Chapter 253

Near the Big Black Building, Vodka hesitated, watching the swarm of police cars approaching.

This time, it was all thanks to Usakabe Saiki's tip-off that we had time to evacuate and blow up that bar or something... He really couldn't bring himself to say it!

Just thinking about having to thank Usoya Saiki makes Vodka feel like ants are crawling all over his body!

Moreover, he didn't even know what happened to Agave's death. It was too sudden. No matter how he thought about it, it was related to Usakabe Saiki. He was still considering how to report Usakabe Saiki to his superiors.

Vodka silently drove away, while Gin looked away from the police car, frowning as he continued typing on the computer on his lap.

Gin used his vodka account to email Saiki Usaba, asking him what was going on.

No matter how bad his relationship with Usui is now, Gin will suppress his personal feelings and try not to let them affect his work.

Since Bo Yezaki didn't hide anything and told them directly about the agave incident, it was only natural for him to ask Bo Yezaki about the aftermath.

Sitting in the passenger seat of Matsuda Jinpei's car, Usaba Saiki received the email and openly replied to the organization members in front of the police.

[This word choice...is this a gin bar? Why are you using a vodka email address?]

Gin: "..."

You know perfectly well why he's using Vodka's email address! It's because his email address was blocked by Usakabe Saiki!

Because of his experiences over the years, Gin had almost developed a conditioned reflex to Usui Saiki. This ordinary reply made him feel his blood pressure rising. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and decided to leave the communication to Vodka while he drove.

Vodka was forced into the back seat, staring at the back of his older brother's head as he drove, feeling a pang of pain.

He didn't want to communicate with Usaku Saiki either!

But since things had come to this point, Vodka had no choice but to take on the task. He had even become quite accustomed to inserting various "not to mean xxxx" patches into the main text to avoid being nitpicked by Usoppō Saiki.

When he finished writing the self-criticism, Vodka couldn't help but think that this was a job only he could do. If his older brother had continued, he probably would have been furious today.

After the email was sent, Bo Yezhai did not reply for half a day.

Just as Vodka was wondering if his email address had also been blocked, Usoppei called him directly.

"Typing is too much trouble, just say it directly."

Finally delivered home by Matsuda Jinpei, Usui Saiki began his conversation with his colleagues: "Simply put, Tequila was unlucky. Two colleagues had a conflict and wanted to kill each other. The plan was all set up, but he interfered. Who else would die if not him?"

Vodka: "...I don't understand. What plan is it?"

"Oh, so the tequila's trading partner was supposed to be blown up, but tequila swapped boxes with him, so it was tequila who died. What do you call acting bravely for a just cause? This is acting bravely for a just cause—I'm really crying my eyes out."

Vodka understood, but of course he didn't believe it all. He would still secretly keep an eye on what the police said and compare it with what Usoya Saiki said.

This is a large company. If such a serious incident as an explosion and death occurs at a game launch event, they should at least hold a press conference to explain.

It seems that there's no need for Usakabe Saiki to lie in such an easily exposed place... If he just believes this statement, he can only say that Agave was really unlucky; even if it had happened a day earlier, it wouldn't have turned out like this.

"Thank you, I understand. If there's nothing else..."

Bo Yezaki stopped Vodka from tentatively hanging up the phone: "Now that Tequila is dead, shouldn't we settle some scores?"

"...What account?"

Vodka's relaxed state of mind tightened up again.

What's going on? Tequila owes Bo Ye Saiki money and hasn't paid it back? That shouldn't be the case, those two shouldn't have any contact... Oh right, Tequila bumped into Bo Ye Saiki today.

Vodka felt he understood: "He's dead. No matter how he offended you in the past, death is the end. If it's not a big deal, don't hold it against him."

Bo Yezaki remained unmoved: "Do you remember a few years ago when you sent Agave to follow me?"

Vodka thought for a moment and remembered it.

I never expected that Bo Yezhai would dig up old grievances from so many years ago, it must have been five or six years ago!

"I remember, he lost track of them halfway through. Is there a problem?"

During that entire stalking, Tequila never encountered Usui Saiki. If Vodka could offend Usui Saiki, then Vodka truly felt that Usui Saiki was being unreasonable.

“I was dressed so conspicuously, and I was dragging a suitcase, yet you still managed to lose me. I told you back then that Tequila wasn’t very capable, do you remember?”

Vodka: "…………"

Ah, suddenly, his dead memories began to attack him.

Bo Yezhai sighed, "I gave you examples from my own experience, but you just wouldn't believe me. Now look what happened! The mission failed, and you don't even know how much the trading partner knows. You should have listened to me earlier! I have such a good eye for people!"

Vodka tightened his grip on his phone.

It wasn't just a matter of the mission failing; they even went so far as to blow up the bar in that building that served as their base, just to be on the safe side. Boss had already recently told his boss to keep a low profile, and now this has happened...

Vodka has always acknowledged that Bo Yezaki is good at judging people. In previous years, people thought that he was only inaccurate when it came to undercover agents, either because he was settling personal scores or because he was using exhaustive methods to make it seem like he was doing his job. Now, people are much more cautious about this.

Now, whenever Usoppai mentions this, Vodka can't help but wonder if Usoppai is hinting at something.

As he was thinking, Vodka couldn't help but glance at Gin driving in the rearview mirror, then quickly looked away before the other man noticed.

"Tequila probably never imagined something like this, that its trading partner would be assassinated or something..." Vodka still tried his best to speak up for Tequila.

