Chapter 61 The First Player
Logically speaking, this episode should have been the home show for the "Police Academy Group", but due to the sudden intervention of Haruto Nishimi, he mixed in too much, occupying nearly half of the shots, and forcibly turned this episode into a "joint show" between him and Jinpei Matsuda.
Matsuda Jinpei's "highlights" are not lacking, but "Cointreau"'s performance is not much worse... In addition, there are more shots of Cointreau before this episode, and there are no shots of "Cointreau" in the first two episodes...
In short, under the influence of all these factors, in the forum, the posts discussing "Cointreau" in the episode "Bomb on the Ferris Wheel" suddenly "overwhelmed all others", and the number even almost accounted for half of the total posts.
Of course, there are posts about Jinpei Matsuda, Kenji Hagiwara, and even Rei Furuya and the Miyano sisters. Among them, the ones about Jinpei Matsuda and Rei Furuya are the most...but the number of discussions about them is slightly less than that about "Cointreau".
Saikai Haruto was very satisfied with this - or rather, he said that this result was much better than what he had expected.
Moreover, most of the public opinions were quite good, which was beyond Xi Haiqing Dou's expectation... Although he couldn't figure out what he had done to cause these readers to mistakenly form the idea that "anything Jun Du did was normal"?
Not to mention, the readers' logic was particularly smooth - even some actions and words that Saikai Haruto himself didn't notice at the time, as well as some of his unintentional actions and words at the time, were "reasonably analyzed" from various angles by them, just like reading comprehension...
No, in his previous life, Xi Haiqing Dou was not as serious and careful in reading and understanding as they are. He was not able to associate himself and think divergently. Of course, he was not as serious and rigorous as they are.
I almost want to divide a look into a fan-shaped diagram to analyze what exactly Cointreau means.
The West Sea Haruto is breathtaking.
But whatever, he just needed to know that this was a good thing for him.
If this happens more often, it means that if he does something that seems "unruly" in the future, the forum will gradually form inertial thinking and spontaneously find various excuses for him.
It was a pity that they didn't quarrel. It was a rare time that his guess was wrong... Xi Hai Qing Dou felt a sense of inexplicable regret in his heart.
Ahem, it's a pity that without quarrels there would be no sustainable "popularity" other than appearing in comics, which is not what he wants to see.
However, readers' discussion on the forum about the criminal and their speculation about whether he might be related to the organization surprised Saikai Haruto a little.
Although according to what he knew about the "original content", the prisoner had nothing to do with the organization, and the bomb was made purely by himself, relying on his own "talent". All he could say was that "if he had a dream, even a bomber would be great."
However, the plot has now changed direction rapidly because of his intervention - after all, the bombs set by the bomber today should all have been made by himself, not by Cointreau; he should have been arrested in a few years, not fallen into the hands of the police today.
In this case, Xi Haiqing Tou is a little unsure whether there will be any changes in the chain reaction - for example, the author suddenly has an idea to link the bomber with the organization. Although this possibility is small, it is not completely impossible.
After all, the outer members of their organization are really worthless.
His visit to Beihu Mall had nothing to do with the organization's mission, but whether other people happened to have accepted any missions... Xi Haiqingdou didn't know that.
After all, he had not been in the action team for many years, and he had not taken many missions in the past one or two months since returning to Tokyo. Unless it was necessary, he would not have the leisure to check what missions others had taken... Naturally, he was a little unsure at this time.
Let's go back and ask Gin and Fūya Rei separately.
It would be fine if it was related to someone else's mission, but if it happened to be someone under Gin's command... then...
Well, then he would go and laugh at Gin harshly - his eyes were getting more and more disgusting, he could even look down on that kind of person. As for the unfortunate fact that he ran into him... Of course he had to blame himself for that, he didn't know to tell him in advance, didn't he deserve it for him to ruin the mission by accident?
It is suggested that you look for the reasons in yourself - otherwise why did he not ruin other people's tasks but only ruined his?
And there is Furuya Rei - of course, this time it should be Furuya Rei who is more anxious than him. After all, Matsuda Jinpei and Hagiwara Kenji are in the open, and "Kendo" is in the dark, so he definitely cannot be the one who is more anxious.
So even though Saikai Haruto wanted to try to get some information out of Furuya Rei, he just needed to wait quietly and "sit back and wait" - Furuya Rei would come to him on his own initiative.
After sorting out his thoughts, Xi Hai Qing Dou closed the forum and went to sleep peacefully.
When he woke up the next day, he was in a good mood because he had a good sleep, but at the dinner table, Miyano Shiho's face looked unusually dazed and a little listless...even the look in her eyes when she looked at him seemed a little strange.
