Chapter 78: A second time.
The voice behind him was familiar enough that Morofushi Sora'aki turned around in surprise and saw a familiar head of curly hair.
The curly-haired man wore sunglasses, but instead of the black suit, he was dressed in more casual clothes. Matsuda Jinpei glanced at Morofushi Sora'aki's face, then looked away without interest: "That guy said you had a surprise for him, is this it?"
"Hmm—?" Hagiwara Kenji blinked. "I clearly sent him the message, how did you know?"
Matsuda Jinpei snorted coldly, "I just happened to be nearby, so he asked me to do it. Alright, I saw it. If there's nothing else, I'll be going."
"No way!" Hagiwara Kenji walked over with a smile and put his arm around Matsuda Jinpei's shoulder. "This kid is very curious about my childhood friend!"
"What does your childhood have to do with me?" Matsuda Jinpei looked completely bewildered, but surprisingly, he didn't avoid the guy who was so close to his vitals.
Hagiwara Kenji didn't explain, "After all, I can't seem like I have no friends, so I'm leaving it to you. I remember you're not working lately, right? If you were, you wouldn't be out shopping in casual clothes—so it's too late to argue now!"
"Tsk." Matsuda Jinpei frowned and said, "I just came out to buy a utility knife, I don't plan to stay any longer."
"Isn't it too boring to always stay in your studio?"
"I'm not as free as you."
"Don't be so cold—"
Watching the two of them talk so openly about him, Morofushi Sora'aki tilted his head and came up with a description: "Flirting?"
Matsuda Jinpei looked at Hagiwara Kenji suspiciously: "...You taught him?"
"No, it wasn't me—by the way, why did you so naturally suspect me?"
Although the tone of their conversation was similar to that of two close friends, unlike the other two close and natural friends, there was an inexplicable sense of distance between these two people. It wasn't physical, but rather a conceptual distance.
Matsuda Jinpei, somewhat annoyed, shoved Hagiwara Kenji's arm away, then gestured to the person next door with his finger: "You don't need to care what this guy said before. If you don't want to regret it, turn around and go home now, and don't contact us again. I can pretend I never saw you."
Hagiwara Kenji couldn't help but complain, "Why do you make it sound like I'm the bad guy?"
At this moment, Morofushi Sora'aki and Matsuda Jinpei unexpectedly spoke up in unison: "Aren't you one?"
Hagiwara Kenji: "..."
Hagiwara Kenji: "I'm going to get hurt!"
Matsuda Jinpei: "Then you'll have to take it."
"Hey, kid, this is the last time I'm reminding you, aren't you leaving?" Matsuda Jinpei looked at Morofushi Sora'aki with his arms crossed. His sharp blue eyes were hidden behind sunglasses, and with his current aura, he was probably enough to scare an elementary school student to tears.
"I originally intended to leave." said Morofushi Sora'aki in a dry, repetitive tone, "But I've fallen in love with your face at first sight, so I want to stay."
Matsuda Jinpei: "..."
Matsuda Jinpei turned to look at Hagiwara Kenji again: "Stop denying it, this is your tone, did you teach it?"
Hagiwara Kenji: "..."
"If I said it really wasn't me, would you believe me?"
"I don't believe it." Matsuda Jinpei was extremely decisive.
Morofushi Sora'aki: "So it really won't work?"
Matsuda Jinpei felt even more troubled. He bent down slightly, his sunglasses falling down, no longer able to conceal his sharp eyes.
His overly sharp blue eyes were fixed on Morofushi Sora'aki: "I don't care if you find it interesting or exciting, and I don't know what that guy told you—it's not as simple as you think."
"What's your opinion of the police?" Morofushi Sora'aki asked at this moment, uttering a completely unexpected line.
Matsuda Jinpei made no attempt to hide his mockery: "Huh?"
Very good, this expression is enough to tell people the answer.
Morofushi Sora'aki bowed slightly to Matsuda Jinpei. "Excuse me, may I go back now?"
Matsuda Jinpei raised his chin: "Don't let me see you again."
Hagiwara Kenji: "Hey—"
Watching Morofushi Sora'aki leave without hesitation, Hagiwara Kenji, who felt ignored, felt a little pathetic: "Did you just decide for me like that?"
"Heh." Matsuda Jinpei sneered, "What good ideas could you possibly have? There's no need to drag other people's kids into this."
"And about the police...did you tell him?"
"Hmm? I haven't mentioned it to anyone~" Hagiwara Kenji blinked: "Although it's true that this matter can be investigated, it's quite difficult to find a newspaper from twenty years ago."
Seeing Matsuda Jinpei's furrowed brow, Hagiwara Kenji feigned grievance and said, "I'm an intelligence agent, after all. Unless I'm given enough benefits, I won't just sell information, especially not the past experiences of codenamed members of the organization—"
When there are no other emotions to protect you, self-interest is the most trustworthy thing.
Matsuda Jinpei glanced at him. "It won't affect me if I tell you, it'll just make things a little more complicated."
