Chapter 106
As soon as Akai Shuichi said this, the entire floor fell silent for a moment.
Vodka's gaze toward Akai Shuichi changed.
Usuha Izuki always said this guy resembled Big Brother, and though he hadn't seen much resemblance when they first met—just a long-haired, cold sniper—now it seemed there really was some similarity, especially in finding Usuha Izuki unpleasant and making no effort to hide that displeasure... Similar, really similar! Definitely similar!
However, yesterday he dared to say such things because he could roughly guess how Usuha Izuki would respond to him. But you're someone Usuha Izuki has disliked from the very beginning, and you dare to be so direct—do you have a death wish?!
Be careful that Usuha Izuki targets you and you have a stroke at such a young age!
Akai Shuichi dared to do this because he had his own confidence.
After all, Usuha Izuki's logic of "I'm so suspicious yet you don't report me, so you must be undercover agents" could best be countered by directly saying Usuha Izuki looked like an undercover agent. Yesterday Vodka had already tried this once, and Usuha Izuki seemed quite pleased, saying things like "Just the fact that you think I'm an undercover agent proves you're devoted to the Organization and definitely not an undercover agent."
Of course, Akai Shuichi also knew that Usuha Izuki seemed to really dislike him, so he was prepared for Usuha Izuki's reaction to be different from when facing Vodka yesterday.
Sure enough, Usuha Izuki's attitude was completely different from yesterday.
"Moroboshi Dai, aren't you being a bit too eager?"
Usuha Izuki looked suspiciously at Akai Shuichi: "Look, everyone else is staying silent. It's normal not to want to be the first to speak up at times like this, right? But you're so eager to pin the blame on me—what's that about? Are you feeling guilty and want me as a scapegoat? You really are an undercover agent! I knew you were no good the moment I saw how much you resembled Gin!"
Gin, who hadn't expected to be dragged into this: "......"
Vodka coughed and stepped in to maintain justice: "Analysis is analysis, but please don't mix in personal grudges......"
Though this clearly was entirely personal grudges.
The background investigation on Moroboshi Dai—he had originally asked Rum's side to investigate, but Rum's side kept delaying results. When he inquired, he learned that Rum had passed this task to Amuro Toru...
When he asked Amuro Toru, Amuro Toru hinted that Rum actually wanted to watch Usuha Izuki's drama and had no intention of investigating properly... Damn it! Now that Usuha Izuki was shifting blame, wouldn't he and Big Brother be the ones in trouble if this Moroboshi Dai had problems?
Therefore, Vodka simply paid to have other intelligence groups investigate, and with money's power, results came within days.
The investigation showed no problems, which is why he let the man participate in this mission. It was impossible to suspect someone just for being proactive in reporting.
Besides, think about it—Usuha Izuki disliked this Moroboshi Dai because of Big Brother, Moroboshi Dai had been hit by Usuha Izuki's assistant's car without getting compensation, was constantly mocked by Usuha Izuki, and even had his job referral commission skimmed...
So Vodka could completely understand emotionally why the other party immediately stood up to say Usuha Izuki was an undercover agent!
This was also Akai Shuichi's confidence for doing this—he knew Vodka and Gin were very clear about the conflict between him and Usuha Izuki, so as long as no evidence was produced, whatever the two of them did to target each other wouldn't be taken seriously.
Therefore, Akai Shuichi's tone was very calm: "I just don't want to waste time on this. I hope everyone quickly states who they suspect and why. Is there anything wrong with that?"
Scotland coughed: "Then I also think Moroboshi Dai looks like an undercover agent."
Akai Shuichi: "......?"
He silently looked at Scotland. Scotland gave him an apologetic smile: "Sorry, seeing you makes me think of the FBI. I'm too deeply affected."
Akai Shuichi: "............"
All for asking if you were Japanese Public Security while going along with Usuha Izuki's words to divert attention... Organization members really hold grudges.
Usuha Izuki turned to ask Vodka: "What about you? Who do you think looks like an undercover agent?"
"I think......"
Vodka was about to speak when he heard Usuha Izuki's threatening tone: "We're friends, right?"
"......" Vodka instinctively glanced at Gin, who had been disowned by Usuha Izuki, and spoke with difficulty: "I think you're right. Moroboshi Dai really does seem suspicious—his attitude is too eager."
Although he felt this was personal vengeance, Usuha Izuki's reasoning did sound somewhat logical. With no other candidates for now, he could only go along with Usuha Izuki.
Originally, this kind of traitor-hunting never relied on questioning anyway—it all depended on observing reactions, combined with post-investigation and private individual questioning... So saying anything now was fine, just to create atmosphere and make everyone's reactions bigger for observation.
With Scotland taking the lead and Vodka following, everyone soon began stating who they found suspicious—Moroboshi Dai.
Akai Shuichi: "............"
He had thought of many possibilities and prepared for various scenarios, but the Organization members being so united at a time like this was something Akai Shuichi truly hadn't expected.
He thought at least Vodka would stop Usuha Izuki from acting up, but Vodka was unreliable too! The others immediately followed suit!
The others weren't fools either. Seeing how Vodka and Gin treated Usuha Izuki, they knew this big shot was someone no one could afford to offend, so naturally they went along with Usuha Izuki's words.
Usuha Izuki snorted: "Do you have anything to defend yourself with, Moroboshi Dai?"