Xi Hai Qing Dou couldn't help but look at her twice more: "Little Shirley, did you not sleep well last night?"
"Were you scared yesterday, or are you not used to being separated from Miyano-san?"
This is a bit depressing... He thought that after playing all day yesterday, Shiho Miyano's attitude towards him would become better? After all, didn't the comic also say that her impression of "Cointreau" has changed a little?
"Or did you come home too late yesterday and didn't get enough sleep? Ah, I remember that scientifically speaking, 14 years old is an important stage of growth and development, and it is best to maintain 8-10 hours of sleep every day..."
Xihai Qingdou suddenly fell into deep thought.
When it comes to "raising a child" - although Miyano Shiho is smart, precocious and independent and is not an ordinary child at all, in the eyes of Haruto Nishimi, there is no difference between him and a "real 14-year-old child" - although Haruto Nishimi has no experience at all, scientific data will never go wrong.
If children don't get enough sleep...it seems to cause a lot of problems?
At least when he was a teenager, the "Cointreau" alias caused a lot of trouble due to lack of sleep. Several times he almost killed people who disturbed his sleep... Later he even developed the ability to "fall asleep in three seconds anytime and anywhere."
Miyano Shiho was silent for a moment, but in order to prevent him from continuing to talk endlessly, she interrupted him and said, "No... It was just an ordinary nightmare."
Her eyes wandered a little.
But that nightmare was a little... weird, which is why she is still a little uneasy.
She actually dreamed that Cointreau had combed his long hair into a side ponytail, was wearing a kitchen scarf, and was cooking for her and her sister in the kitchen very seriously, with a "gentle and virtuous" expression on his face, and even the poached eggs on the plate were in the shape of a heart, which was very "girly"? Even the atmosphere was extremely "warm".
After dinner, she even "kindly" offered to send her to school, looking like a perfect Japanese classic housewife... What's even more ridiculous is that she didn't even notice that it was wrong, and when they walked on the street, someone praised them as a "harmonious family of three" -
Then he suddenly woke Miyano Shiho up.
What kind of a messed up dream is this?! Even if her impression of Cointreau has changed a little, it shouldn't cause her to have such a horrible nightmare, right?!
As a result, now whenever she looks at Jundu for even a second, she can't help but recall the "househusband Jundu" in her dream. For a moment, she felt her scalp tingling and even got goosebumps.
She never thought that having a good memory would become a burden for her one day.
"Really? Otherwise, why don't you go to the lab today and stay in your room to rest? Do you need me to ask for a leave for you?"
He suddenly spoke, and no one knew what he was thinking of. There was an inexplicable light flashing in his golden eyes, and he looked eager to try.
How to put it - Xi Haiqing Dou always feels that if a "parent" has never experienced things like "asking for leave" or "skipping classes" for his children, his "parent career" must be flawed and imperfect.
Even though Miyano Shiho has already "graduated and started working", he cannot be considered a real "parent", but if we use an equivalent substitution, it's almost the same.
Miyano Shiho's eyes shuddered, and she quickly stopped him: "No! There's nothing wrong with me. I can go to the lab normally. I haven't been there for two days, and there's a lot of experimental data waiting to be processed."
Stop! Cointreau is definitely not a "house husband"!!
"Okay then... I'll take you there." Xi Hai Qing Dou could only stop his thoughts with regret.
What should I do next?
After sending Miyano Shiho to the laboratory, Haruto Nishimi touched his chin, turned the car around, and drove to another secret base of the organization.
***
Inside the underground training ground.
The huge, empty space was filled with incandescent lights. Even though it was underground, it looked brighter than under a clear sky.
In the shooting range, a tall man with blond hair, black clothes and a black hat was holding a DSR-1 sniper rifle in his hand, aiming at the moving target in his sight without distraction.
The long hair was not covered at all, but was softly pressed down by the hat, hanging on the man's back and shoulders, without causing any obstruction to his vision.
"Bang!"
800 yards. 10 rings.
"Bang!"
850 yards. 10 rings.
"Bang!"
950 yards. 8 rings.
"Bang!"
