Chapter 71, Eighteenth Cycle (15)
It was already 2 a.m. when Scotland finished its mission.
Normally, when missions are busy, he and his partner, Rae, would live together in a safe house.
However, given the time and energy, Scotland would naturally choose to return to his own safe house, and so would Ly.
Leaving aside Rye, even if Scotland, or Morofushi Hiromitsu, knew that Rye was also an undercover agent who wanted to destroy the organization, like him, and was FBI agent Shuichi Akai, he was still just a notorious member of the organization to Rye. It was better to be careful.
Although the relationship between the sniper partners seemed surprisingly good, he and Rae had only been partners for a year, and they couldn't compare to Cohen and Chianti.
But Ray... doesn't seem to be very popular among the snipers? It's probably a personality issue, right?
Scotland had a good relationship with other snipers, and many of the rumors about Bourbon came from Chianti.
Most of the snipers were taciturn, with Chianti being the only lively and talkative one. Naturally, she quickly became acquainted with the curious and easy-going Scotsman.
Every time Scotland thinks of the rumors Chianti told him about Bourbon, he feels both amused and worried.
He hadn't seen Bourbon for a long time. Although they had kept in touch online, Bourbon's tendency to only report good news and not bad, along with his frequent large-scale operations that caused a stir in the organization, made Scotland genuinely worried.
Bourbon's actions were so audacious that they shocked him; he had a feeling that the other man was secretly plotting something extraordinary...
Scotland suddenly paused as he opened the door, his blue eyes instantly sharpening.
He paused for only a second before quickly resuming his normal actions. But the instant he pushed open the door and turned on the light, the hand holding the gun suddenly pointed at the person in the room.
Because he was prepared, the moment the light was turned on, it didn't obstruct his vision, allowing him to immediately see the person's face.
“…Bourbon?” The Scottish man’s hand holding the gun paused slightly, and the murderous intent almost subconsciously dissipated by more than half.
The blond, dark-skinned youth sat on the sofa, waved the signal jammer in his hand, and then gave him a bright smile that was so familiar it was almost unbelievable.
“A cherry blossom.” Rei Furuya smiled, spreading his arms wide.
"Five petals!" Morofushi Kagemitsu immediately recognized the signal, his eyes lit up instantly, and a bright, delighted smile appeared on his face as he rushed over.
"Zero!!!"
Morofushi Kagemitsu's pistols, sniper rifles, rifles, and jacket stuffed with knives and needles clattered to the ground. He himself, wearing a simple black bodysuit, leaped and landed squarely on the blond youth on the sofa.
Rei Furuya was tackled onto the sofa, feeling quite overwhelmed, but he couldn't help but laugh while hugging his childhood friend whom he hadn't seen for half a year: "Hahaha, Hiro, you're so heavy! Have you gained weight? Hahaha, your beard, your beard is so itchy—"
Morofushi Kagemitsu stopped sticking and rubbing, looked up and corrected him with a serious expression: "It's not fat, it's muscle."
As he spoke, he raised his arm to show off his muscles.
Morofushi Kagemitsu was wearing a short-sleeved bodysuit that allowed for easy movement. Whether it was his upper body, which was covered by the black bodysuit, or his fair-skinned arms, the bulging muscle lines could be clearly seen.
Rei Furuya held out his own hand for comparison, his expression somewhat shocked.
Morofushi Kagemitsu burst out laughing, his blue cat-like eyes almost curving into slits: "But Zero, haven't you gotten even thinner? My arms are almost twice as thick as yours. Haven't you been taking care of yourself at all? Haven't you been eating and sleeping properly?"
"How could that be? Eating and sleeping properly are also part of the job." Rei Furuya immediately retorted, then said dejectedly, "Besides, it's not that exaggerated. You just have an extra layer of muscle... I think it's simply a matter of physique, right? No matter how much I train, my physique is still like this. You can touch it if you don't believe me! I still have eight-pack abs!"
After patting his belly like a baby seal, Rei Furuya complained with half-moon eyes, "And this is clearly Hiro's problem, isn't it? Although you started growing rapidly from high school, would an ordinary person completely change their body shape in such a short time? And this stubble, if you threw it in front of those three guys, they definitely wouldn't recognize you for a moment!"
Looking at his childhood friend who hadn't changed at all and even looked like a high school student, Morofushi Kagemitsu touched his chin with short, stiff stubble and happily curled the corners of his mouth: "Really? Have I changed a lot? Hahaha, I've been training hard all along."
“Yeah.” Rei Furuya leaned in and sniffed. “You smoke now? And you seem to smoke quite a lot… Damn it! Did you get corrupted by that old chain smoker Akai!?”
