Chapter 245
The consequence of Usuha Izuki's mischief was that today's tempura didn't taste as good as before.
Scotland "performed poorly"—the batter was too thick, the frying wasn't crispy enough, and the dipping sauce was a bit too sour.
Usuha Izuki, who loved tempura the most: "............"
System: [This is the price of farming suspicion values. Seeing that he's finally contributing large amounts of suspicion values to you again after many years, just bear with it.]
[I won't bear with it.]
Usuha Izuki put down his chopsticks and looked at Scotland: "Are you trying to poison me to inherit my position?"
"...It's not that bad, is it?" Scotland smiled and said, "If you think it doesn't taste good, you can order delivery."
Unlike Akai Shuichi, Scotland, as a Japanese Public Security undercover agent, could be said to have mutual leverage with Usuha Izuki. As long as they didn't offend Usuha Izuki, he... basically wouldn't go too far either.
However, not going too far didn't mean he couldn't do anything. With Usuha Izuki's position, he always had ways to annoy people.
So Usuha Izuki said mercilessly: "Make another serving, or would you prefer an assassination mission targeting the Superintendent General?"
Scotland: "............"
Although he knew the organization couldn't possibly really assassinate the Superintendent General now, and if they really tried to assassinate the Superintendent General he would definitely tip off the authorities, he understood Usuha Izuki's meaning—he would assign him missions he really didn't want to do.
It was true that Usuha Izuki didn't manage affairs, but when he wanted to target someone, like assigning difficult missions to people he found displeasing, the organization would indeed cooperate.
Scotland had already prepared to dirty his hands during undercover training, and over the years he had indeed killed some people who were very useful to the country... But having to kill good people again because his tempura wasn't delicious enough was still out of the question.
Even if such missions would be assigned with or without him, Scotland still hoped to kill fewer innocent people if possible.
Especially when the person saying this was someone like Usuha Izuki who went crazy from time to time and whom the BOSS indulged...
He might not be joking but would really do such things for the sake of delicious tempura out of spite.
After all, Usuha Izuki's moral compass had always been weak, seeming to depend entirely on his mood. Scotland even suspected that the head injury might have damaged the parts controlling morality and socialization, making this guy lawless like an antisocial personality.
Sigh, if his senior had been more careful when raising the child, at least preventing the head injury...
But the Middle East situation really couldn't spare that much attention...
Scotland silently got up and went into the kitchen to remake the tempura—there were plenty of raw materials. He had only fried a portion, making the rest into semi-finished products, so now it was convenient.
Just as he threw the shrimp tempura into the oil and entered the waiting period, he finally received Bourbon's email.
[I found the intelligence you wanted, I'll send it to you later.]
This was their agreed code. In the organization, it was better to be careful. What if someone was nearby? And suspicious people might check emails, so the two had discussed that if Bourbon replied "found it," it meant the person was saved; if he replied "didn't find it," it meant death.
After all, Bourbon was in intelligence gathering, so even if Gin saw this email, he wouldn't find it suspicious.
Having been on edge all day, and then being told bad news after seeing Usuha Izuki, Scotland's tense nerves finally relaxed a bit.
No matter what, even if she was seriously injured, as long as she was alive, that was fine. Otherwise, if his childhood friend learned that Usuha Izuki had actually used Miyano Akemi's life to spite Gin, even being the senior's foster son would earn him resentment.
He'd ask about the specific situation later.
Because his mood improved a bit, Scotland's tempura this time didn't perform poorly, and Usuha Izuki finally had an appetite again.
Theoretically, seeing someone eat happily what you've cooked should make the cook a bit happy, but watching Usuha Izuki's cheerful appearance, Scotland's heart was full of complexity.
What a heartless little lunatic...
Miyano Akemi had accompanied him for so many years, taking such good care of him, yet he could kill her without hesitation, and now his mood seemed completely unaffected.
If the day came when he was exposed and chased by Gin, this guy probably wouldn't help him despite being a colleague of his foster father, and would just watch him die.
Sigh, his senior had hoped so much for this child to be an ordinary person, but after all this trouble, he only looked normal on the surface while being completely rotten inside!
If this continued, maybe one day, when he no longer needed to hide his identity and began acting against the organization, this child might die by his hands...
With such complex feelings, Scotland finally returned to the safe house he had arranged with Bourbon.
Bourbon immediately saw Scotland's fatigue and asked: "How did he torment you?"
"...Nothing much, same as before, just..." Scotland hesitated, then decided not to mention that Usuha Izuki had Chianti steal Gin's kill. "I just feel that if senior could see what this child has become now, he might be very sad."
Bourbon: "...Do I need to remind you? You're only five years apart! He's almost twenty-four this year!"
"Even so, when I was in high school he was still in elementary school, and he... just gives off a very immature feeling." Scotland coughed and tried to cover up.
Bourbon said naturally: "Because he's mentally ill."
"Shouldn't someone who grew up on a Middle Eastern battlefield be more mature?"
"I told you, because he's mentally ill, you can't think about him with normal logic." Bourbon was adamant.
Scotland: "...I just can't help wondering what he'd be like now if he hadn't hit his head. He really seems emotionless now."
Never mind Miyano Akemi—according to Vodka's complaints, Usuha Izuki hadn't even visited Akai's grave much, had he?