950碼。10環。
“砰！”
1000碼。9環。
——這裏是組織位于東京的秘密地下訓練基地，其上是組織建的掩人耳目用的樓層，其下則是巨大的、用于組織行動成員訓練而用的訓練場。
任誰也無法想象到，在這座城市的某一處的地下，會有這麽一個一直嚣張地存在在暗處的場地。
右側的場地內倒是稍微熱鬧一些，左側的空曠靶場內此時只有琴酒一人在使用。
“大哥厲害！”
見琴酒放下手中的槍，伏特加立刻伸手将他手裏那支足有六千克的狙擊步/槍給小心翼翼地端到一邊，手中的水和毛巾也順勢遞到了琴酒的手邊，還順帶着送上了一波真心實意的吹捧。
“不愧是大哥，這樣的成績組織裏也沒有幾個能做得到吧！大哥要不要休息一會？”
琴酒拿起手中的礦泉水瓶仰起頭徑直往喉嚨裏灌水，喉嚨滾動間，幾秒鐘的功夫瓶子裏的水位便快速下降消失；由于速度太快，少部分透明的水液從他唇邊沿着脖頸一路滑落，最後也消失在了掩蓋住軀體的衣領之下。
毛巾被他随手團作一團在額頭和脖頸随意擦了幾下，而後又重新扔給了伏特加——練槍，尤其是很有些分量的狙擊槍，向來都是一項體力活動，就算是琴酒一連訓練了數個小時也出了不少汗。
雖然他全程一言不發，但不管是從動作還是從他微皺的眉毛、還是周身有些陰沉的氛圍來看，顯然有些眼色的人都能看得出來，他的心情擺明了不算很好。
就連伏特加也閉緊了嘴巴，不再說話了。
西海晴鬥卻懶洋洋沒骨頭一樣靠在身前的圍欄上，很沒有眼色地出聲：“喲，阿琴，就幾天沒見，怎麽你的槍法就開始退步了？連記錄都沒破。”
“我說你不會是年齡大了、精力退步了吧？還是說沒什麽對手就沒什麽動力了？那你可要小心點，我看萊伊和加拿大的槍法還挺不錯的，你再退步下去，小心哪天就被他們給超過了，作為前浪被後浪拍死在沙灘上。”
琴酒的臉色越來越冷，周身的氣氛也越來越沉，西海晴鬥卻說得越來越随意輕松了起來，眉眼含笑、輕松惬意——像是完全沒有感受到氣氛有什麽變化一樣。
伏特加看了眼琴酒、又看了眼西海晴鬥，嘴巴開合了一下，還是乖乖地閉上了嘴悄悄後退了一步，不摻和進他們兩個之間了。
——君度敢對着大哥說這些話，也不怕大哥發火，但他怕啊！君度能有本事把大哥的怒火熄滅了，但他也沒那個本事。
随意插話的下場就是成為大哥的“出氣筒”，他還是閉着眼睛當他的小弟好了。
“你過來就是說這個的？”
琴酒瞥了他一眼，眉宇間充滿了不耐，但居然也沒發火——畢竟雖然西海晴鬥的話說得不好聽，但琴酒同樣也覺得自己這次的發揮不夠完美。
雖然他自己知道是有什麽原因在裏面，但沒發揮完美、沒進步就是沒有達到他給自己設定的标準，就算有再多的原因也是一樣。
“萊伊和加拿大……呵，萊伊倒是還有些天分，但想把我‘拍死在沙灘上’還差了點。至于加拿大……我再怎麽樣還不至于退步到加拿大的水平。倒是你自己，君度，你現在又還剩原來的幾分水準？不會再過幾年連槍都提不動了吧？”
語氣在嘲諷之餘，竟然還似乎帶了幾分的恨鐵不成鋼。
西海晴鬥的話雖然難聽，但聽在琴酒耳中也算是“事實”……他自然也就不會對着他發火。
倒是惹得伏特加又沒忍住欽佩地看了西海晴鬥一眼——居然敢對着大哥罵還沒讓大哥懲罰，君度厲害啊！
伏特加的眼神被西海晴鬥直接忽略，聽了琴酒的話他倒也不惱，而是笑盈盈地随手一攤：“我可不像你，我現在可不靠槍法吃飯，就算水準退步得再厲害在組織裏也能有飯吃。”
雖然知道琴酒是看不慣他這種在他眼裏堪稱“擺爛”一樣的态度，也知道他心裏是更想聽到什麽樣的答案、讨厭聽到什麽答案，但西海晴鬥還是沒打算順着他的話往下說，反而是故意琴酒不樂意聽什麽偏偏說什麽。
左右他覺得自己現在過得還挺快活的。
眼看着身旁的男人危險地眯起眼睛即将惱了，他這才拍了下琴酒的肩膀，順勢懶散地靠過去了一點：“好了好了，我承認我是懶了點，但我在歐洲那幾年也不是就天天閑着沒事幹的好吧？好不容易回來了能歇一段時間還不好麽，你就非想着讓我出任務，就不怕我哪天真的猝死了？你可真是好狠的心啊琴酒。”
琴酒卻不吃他這套，絲毫不為所動地冷笑：“要是哪天上帝真的收了你這個禍害，我倒真要去教堂拜上一拜。”
順手又将他放在他肩膀上的手又給揮落了下去。
這家夥就是俗話中“好人不長命禍害遺千年”裏的那個“遺千年”的禍害，年年這麽說、年年死不掉，看上去病病殃殃的，結果琴酒每一次見他都還不是活得好好的。早些年裏琴酒偶爾倒還真的會稍微擔心那麽一下，這麽多年他也算是看透了，說不定以後哪天他都死了西海晴鬥還活着。
不過他說的這話裏的內容……琴酒微微斂眉，不對此做出任何評價。
他忽然想起來了一件事——西海晴鬥是從歐洲分部匆匆趕回來的，當時他回來的時候就連他也沒有提前得到消息。
這當然不是因為西海晴鬥沒有提前通知他。
