Chapter 132
As Usuha Izuki's description increasingly resembled himself, Vodka held back and held back, but finally couldn't resist and sent an email: [How can you have the nerve to talk about Tequila when you're the same way?]
Usuha Izuki didn't reply for a long time.
Vodka was quite pleased at first, thinking maybe Usuha Izuki had been called out and was too embarrassed to respond.
But after several more minutes with still no reply from Usuha Izuki, Vodka, who had only been happy for a brief moment, began to feel uneasy... Was Usuha Izuki someone who would reflect on himself? Obviously not!
This sudden silence—wasn't he planning some big move again?!
After several more minutes, the paranoid Vodka even began regretting his momentary satisfaction from arguing, worried that Usuha Izuki had gone to call the Boss to complain again.
Although the Boss had said not to bother him with such trivial matters, Usuha Izuki didn't seem like someone who would listen obediently. When the time came, the Boss would just be angry at both Usuha Izuki and him, and since he couldn't get angry at Usuha Izuki, he'd take it out on him instead...
Just when Vodka had already miserably imagined all sorts of scenarios and maxed out his suspicion values, Usuha Izuki finally leisurely replied.
[You're slandering me. I helped you establish Middle Eastern connections, helped you recruit people, and only when you weren't pleased did I switch to just providing lists. Even with sniping, which isn't my job, I helped out. I actively participate in organization activities, help with suggestions when there's trouble, and earnestly share my insights with a very positive attitude. You're the ones who won't call me—it's been so long with nothing but New Year's greetings, no other contact... I understand now. Are you and Gin unable to stand having someone with my talent in the organization? You'd only be satisfied with nothing but wastes like Tequila?]
Vodka: "............"
Why don't we contact you—don't you have any idea?!
Usually not being able to find you is one thing, but last time when you rarely volunteered to go on a mission together, Big Brother trusted your nonsense—how did you repay Big Brother's trust?! The mission failed before it even started! You labeled everyone as undercover agents, wasting organizational manpower on investigations!
Oh right, you also drugged me, then patted your ass and left... Now here you are whining that Big Brother and I can't stand the organization being good. How can your face be so thick?!
Vodka was puffed up with anger, typing with extra force.
But after writing several hundred words of curses, he silently deleted them all, then responded with customer service-like polite courtesy: [It's not like that, you misunderstood. We're just afraid of disturbing you because you seem very busy...]
After much coaxing, he finally managed to brush off Usuha Izuki. Vodka quietly wiped cold sweat and was about to put down his burning phone when it suddenly rang.
Vodka jumped, and seeing the caller ID was Amuro Toru didn't reassure him. He instinctively looked around through the car windows to see if there were any suspicious Usuha Izuki-like figures nearby, suspecting this was a test to see if he could really take calls right now.
Finding nothing and considering he wasn't currently in Tokyo where Usuha Izuki was based—no matter how good Usuha Izuki was at finding people and directions, he couldn't be this coincidentally nearby—Vodka finally answered the call.
"What is it?"
Amuro Toru had just started with "Bourbon" when Vodka nearly dropped the phone, barely managing to hear the rest.
"Bourbon just called asking if I knew what you were doing," Amuro Toru said. "What's wrong with him now?"
This "what's wrong with him now" was very telling. Vodka instantly felt Amuro Toru was one of his people, deeply moved and much more at ease.
—So Usuha Izuki's sudden lack of email replies was because he went to call Amuro Toru! Then it was fine!
Since Amuro Toru indeed shouldn't know what a cadre of his level was doing, Vodka wasn't worried about anything else and directly complained: "It's still about the aftermath of that Christmas mission... Oh right, you weren't there for that mission."
"I heard about it, since I'm in the intelligence group," Amuro Toru said in a tired-sounding voice. "Bourbon only knows me in intelligence, always seems to think I should know everything... even though I don't even have a codename."
Vodka didn't suspect anything—after all, Gin's rare complete mission failure would have people gleefully spreading gossip in secret. It was too normal for intelligence group people to know about it.
So he consoled: "Organization codenames are very hard to get. Except for special cases like Scotland, usually you need major contributions. Work hard and you'll get a codename someday."
"Then I'll take your good wishes," Amuro Toru said.
Because of Usuha Izuki, Amuro Toru's relationship with Vodka was decent, though after Amuro Toru was transferred to Rum's side, his contact with Usuha Izuki decreased and his communication with Vodka also lessened considerably. But once the two discussed Usuha Izuki, the intervening distance instantly vanished.
Vodka asked: "Besides asking what I was doing, what else did he ask?"
"Asked what I was doing," Amuro Toru honestly reported. "Complained the organization wasn't looking for him, asked if I had any missions to bring him along."
Vodka immediately became anxious and hurried to share experience as a senior, making any corporate worker sigh at how exemplary this organization's superior-subordinate atmosphere was.
"You absolutely must not agree! You already know what happened at Christmas—how can you still dare let him go?!"
