Chapter 166
Since everyone was going to be arrested, how could they let the guy who provided such a flawed plan book get away with it!
The person who bought the plan book said resentfully: "That guy calls himself the Moriarty of the criminal world, claiming to be skilled in crime and having helped many people escape legal punishment... Compared to us, that person is even more unforgivable!"
Hagiwara Kenji's expression became strange: "Oh... the Moriarty of the criminal world..."
He remembered now—it seemed like a few years ago when they went to that hot spring inn, Shinryu was mistaken for hands-on guidance by the criminal, who ended up telling Shinryu everything and even reported the police for entrapment, right?
Because it felt so idiotic, like some chuunibyou syndrome, he thought this level would be caught sooner or later... But apparently they were still wandering around until now. Could they actually have some real skills?
Usuha Izuki thought hard for a while before remembering there was indeed such an incident, but...
"Nemesis?" Usuha Izuki was baffled. "What nemesis? How come I don't know about this?"
"He said his crime plans—the cheaper ones where people like to buy partial versions—if those failed, it wasn't his fault. But those who bought perfect crime plans from him would only fail if they encountered his nemesis..."
"..."
Usuha Izuki remained expressionless. He turned to the detective responsible for this case: "Take all these people back and focus on interrogating what this chuunibyou situation is about."
Suddenly jumping out after all these years to lower his standards—it was only because he was good-natured, otherwise he would have definitely found a way to catch the guy!
The system wanted to say something but remained silent.
It wasn't until Usuha Izuki got off work, returned home, switched back to his main form, and started using [Universal Navigation] to search for crime consultants that the system finally spoke with a tone of "I knew this would happen—look, I caught you red-handed":
[Weren't you good-natured and not taking this to heart?]
Usuha Izuki closed the navigation without changing expression. Whether it was a keyword problem or the target wasn't in range, he hadn't found anything anyway.
[Isn't it just that today's almost over, and the remaining navigation search uses would be wasted if not used?]
The system was very disdainful: [You're clearly very vindictive, why pretend to be magnanimous... There's still one search left! Aren't you afraid of wasting it now? You only used it once during the day!]
During the day at the amusement park, Usuha Izuki felt the case was a bit suspicious and might not be simple murder, so worried about time delays affecting lunch, he wanted a quick resolution.
So he went to the restroom, switched personas, and used [Universal Navigation] to search for nearby safety hazards, which was why he could so coincidentally appear in the exact Ferris wheel gondola with the bomb.
Several times now, he'd discovered problems in advance, but a bunch of people only knew to say he had an accident-prone constitution—not one knew his good intentions!
The system just wanted to complain—what good intentions? Wasn't it just not wanting to work overtime?!
Anyway, Usuha Izuki had searched once for safety hazards today, once for crime consultants, with one use left. Finding excuses wasn't even trying to be good.
Usuha Izuki could only silently open [Universal Navigation] again, thinking about what else would be good to search for.
Sigh, couldn't think of anything else—might as well randomly search for organization members.
Usuha Izuki casually entered keywords and had the navigation search for him.
Quite unexpectedly, he actually discovered Vermouth.
This was a rare guest—Vermouth had been abroad in recent years, rarely returning domestically. When she occasionally came back, it was usually for missions, basically leaving quickly, and Usuha Izuki, having legitimate work with scheduling conflicts, had met Vermouth fewer than three times.
However, Vermouth would send him emails from time to time, asking about difficulties in his life and such.
Usuha Izuki figured Arak Wine's influence wasn't that great—maybe the organization's boss wanted Vermouth to build some goodwill with him.
He probably thought that growing up with Arak Wine in the Middle East, he lacked maternal female figures around him, so maybe Vermouth could exploit that gap.
His attitude toward Miyano Akemi was indeed pretty good—at least Miyano Akemi didn't constantly complain, which seemed to give other organization members some illusions that he was very starved for affection... uh, actually he just had gentlemanly manners.
...Though he didn't go easy when farming suspicion value from Miyano Akemi, at least he didn't report her to the boss, right? She should be grateful!
Anyway, since Vermouth was rarely back in Japan, he might as well be proactive.
So Usuha Izuki sent Vermouth an email asking: [Where are you now?]
Vermouth quickly replied: [Tokyo, happen to be free. Want to meet up recently?]
