Chapter 26 Twenty-six Ghosts Behind

"Put out that plate of food from your hands!"

In the living room, a man and his spirit were confronting each other from a distance. The spirit behind the black-haired boy was almost like a black cat with its fur standing on end, floating high in the air, trying to kill the blond host opposite with his eyes.

Chijiang Nayue could no longer bear it and loudly declared: "Cult, cult food! You even added so much fruit!!"

"Who would choose this for lunch? I can't believe it!" His eyes widened and he wrinkled his nose childishly. "Damn, how can the ghost behind have a sense of smell? It's terrible..."

God knows that Akae Nazuki just went over to join in the fun as usual when Amuro Toru was cooking, but he saw this guy scoop up a spoonful of thick curry sauce from the pot. He didn't pay attention at all, but his excellent sense of smell immediately helped Akae Nazuki, who had tasted curry countless times, to identify what was in the pot.

Fruity sweet curry sauce!

Suddenly, before Toru Amuro could react in the next second, Akae Nazuki flew ten steps away like a cat that turned around and suddenly found a cucumber behind it, and squeezed on the ceiling, looking at Toru Amuro in horror.

Chef Amuro was also shocked. He tasted the sauce in the spoon and frowned in confusion: "It tastes good?"

He thought that the spirit behind him was reacting like that because he smelled how disgusting the sauce was... It was really strange, he had never seen the other party react so violently before.

Akae Nazuki stared at Amuro Toru, who hadn't noticed the problem yet, and gritted his teeth: "Being sweet curry is its original sin!"

...After all this time, it turns out that he is just a picky eater.

Amuro Toru looked over with an inexplicable look on his face, and said in a funny tone: "It's not that serious, right? This is just a sweet sauce, my cooking skills should be pretty good."

After living under the same roof for more than a month, even if Akae didn't need to eat that month, it was enough for Toru Amuro to judge the other's likes and dislikes.

That is, not picky at all.

He didn't seem to have any food he disliked, nor did he have any particular favorite food. At most, when he occasionally went out to buy food, the boy's eyes would linger for a moment on the various candies on the counter.

Toru Amuro naturally also directly asked Akae Nazuki about her food preferences, and the answer he got was that it didn't matter.

[You said I like sweets? Not really. It's because my brain always needs to process too much information, so I often need to replenish sugar. It's just a habit, not a liking.] This is what Chijiang Nayue told him.

I didn't expect that the other party would be so resistant to sweet curry.

It's not that Chi Jiang deliberately concealed this before that month. He just remembered that when he was eighteen years old, he did treat all food equally and only required that they be edible... there was no special reason.

The main reason is that none of his adoptive parents can cook, and his adoptive mother is a kitchen killer besides being a musical idiot. In order to protect the kitchen from being blown up, Chijiang Nayue has been holding the spatula at home since he was adopted at the age of five. Therefore, he has his own delicious cooking skills.

If he is pursuing taste, he can just make it for himself.

It was after various things happened that Akae Nazuki met her little idol Edogawa Ranpo, and from then on, she was led by him to truly like the texture and taste of sweets, rather than simply replenishing sugar intake.

Sweet curry...

When Chijiang Nayue thought of this, her expression twisted a little.

The first time Akae Yu opened their kitchen, he made sweet curry.

And because she couldn't control the amount well, for the next half month, he and Akae Seigo ate sweet curry rice that was considered poisonous.

As for Akae Yuu, the father and son did not intend to let her feel sad because of her cooking skills, so in order not to arouse her suspicion, Akae would prepare another meal for her that month.

Later, after defecting from the Mafia and joining the detective agency, under the influence of the spicy curry alien Oda, Akae Nazuki fell in love with spicy curry completely, and therefore developed a stronger resentment towards sweet curry.

In a sense, eighteen-year-old Chijiang Nayue did treat food equally.

But sweet curry is not food at all in his eyes!

Even the battle-hardened Toru Amuro could not resist the resentful gaze, and finally raised his hands in surrender: "I will give the sweet curry sauce away and eat something else instead."