Bo Yezhai retorted, "Where do they usually meet? Can't they just do the transaction at their usual meeting place? Why did they have to choose a game launch event that's so out of place with Tequila's image? He's two meters tall, everything he does attracts attention, yet they made the transaction so complicated, as if they were afraid the receptionist wouldn't remember him, right? Why couldn't they use one of those self-service parcel lockers? If they can't even think of these things, what else is that but a lack of competence?"

Vodka: "………………"

Oh no, this is a bit hard to refute. After listening to Bo Yezaki's analysis, he even felt that Agave's death was somewhat self-inflicted!

After all, he knew that Tequila and his trading partner usually met at the bar that he and his brother had just blown up. Thinking about it carefully, if they had chosen that bar, nothing would have happened. At most, the trading partner might not have come, or he might have been killed in the explosion, but that wouldn't have implicated the organization.

Such a simple method, but Tequila insisted on doing something fancy, and messed it up with a series of fierce operations, which also implicated him and his older brother!

—Tequila is a real jerk!

Vodka couldn't help but have these thoughts.

Realizing this, Vodka quickly mentally struck a chord and decided to end the conversation as soon as possible to avoid leaving him with only contempt and resentment towards tequila: "I understand, I'll take your opinions into consideration more often in the future."

Bo Yezaki then hung up the phone, satisfied.

Gin frowned: "What did he say? Why should we take his opinion into consideration?"

This wasn't the first time Gin had heard Vodka make a phone call to Saiki Usaba. Vodka usually gave perfunctory answers and rarely made such a serious promise, which made Gin feel that something unexpected had happened.

Vodka sighed: "Looking at his evaluation of the organization's members... because he said five or six years ago that Tequila was unreliable and incompetent... Sigh, now that I think about it, if Tequila is this useless now, how useless must he have been five or six years ago? If only we had listened to Potts earlier, we wouldn't have had to blow up a base we were so used to... Tequila really deserved to die."

Gin: "...???"

Wait a minute, isn't vodka's attitude changing a little too quickly?

Before answering the phone, Vodka was sympathetic towards Tequila, muttering, "What bad luck, to run into Potts like this." How come he's now so coldly judging Tequila as "deserving of death"?

The whole process consisted of a phone call with Usaku Saiki that lasted less than five minutes!

Usoya Saiki, that's truly terrifying!

Gin warned him warily, "Be careful, you've been influenced by Potniss."

Vodka paused for a moment, then hesitated, "This time, Potts's words actually make a lot of sense. The evidence and facts are all laid out before us, unlike before when he couldn't produce anything and just talked nonsense everywhere... Tequila really didn't do a good job on this mission. Just the way he decided on the transaction alone shows that he doesn't deserve this codename. If we had listened to Potts a few years ago and revoked his codename, we definitely wouldn't have assigned him this mission..."

Gin: "…………"

Has Usaku Saiki evolved? Even Vodka, who always reflexively resists whatever Usaku Saiki says, has started to believe his nonsense...

Gin sensed a crisis.

At this moment, Usakabe Saiki, who had just told Vodka that he was too lazy to type, had already happily edited the email about this incident and sent it to the Boss, once again proving his good judgment in people.

After sending the email, Bo Yezaki discovered that Bourbon had sent him another email, which he hadn't had time to read yet.

Previously, Scotland said he was too busy and asked Bourbon to clean for him. Usaba Saiki thought it didn't matter as long as the house didn't get dusty, so he agreed.

Bourbon's email was asking if he was free recently.

Usakabe Saiki: [If it's just cleaning, I don't need to be there, right? Don't tell me you can't pick locks.]

[You won't even give me a key? That's so typical of you. But how am I supposed to know what I can and can't touch if you're not around? I don't understand your Scottish accent, and you have way too much repetitive, useless stuff in your house. Aren't you going to consider throwing some away?]

Bo Yezaki immediately became alert.

Who dares to throw his items! So what if they're duplicates! The attributes aren't duplicated!

However, he knew that this meant Bourbon wanted to meet with him, so he didn't hesitate and replied directly.

【Let's do it this Saturday then.】

Bourbon's request to meet in person must mean he has some information he cares about to tell him, right?

Has anything else happened in the organization lately? Surely we don't have to discuss Akemi Miyano with him again? That's ancient history!

At the same time, Vodka glanced up at the direction Gin was driving while writing his report and quickly reminded him.

"Brother, you took the wrong turn. You should have turned left."

"We didn't make a mistake. We're going to the research institute to find Shirley now."

Vodka paused, then said, "Oh, right, Sherry already knows..."

Originally, Miyano Akemi's death was kept from her younger sister Sherry for the time being. After all, since Akai Shuichi ran away, the sisters had to apply for permission to meet, chat, make phone calls, or send emails, so it wouldn't be exposed for a while.

Sherry knew about Akemi Miyano's investigation and was very worried about the outcome. She hadn't seen Akemi Miyano for a long time and thought that her request to meet would be approved, but it was rejected.

After a long and complicated process, Sherry finally learned that Miyano Akemi had died. Sherry was devastated and went on strike again after only two days back at work.

Vodka asked, "She's been demanding the truth. Are you sure you want to tell her?"

After all, it was the eldest brother who decided to kill Miyano Akemi!

“There’s nothing I can’t say,” Gin said coldly. “If she wants to hate someone, let her hate Potts and the FBI.”

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Just heard about the tequila's death: Sympathy, poor thing, the tequila was so unlucky.

Vodka, who had a five-minute phone call with Saiki Usopp: Tequila deserved to die!

Gin: ...?