Chapter 60
Morofushi Hiromitsu felt somewhat conflicted.
As an action team member without even a codename, at this stage he should be following orders from codename members. Apart from missions he handled directly, he should know almost nothing about the organization and shouldn't even meet many executives.
Yet while Furuya Rei in intelligence hadn't achieved much, he had suddenly gained access to this level of intelligence... If it weren't clear how much mental pressure Usuha Izuki brought people, with Vodka constantly sympathizing with him and repeatedly hinting he'd help apply for a codename, telling him to hang in there and not break because his efforts would be rewarded, he'd think this was a trap.
Usuha Izuki's foster father was Arak Wine, right? Having contact with the Soviets while in the Middle East was normal. But because the Middle East was so distant, even though he could now converse with Gin and Vodka, he only knew intelligence like "Usuha Izuki came back from the Middle East"—nothing more detailed. He'd never asked for specifics either.
So Arak Wine had once been slandered as a Soviet undercover agent? This was the first he'd heard of it.
Morofushi Hiromitsu naturally ruled out the possibility that Arak Wine really was an undercover agent.
After all, look at Usuha Izuki's current treatment!
Which undercover agent's foster son could be this arrogant! The organization wasn't running a charity!
If Arak Wine really was an undercover agent, then Usuha Izuki's treatment could only be the organization wanting to use him as bait for fishing.
But Morofushi Hiromitsu believed any spy agency with brains wouldn't come make contact. After all, Arak Wine being an undercover agent didn't mean his adopted foster son could also be trained as one—the risk was too great and not worth it... So this would be completely ineffective preferential treatment. The organization couldn't fail to think of this.
Look at how Usuha Izuki complained about his foster father being suspected of being an undercover agent—he wasn't worried at all... Oh wait, this person had mental issues, so his reactions couldn't be counted.
Gin and Vodka were also somewhat speechless.
Generally everyone wasn't very willing to bring up topics about undercover agents, because one wrong word could seem like probing. Only Usuha Izuki would drag unrelated topics directly toward undercover agents without any scruples or avoidance.
"The mission requires secrecy. We can't reveal details about the specific situation now." Vodka said. "If you want to know, participating in the mission directly is most convenient."
Morofushi Hiromitsu also hoped Usuha Izuki would participate.
If Usuha Izuki went, Vodka might consider everyone's blood pressure and bring him along too, even though he wasn't qualified enough. This kind of mission counted as classified—he might learn some important intelligence.
However, Usuha Izuki answered immediately: "I don't want to know."
Morofushi Hiromitsu: "......"
Vodka's mouth twitched: "Won't you reconsider? It might involve intelligence related to Arak Wine's death."
This time Usuha Izuki couldn't refuse so easily, and participating in important missions would make Gin and the others more cautious. Behaviors that would normally be ignored might farm suspicion values because these people became sensitive.
Usuha Izuki pretended to hesitate: "Roughly when?"
"Tomorrow." Gin sneered. "It's Saturday, won't interfere with playing with your classmates. Are you reassured now?"
Morofushi Hiromitsu couldn't help feeling moved that even Gin now skillfully knew to wait for weekends when asking Usuha Izuki to work overtime...
Usuha Izuki pushed his luck: "We ordinary people have to wait for weekends to go out and play with friends. We're busy with school on weekdays—where would we have time! You're still affecting me!"
Gin couldn't be bothered with this garbage talk.
Vodka couldn't help quietly muttering: "So you really do go to school..."
Then there was no follow-up.
Having been tormented by Usuha Izuki for so long, Vodka had reached the point where he wouldn't find it strange even if this guy went to kindergarten.
Gin coldly announced the meeting time and location, then got up to leave. Vodka secretly signaled Morofushi Hiromitsu to definitely keep Usuha Izuki tonight and not let him escape.
Morofushi Hiromitsu wanted to nod in response, but from the corner of his eye he saw Usuha Izuki watching vigilantly from the side, so he could only show an awkward smile.
Fortunately, Usuha Izuki himself had no intention of running away. He followed Morofushi Hiromitsu to his car to go home from the base.
Morofushi Hiromitsu asked: "What would you like for dinner?"
"Tempura—" Usuha Izuki fiddled with his phone, opened [Universal Navigation] and searched for undercover agents. Suddenly discovering a name, he was overjoyed. "Let's buy more ingredients today."
"Hm? Are you very hungry?" Morofushi Hiromitsu was puzzled.
Usuha Izuki smiled: "Amuro is also in Tokyo. Let's have dinner together—us friends!"
The question "how does he know Rei is in Tokyo" flashed through Morofushi Hiromitsu's mind, but he calmly agreed: "Alright, but since it's a friends' dinner, why not call Vodka too?"
"He said my negotiation skills were poor again today." Usuha Izuki pouted. "One more time and I'll cut ties with him."
Morofushi Hiromitsu wasn't sure whether Vodka would be happy or sad knowing this news.
Being Usuha Izuki's friend seemed to have no benefits, but the consequences of not being his friend—just look at Gin to understand.
Constantly having people tattle to Boss and badmouth you—most people really couldn't handle it.
In front of Morofushi Hiromitsu, Usuha Izuki called Furuya Rei from the passenger seat.
