Chapter 22

"Vodka? Vodka, say something!"

Vodka snapped out of his daze: "Uh, the signal's not very good. I'll hang up now if there's nothing else."

Vodka hung up the phone quickly, now a little flustered. He was slow to react even when the light turned green, and it took several seconds for the cars behind him to honk their horns before he came to his senses.

There was no way around it; his current level of anxiety was just like the last time Gin wasn't wearing his seatbelt and a cat darted out onto the road, causing him to slam on the brakes and almost burn Gin's lighter to his eyebrows.

Lying isn't the point; he can lie to others without batting an eye. The point is that this time, the person he lied to was Usakabe Saiki.

The thought of how Usoya Saiki would react if he discovered that he was lying made Vodka feel that it was an unbearable burden.

Even before offending him, Bo Yezaki was already quite troublesome. Now, if he gets caught lying to him... Boss is currently on Bo Yezaki's side on the surface, trying to maintain his connections in the Middle East, so maybe he'll make Bo Yezaki suffer a little...

Thinking about this, Vodka felt very depressed, as depressed as a wife whose husband favors a vixen. He turned his head and found Gin looking at him, which made him feel even more depressed.

"Big brother..."

Gin overheard some of it and pieced together a guess in his mind, but he still wanted the person involved to say it himself: "What happened?"

“It’s that kid Bo Ye.” Vodka coughed, trying to explain, “He’s looking for me…”

If he were to say that Usaku Saiki asked him for a music box, and that he didn't want to deal with Usaku Saiki, so he said they were out of town and that he should ask Amuro Tooru for it, but now it seems like he's about to be exposed... that reason is obviously not acceptable, as it would make him seem like he's putting the cart before the horse.

Vodka, quick-witted, changed his tune.

"—He never contacts me without a reason. We're at a critical juncture in our mission, and I'm worried he might interfere, so I lied and said we were out of town. But he just called and said he was going to karaoke and saw our car on the way, so we might be heading the same way... What should we do, bro?"

Gin: "…………"

Gin didn't really care that Vodka lied to Saiki Usopp, but he did care that the lie was exposed, which was a matter of poor decision-making and competence.

But after thinking about it, he realized that vodka couldn't be entirely blamed for what happened this time.

After all, Tokyo, while not large, is not small either, so the probability of such a coincidence is indeed low. Vodka never expected it to be so dramatic; he could only say it was bad luck—or perhaps, Usakabe Saiki had already been aware of their movements.

If it's the latter, then Gin feels he can't just let it go; he has to get to the bottom of it.

Investigating the movements of organization members without any reason—Gin would have immediately labeled anyone else a spy, but in the case of Usui Saiki…

Gin thought coldly, "I'll find out the details first, then report it to the Boss and see what his attitude is."

In that instant, Gin's thoughts overlapped with Vodka's—the Boss is too biased towards Usui Saiki now, and this kid better not let him catch anything wrong, otherwise he will definitely take matters into his own hands and make him wish he were dead.

Because Gin remained silent, Vodka felt uneasy and cautiously asked, "Big brother? What should we do? Should we go somewhere else? If Usui Saiki finds out and gets involved, it might affect the mission..."

At this moment, Vodka was already mentally rehearsing how to contact the newcomer Amuro Tooru, who was still waiting in the karaoke room. He wondered where to go if they changed locations, and there was only one intersection ahead. If he didn't make a decision soon, he might run into Usui Saiki…

But Gin's answer was the complete opposite of what he expected.

"No need to change it, keep driving." Gin sneered. "If we don't get to the bottom of this this time, are we going to let him pull this trick again next time?"

Vodka felt a chill run down his spine.

Indeed, it is necessary to confirm whether this is truly a coincidence, otherwise we won't know how information was leaked in the future.

Vodka even harbored a secret expectation—that it would be best if Usoya Saiki really did follow them through some means, even the kind of crime that the Boss couldn't cover up, so that he might be able to see Usoya Saiki get taught a lesson!

When people have fantasies, they have motivation. Just now, when there was only one intersection left, the vodka was driving slowly as if it had a flat tire. Now, it's as if it has a brand new car, and the people behind are watching the exhaust fumes with great interest.

Vodka quickly drove to the reserved karaoke room.

When he parked the car, he didn't see Bo Yezaki and was a little disappointed: "Is that kid planning to wait until we start the meeting, then suddenly barge in and accuse me of lying to him?"

Gin's sharp, hawk-like gaze swept around the room. He didn't sense anything suspicious, but still cautiously said, "Let's go in first."

Vodka obediently went inside, went straight to his reserved room, and planned to call someone over to ask once he was in a safe place.

As soon as the door opened, he was caught off guard to find Usakata Saiki chatting and laughing with the new recruits inside.

Vodka: "...???"

He was taken aback at first, then his spirits lifted, as if he had found some evidence. He immediately stood up straight and, in a manner like that of a wicked mother-in-law, began to accuse the newcomer.

"Amuro Tooru, did you tell him we were having a meeting here?" Vodka said righteously, "If you can't even keep it a secret, what kind of intelligence officer are you!"

Amuro, Japanese Public Security Bureau, Rei Furuya (real name): "...It wasn't me. I saw him in the hallway. He insisted on coming in, saying you sent him to find me..."

