Chapter 88
Actually, Amuro Toru didn't quite understand what Usuha Izuki meant by "FBI feeling."
He simply disliked anything America-related and organization-related. Plus, organization members disliking FBI was politically correct, so he could rarely express his genuine feelings so honestly.
Although this Moroboshi Dai hadn't officially joined the organization yet and could even be considered somewhat innocent, because Usuha Izuki had also said "this guy is very much like Gin," and on the way back had mentioned things like "both in the same line of work" and "obviously killed people before," Amuro Toru couldn't muster any sympathy for this guy.
Actually, since Usuha Izuki said he didn't plan to recommend him to the organization, this background investigation seemed unnecessary. But since Usuha Izuki insisted he come, he might as well ask some questions first.
Amuro Toru frowned and sat in the single armchair, beginning to question Akai Shuichi about basic information.
Miyano Akemi reported her work to Usuha Izuki.
Usuha Izuki asked: "Did you clean those two rooms too?"
Remembering the bizarre decorations inside, Miyano Akemi's mouth twitched: "I cleaned them."
"You didn't let that guy in, right?"
"No."
Usuha Izuki was satisfied: "Good."
Both Amuro Toru and Akai Shuichi heard this conversation. Akai Shuichi was fine—he'd been speculating and suspicious for a long time and had the patience to keep waiting. Amuro Toru had fewer reservations and directly asked out of curiosity.
"Which two rooms?"
Usuha Izuki pointed in two directions.
Amuro Toru's expression became somewhat strange: "Oh..."
Weren't those just Usuha Izuki and Hiromitsu's bedrooms? Why all the mysterious talk...
Forget it, don't try to fathom a mental patient's thoughts.
Little did Amuro Toru know that his hesitant manner made Akai Shuichi even more speculative about those two rooms, causing suspicion values to frantically scroll across the system's backend.
Usuha Izuki secretly told the system: [See, bringing people back was the right choice.]
The system was also happy: [Keep up the good work!]
Amuro Toru suddenly received a phone call and interrupted his questioning of Akai Shuichi to answer it on the balcony.
The caller was Rum.
He didn't know where he'd picked up this bad habit—maybe still not trusting Amuro Toru enough—Rum also used electronic voice synthesis when calling: "Amuro, you said in your email that you encountered Botanist?"
"Right, he insisted I investigate Moroboshi Dai. I figured you had indeed assigned me this task, so I followed along." Amuro Toru began using euphemistic language. "I haven't forgotten the task you originally assigned, but I don't know about Botanist's side..."
Rum was in a bad mood.
Although he didn't get along with Gin, this time he rarely stood on the same side as Gin—he was also very annoyed by Usuha Izuki, this nepotism hire who didn't work but only caused trouble.
Even though he was also an organization second-generation, at least he properly worked for the organization.
Ever since Boss said all future communication with Usuha Izuki would be pushed to him, Rum had become irritated after asking around about Usuha Izuki's track record.
Did this mean he'd also have to wait for Usuha Izuki's late-night calls full of nonsense?! He was a diligent organization second-generation—why should he have to tolerate a disrespectful brat? Didn't Boss consider his feelings?!
Plus this time Usuha Izuki couldn't distinguish priorities and insisted on ordering his subordinates around. Rum's new and old grievances piled up.
He was naturally short-tempered, with "time is money" as his catchphrase. He really wanted to lose his temper, but Rum really couldn't criticize Amuro Toru for not prioritizing his originally assigned task.
Because Amuro Toru didn't have a codename yet, and no matter how much Usuha Izuki slacked off, he was still a codename member. Amuro Toru couldn't refuse and could only ask him for help, while he as second-in-command really couldn't raise his voice at Usuha Izuki, lest he follow in Gin's footsteps.
Damn it, if it were a normal, sensible codename member, they wouldn't interfere like this. Only that brat Usuha Izuki didn't understand and didn't want to understand.
"How's your investigation going?"
"I'm questioning the person himself. We definitely won't get any problems from that angle—still need investigation and verification. But I was just about to report this to you. Actually, Botanist's intention is that he doesn't plan to recommend this person to the organization..."
