The dinner party and the Black Organization
Completely unaware of Wakita Kanenori's thoughts, Tsurumi River diligently completed his day's work and then took a taxi to the sukiyaki restaurant they had arranged to meet.
In early summer, the time when it gets dark begins to be delayed, and around six o'clock the sky is completely covered by dark shadows.
It was past seven o'clock when Tsurumi River finished get off work. The colorful neon lights on the street were flashing, and the music playing in the shops along the street was mixed with the aroma of food from the snack street, making people stop and linger, their mouths watering.
The sukiyaki restaurant has a great location, right at the corner of an alley. Not only is there a lot of foot traffic, but there is also almost no competition from other restaurants.
As soon as I pushed open the door, the waiter who was in charge of reception came to greet me. On the way here, Tsurumi Kawakami had sent a message to Hagiwara Kenji, so I told the waiter the exact seat information and was then led to a corner diagonally opposite the entrance.
There were already three people sitting in the seats. Besides Kenji Hagiwara and Jinpei Matsuda, whom he had seen before, there was also a young man with a crew cut who looked mature, had regular features, and was somewhat honest.
But the other person broke through the facade of being honest and simple as soon as he opened his mouth. His hearty laughter resonated through his bones, and he introduced himself in a deep voice: "I am Ida Kou, and I was their class monitor when they were in police academy."
Upon hearing this, Tsurumi Kawakami suddenly understood and nodded with a smile.
Matsuda Jinpei stood up, patted Tsurumi Kawaru on the shoulder to make him sit down, and then said with a smile, "Since I'm treating you to dinner today to thank you, I called the class president on my way home and wanted to introduce him to you."
Kenji Hagiwara poured a glass of juice and pushed it in front of Nagare Tsurumi, then smiled and said something softly before calling over a waiter to start preparing the sukiyaki.
Sukiyaki is usually made and eaten fresh. After the first few slices of beef are cooked, you start adding ingredients to the pot: tofu, konjac noodles, shiitake mushrooms, lettuce, and you can even add rice cakes or noodles at the end.
This wasn't Tsurumi Kawakami's first time eating sukiyaki. He quite liked the sukiyaki, which tended to be sweeter at the end, and skillfully cracked a raw egg into his bowl and scrambled it.
While waiting, Tsurumi Kawakuri inquired about the police academy with a curious look in his eyes. Due to his past experiences, Tsurumi Kawakuri didn't know much about official organizations, and his only schooling was the Jujutsu High School of the previous world. So when he heard that they graduated from the police academy, he was curious about what happened there.
Ida Kou stroked his chin and pondered for a few seconds, seemingly trying to recall how to begin. After taking a sip of the tea beside him, he organized his thoughts and began to recount some interesting events that had occurred at the police academy, as if telling a story.
Matsuda Jinpei and Hagiwara Kenji would occasionally add a few words to each other's conversations, but later they unknowingly developed into exposing each other's secrets and embarrassing stories.
Tsurumi Kawakami listened with great interest, and when Date Wataru mentioned that he ranked second in the exam, he widened his eyes slightly and asked with a look of curiosity, "Really? Then who came in first?"
Date Wataru paused, his smile fading slightly, and his expression becoming somewhat complicated: "He was a frail-looking guy with a rather slender build. I wonder where he is now."
Upon hearing this, both Matsuda Jinpei and Hagiwara Kenji paused, exchanged a glance, and then simultaneously changed the subject.
Tsurumi Kawa was unaware of their thoughts. Upon hearing this, he became even more curious about the first-place winner and was about to ask him his name when Matsuda Jinpei suddenly stood up.
He yanked open the lid of the sukiyaki pot. The bubbling pot, with its rising steam that blurred his vision, was instantly filled with an irresistible aroma that made Tsurumi Kawaru forget what he was about to say, his eyes fixed on the pot.
Matsuda Jinpei urged, "Alright, alright, hurry up and eat, it won't taste good if it's cooked for too long."
Kenji Hagiwara turned to greet Tsurumi Kawaru, then poured a cup of tea for Wataru Date, trying to shut them up with food.
Back in police academy, the five of them met under unusual circumstances, but later became good friends after experiencing various events together. After graduating from police academy, the five were assigned to different systems and positions. At first, they kept in touch with each other, but six months ago, Rei Furuya and Hiromitsu Morofushi disappeared without a trace.
