Chapter 206
Vodka looked at the email Bourbon sent, feeling both guilty and indignant.
To cover his guilt, Vodka directly called and loudly refuted: "What do you mean he caught an undercover agent! How dare he say that!"
Bourbon asked: "So there was no undercover agent?"
"...There was, but not from our organization."
Vodka reluctantly admitted. Anyway, the mission had already failed, and even the FBI had made it public on TV, so he roughly explained the situation: "...That's how it was. It was a fraud ring, and what he saw through was the guy in the fraud ring who was pretending to be an FBI undercover agent..."
"Then his eye for spotting undercover agents is actually not bad." Bourbon said with a half-smile. "So are you an undercover agent?"
"If I am, then so are you."
Vodka unconsciously put himself and Bourbon on the same side: "Botanist might have just been talking randomly—after all, besides me, the only other guest on Eddie Cassano's side was that Japanese person. If he said those other actors or aspiring actors were undercover agents, he wouldn't believe it himself!"
Honestly, Vodka was half-believing this explanation himself, but it made sense! Anyway, it was definitely a coincidence! Big brother said it was a coincidence!
Bourbon: "I see, so Botanist didn't actually catch any undercover agent."
"Right! He really knows how to boast. At most he just noticed something was off. Even if it really was an undercover agent, it was from another organization—when would it be his turn to catch them!"
Although Gin had resolutely saved face, Vodka was indeed somewhat shaken. He was currently in a state of outward strength hiding inner weakness, using bluster to cover his inner doubts: "And he actually has the nerve to show off about this to you!"
"He didn't actually show off to me. He originally sent it to Rye... Speaking of which, because Rye is spreading this around everywhere, Botanist said Rye really is always leaking intelligence, obviously an undercover agent at first glance, and plans to have you arrest Rye after returning to the country."
Hearing this, Vodka's mood actually improved: "Hah hah, I knew he just knew how to talk nonsense all day... But Rye... no, never mind."
Bourbon probed a bit more but couldn't get anything out, so he gave up, though he kept it in mind.
What about Rye?
Although Vodka tended to get worked up when it came to Usuha Izuki-related matters, he would still keep confidential things confidential.
For example, even though Gin always said Botanist was just lucky, he actually had some doubts and planned to investigate Rye recently.
There was no particular reason—it was just that being in America naturally reminded them of Rye, who was constantly mentioned as being FBI.
But even though Vodka didn't finish his sentence, Bourbon actually roughly guessed some of it and immediately tipped off Rye: "Gin might investigate you recently."
Rye, who still hadn't slept: "..........."
Sigh, constantly being mentioned as an undercover agent, the pressure from Usuha Izuki's various riddle-person behaviors, the threat of Gin's constant investigations... He always felt that even if he wasn't an undercover agent, at this point, he was already somewhat inclined toward being forced to rebel.
Otherwise, anyone else would probably already have a mental illness by now.
Anyway, better prepare for both possibilities...
Usuha Izuki already knew that Rye had told Bourbon about his glorious deeds, and since Bourbon knew, it meant Scotland definitely knew too. Since that was the case, he was too lazy to make a special trip to find these undercover agents and tell them about this in person.
Anyway, they all already knew, and the suspicion values were flowing in steadily. He could let it rest for now.
Therefore, after returning to Japan, Usuha Izuki didn't head to the organization but obediently went to work at the Metropolitan Police for several days.
Inspector Megure was moved to tears.
Sure enough, letting Samukawa Shinryu take a vacation abroad was the right choice. Adjusting his mood—didn't his emotions immediately improve?
But Hagiwara-kun's situation seemed not quite right...
Inspector Megure found an opportunity and asked Hagiwara Kenji: "Hagiwara-kun, are you alright? Did something happen?"
Although it was called a vacation, it was nominally an exchange conference, so they definitely had to write reports when they returned. Inspector Megure had already read the report and knew the conference ended early due to an accident, but was this enough to keep Hagiwara Kenji's mood down until now?
"Ah, Inspector Megure, it's nothing, it's my personal reason." Hagiwara Kenji said with a smile. "I've been investigating Plamia a bit."
Although Criminal Investigation Division One, Unit Three didn't handle bombers, Plamia was famous and had appeared in news headlines for several days before. Inspector Megure naturally knew who this was.
When Plamia's true identity was first revealed, quite a few people at the Metropolitan Police investigated Plamia, thinking they might catch her as an achievement. But as time passed, everyone guessed Plamia had probably fled abroad long ago. Plus, everyone was busy with their own work, so the enthusiasm cooled down.
Unexpectedly, Hagiwara Kenji was now investigating again.
But it didn't matter. Being a detective, basically everyone had a few obsessive targets they wanted to catch. Hagiwara Kenji came from the Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit, so being persistent about a bomber was normal.
It was just that the timing of this obsession was a bit strange... probably related to this trip to the bomb exchange conference in America.