He thought about it, and added with a strong desire to survive: "I will never cook this again, okay?"

Akae Nayue looked at Amuro Toru dimly again and said this for the second time: "You'd better be."

Fortunately, lunch was just an interlude, and they had more important things to do in the afternoon.

After returning from Hokkaido a month ago, Toru Amuro booked a ticket for the Linorea online, and today is the departure day.

The planned route was to depart from Yokohama Port, sail across most of Japan and dock at Kagoshima. Including the time spent stopping at various coastal areas along the way, the total voyage would be three days.

With the help of Akae Nazuki, Toru Amuro had already modified the subsequent action plan sufficiently. They planned to let him continue to appear as the detective Toru Amuro on the grounds of "going to investigate at the request of the client."

This way, even if they were destined to meet Gin on the ship, they could conceal their purpose a little.

"Linorea is the name of a sea nymph in ancient Greek mythology, or the so-called sea fairy... But in fact, the records about her are almost unpopular."

While Toru Amuro was checking his ticket to board the ship, the idle ghost behind him floated beside him and dug out an introduction about the cruise ship from his mind which was filled with all kinds of niche knowledge.

Toru Amuro also knew that Akae was simply free, so he just listened to some gossip.

"Do you know why this cruise ship is called Linorea?" Akae Nayue floated to the opposite side of Amuro Toru with great interest, facing the keeper and moving backwards. "Generally speaking, even if you want to take a name from a mythical figure, it should be a little famous."

Amuro Toru raised his eyebrows, turned his head to the side and covered it with his collar, and asked in a low voice: "So why?"

They have now boarded the deck of the cruise ship. There is no one around, so Toru Amuro simply chats with Akae Nayue for a while.

"Because the old man's name is pronounced 'Renya', which is very similar to the second half of 'imnoreia'." The little devil was very satisfied with his cooperation, and made up a rumor with a smile, as if he was telling a pun or a cold joke.

It is a blessing for the former boss of the organization to have such a former subordinate, Amuro Toru thought with a twitching mouth.

Just as Toru Amuro was about to leave the deck, a familiar voice sounded behind him: "Wait!"

His brain automatically identified the identity of the person, and then Toru Amuro froze.

He turned around and saw a tall man jogging towards him from behind.

The man had a strong physique, dark skin, and a face that looked mature and mellow. His thick eyebrows, big eyes, and upright appearance gave people a sense of security at first sight. He was wearing a casual outfit, which seemed to neutralize his serious temperament and made him look a lot younger.

This face couldn't be more familiar to Amuro Toru.

He quickly recovered, put on a gentle smile and introduced himself before the other party could speak: "Long time no see, Officer Date. I'm Toru Amuro, the private detective you worked with before. Do you remember me?"

The person who came was Date Kou, the squad leader of Amuro Toru during his time in the police academy and his only friend who was still alive. Seeing Date Kou here, Amuro Toru felt more worried than happy about the reunion.

"This is a bad situation." The back spirit beside him also straightened his face and said something that Amuro Toru was thinking at the moment, "He seems to be very familiar with your appearance. If you want to deceive Gin, it's better to reduce contact with him in the future. Otherwise, it will bring trouble to both him and you."

"Gin is not someone you can easily fool." Akajinazuki spread his hands, "Otherwise he wouldn't have survived my killing spree eight years ago."

Toru Amuro resisted the urge to complain and maintained the detective persona he had when they first met in front of the squad leader.

Date Kou is also a very smart person. He immediately realized that Amuro Toru was deliberately pretending to be unfamiliar with him, so he quickly followed suit and said, "Yes! I just happened to have a vacation, so I came here with my girlfriend. I didn't expect it to be such a coincidence that I ran into you."

The two chatted casually afterwards.

"By the way, I live in No. 604. If you need anything, you can come and see me." The meaningless chat ended quickly. Before leaving, Date Kou turned to Amuro Toru and said cheerfully, "See you later."

He didn't say anything until he returned to Toru Amuro's room on the cruise ship.