雖說他們兩個一旦碰上、一起說話說着說着就像在吵架，看似關系很差；但兩個人之間的相處模式向來如此，能在以前在一起搭檔将近十年，要是真的關系極差的話早就分道揚镳了……他們兩之間雖然聯系算不上很多，但關系卻比很多人所想的都還要親密上許多。
在大部分人眼裏他們兩個關系差，一方面是因為當初西海晴鬥和琴酒拆夥時琴酒的臉色是在是難看至極，甚至到了一聽到“君度”的名字都會當場變臉的程度，這才讓很多人以為他們倆當年是徹底撕破了臉了，謠言也越傳越離譜。
一方面也是後來在得知了這個“傳言”之後，這幾年西海晴鬥在沉默之後刻意沒澄清，反而若有若無地營造了一種他和琴酒的關系“忽近忽遠”的“暧昧關系”——畢竟他和琴酒在組織裏的地位越升越高，總不能讓頂頭上的那位大boss覺得他倆關系太近、容易在組織內部搞派系、“結黨營私”是不是？
琴酒在搞明白他在想什麽之後雖然皺着眉不算贊同，但也沒在外面反駁或者再澄清什麽……于是他倆不和的“傳言”也就這麽繼續流傳下去了。
話又說回來……以他們兩個的關系，西海晴鬥從歐洲回來時他居然沒有得到消息，這顯然不是一件正常的事情。
起碼正常情況下，這個家夥是絕對不會放過這麽一個絕佳的、讓他半夜爬起床趕去機場給他接機的好機會。
那就只有兩個解釋了——他回來這件事是一項緊急臨時行動；這件事是boss示意不能提前通知其他人。
當然這兩個解釋其實也可以當做是一個。
再加上這家夥自從回來以後就一直偷懶摸魚，任務也沒做幾個，boss也放任着他一直不做事也不說他什麽……
他這個搭檔的為人琴酒是知道的，懶是真的懶，但要是認真起來，出任務的速度也不會慢、甚至相當快速，效率有時候比他還要高一點——這也是他身體一直那麽差、但琴酒仍能與他搭檔那麽多年的原因。
他在歐洲的那幾年，琴酒也稍稍有所耳聞過，原本歐洲那邊一直處于一個混亂中的狀态，尤其是南歐和東歐那邊，但西海晴鬥硬生生在短短兩三年內将組織在那邊的地盤給鞏固住了……想也能猜到他這幾年在那邊有多忙。
他從歐洲回來後能這麽閑，琴酒現在大抵也能猜得出來了，一方面應該是組織給他批補的“休假”；而另一方面……大概也是BOSS對他開始不太放心，想要将他“壓一壓”了。
當然這樣的念頭多多少少顯得有些對BOSS不太尊重，因此琴酒在腦海中思慮過一瞬，也就重新将之壓了下去。
而在琴酒還在沉默不語、思考着他話裏的內容的意思的時候，西海晴鬥卻完全沒想到他會腦補那麽多……而是早已經被琴酒的話給逗笑出了聲。
琴酒去拜教堂……這是什麽地獄笑話？
尤其是這句話還是琴酒本人說的，這個笑話的好笑程度就更上了一層樓，至少西海晴鬥是沒忍住笑了場。
"Hahaha, Gin, how come you've become so joking now? Are you sure you're not going to the church to tear it down? Be careful or you'll be kicked out by the priest before you even get in." Xi Hai Qing Dou couldn't help laughing, "Oh, by the way, do you remember the time when we were on a mission in England a few years ago and you pretended to be a church staff? That photo... I still have it, hahaha!"
It's not that they haven't gone to church before—but not to worship, but to go on missions.
Gin came back to his senses from his thoughts. His brows, which had been slightly relaxed, were wrinkled again because of his anger. His face was dark and the veins on his forehead were throbbing.
He lifted up Haruto Nishikai, who was about to lean against the railing with a smile: "Get out of the way! Cointreau! Can you be kind? If you can't speak, I can shut up your damn mouth."
He knew it, he shouldn't give him any good face!