In the narrow hallway stood three men, each with a distinct air about him. The light overhead was not especially bright, only barely enough to make the path visible.
Under the dim lighting, every face was half-shadowed, half-illuminated, revealing and concealing different emotional shifts.
The instant the elevator doors opened on this floor, Amuro Tooru clearly saw who had stepped out. At that moment, he and Midorikawa Hikaru had just emerged from the rental apartment and were standing by the door, preparing to leave.
Without giving anything away, Amuro Tooru slipped one hand behind his back and rapidly typed a few words blind, sending Gin a quick email explaining the current situation. Then he focused completely on preparing for whatever came next—
The moment those emerald-green eyes, empty of any unnecessary emotion, swept over them, a chilling sensation ran through him, as though the path of his entire life had been laid open and flattened beneath that gaze, seen through from beginning to end.
And yet that slight sense of horror came purely from the feeling of being dissected and understood too thoroughly. Miraculously, the extremely honed danger radar possessed by the two Public Security undercover agents did not go off at all.
—Which was, in truth, profoundly unscientific.
After all, undercover work was not some childish game of simple roleplay.
It meant staking one’s old name, one’s past, everything, and burning oneself away in the darkness for the sake of that possible tomorrow.
Undercover agents had to stay wary of everything around them. At times, they not only had to watch the enemy, but also doubt their own side, even continually examine themselves— because one wrong step could send them plunging into an abyss from which there was no return. There might not even be any trace left behind in the end, nor any way for others to openly mourn the face and voice they had in life.
So the fact that, even in such an abrupt hallway encounter, Amuro Tooru and Midorikawa Hikaru had failed to feel any immediate wariness toward Yuki Mu was, frankly, enough to leave even them a little stunned.
...It was as though some strange instinct buried deep in their blood and bones was telling them that this person would never harm them.
But as things stood, even though they knew Yuki Mu was currently working in the First Investigation Division, even though they knew his true identity was Public Security... that still was not enough to make undercover agents trust him wholeheartedly.
Anyone tied to Blue Hawaii—that man who seemed frivolous and playfully cynical on the surface, yet was in truth utterly unfathomable—had to be treated with caution, whether willingly involved or not.
The two undercover officers swiftly completed and reinforced their psychological defenses.
Midorikawa Hikaru’s blue cat-like eyes curved gently as he tried to begin with a simple introduction. “I’m the new neighbor next door, Midorikawa Hikaru. You can just call me Midorikawa. I made some baked sweets...” Perhaps we could share them together?
Before he could finish, Yuki Mu gave a slight nod and interrupted him with at least nominal politeness.
“I understand, Mr. Midorikawa.”
He did not address him with the somewhat more familiar “Midorikawa,” but added the formal honorific instead.
That penetrating gaze swept leisurely across the two men. Then the young man lifted a brow, turned away on his own, inserted the key into the lock, twisted it, and with a click, the door opened.
“Mr. Midorikawa, and the gentleman beside you.”
Without turning back, Yuki Mu kept one hand resting on the doorknob and spoke in an even voice.
“—I do not care what your objective is, or what trouble may come with your identities, or what sort of things surround you.”
“There is only one point.” The young Public Security junior turned his gaze back onto his seniors, and there was the same undisguised coldness in his eyes as always. “Do not drag me into it.”
“And you.”
His gaze shifted slightly, landing squarely on the blond, dark-skinned man. He was as concise as ever.
“A friendly reminder: your body is the capital of the revolution.”
“You work that many jobs and stay up all night every day. Be careful you do not work yourself to death.”
With that, he gave a final perfunctory nod and shut the door with no mercy whatsoever.
Only his last, light words remained drifting through the narrow hallway after him.
In the corridor,
Amuro Tooru and Midorikawa Hikaru—or rather, Furuya Rei and Morofushi Hiromitsu—met each other’s eyes briefly, and each instantly understood what his childhood friend meant.
They would skip the task assembly on Gin’s side for now and return to the rental apartment first... to properly analyze that encounter just now and discuss what to do next.
—Everything before the last line had been manageable. At worst, his attitude had simply been cold. At worst, as a Public Security officer, he had shown a detached indifference toward two people he had probably recognized as suspicious, unlawful elements, taking the attitude that so long as they did not drag trouble onto him, he did not care...
All right, fine, that second point perhaps was not exactly acceptable either.