"He is hinting at you. You can explain it to him in private later." Chi Jiang Na Yue didn't have so many concerns and broke the silence in the room, "It seems that you two have a very good relationship."

Toru Amuro stood next to the turned on signal jammer, staring at the palm of his hand with heavy eyes.

“Well, we are good friends,” he said.

After so many years, admitting this again did not seem as difficult as Toru Amuro had imagined.

And some things go more smoothly after he starts talking...but it seems that he can't think of anything to say all of a sudden.

Finally, Toru Amuro just nodded slightly and said again: "There are three other people. The five of us used to be very good friends."

"When we first graduated, we all thought it would just be the beginning." It was rare for him to be able to say this, Amuro Toru said it in a nostalgic tone, and then sighed sadly, "...but I didn't expect that some things would end just as they began."

They were once very good friends - because now, only two of the five were left alive.

Akae Nayue always looked quietly at Amuro Toru - this undercover friend who carried too much on his shoulders and walked alone in the dark night - he had never felt so lucky.

Fortunately, it is not too late to change everything. "Come to think of it, you seem to have never asked me what the other three tenants in your body look like." Akajinazuki suddenly asked knowingly, "Aren't you curious, Mr. Amuro? They are different from me. They haven't woken up yet. Maybe they will wake up suddenly next time when you fall asleep - wow, it does seem interesting to say that."

He used a light tone to ease the other party's heavy mood. Upon hearing this, Amuro Toru's mouth twitched and he looked at him helplessly.

It's not that Toru Amuro is not curious, he just can't help but have fantasies that he shouldn't have, and he can't imagine how disappointed he would feel if his fantasies didn't come true.

What if, he thought, what if the other three were really his three friends who died?

Toru Amuro didn't notice that when he couldn't help but think this, Akae Nazuki's gaze suddenly focused on the reality.

The savior had a mysterious smile on his face and leaned against the table, looking at Toru Amuro quietly.

It was as if there was really something where his sight fell.

"It's great that you two have such a good relationship." Chi Jiang Na Yue shrugged and said jokingly, "It's a good thing we didn't know each other before, otherwise it would be a shame if we couldn't be friends but became enemies."

He blinked and said with a deliberately malicious tone, "Of course, I mean... if we had known each other too early, I would have hunted you down, Mr. Undercover."

Toru Amuro had gradually gotten used to Akae Nayue's speaking style. Upon hearing this, he simply glared at the smart boy behind him and put away his chaotic thoughts.

The main purpose of their trip was to investigate why the cruise ship had to return temporarily eight years ago, although the reason given was that several guests had suffered from food poisoning.

However, after returning to Tokyo, Toru Amuro carefully investigated the mission related to this incident in the organization and found that just as Tsuda Atsushi said, the organization's records about that mission were less than half a page, and, except for Gin, no one survived.

If nothing unexpected happened, the Linorea chose to return home because of the heavy casualties.

However, it stands to reason that if Gin and others opened fire on the boat, the other tourists should have heard it. Since none of them noticed anything unusual, it is very likely that this cruise ship, which was originally owned by the organization, was full of people from the organization from the beginning.

Toru Amuro has checked and found that most of the crew members on the Linorea have been replaced in the past eight years, except for the captain and the deputy captain who are still the same two people from eight years ago.

They are the main targets of his investigation this time.

As for Gin, Toru Amuro is not prepared to confront that person.

Vermouth would not do something without a purpose, so it is very likely that something will happen and he will die on the ship. The cause of death will be provided by Gin as expected.

Before he could really find out anything, Toru Amuro decided not to attract Gin's attention for the time being.

"Don't be too pessimistic." Akae sat with his chin propped up and said with a smile, "Maybe I can recover my memory before that? I've entrusted this important task to you, Mr. Amuro."

He stretched his back and purred like a child: "Let's go to the deck to bask in the sun! Gin will definitely not be there, safe~"

"After all, most people are in the restaurant at this time..."

Although he was complaining, Toru Amuro honestly followed the spirit behind him and walked out of his room.

He didn't know how genuine the smile on his face was.