Akai Shuichi was very speechless but could still stay calm, saying with a deadpan expression: "I didn't leak information. This brings me no benefit whatsoever. What happens to Japanese yakuza has nothing to do with me. I was abroad before—even if I were an undercover agent, I couldn't possibly be helping Japan. You should look for whoever resembles Japanese Public Security instead."
"True, the FBI has no reason to help Japan." Usuha Izuki fell into thought.
Akai Shuichi held back again and again: "I already said I'm not FBI. Don't use that certain tone......"
"Alright, alright."
Vodka rubbed his head in pain and tried to mediate a few words, then secretly looked toward Gin.
He found that Gin was still using hawk-like sharp eyes to observe others and wasn't checking emails or anything, so he knew the investigators hadn't produced results yet. He couldn't help but sigh.
Gin was the main person responsible for this mission. With such a big problem, the mission was definitely going to fail. If they couldn't find the reason for the failure, even Gin would certainly face punishment.
Vodka didn't expect that even his sigh would cause problems.
Usuha Izuki, who had been entangling with Akai Shuichi, suddenly shifted his attention to him: "Vodka, you don't need to be so afraid. I know what you want to say."
Vodka was confused: "......Huh? What do I want to say?"
Usuha Izuki looked at him sympathetically: "You sighed while looking at Gin—you must have something you can't say, right? I understand. Gin is indeed very suspicious too, but as his partner, you don't dare speak up. I can understand you."
"No, I......"
Usuha Izuki didn't care what Vodka wanted to say—he just focused on his full output: "Moroboshi Dai said I looked like an undercover agent because I asked about Gin's mission, but ultimately, couldn't Gin just not answer? Not only did he answer, he answered in front of so many people... Gin was already thinking yesterday that if the information leaked, with so many people talking, even if suspicion spread, with more suspects, everyone wouldn't necessarily suspect him......"
Vodka: "......That speculation is a bit much. You don't have mind-reading abilities—how could you know what Big Brother was thinking? Why are you adding scenes?"
"Enough." Gin finally received a message from intelligence personnel. "According to intelligence, a nightclub under the Horikawa Group received an anonymous call from a payphone last night, telling the Horikawa Group boss and his family to be careful."
The nightclub manager knew the situation was tense recently and immediately passed the message up through layers. So the Horikawa Group boss went into hiding, while his deputy angrily called the bosses of other groups, questioning whether they still respected honor and if they remembered that the underworld rule was never to target families. Whoever had such twisted thoughts knew it in their hearts. Others who hadn't received calls shouldn't laugh either—maybe their families were being targeted too!
Although everyone was fighting to the death, having each other's contact information was normal, right? After all, they were all legal organizations on the surface. Like that nightclub run by the Horikawa Group—everyone knew it was the Horikawa Group's business and it had even been on the news, but that didn't stop them from continuing to operate and printing phone numbers on flyers... There were always ways to contact people.
Then each yakuza organization used this opportunity to call a ceasefire and investigate their families' safety, actually discovering traces left during advance scouting... Did snipers really need to go mop the floor after scouting from a distance?
Ordinary people couldn't imagine being sniped and naturally wouldn't investigate nearby suitable sniper positions. When scouting, they just needed to ensure no fingerprints or other traces that could be investigated back to them were left—who would do a deep cleaning?
So the yakuza side completely quieted down. Now whoever dared to show their head would be identified by other groups as definitely the one breaking rules and targeting their families, then be attacked en masse.
The yakuza conflict in Kansai that had been going on for so long came to a baffling end like this. The police knew even less than the Organization and still hadn't figured out what happened.
Now the advantage of working in pairs showed—everyone immediately began comparing alibis for last night and found that only Usuha Izuki slept in a room alone, so if he went out in the middle of the night, no one would discover it.
Everyone looked at Usuha Izuki.
They found this guy looked completely excited and even had a positive attitude: "Are you investigating me now? Want to see my phone?"
Vodka was exasperated: "If he were really an undercover agent, he would have cleaned up all traces by now. And how can we guarantee you don't have a second phone?"
Is this guy thinking that being treated as a traitor is also a life experience he can finally have, so he's this excited?
"What if I'm just the type who forgets to clean up traces?"
Usuha Izuki enthusiastically tried to stuff his phone into Vodka's hands: "Look quickly! Aren't you all suspicious about what I was doing when you left me alone during the day?"
Vodka thought that you're usually unreachable anyway, so if we suspected this there'd be no end to it, but he still reluctantly cooperated by taking his phone for a look and asked perfunctorily: "Suspicious, of course we're suspicious. Indeed, what were you doing alone? So suspicious... This is playing with kids?"
He saw photos on Usuha Izuki's phone—very blurry pixels, but definitely Usuha Izuki with a young boy. The timestamp was indeed from today.
Usuha Izuki made an introduction: "Oh, you found those photos... I'll admit it then. This is the son of the Osaka Prefectural Police Headquarters Chief."
Gin: "............"
Vodka: "............"
Everyone else: "............"
Vodka hadn't expected that his casual question would get such an answer and felt like his head was about to explode: "Huh? The son of the Osaka Prefectural Police Headquarters Chief?! How could you even know him?! When did you meet, today during the day?!"
Mizuno Rena was even more shocked.
She didn't understand!
Why could Botanist say such things so matter-of-factly? Was he afraid his suspicion level wasn't high enough?!