Inspector Megure was a very open-minded supervisor—otherwise he wouldn't constantly consult with outsider Kudo Yusaku. Therefore, after learning the reason for Hagiwara Kenji's recent odd behavior, he advised: "Take care of your health, don't forget your main duties. As for Plamia and such, just pay a little attention. The person might have left Japan long ago."
"Yes."
Hagiwara Kenji agreed readily.
He hadn't expected to catch Plamia himself anyway. Wasn't he just helping that poor new friend whose daughter was killed by Plamia by investigating a bit more?
After all, Plamia's identity was exposed in Japan. If he investigated more and asked around more, there might be some new leads.
Anyway, it was just spare time research that wouldn't delay anything.
It was just that bombs, once they exploded, wouldn't have a small scope of involvement. When investigating the materials and seeing those scenes and casualty lists... his emotions couldn't improve.
Naturally, Usuha Izuki also noticed all this.
Hagiwara Kenji was his partner. When Hagiwara Kenji's mood occasionally dropped, Usuha Izuki was also affected.
Although he knew this period wouldn't last long—after all, for Matsuda Jinpei and Hagiwara Kenji, that was just a newly acquainted friend. They had promised to help and doing their best was enough. Without leads, they couldn't investigate much. It would probably settle down in about a month. But Usuha Izuki still held a grudge against Plamia.
If he had known it would affect him, he should have calculated one more layer and killed Plamia too.
Now that it was affecting him, Usuha Izuki finally reflected.
But it was a bit late to regret now...
Usuha Izuki casually opened [Universal Navigation] and searched for Plamia.
[Universal Navigation] had range limitations, roughly the size of Tokyo. When he searched last time, Plamia had already left his search range, probably having left the country. Even if he searched now, Plamia would probably... huh?!
Usuha Izuki was shocked to discover that Plamia had actually returned to Tokyo!!!
What kind of thinking was this?!
Playing under the lamp?!
In fact, Plamia really was playing under the lamp.
When her identity was exposed, she ran very quickly, directly leaving Tokyo to hide from that organization until the heat died down, then return with a different identity.
After all, with her caution, she couldn't possibly only have safe houses in Tokyo. She had sets upon sets of false identities too.
She had also considered going abroad to avoid the spotlight, but she happened to encounter her information being made public, so customs was checking more strictly. Smuggling also had somewhat high risks, so she couldn't make it abroad in time...
This made her hold another grudge against the organization.
You investigated me yourselves, and threatening me to join was one thing, but you actually sold my information to others, causing this identity to be exposed... This means you want a fight to the death!
Originally, she had been hiding until now and could continue hiding without returning to Tokyo.
But she couldn't help that she was a foreigner. Compared to remote areas, returning to Tokyo was safer—Tokyo had many foreigners, and as everyone knows, Asians and Europeans are face-blind to each other.
So after confirming the organization couldn't find her, she disguised herself a bit, changed to a fake identity, and returned to Tokyo. She went out a few times and indeed wasn't discovered.
But to be safe, in the short term, she didn't want to take any more commissions or cause any incidents. Anyway, her savings were still sufficient. Her recent goal was to lay low, and once things calmed down, continue researching her projects.
Yes, Plamia chose to become a bomber because she loved bombs. Now that she had lost the stress-relieving scenes of watching bombs explode, she needed to research bombs properly to satisfy herself.
Plamia felt that since she had settled down and everyone outside thought she had left Japan, she should be able to live normally for a while, right?
Then, on her way home from grocery shopping, she was suddenly stopped.
"Hello, excuse me, could I ask you a few questions?"
Plamia was all too familiar with this line—it was exactly what police would say when they found a passerby suspicious and wanted to stop them for questioning.
The problem was, the person who stopped her didn't look like police.
In the night, the other party's deep blue hair, almost as dark as the night itself, reflected a cold luster. A pair of blood-moon-like eyes gazed at her indifferently, as if they could bring new bloodshed at any time.
...It was someone from that organization.
Plamia thought that so far, only that organization had found out her identity. She didn't know through what means, but since they could find out once, finding out a second time was possible.
After all, this person definitely didn't look like someone who would randomly hit on beautiful women on the street. A dangerous man who obviously held a high position like this absolutely knew her identity and came with the purpose of probing or achieving some other goal.
She shouldn't have stayed in Japan. Japan might be this organization's headquarters. She should go abroad—
No, now wasn't the time to think about this.
Plamia took a deep breath, observing the surrounding situation, ready to grab an unlucky hostage and escape: "What do you want to ask?"
"Have you seen this person?"
The young man, who looked very unsuitable for using polite language, courteously showed her a photograph.
This was conversation content beyond Plamia's expectations. She was stunned for a moment, looked at the photo, then at him: "...Haven't seen them. Who is this person?"
"A fugitive who might have fled this way."
Plamia: "........???"
—Wait, this person is actually really police?!