The first call wasn't answered.
Usuha Izuki persisted and called again. This time it finally connected.
Before the other side could speak, Usuha Izuki spoke first: "Why didn't you answer just now? Were you doing something bad?"
Furuya Rei, who had just finished meeting with police officials, pretended nonchalantly: "Sorry, I just didn't hear it. Do you need something?"
"You're in Tokyo now, right?"
Although it sounded like a question, the tone was completely that of a statement. Furuya Rei immediately became more alert, but guessing it might be Vodka or someone who told Usuha Izuki, he wasn't too nervous: "Yes, what's wrong?"
"Nothing much."
Usuha Izuki said in a casual, light tone: "Come to my house for dinner tonight. Let's discuss together—us three undercover agents—"
"Screech—"
The harsh sound of brakes rang out. Usuha Izuki's body lurched forward with inertia, but fortunately he was wearing a seatbelt so he didn't fly completely forward.
After stabilizing, Usuha Izuki immediately complained: "Midorikawa! Be more careful when driving!"
Morofushi Hiromitsu looked at Usuha Izuki with a dangerous smile: "Sorry, but I hope you won't make such jokes. I'm not an undercover agent."
Though he seemed relatively calm on the surface, Morofushi Hiromitsu was already somewhat panicked.
He and Furuya Rei had always been conflicted about whether some of Usuha Izuki's words were casual remarks or if he really knew their identities but was deliberately not exposing them.
What if he just talked to everyone this way? Maybe even Gin had been played with like this by him! Given Usuha Izuki's personality, it wasn't impossible!
If they were tricked out by this kind of wide-net tactic, wouldn't they be letting down their instructors' training?
But Usuha Izuki's tone just now was too certain, and he specifically called him and Furuya Rei—these two Japanese undercover agents—while excluding Vodka who was supposedly a friend... The scope was too specific, completely different from previous situations.
However, admitting just because he was called out once was impossible. As long as Usuha Izuki didn't produce evidence, they had to keep acting.
Therefore Morofushi Hiromitsu used this slightly angry and accusatory attitude, pretending he'd been slandered and was very dissatisfied: "This is a very serious accusation."
After expressing his position, Morofushi Hiromitsu waited anxiously for Usuha Izuki's next move.
Would he produce evidence, claim he was joking, or something else?
If it was the worst case scenario, he was the one driving now. Mutual destruction with Usuha Izuki was probably achievable, and the rest could be handled by Rei, who was still in a safe location...
However, Usuha Izuki's reaction once again exceeded Morofushi Hiromitsu's expectations.
"Hah?" Usuha Izuki looked completely puzzled. "When did I say you were an undercover agent?"
Morofushi Hiromitsu: "......???"
Though Usuha Izuki wasn't very normal, he was basically logical and hadn't really shown instances of not acknowledging things he'd said.
Wait.
Morofushi Hiromitsu, worthy of being the organization member who'd spent the most time with Usuha Izuki, suddenly thought of a possibility.
"You just said, 'us three undercover agents discussing together'..."
Usuha Izuki pondered: "Did I say that? I came back from the Middle East so my Japanese isn't very good. Actually what I meant to say was, let's three of us discuss the undercover agent problem."
Morofushi Hiromitsu, who had guessed this might be the case: "............"
Furuya Rei, who had been shocked into silence but was indeed following developments through the phone call: "............"
"......Maybe you should just speak English in the future." Morofushi Hiromitsu said tactfully. "Or whatever language you used in the Middle East?"
"Many languages. You definitely wouldn't know the minor ones, and I think my Japanese is fine for daily communication. After all, I often communicated with my foster father in Japanese."
Morofushi Hiromitsu suddenly realized something: "You mean Arak Wine? Is he Japanese?"
"Yes." Usuha Izuki sighed. "I don't know why he's always suspected of being a Soviet spy. Even if he were an undercover agent, he should be a Japanese Public Security undercover agent..."
Though Morofushi Hiromitsu was still mentally tense, he couldn't help feeling sympathy for Arak Wine in his busy schedule.
What kind of troublesome thing had he adopted? Raising barbecued pork would be better than raising Usuha Izuki—at least barbecued pork wouldn't be this infuriating.
"......You should say such things less. Don't cause trouble for your foster father. Wouldn't it be bad if Gin heard?"
That was really too scary just now. It was hard to say whether Usuha Izuki's explanation was real, and whether he was now using Arak Wine as a topic to mention Japanese Public Security and continue probing...
Then Usuha Izuki made an explosive statement: "Let Gin hear it! I think Gin is an undercover agent too!!!"
Morofushi Hiromitsu: "......???"
What kind of gossip is this?!
"Anyway, I wanted to complain about the organization's undercover agent problem while eating... By the way, Amuro, are you still coming?"
Furuya Rei: "............"
Very curious, but didn't really want to go. Anyway, if it really was just normal dinner and chat, Hiromitsu could collect intelligence just the same. But if it was fishing, trying to catch him and Hiromitsu in one net...
No wait, if that were the case, wouldn't this phone call be alerting them?
Furuya Rei fell into a brainstorm, frantically contributing suspicion values.
To go or not to go—that was the question.