Vodka was heartbroken: "He's very good at ruining mission atmosphere, and he identifies others as undercover agents everywhere! Do you want to be mysteriously accused of doing things only undercover agents would do when you're just trying to do normal work?"
Amuro Toru said one thing while thinking another, using a righteous tone: "I'm upright and fear no shadows. If he can help, letting him come should be fine, right?"
Vodka really had no choice and couldn't bear to let a fellow Usuha Izuki critic fall into the same trap, so he reluctantly revealed part of what he'd been trying to hide: "He'll also drug you... seriously affects work efficiency."
Amuro Toru: "............"
He really hadn't expected this. Hiromitsu probably didn't know either, so he hadn't mentioned it... No wait, was Usuha Izuki this free in the organization?!
He could drug cadres and still call around everywhere?!
He knew his foster father had great influence in the Middle East, but Arak Wine had been dead for two years and the organization still indulged Usuha Izuki like this... The Japanese Public Security undercover instinctively analyzed this, indicating not only was the Hakata smuggling line poorly constructed, but other smuggling lines probably weren't very effective either, still having to rely on Arak Wine's legacy.
If Usuha Izuki died, the Middle Eastern smuggling lines might be hit...
The black-hearted Japanese Public Security agent couldn't help considering an operation to assassinate Usuha Izuki and frame the organization.
He finally regretfully discovered that because Usuha Izuki's whereabouts were too erratic, precise location was difficult, making it hard to formulate a complete plan.
As for having an acquaintance lure him out... that would easily implicate the acquaintance, and the acquaintance might not listen to him anyway. No matter how he looked at it, Hiromitsu was most suitable, but this would easily expose Hiromitsu. Finally getting a codename, Hiromitsu was currently steadily building organizational trust—doing this would be too wasteful.
But thinking about giving up felt so unwilling, especially since in a few years when the organization's own smuggling lines finally stabilized, Usuha Izuki's importance would decline. Killing him then wouldn't have as good an effect as now.
Maybe he should agree to Usuha Izuki this time, then find ways to get closer to him, ideally reaching the point where he could lure Usuha Izuki out.
When Usuha Izuki died, if he came under suspicion he'd just run. After all, he had no codename—sacrificing one codename-less undercover agent in exchange for major damage to the organization's smuggling lines seemed quite worthwhile.
It was just a pity that he'd recently found news about Dr. Elena. Though Elena had passed away, both her daughters were now in the organization. One was working as Usuha Izuki's housekeeper, and the other had high security clearance that he hadn't investigated yet.
Rescuing Elena's children from the organization would be quite difficult. If he aroused suspicion by killing Usuha Izuki and had to leave the organization...
Amuro Toru quickly weighed the pros and cons in his heart while not forgetting to respond to Vodka, subtly sowing discord. If he could make the organization suspicious and wary of Usuha Izuki, creating division, maybe the organization itself would do something to make Usuha Izuki angry enough to complain to the Middle East.
"Bourbon being so reckless—could he really have ulterior motives? He seems to have absolutely no reverence for the organization."
But Vodka was unexpectedly tolerant in this regard: "He's always been like this. Probably just acting crazy, likes going against people. Just ignore him."
Amuro Toru: "...You were drugged by him."
Did he need to be this magnanimous?! Normal company employees would explode if drugged by a colleague, yet here you are defending him. Are you really from a transnational illegal organization?
Vodka said: "He only drugged me, not Big Brother, and he did it right in front of Big Brother, showing it was just a joke. If he really wanted to do something, there were plenty of other opportunities—why would he need to do it in front of Big Brother?"
Amuro Toru was greatly shocked.
You were drugged and instead of thinking about revenge, at least don't help this guy make excuses!
"What did Gin say?"
"Big Brother said Bourbon's target might not have been me, just using me as a tool to scare him." Vodka frowned deeply. "Bourbon targets Big Brother too much, always saying Big Brother is an undercover agent when that guy is the one who looks most like one... Sigh, you not refusing him is fine too. When he actively suggests wanting to do something, it's indeed hard to refuse to avoid being cut off by him. The consequences aren't pretty—Big Brother is a cautionary tale."
Amuro Toru: ".................."
You yourself said Bourbon looks most like an undercover agent, so why won't you suspect him?!
Vodka was quite good at transferring workload: "By the way, didn't you suspect he was an undercover agent? If you agree to go on missions with Bourbon, investigate him while you're at it. The previous investigator was shaken off midway, so that investigation report was incomplete. You can fill in the gaps—he can't possibly run to you and shake you off too, right?"
Amuro Toru: "...Okay."
Vodka hung up the phone, very satisfied, giving himself a thumbs up.
Very good. As long as Usuha Izuki discovered Amuro Toru was secretly investigating him and suspected him of being an undercover agent, then for the next period, Usuha Izuki's target for torment would definitely be Amuro Toru!
He could continue enjoying peaceful, leisurely times... Thank you, Amuro Toru! When you're nominated for a codename in the future, I'll put in a good word for you!