Gin's gaze swept over coldly.

Vodka was furious. How could that brat Bo Ye lie about military intelligence?!

Then he remembered that he did indeed send Usui Saiki to find Amuro Tooru... but that was to get Amuro Tooru's music box! Not to involve him in their mission!!!

Remembering this, Vodka became a bit blustery but weak-willed: "I didn't ask him to find you for this, and it's not now..."

Gin knows vodka well; he could tell from his expression that he was guilty. He frowned impatiently and asked, "What's going on?"

Usakabe Saiki enthusiastically helped answer the question: "I was asking Vodka for a music box, but he said he wasn't in Tokyo and told me to ask Mr. Amuro. What a coincidence that I saw Mr. Amuro here!"

Unlike vodka, Gin wasn't going to be led around by Saiki Usopp; he went straight to the most important question.

Why did you come here?

Usoppei widened his eyes innocently: "You didn't come to the karaoke bar to sing, did you come to eat? Oh, you probably didn't come here to sing after all."

Karaoke culture is very popular in Japan, and it's common for people to sing karaoke to relieve their stress, so Usui Saiki is perfectly justified in doing so.

Faced with this situation of beating around the bush, Gin is already considering taking action. Many people only become more efficient when they are threatened.

But facing Usoppō Saiki, for the sake of the organization's overall interests, he had no choice but to endure it for the time being.

Although Usui doesn't do any work and occasionally offers suggestions like "spend more money to aid the Middle East," since the Boss needs Usui, Gin is willing to lower his standards for Usui alone.

What does it mean to say, "I offered my heart to the bright moon, but the bright moon shone on the gutter"?

"Don't give such a perfunctory answer; you know no one will believe it," Gin began to probe for information.

Although Gin couldn't physically attack, the pressure from his gaze was enough to break the mental defenses of many people with weaker mental fortitude.

Unfortunately, when Usoppei looks in the mirror these days, he sees Hanakawa Shinryu with a "shadowy aura" on every day. Although he's not a conspiracy theorist, the effect of the underworld filter being fully activated is a bit...unpleasant to look at.

Having seen too many system-version, dark-filtered versions of Hanchuan Shenliu, Usaku Saiki is now immune to Gin's unofficial, dark-filtered version, which relies entirely on his own abilities.

He even considered it for a moment and thought that sending Kanakawa Shinryu to the police academy would be a win-win situation—he would gain suspicion points, and his classmates, as long as they could stay until graduation, would definitely have no problem with their mental fortitude and would be able to face Gin without flinching.

Moreover, if we see someone with a similar temperament to Han Chuan Shenliu on the street in the future, we can seize them and interrogate them. We'll catch them every time, and we might even be able to perform meritorious service more often than other students.

Thinking of this, Bo Yezaki couldn't help but share his thoughts with the system: "I've really helped everyone at the police academy too much; they should all pay me a salary."

System: [Have some shame! Answer me now, Gin's eyes are practically radiating murderous intent.]

[You only saw that Gin wanted to kill, but why didn't you see the suspicion points he contributed?] Usui glanced at the notification bar. [He probably suspects I'm investigating them… Ha, naive.]

Bo Yezaki sat on the sofa, his back ramrod straight, the words "Boss's Confidant" on his sweater seemingly gleaming.

"What, are you suspecting that I, the boss's confidant, am plotting to investigate you and targeting you?"

Gin: "…………"

Vodka: "…………" How shameless...

Amuro Tooru: As expected of the boss's confidant... Wait, why do the other two people's expressions look a bit off?

Although Amuro Tooru met Usaku Saiki earlier, upon meeting him, Usaku Saiki practically kidnapped him and pushed him into the room, saying he had something important to tell him. He didn't have a chance to see Usaku Saiki's back at all, so he still has a misunderstanding about how many words are on the clothes.

Vodka and Gin, however, were different. They knew more about Usaku Saiki's true nature. When they first saw the words on his clothes, they felt that Usaku Saiki was being arrogant and that he was deliberately trying to disgust them.

Now that Gin heard Usaku Saiki call himself "the boss's confidant," he felt nauseous and became even more convinced that Usaku Saiki's wearing of those clothes was ill-intentioned.

But Gin's steely will would not be swayed by such tricks. He remained true to his original aspirations and focused solely on the core issue raised by Usui Saiki.

"Don't change the subject. There are so many karaoke bars in Tokyo, and you just happened to pick this one at random, at this exact time, and we just happened to have a meeting here?"

Gin's gaze was cold, and a mocking smile curled at the corner of his mouth.

"If you don't provide a reasonable answer, well... the organization's patience is also limited."

The system panicked: [Damn it, only Vodka will be swayed by you. Gin doesn't fall for your tricks. He was probably just too lazy to bother with you before... Now he wants to. What do we do? Have you thought of a reason?]

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Please leave comments~ Don't just leave comments on the last chapter just because there are three chapters, please...

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In Vodka's eyes, Thin Leaf really looks like a fox spirit.

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Thin Leaf: Are you doubting someone as trusted as me, the boss?!

Vodka; ...If your confidant is the organization's doom!