But.
That last sentence...
Amuro Tooru and Midorikawa Hikaru stepped into the rental apartment that Blue Hawaii had kindly provided and let out a perfectly synchronized sigh.
—That last sentence, “you work that many jobs,” what on earth was he supposed to mean by that!!!
Had he figured out that Amuro Tooru was undercover? He had even specifically mentioned staying up late...
And most of Amuro Tooru’s late nights were spent dealing with Public Security-related matters.
If anyone else had said something like that, Amuro Tooru would not have found it especially notable.
But, but— after reading the detailed case files from his last two investigations, with that unmistakable way he had of seeming to know everything from the very start, it was nearly impossible not to overthink it!!!
Amuro Tooru & Midorikawa Hikaru: mental storm.jpg
*
Meanwhile, inside the rental apartment across the hall.
As though entirely unconcerned that his few brief lines had sent other people into a mental spiral, Yuki Mu casually undid the buttons of his shirt, utterly unwilling to make himself uncomfortable. He intended to settle in and enjoy a proper hot bath.
【Host.】The system’s voice carried a note of delighted realization as it spoke in his mind. 【Could it be that you calculated even this step in advance too?】
Yuki Mu: 【? What are you talking about?】
The system pointed at the notification panel, where the Recognition Level was still climbing without pause. 【Look! Ever since you came back, the alert sound has not stopped even once.】
Yuki Mu paused with his hand on the last button, turned on the water heater to start filling the tub, and only then replied inwardly in a somewhat puzzled tone:
【...Why are they thinking so much?】
By heaven and earth, that had genuinely not been his purpose just now.
Of course, the moment he saw the notifications, he could immediately understand the path their minds had taken— nothing more than suspicion over whether he had seen through their Public Security identities, or all manner of speculation about his cold attitude, which then branched outward into different possible analyses of “Yuki Mu” as a person, causing Recognition Level to shoot upward in streaks.
As Yuki Mu slowly eased himself into the bathtub, he explained with serene calm:
【My actual intention was simply to keep them from dragging me into endless conversation. Judging from Midorikawa’s posture just now, it would have turned into a whole round of “let’s share some cookies,” followed by what looked like casual chatting but was actually a trap-filled information-gathering session at every turn... They’d be tired, and I’d be tired too.】
When he reached the part about “they’d be tired,” Yuki Mu let out a faint sigh.
【What I really meant was just that those two should get more rest... though of course I used [Beika]’s persona when I said it.】
What a waste of this old father’s painstaking good intentions.jpg
System: 【......Oh.】
Yuki Mu glanced once more at the panel that was still chiming with notifications, then withdrew his gaze, baffled but also, inexplicably, a little proud.
After all, Akai Shuichi had not produced nearly this much Recognition Level when dealing with Hawaii!
Then again, perhaps it was because this pair of childhood friends worked with double the force...
At the thought of Hawaii, Yuki Mu felt irritation rise again.
—After the stunt with the scalpel at his throat, the man had somehow timed it perfectly and sent him an email the instant Yuki Mu reached the building downstairs.
【To Beika:
Your senior came over to “look after” you, and my senior has most likely received orders from his superior to “look after” me now too~ So do not be angry.
—We are fifty-fifty now.】
And “fifty-fifty” happened to be Akai Shuichi’s verbal tic.
Yuki Mu: “......”
Well, whatever. Let him do whatever he likes.
Setting those thoughts aside, the dark green-haired young man looked at the [Character: Beika] display, which now showed Recognition Level at 50%.
His pale, elegant fingers moved lightly through the hot, steamy air and sketched the outline of a crow on the glass door covered in mist.
“Now that it has reached fifty percent...”
He looked at the crow’s outline, then wiped it away and let out a quiet laugh.
“I cannot very well break a promise made to a child.”
And besides, [London]’s innate skills... were related to the dead.
So a place like Beika, where the death rate was admittedly rather high, would probably suit him quite well.
【Character Card [London] deployed】
On the card’s face, a finely dressed young English gentleman wore a shy smile that could make hearts race. In his eyes was reflected London’s misty rain, and it felt as though he were crossing time and space itself, walking slowly forward in a manner both melancholy and uniquely charming.
Perched on the young man’s shoulder was a bird of death, black from head to tail, save only for its crimson eyes, which gazed silently into the distance.