what exactly did Usuha Izuki tell the Boss?
Just as Gin was thinking, Usuha Izuki came out looking refreshed and sat back beside Morofushi Hiromitsu: "All settled!"
Morofushi Hiromitsu's pupils dilated: "...The Boss really gave you the photo?"
It was that easy?! Then what had he and Zero been working so hard for?!
Before Morofushi Hiromitsu could start questioning life, Usuha Izuki explained: "No, but the Boss helped me find an alternative solution that I think works too."
Morofushi Hiromitsu's heartbeat accelerated uncontrollably: "...What solution?"
Maybe he gave a name... a name would work too... as long as they could get intelligence on the Boss...
"He told me to use Gin's photo." Usuha Izuki pouted. "I'll make do with it. Gin, take a few photos for me later."
Morofushi Hiromitsu, whose heart was pounding: "..........."
Gin, who never took photos: "..........."
Vodka couldn't hold back anymore: "What kind of divination needs other people's photos? Can't you use your own?"
"Of course not!"
Usuha Izuki explained seriously: "This is to let the deceased know exactly who's responsible for their death. I'll divine whether they can rationally understand that it was Gin who wanted them dead, not me, if they die with grievances. Those who understand reason are good people, those who don't understand are bad people."
Everyone: ".................."
It was actually logically consistent... As expected of a mental patient...
Vodka looked at Gin with difficulty, saw Gin nod with a wooden face, and had no choice but to hurriedly say "Let me take photos of big brother first before discussing the mission" and quickly hang up.
Only then did Morofushi Hiromitsu lower his hand that had been holding the phone until it was stiff.
Usuha Izuki also stopped leaning close to him and stood up to stretch: "Really—the Boss is too irresponsible! He wants people killed but makes Gin take the blame! But whatever, Gin isn't my friend anyway, so be it!"
Morofushi Hiromitsu forced a smile and didn't respond to this.
Some things Usuha Izuki could say and others would ignore, but if he said them, Gin might come looking for him.
"Ah, right." Usuha Izuki suddenly remembered something and turned to look at Morofushi Hiromitsu. "Your acting isn't very good. You should practice more. It's lucky it's me here—if it were Gin, you'd be finished."
Morofushi Hiromitsu's breathing caught, but he quickly adjusted and showed a flawless cold smile.
"What do you mean?"