Usuha Izuki happily responded: [Is now okay? We could have dinner together... Also, there's something I'd like to ask you for help with.]
On the other side, Vermouth looked at this reply and fell into thought.
Just as Usuha Izuki had guessed, the organization's Boss had indeed specifically instructed Vermouth to get closer to Usuha Izuki, feeling his growing environment had too few women and it might have special effects.
Vermouth had a good impression of Arak Wine, so when the Boss gave this instruction, she took it to heart, calculating time, paying attention to rumors about Usuha Izuki in the organization, occasionally sending emails, making calls, even mailing gifts to maintain their relationship.
Since Usuha Izuki was under Gin's management, when she collaborated with Gin on missions, she would also ask about Usuha Izuki.
But no matter how good Gin's mood was, once she mentioned Usuha Izuki, the atmosphere immediately dropped to freezing point. Gin would throw out "Ask Vodka" and turn away.
And Vodka's accounts sounded very bizarre... but if she said Vodka was trying to smear Usuha Izuki, she felt he lacked the imagination—it might actually be true.
She could only say helplessly: "I don't think Usuha-kun is that type of person."
Vodka: "You'll know once you see for yourself!"
"...I have seen him. You forgot—I was the one who convinced him to join the organization."
But Vermouth had dealt with Hollywood and seen plenty of strange people. When Usuha Izuki negotiated back then, his speech was relatively normal, and considering just clothing taste, the shock to her was only moderate. With some filters, she felt Usuha Izuki was just strange from living in the Middle East too long—a few years in normal society would fix it.
But listening to Vodka's descriptions, how did this kid's thought patterns become increasingly weird over the years...
He seemed perfectly normal when chatting with her!
Vodka was incredulous: "What?! How many times a year do you call each other?"
"About two or three times? We mostly email. I ask about life matters and he answers normally."
"Could it be he's just more well-behaved around you... Ah, I get it! It really is because that kid lacks maternal love!!!"
Vermouth was somewhat suspicious, but every time she returned to Japan and asked Usuha Izuki to hang out, he still rarely agreed... This didn't seem like being particularly close to her either.
Vodka: "That's already pretty good. Believe it or not, I could ask him out a hundred times and he'd only come out three times, all to torment me?"
Vermouth: "..........."
She felt Vodka harbored some resentment toward Usuha Izuki, so accounts about him from Vodka's mouth should probably be discounted.
The rumors about Usuha Izuki in the organization, judging by style, were probably mostly spread by Vodka too.
After so long, Vermouth had gotten used to not being able to make appointments with Usuha Izuki, so when he was suddenly so proactive today, she felt flattered while inexplicably nervous.
When things are abnormal, there must be demons!
And when she asked what exactly he wanted her help with, though he'd replied to emails quickly before, now there was no response for ages...
Vermouth thought about her acquaintances in the organization and called Bourbon, who was relatively reliable in intelligence matters: "Are you and Botanist on good terms? Does he ever proactively ask to meet you?"
Bourbon didn't understand why Vermouth was suddenly asking about Usuha Izuki, suspecting something was up, so he became alert: "Why suddenly ask this? Is he looking for you?"
Vermouth hesitated, then admitted: "Yes. I used to ask him out and he rarely agreed, but this time he's suddenly very proactive..."
Bourbon thought for a moment: "That means he has ulterior motives, though this motive isn't necessarily about you."
Vermouth avoided mentioning that Usuha Izuki wanted to ask her for help with something, instead asking: "Have you encountered this situation before? What kind of problems did you run into?"
Bourbon fell silent.
Countless scenes flashed through his mind in that instant...
Finally, he slowly answered: "High probability you'll encounter cases, and he might even call the police. Be careful—disguise yourself when necessary."
Vermouth: "..........."
So Vodka's claim that Usuha Izuki constantly called police was actually true...
Was this because he had no opportunity to call police in the Middle East, so now in Japan he was going crazy calling police for thrills?! Though this operation was indeed very ordinary person...
Just as Vermouth was frantically generating suspicion value, guessing what Usuha Izuki might want her help with, his reply finally arrived late.
[I heard you're close with Kudo Yukiko. She happens to be in Japan now too—could you take me to meet her? Her acting is really amazing. It's such a pity she retired from entertainment so early...]
Vermouth: "........?"
What a normal kid! He even chases celebrities! Vodka and Bourbon were really being alarmist!