Morofushi Kagemitsu finally stood up completely, raised his hand to smell himself, blushing and annoyed: "I've been a bit busy with missions lately... Honestly, you didn't even tell me you were coming back."
Mission... a sniper's mission...
“But looking at it this way, doesn’t it seem even more ferocious and more in line with the aura of an organization member?” Morofushi Kagemitsu said, arms crossed.
Rei Furuya sat up slightly, leaned against the sofa armrest, stroked his chin thoughtfully, and smiled, "Hmm... but for me, Hiro is still as gentle as ever."
Even though Hiro has become stronger and has a beard, he's still super cute.
Morofushi Kagemitsu frowned deeply: "I'm very fierce in front of other people."
"Okay, okay, Hiro is super fierce." Rei Furuya laughed so hard the sofa was shaking.
Morofushi Kagemitsu: "..."
Morofushi Kagemitsu held down his arrogant childhood friend and tickled him relentlessly, ignoring Furuya Rei's surrender without a second thought, until he was tired of playing with him.
It felt like he was back in his carefree childhood, as if he had been completely transformed. It was as if he could completely relax as long as Zero was by his side, Morofushi Kagemitsu thought with a smile.
Then he was sent to take a shower by Rei Furuya.
"You haven't had dinner yet, have you? What do you want to eat? There are no missions tomorrow, have some late-night snacks before you go to sleep. I have something to tell you." Furuya Rei said, rummaging through the refrigerator.
"I ate it." Morofushi Kagemitsu came out carrying his pajamas, and added sheepishly in front of his childhood friend, "Two chocolates, I ate them while I was on the run."
"That doesn't count as dinner." Rei Furuya crossed his arms and sneered. "I wonder who didn't eat or sleep properly. Look at your dark circles, they're almost as dark as Shuichi Akai's. Hiro, you've definitely been corrupted by that bastard FBI agent!"
Moribu Kagemitsu blinked: "Isn't that a bit unusual lower eyeliner?"
Rei Furuya confirmed, "It's dark circles under the eyes."
Morofushi Kagemitsu: "Are they longer lower eyelashes?"
Rei Furuya: "It's dark circles under my eyes."
Morofushi Kagemitsu smiled wryly and said, "Okay, it's dark circles under the eyes."
Rei Furuya was satisfied and smiled, "Would you like some soba noodles?"
Zhu Fujingguang nodded vigorously twice.
Just as he finished showering and came out, the blond youth was carrying two bowls of noodles out of the kitchen.
It's buckwheat noodles, one of Nagano's specialties.
"I'm starting." Morofushi Kagemitsu took a bite of the steaming noodles, his eyes shining even brighter, and little flowers even started to appear on his body. "Delicious! Zero, has your cooking gotten even better? Did you also study cooking abroad?"
Rei Furuya's lips curled into a wild smile: "Of course, I won't slack off in any aspect."
Morofushi Kagemitsu smiled and praised him a few more times, then asked, "How long will you stay in the country this time?"
“I won’t be leaving again unless there are special circumstances.” Rei Furuya took a sip of broth. “I was sent back by Vermouth, and Gin also can’t stand me always going out to play. I’ll probably be going on missions with you guys soon.”
Although the news that the childhood friend would stay was gratifying enough, however…
Morofushi Kagemitsu paused with his chopsticks, raised an eyebrow at him, and asked, "Did you offend Vermouth? Was it because of her disguise technique?"
Rei Furuya proudly raised his chin: "Yeah, she agreed to teach me, but she was deliberately dragging her feet. She only taught me the basics before kicking me out, telling me to figure it out on my own first."
"What about the billion gems?" Morofushi Kagemitsu asked curiously.
"That's my stepping stone to getting a deeper understanding of the Organization Research Department." Furuya Rei produced a beautiful purple gem and placed it in his hand as if by magic.
“This gem is called Pandora,” he said.
Having been introduced to the topic of Pandora during his time at the police academy, Morofushi Kagemitsu widened his eyes in surprise, picked up the gem, turned around, and examined it under the moonlight: "Is this Pandora?"
Rei Furuya shook his head: "How could the real Pandora be handed over to the organization? This one is fake too. There are too many gems bearing the name Pandora. I just used this to report the information about the member codenamed Animal Organization to the BOSS, and then became one of the key people in charge of this new project."
"That's one of the reasons I came back; I'm going to start working with Shirley in the lab soon," he said.
The legendary Stone of Destiny, Pandora, is said to grant immortality, and another mysterious transnational criminal organization is frantically investigating it. How could the boss of the Black Organization possibly sit idly by upon hearing this news?