Matsuda Jinpei and Hagiwara Kenji secretly used the Metropolitan Police Department's internal system to check their information, only to find that their files were locked and could not be viewed without extremely high-level access.
After discovering this, the two of them immediately began to speculate about the whereabouts of Furuya Rei and Morofushi Kagemitsu. To keep it a secret, they didn't tell anyone, not even the squad leader, Date Wataru.
Although he didn't know where the two of them were or what their situation was, since the Metropolitan Police Department's internal system was kept secret, Matsuda Jinpei decided not to mention their matter to anyone else.
Date Wataru had excelled in all aspects of his studies at the police academy, and his insight was naturally excellent as well. He keenly noticed the unusual behavior of Matsuda Jinpei and Hagiwara Kenji. Although he didn't know why they were doing this, he stopped the conversation and silently began to enjoy his food.
After eating and drinking his fill, Tsurumi Kawakami held a cup of tea and sipped it slowly with great satisfaction. His stomach was full, and he felt lazy. Even the incandescent light above his head had a sleepy feel to it.
After paying the bill, the group came out of the store. The evening breeze carried the scent of cooking. Tsurumi Kawakami waved goodbye to Kenji Hagiwara and the others, and then took a taxi back to his rented room.
The next day, when he went to work at the sushi restaurant, Kenjiro Wakita, who was preparing food in the kitchen, chatted with him and asked about the dinner party he had just finished. Tsurumi Nagaru had nothing to hide and briefly told him a few things before changing the subject to commenting on the sukiyaki restaurant.
The black-haired, golden-eyed boy said earnestly, "Their sukiyaki is really good. Uncle Kyoda, you should try it sometime. And it's different from traditional sukiyaki; you can add extra ingredients according to your own preferences. Yesterday we added rice cakes and beef..."
When food is mentioned, Tsurumi Kawakami's eyebrows dance with excitement, as if he has endless things to say and countless words to describe it.
The chef, wearing an apron, twitched his temples. His face, with its bulbous nose and buck teeth, couldn't hide his annoyance. Finally, he couldn't help but interrupt Tsurumi Kawakami's incessant chatter.
Nevertheless, Rum, using the alias Wakita Kanenori, concluded his investigation of Tsurumi Kawakuri. After considering various factors, Rum decided to introduce Tsurumi Kawakuri to the organization.
That evening, the sushi restaurant closed on time. Tsurumi Kawakami went to the staff break room at the back, took off his apron and baseball cap, picked up his things, and prepared to return to his rented room through the back door.
The back door of the sushi restaurant leads directly into an alley. The dim streetlights at the alley entrance don't shine inside; only a wobbly, slightly faulty light bulb at the back door provides any light. Five or six meters away, two large trash cans stand against the wall, overflowing with garbage, and an unpleasant odor permeates the air.
As usual, Tsurumi Kawaru walked briskly towards the alley entrance. As soon as he exited the alley, a car parked in the shadows slowly pulled up in front of him. The passenger window rolled down, and a man in a black suit with an ordinary face who could easily be lost in a crowd glanced at him and said coldly, "Get in."
Tsurumi Kawa blinked, feeling quite familiar with the man's attire, so he opened the back door without asking any questions.
But as soon as the car door opened, Tsurumi Kawakami, who was about to climb in, met the eyes of the person sitting inside. He hadn't expected there to be someone in the back seat, and the person's aura and attire made Tsurumi Kawakami feel that they were someone of importance.
However, his intuition told him that the danger radar hadn't triggered, but he inexplicably felt that the people in the car were somewhat familiar.
Tsurumi Kawakami paused for a moment, greeted him, and then got into the car.
After he got into the car, the driver started the engine and drove towards the city.
Inside the car, Rum, who had already removed his disguise, had been observing Tsurumi Kawaru's actions out of the corner of his eye. When he saw that Tsurumi Kawaru didn't show any fear, he nodded to himself. After ignoring him for about ten minutes, he cleared his throat and prepared to speak.
The sound of him clearing his throat also made Tsurumi Kawa turn his head to look at him. Rum was very satisfied with this and lowered his voice to slowly begin to "brainwash" him.
"...Once you join, money is no problem. You won't have to live in a cramped and dirty rental room, and you can enjoy all kinds of delicious food. Of course, everything is clearly priced; you have to pay the price to enjoy it."
After spending some time together and observing him, Rum had a thorough understanding of Tsurumi Kawakuri. He was not only interested in money but also had a great love for food. Therefore, Rum specifically targeted these two things and launched a unique campaign to win over and "brainwash" Tsurumi Kawakuri.