Rum was overjoyed.
Originally, investigating Moroboshi Dai was something Vodka had insisted on pushing to his side in Gin's name, claiming he handled more intelligence and recruitment matters. So Rum had agreed reluctantly.
Now that Usuha Izuki didn't plan to bring Moroboshi Dai into the organization... this matter could actually be set aside!
If Moroboshi Dai really had problems later, it would be Usuha Izuki's responsibility! A perfect lesson for that brat!
Thinking that Usuha Izuki might be unlucky, Rum actually started hoping Moroboshi Dai had problems.
So Rum immediately said: "Then just go through the motions and humor Botanist. Since he doesn't plan to join the organization, Moroboshi Dai has nothing to do with us. Find a way to get out of there and hurry back to investigating that hacker! Time is money!"
Amuro Toru, as a subordinate, naturally had no right to refuse. Moreover, compared to Moroboshi Dai, he was also more interested in that hacker, so he quickly agreed.
While he was on the phone with Rum, Usuha Izuki wasn't wasting time either, running over to ask Akai Shuichi what kind of work he wanted.
"Fast money, within my capabilities." Akai Shuichi answered normally.
Usuha Izuki pondered: "Do you want to do smuggling in the Middle East? The money there comes super fast, and as long as you don't encounter battlefields it's quite safe."
Akai Shuichi: "...No, I prefer more developed places."
Anyone with a brain would know that the organization's core couldn't possibly be in such a chaotic place as the Middle East. Going to the Middle East would be no different from being marginalized—colleagues were already investigating the Middle East, why make him take such a long detour!
Usuha Izuki: "Then you must really like America."
Akai Shuichi was silent for a moment: "...It's alright, but I prefer Japan."
First FBI, now America—he really suspected this guy knew something, but what could be investigated in such a short time?
Especially since each time the other party's reasoning was quite sound—
Japanese police barely even drew their guns, let alone killed people. American police, on the other hand, were quite ruthless, and the temperament was indeed very different.
Plus Hollywood's cultural export worldwide, America having military bases in Japan, when Miyano Akemi asked what if he was police—ruling out Japanese police, the first reaction would indeed be American ones, and FBI was a classic screen image.
Based on this foundation, when he said he liked developed places this time, having just mentioned FBI, thinking of development and immediately thinking of America was a very natural progression.
So many seemingly normal coincidences all concentrated in such a short time... No matter how much Akai Shuichi believed in FBI's perfect identity fabrication for him, he couldn't help but feel suspicious.
But running away now wasn't really an option...
[I just love how generous he is. Look at these suspicion values—worth a week of Vodka.] Usuha Izuki sighed. [Everyone else is getting stingier and stingier. I hope they can learn from someone with such outstanding contributions.]
The system was too lazy to tell Usuha Izuki to reflect, since it was useless anyway. As long as they could earn suspicion values, it was fine. Usuha Izuki still refused to admit his plan to farm tolerance from the organization side had problems: [It doesn't matter if the organization gives less—after all, you said the big gains are on Samukawa Shinryu's side.]
[...About that side... Actually I think the Mobile Investigation Unit isn't quite suitable for me anymore.]
Usuha Izuki thought: [Before I thought the schedule was more flexible, but aside from being bumped around all day, sitting in the car I don't meet many people—just two partners. I can't keep saying suspicious things, or the chatterbox persona would collapse... Only when there are cases and we go to crime scenes to contact other people can I farm more suspicion values. But the cases we encounter aren't necessarily all suitable for farming, since even if the old lady has dementia, she won't suspect I deliberately put the cat up the tree so it couldn't get down.]
System: [...That's true. So what are you thinking?]
[I think I should go to Criminal Investigation Division One—they specialize in murder cases. With my track record, it shouldn't be hard to get in.] Usuha Izuki sighed. [Though I'll have to work regular office hours again...]
The system reminded him: [Detectives might have rotating shifts and overtime.]
Usuha Izuki gritted his teeth: [Don't worry, if they can't find the culprit I'll switch back to my main body and use [Universal Navigation] to see where the culprit is. I must solve cases before overtime starts!]