Morofushi Kagemitsu nodded: "That's good. You're in the intelligence group, and I'm in the action group. Now we only have the research group's intelligence to be unclear, and we don't know how many butterfly effects they've been affected by..."
He looked at the gem in his hand and suddenly realized that it was somewhat similar to the eye color of his childhood friend. Both were a beautiful purple with a touch of mystery, which made him compare them several times.
Rei Furuya tilted his head, holding the bowl: "?"
Morofushi Kagemitsu was amused, returned the jewel to him, and also picked up the bowl and finished the soup.
The two chatted for a while while tidying up, and went to bed after they had finished digesting their food.
This was the most restful night's sleep Morofushi Kagemitsu had had since graduating from police academy. When he woke up and saw the empty room, he was stunned for a moment, almost thinking that everything last night was just a dream.
After all, he hadn't expected that with his current level of vigilance, he wouldn't have noticed the person beside him leaving. Could the familiar aura of his childhood friend have reached this level?
Moreover, it wasn't a dream.
“Scotland, Ray, you two will be teaming up with Bourbon for the time being,” Gin said.
Morofushi Kagemitsu was stunned for a moment, not expecting it to happen so quickly.
He turned to look at the blond youth beside him, and the blond youth also turned to look at him.
With their backs to Ray and Gin, who were talking over there, the two looked at each other and smiled.
*
Shuichi Akai has recently received two pieces of bad news.
One is that Bourbon has returned, and the other is that Bourbon has become his new partner.
"Lay, are your legs just for show? Hurry up, or if they're useless, should I chop them off for you?" The blond, dark-skinned youth leaned against the car with his arms crossed and sneered.
Shuichi Akai immediately became Rae.
Ray frowned: "Why are you picking me up? Where's Scotland?"
"Should I leave?" Bourbon looked like he was really about to drive off and leave him alone in this deserted place.
Lei: "..."
Ray got into the car a second before Bourbon started the engine.
Then he quickly regretted it.
He even transformed into Shuichi Akai once again.
Shuichi Akai experienced the most terrifying half hour of his life.
After getting out of the car and becoming Ray again, he held onto the car door for several seconds before he could walk normally, without showing any embarrassing reaction in front of Bourbon, who was watching the spectacle.
Ray swore he would never ride in Bourbon's car again.
The two argued all the way back to the Whiskey Trio's safe house, but Bourbon went in first and immediately quieted down.
This is clearly not normal; Bourbon, who successfully entered the door before him, should have immediately turned around and mocked him.
Rye walked over and saw Scotland curled up on the sofa, looking like she had just woken up.
He still looked a little uncomfortable, his brows furrowed as if he had a headache, and he was holding a cherry blossom pendant in his hand.
Rye knew that the cherry blossom pendant was something very important to Scotland.
When they are busy working together, if they are too tired or in a bad mood, Scotland will take out the cherry blossom pendant to look at, and often sleeps with the cherry blossom pendant in her hand.
Rye asked him once, and Scotland smiled and said it was a gift from a very important person.
"What's wrong? Do you have a headache? Has Gin called you over to do some troublesome tasks these past few days?" Bourbon walked over.
This guy is still thinking about gathering intelligence even at a time like this. Lai knew that this guy wouldn't have any sense of camaraderie with his partner.
Scotland sat up and immediately put away the cherry blossom pendant: "It's okay. I've been a little tired these past few days and have a slight headache, but it's nothing serious."
Bourbon's eyes lit up, and she smiled as she sat down beside him gently, saying, "I've recently learned some relaxing massage techniques. Shall I massage your head? It'll make you feel much better~"
Lei: "..."
Lai: "?"
Scotland was taken aback for a moment, then surprisingly smiled happily and agreed.
“Okay, then I’ll trouble you, Bourbon.” He naturally followed Bourbon’s instructions and lay down on the other man’s lap.
Lei: "??"
"How's the pressure?" Bourbon took off his white gloves and began to massage Scotland intently.
Bourbon seemed to be serious, his technique was very professional, and his gentle attitude made Ray feel like he had seen a ghost.
Scotland even showed a very comfortable and relaxed expression.
The atmosphere between the two was incredibly harmonious and pleasant. They chatted and laughed while getting massages, and Lai, who still looked cold and ruthless standing at the door, seemed more like an outsider.
Lei: "???"
Ray's pupils dilated in shock, and he hesitated to speak.
etc……
Suddenly, a possibility occurred to Ray, and his eyes sharpened instantly.
After stealing his girlfriend, does Bourbon also want to steal his partner?
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