Chapter 98
Vodka didn't dare refuse Usuha Izuki's calls, but he also didn't want to chat with Usuha Izuki. Throughout the entire conversation, he kept saying "you're right" and "let's do that," trying to use deflection tactics to quickly end the battle.
However, Usuha Izuki couldn't possibly let him off so easily.
After detecting Vodka's evasive attitude, Usuha Izuki, who originally had no other thoughts, suddenly wasn't in a hurry to hang up: "Speaking of which, what have you all been busy with recently? Why don't you contact me to maintain our relationship? Are you excluding me?"
Vodka was baffled: "Why don't we look for you? Don't you know the reason? How can we find you when you're always disappearing?"
"But my phone is always on! I haven't blocked you—why don't you call me? I'd welcome you reaching out to hang out!"
Usuha Izuki felt he should get to know more people. His acquaintances were gradually becoming desensitized, and he couldn't just sit idle and eat away his resources—he needed to actively develop new markets.
So he planned to find out what tasks Vodka's side had recently that involved more people, so he could go join the fun and meet more people.
This was what you called human resources—all resources!
Hearing Usuha Izuki's words, Vodka just wanted to complain. He wasn't a masochist—why would he want to maintain a relationship with Usuha Izuki? Maintaining a state where he wouldn't get blocked was good enough!
But he definitely couldn't say that, so he could only deflect: "Been too busy lately..."
"But didn't you answer this call instantly?"
"I just happened to be checking emails." Vodka quietly wiped sweat. "Really very busy. Do you have anything else?"
Usuha Izuki asked: "What are you busy with? Do you need my help?"
Vodka was greatly shocked.
Was this something Usuha Izuki could say? Could it be that Vermouth had returned to Japan at some point and was playing with Usuha Izuki's phone?!
"This... this..."
From Vodka's perspective, he really didn't want Usuha Izuki participating in missions—he always felt the pressure was too great and the mental damage was immeasurable. But...
But with Usuha Izuki rarely being so proactive about wanting to help, if he directly refused and Gin found out, wouldn't that be bad?
Usuha Izuki was still urging from the other side: "So do you need help or not? If you refuse this time, don't complain later that I don't work—it's because you didn't give me work."
Vodka was flustered by the urging: "Wait, I need to check on this end. I'll call you back later."
After saying this, he quickly hung up, then instinctively sent an email asking Scotland if he knew why Usuha Izuki was suddenly acting so abnormally, before setting off to find Gin.
Gin was watching TV.
It was necessary to stay informed about major events happening in the country through news reports. Many times, seemingly insignificant intelligence actually had huge impacts, and sometimes one casual piece of information could change the direction of a mission.
When Vodka arrived at the living room, the TV was reporting on a serial murder case targeting police.
Using corpses as bait, installing bombs nearby, then detonating them when people came to examine the bodies—somewhat creative, but not much.
Especially since this guy had worked so hard to kill two homeless people as bait but hadn't managed to kill even one police officer, making him seem even more idiotic.
Even more idiotic was that after listening for a bit, Vodka realized this guy had already been caught. How long had it even been...
[...Reporter interviews with relatives and friends revealed that his childhood dream was to become a police officer. After being rejected by the Police Academy, he was deeply affected, leading him to develop hatred from love and harbor thoughts of revenge against the police force...]
Vodka complained as he walked over: "Hatred from love just like that? That love is really worthless. Not passing the interview is completely normal."
Gin, who had watched the earlier report, casually said: "There was no interview. He didn't even pass the written exam."
Vodka: "...??? Then isn't this completely his own problem? Why are these reporters making it seem like the Police Academy made this person commit crimes?"
Gin let out a cold laugh: "They've always been like this."
Vodka sighed: "Good thing we're not police!"
Vodka watched for two more moments and found the news was now reporting on an illegal bomb enthusiast group that had apparently secretly connected through the developing internet. This criminal came from this group, and police would continue tracking...
These small hobbyist groups were really easy to discover, unlike their organization, which was so mysterious that no one could figure out their background.
Vodka felt that he wasn't a police officer, had joined a reliable organization instead of this kind of unreliable small group, and Gin was very capable—he was truly happy. If only there wasn't Usuha Izuki in the organization, he'd be even happier.
No longer paying attention to this news story, Vodka began explaining his purpose: "Usuha Izuki called earlier and said two things. One was that he plans to dump that sniper he said looks like FBI on us, and the other was that Usuha Izuki wants to help and asked if I have any recent missions... I think the latter is a bit abnormal, so I'm not sure whether to agree."
After finishing, Vodka began adding his personal opinion: "Looks like he's been very idle lately... able to wander around even on workdays. Probably his 'part-time job' finally couldn't stand him and fired him."
Gin didn't refute—he somewhat agreed with this assessment, so he didn't dwell on it and instead asked: "What about that sniper?"
Vodka, who had gotten his brain mixed up from constantly complaining about Usuha Izuki to Gin, only then remembered that Gin didn't know about Usuha Izuki skimming commission yet—he only knew about Usuha Izuki slandering Gin as FBI... Such big gossip and he'd been so busy he forgot to share it with Gin. What a sin! He quickly started from the beginning.