System: [...Good luck.]
Coming up with such methods to avoid overtime—Usuha Izuki was really something.
Communicating with the system only took a blink of an eye. Usuha Izuki quickly refocused and continued farming Akai Shuichi: "Then let's stay in Japan. What are you good at? Are you good at sniping?"
"Not bad." Akai Shuichi wondered whether Usuha Izuki specifically asking about sniping meant he'd noticed something, or was it because "if he could snipe he'd be even more like Gin"?
Unconsciously, he was also getting somewhat used to Usuha Izuki's thought processes.
Usuha Izuki made the decision: "Then sniping it is. Wait here, I'll go find you work later."
Akai Shuichi, who was expecting more difficulties: "...Aren't you going to ask more questions?"
"What else do you want me to ask?" Usuha Izuki looked baffled. "Ask who you worked for before? Ask where your family is? Ask if you're using a fake name? None of that's my responsibility. We ordinary workers only do our assigned tasks."
Akai Shuichi: "...?"
Forget it, whether it was fishing or something else, doing a few missions should reveal the truth.
Usuha Izuki was very efficient. The next day he brought a list and a sniper rifle of the model he wanted, having him assassinate targets from the list.
The list was carefully selected by Vodka—people it wouldn't matter if outsiders handled... Actually the organization occasionally outsourced too. Like the hacker Rum had Amuro Toru find, Usuha Izuki asking him for a list wasn't particularly outrageous.
But Usuha Izuki proactively asking for a list was still somewhat different from others. Vodka was a bit scared and reported it to Gin, who thought it was fine before he dared give the list.
Usuha Izuki paid the deposit very readily, saying he'd give the rest after people died. The amount was fairly reasonable. Akai Shuichi guessed he might have passed that initial curiosity test and was now entering a new evaluation phase. At this point he should perform well to possibly advance to the next round.
Maybe people were monitoring his every move from a distance while also investigating him.
So Akai Shuichi was very careful not to contact any of his own people, but like a professional mercenary, began efficiently processing people on the list as long as he was paid.
Basically, as soon as he killed one, Usuha Izuki would pay the final payment. This finally restored the organization's strange image somewhat, showing the proper style of an international criminal organization.
After two days, when Akai Shuichi returned to Usuha Izuki's house, he found an additional stranger inside.
"You're Moroboshi Dai? Just call me Scotland." The cat-eyed young man who called himself Scotland smiled and glanced at his bag containing the sniper rifle, showing understanding. "Just finished a mission?"
"Mm." Akai Shuichi was brief.
Scotland didn't mind, just asked somewhat puzzledly: "Have you been sleeping on the sofa lately? Why not sleep in the guest room?"
Akai Shuichi frowned: "Which is the guest room?"
Scotland pointed: "I used to sleep in that room, but I probably won't be coming back much recently. If you need it, I'll go clean it up? But I'd still need to ask Botanist."
Akai Shuichi looked at one of the rooms Usuha Izuki had forbidden him to enter and fell silent.
Two rooms he wasn't allowed to enter—one was Usuha Izuki's bedroom, which he now knew about. Not being allowed in was normal. But he'd always been very concerned about the other one, thinking it was Usuha Izuki's collection room. Even when no one was home, he'd never risked going in... Turns out it was just an ordinary guest room?!
He was very confused and suddenly understood why only Miyano Akemi was allowed in—because other people's bedrooms couldn't be entered by outsiders, but Miyano Akemi came to clean, so of course she could go anywhere.
Just for such a simple reason?! He'd thought about it so long, suspected so much, worried for days about what this test was for... and it was just because of this!?
Couldn't he have just said it was someone else's bedroom and off-limits?! What was with that Bluebeard-testing-human-nature attitude?!
At this moment, the usually calm and composed Akai Shuichi, who thought he'd adapted to Usuha Izuki's statements and believed the other party seemed strange because he was a genius, finally couldn't help but cry out from the bottom of his heart—
—Wait, doesn't Usuha Izuki have mental problems?!