Bourbon thought about it: "But if he'd been too emotional this time, he probably wouldn't have been in the mood to find someone to clean for him, and you wouldn't have gotten the intelligence."
Scotland was speechless for a moment: "...Let's not talk about this. How is Miss Miyano?"
Although he could tell from Bourbon's condition that Miyano Akemi was probably in good shape, he still needed to confirm.
Speaking of this, the joy that Bourbon had been suppressing since Scotland entered finally turned into a big smile: "She's fine! Just pulmonary contusion!"
"...? Hit by a sniper rifle and only pulmonary contusion? She wore a bulletproof vest? Gin didn't notice?"
If they didn't know where the opponent would aim, the bulletproof vest would definitely need to be a full set, which would be very bulky. To fool Gin, they'd definitely need to add blood packs too, otherwise no matter how much she screamed, if there wasn't even blood, even an idiot like Gin would realize she wasn't dead.
But with a layer of bulletproof vest and a layer of blood packs, Scotland couldn't imagine what Miyano Akemi would have to wear to fool Gin.
At this moment, Gin's image in his mind was that of a blind man—even Vodka's sunglasses should be given to Gin.
Bourbon explained: "Only the heart area was protected, and only there had blood packs. She was betting on a heart shot—if it had been the head or other areas, she'd be done for."
Scotland's expression became subtle.
Bourbon noticed something and asked: "What, did you hear something from that Usuha guy?"
Scotland said with difficulty: "...He said he had Chianti act before Gin, making Gin disgusted for at least a week."
Bourbon: "............"
"I thought he really didn't care about Miss Miyano..." Scotland held his forehead. "The first tempura was a bit distracted, didn't control the heat well."
Bourbon, hearing this tone, twitched his mouth: "You remade it once, didn't you..."
"Because he said if I didn't agree, he'd make me assassinate the Superintendent General. I felt like he really might do something like that."
"Uh..."
Bourbon actually had even more prejudice against Usuha Izuki than Scotland. He really couldn't say "he was just talking," because he also felt Usuha Izuki would do it.
Scotland's tone was very complex: "So he knew Miss Miyano had a bulletproof vest on her heart when he told Chianti to do that?"
Then hadn't he misunderstood Usuha Izuki? What kind of habit was it for this child to do good deeds but not admit it?
"Wait a minute." Seeing Scotland's moved expression, Bourbon made a pause gesture with his hand. "We still can't confirm he knew, can we? According to Miss Miyano, she said it might have been secretly sent by the FBI, better than nothing."
After experiencing unreliable FBI, Miyano Akemi could no longer give wholehearted trust to any organization—even Japanese Public Security, which she felt was unreliable, with a reputation no better than the FBI's.
What if there were organization moles inside? Even if there weren't, what if the organization later bought people to dig for intelligence?
Absolutely couldn't let Usuha Izuki be exposed!
So, to protect the only trustworthy Usuha Izuki, Miyano Akemi followed Usuha Izuki's instructions and concealed his contribution to this operation.
Originally, Miyano Akemi had thought that if the FBI rescued her, she'd say her sister helped her prepare it. But it turned out it wasn't the FBI but Japanese Public Security who saved her, which was convenient—pushing it onto the FBI wasn't bad either, saving her sister from too much attention.
Anyway, the FBI had indeed been appearing around her, causing her so much trouble. Now that they finally had some use, might as well use them.
As for Usuha Izuki...
"Yes, I told Botanist-san about being investigated by the organization, and Botanist-san told me to talk to Gin about buying our freedom with money."
This was the only place mentioning Usuha Izuki. Usuha Izuki had specifically instructed Miyano Akemi to say this. Miyano Akemi didn't quite understand but felt Usuha Izuki was probably being cautious, so she obediently described it this way.
"...That's how it is. Actually, Gin developed murderous intent toward Akemi, and that irresponsible Usuha Izuki guy's random suggestion might be partly to blame. If Akemi hadn't mentioned redemption or whatever, Gin might not have thought to kill her. Once she brought it up, it confirmed she had no loyalty to the organization."
Bourbon relayed Miyano Akemi's preliminary statement to Scotland with a heavy expression: "And if Usuha hadn't had Chianti act, Gin would have used a handgun, which has weaker lethality. With a sniper rifle, there's still a probability of penetrating the bulletproof vest—that was too much of a gamble... Combined with his suggestion, I think Usuha really didn't take Akemi to heart."
Scotland showed a struggling expression: "But... Usuha doesn't need Miyano-san to die, does he? He may be crazy but he's not stupid. Couldn't he think that if Miss Miyano really said that, his housekeeper would be gone?"
Bourbon: "...???"
Is that the point?!
"I think compared to doing something for the organization, maybe Usuha would rather keep a housekeeper he's used to."
Scotland pondered, recalling Usuha Izuki's happy smile when he opened the door today, frowned, and said: "I always feel there's something wrong here."
Bourbon thought about it and also felt something was off, but still couldn't help complaining: "...You just don't want to believe he has no feelings even for Akemi who's taken care of him for so many years, do you?"
Scotland said: "Maybe I just want to believe in senior more."
From all the materials, senior appeared to be a very perceptive and open-minded person.
—A child raised by such a senior, no matter how crazy, shouldn't be completely without humanity, right?