"It's about the outsourcing thing. You don't know, Gin—Usuha Izuki really isn't human. He said it was compensation and that he'd introduce work to the guy, but then he skimmed the guy's commission!"
Gin: "............"
At this moment, Gin's thought process overlapped with Scotland's—was this transferring his hatred toward him onto that guy who supposedly resembled him somewhat?
Only capable of such petty tricks. Hmph, boring.
"Then Scotland didn't know about this. When he was chatting with Moroboshi Dai, he accidentally let it slip and it was discovered. This person started making trouble with Usuha Izuki... Originally it was Usuha Izuki who was in the wrong. How is this compensation for a car accident? This is basically getting a worker for free. Scotland even helped explain that Usuha Izuki just wanted to give it to him as a surprise at the end... Ah! I get it!"
As Vodka was talking, he suddenly had an epiphany: "Usuha Izuki doesn't want to experience what it's like for ordinary people to embezzle—he wants to experience what it's like to be a capitalist! Gin! Look, isn't that right! Withholding part of the normal salary to give out as a year-end bonus, then expecting people to thank him—isn't that exactly what capitalists do?!"
Gin: "...Don't worry about what he's thinking. What's the situation now?"
He was getting a bit tired. Vodka was usually quite normal, at most just slow-thinking, but whenever it involved Usuha Izuki's affairs, his thinking became somewhat strange.
Was Usuha Izuki some kind of virus? Nothing good happened when you got involved with him.
What Vodka was most appreciated by Gin for was his obedience. Just then Scotland's reply came, and after reading it, he immediately extracted and summarized the information: "Scotland says Moroboshi Dai suggested wanting to switch to an agent with lower commissions. Since Usuha Izuki was getting impatient with Moroboshi Dai constantly bringing up the commission issue, he plans to dump him on me."
He closed his phone, then said: "He says he's dumping him on me, but Usuha Izuki doesn't seem willing to let this person join the organization. He keeps emphasizing that outsourcing is fine."
Gin was too lazy to ask for reasons.
It was nothing more than "looks like him," "looks like FBI," "looks like an undercover," "not a good person"—those kinds of things.
Thinking that these evaluations might all be based on Usuha Izuki thinking that person resembled him, Gin felt the credibility was somewhat low.
But he was still cautious: "Isn't Rum's investigation out yet?"
Vodka was also puzzled: "No. I'll follow up later. Gin, what should we do about these two matters? I already agreed to taking over that FBI... bah bah, taking over that sniper. Worst case we just silence him. But about Usuha Izuki wanting a mission..."
Please refuse, please refuse, please refuse...
Vodka prayed frantically in his heart, but his face remained expressionless, as if he had no personal preference.
Gin frowned and thought for a moment: "Isn't next week's mission short-handed? Let him come. Once Rum's investigation is out, add that sniper. I'll personally evaluate them."
Although Usuha Izuki gave him a very bad impression, it had to be said that these bad impressions mainly came from his personality, being unable to find him, and complaining after forcing Gin to work overtime. Usuha Izuki's mission completion efficiency was still quite high.
Since Usuha Izuki had proactively suggested it this time, he was probably really bored and would do the mission properly without running around complaining. The opportunity was rare—and it had to be said, with Usuha Izuki there, the mission difficulty dropped significantly.
This wasn't the first time Gin had fantasized about how smooth everything could be if Usuha Izuki's abilities cooperated properly on missions. Now that there was finally a chance, how could he possibly refuse?
Only Vodka was disappointed. He always felt that teaming up with Usuha Izuki for missions never led to anything good, but since Gin had already spoken, he could only comply.
Of course, he just quietly sent an email without calling.
If he could avoid chatting with Usuha Izuki, he wouldn't—this was a lesson learned through a year of bloody experience.
But Usuha Izuki seemed very dissatisfied and immediately called: "You said you'd call me back earlier. How are you trying to brush me off with just an email?"
"A bit busy, a bit busy..." Vodka experienced what it meant for trouble to come from the mouth. He shouldn't have said he'd call back—he could only use being busy as an excuse. "So are you coming to that mission?"
"Why are you scheduling a mission on Christmas? Isn't that not very good?"
Vodka's heart immediately jumped—damn, he'd forgotten that Usuha Izuki was an impious but very sick believer. Could it be that he thought doing missions on Christmas would defile this holiday with bloodshed, so he'd make unreasonable demands to change the date?
Usuha Izuki wasn't thinking that much—mainly he was worried police might have to work overtime on Christmas, so he was a bit hesitant: "Who all is going on this mission?"
"Quite a few people." Vodka hoped Usuha Izuki would see his lack of sincerity and angrily refuse the mission. "It's confidential until the mission starts."
But when Usuha Izuki heard there were quite a few people, his originally wavering heart immediately became firm: "Then I'll go too. Christmas really is better spent together with everyone!"
As for work on the police side...
Usuha Izuki thought he'd find a way to get a disciplinary action and be confined for reflection. Perfect!
So next, he needed to figure out how to cause trouble. How would be best?