Then Matsuda Jinpei left without hesitation.
The only one left behind, Hagiwara Kenji, still had a smile on his face, but belatedly realized that something was not quite right.
Wait a minute? Wasn't he the one who invited them out? It seems like he invited both of them, right? Why did they both just leave now?!
Am I really that unpopular?! I absolutely refuse to believe it!
Hagiwara Kenji angrily took out his phone, dialed a number, and was hung up without hesitation before the other end even answered.
Hagiwara Kenji: "..."
Hagiwara Kenji: "..."
However, half a minute later, the phone rang back: "Sorry, I was handling a small task just now—by the way, I saw the message you sent me earlier. I asked Cognac to go over there; did you run into him?"
"Hiromitsu." Kenji Hagiwara had no intention of discussing the mission at all, and even directly said the other person's name. He said somewhat aggrievedly, "I have really bad interpersonal relationships."
On the other end of the phone, Morofushi Hiromitsu: […Are you showing off?]
The person on the other end spoke in the gentlest tone: [If there's nothing else, I'll hang up now. I still have some tasks to finish up here.]
After saying that, he waited less than half a second before hanging up the phone.
Hagiwara Kenji sighed deeply as he watched the opponent's ruthless actions: "My popularity has really gotten worse!"
On the other side, Scotch wiped the blood from his face and smiled at the blond mixed-race man who was walking over: "Sorry, Bourbon, I'm sorry to have bothered you earlier."
"Glenturret's call?" Bourbon put away his pistol, frowning. "He really doesn't know how to time things."
"Well, as long as it doesn't affect the mission, that's good." Scotch said.
During the wrap-up, Scotch seemed a bit distracted, an unusual reaction that caught Bourbon's attention. After all, in their numerous collaborations, Scotch had always been quite serious about his work. So Bourbon asked, "Scotch? What are you thinking about?"
"Hmm…it's nothing serious. I was thinking about…the relationship between Glenturret and Cognac." Scotch pondered for a moment and said, "I remember Cognac and you had a pretty good relationship?"
"It's alright." Bourbon replied somewhat indifferently, not intending to linger on the topic for long.
Scotch: "Haha, there's been a lot of bad news in the organization lately, people are saying poor Cognac is being entangled with that troublesome Glenturret or something."
"This is the first time I've ever seen him like someone so much."
Bourbon, however, made a sarcastic remark, clearly disagreeing: "Let Cognac become the target of everyone's liking?"
Scotch chuckled softly, "That's why I said he really likes Cognac."
"People like us, once emotions become a weakness, they become a weakness—and do you really think that person would just stand by and watch a codename member have their own clique?"
"If he hides his feelings and concerns, he might be taken advantage of once it's discovered," Morofushi Hiromitsu said with a smile. "But if he shows them so openly, people will just think he's found something interesting and that it's just a passing fad. Like you just said, they'll feel sorry for Cognac being entangled with him."
"What is truly precious is what must be hidden—isn't that the 'common sense' for surviving in the dark?"
Bourbon was silent for a few seconds, then glanced at Scotch: "Is this none of your business?"
"Well, because you have a good relationship with Cognac—" Scotch's smile remained almost unchanged, "and, maintaining good relations with intelligence personnel is also common sense."
Bourbon looked away: "It's about time, Rye should be here soon."
"Well, I'm almost done here, let's go back." Scotch also quite consciously stopped bringing up the topic.
At the same time, Morofushi Sora'aki crossed out Matsuda Jinpei's name from the mental notebook.
"Jinpei-chan hates the police, but he won't drag others into it." He's not exactly righteous, not exactly a good person, but he's clearly not someone who enjoys himself.
Winning over Matsuda would be easier, but precisely because of this, Morofushi Sora'aki didn't want to do it.
The other person's expression when mentioning the police was somewhat similar to that of his good friend. Precisely because the resemblance was even greater than that of Hagiwara, Morofushi Sora'aki lost interest.
Morofushi Sora'aki exhaled, aimlessly eliminating two targets before preparing to switch targets again.
The rest is...
At a street corner, Morofushi Sora'aki, who was lost in thought, accidentally bumped into someone.
Good upbringing led Morofushi Sora'aki to instinctively say, "I'm sorry."
But after they finished speaking and looked up, both Morofushi Sora'aki and the man who had been bumped into fell into a brief silence.
The man that Morofushi Sora'aki bumped into had long black hair that reached his waist and sharp green eyes like a wolf's. But this feature was even more familiar than the man he had met at Miyano Clinic before—referring to the similarities between him and a certain woman in his photo.
At that time, Miyano Shiho even echoed his words, saying that with the advancement of modern medicine, gender reassignment surgery is extremely convenient.
"You finally chose to undergo gender reassignment surgery?" Looking at his long hair, Morofushi Sora'aki said this.
Akai Shuuichi: "...?"
The two people who had just caught up behind them: "...Pfft!"