Tsurumi Kawakami was indeed captivated; he agreed to Rum's offer without even a two-minute hesitation. The speed of his response surprised not only Rum but also the man in the front passenger seat, who nearly turned around in astonishment.
Rum was taken aback by how quickly he agreed, and even the words he hadn't finished saying stuck in his throat. He knew Tsurumi Kawakami was easy to fool, but he hadn't expected him to be this gullible.
Even before he had fully recruited them and brought them under his command, Rum had a vague sense of unease. Was this person so easily fooled that he would be just as easily deceived when gathering intelligence?
Tsurumi Kawakuri didn't care about any of that. In the long conversation just now, he only heard what they wanted him to hear. After grasping the two keywords "rich" and "delicious food," Tsurumi Kawakuri didn't think about anything else and agreed with what could be described as impatient speed.
After a moment of hesitation, Rum quickly regained control, took the man to his own territory in the city, and then handed him over to the organization's training ground for new recruits, where he began three months of basic training.
Tsurumi Kawaru had no complaints about this and was very happy living a simple life between the training ground and the cafeteria. It must be said that the food in the cafeteria tasted better than that in many restaurants.
After three months of enjoyable basic training, Tsurumi Ryu successfully became an intelligence officer in the Black Organization. His position was higher than some of the low-level errand runners in the organization, but lower than those of the codenamed members.
Rum was very satisfied with Tsurumi Kawa's training over the past three months, but before he could be fully recruited, Tsurumi Kawa needed to complete a task and demonstrate his intelligence capabilities.
This opportunity came very soon.
The Black Organization recently lost a batch of drugs. After several days of investigation, they discovered that it was intercepted by a small organization. The whereabouts of these lost drugs is the information that Tsurumi Kawakami is trying to obtain.
Before embarking on the mission, Tsurumi Ryu saw Rum again at the training ground. Rum never revealed his identity to Tsurumi Ryu, and no one else knew that his introducer was actually Rum, the organization's second-in-command.
"You're the only one on this mission. Once you've located the location where the medication was obtained, the team will assist you in retrieving the lost medication."
"Remember, your only task is to obtain information about the drugs; you don't need to worry about anyone else. Only after completing this mission will you truly become a member of the Black Organization."
Tsurumi Kawakami was a little excited; this was the first time he had done something like this. In the past, his experience had always been that of an executor or protector; this was his first time working as an intelligence operative.
"Yes, I will definitely do my best." Tsurumi Kawaru clenched his fist and said solemnly.
Rum remained silent for a moment, then waved his hand, signaling Tsurumi Kawakami to set off.
...
With no one to support or help him, Tsurumi Kawaru set off alone, carrying a black bag containing a weapon and some other things he thought might come in handy.
It took Tsurumi River less than an hour to get from downtown Tokyo to where the small organization was located, and he also moved from one ward to another.
Upon arriving at the location, Tsurumi Kawakuri did not make any rash moves. Instead, he pretended to be a tourist and first found out the location of the small organization's headquarters before heading straight to the food street.
After spending the day strolling through the food street, Tsurumi Kawakami finally met his destination as evening approached.
A group of young thugs, dressed like a replica of the scene Tsurumi Kawakami witnessed in the sushi restaurant after arriving in this world, extorted money from the restaurant owner under the guise of collecting protection fees.
These young men were probably doing this before; they were very purposeful and principled. They didn't smash anything; they just grabbed the shop owner by the collar and threatened him.
The young men who finally received their money swaggered away and headed to the next shop.
Tsurumi followed them all the way to the alleyway at the end of the street, grabbed the young thug by the collar in a blind spot, and dragged him into the alley where there were no surveillance cameras.
The others reacted quickly and rushed into the alley, only to be brutally beaten by Tsurumi Kawa. After beating them up, he grabbed the young man by the collar, slammed him against the wall, and demanded to know what changes or anomalies had occurred in their organization recently.
Only after repeated questioning and managing to extract information about the medication did Tsurumi Kawakami release them. He helped brush off imaginary dust from their clothes, uttered a few threatening words, and then left.
He remained hidden in the shadows, waiting for the young thugs to flee as they ran straight towards the organization's headquarters. Tsurumi Kawakuri then followed them at a distance, entering the headquarters.
Until the young hoodlum was stopped by a blond, dark-skinned man.
"Brother Tou—" the group cried out as if they had found a lifeline.
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