February 14th, Valentine's Day.
For single people, the holiday was neither here nor there. After all, they weren't part of the celebrating crowd, and no one would miss them.
Today was a rare day without assignments. Ritsu had already planned it out the night before: sleep in until the afternoon, grab something to eat nearby, then head to the lab to check on the experiment's progress, he hadn't been there for several days.
Blame Gin for assigning him missions every single day. Just two days ago, he had even gone to Kyoto with Moroboshi to collect payment. Technology was clearly advanced enough, yet they still had to go in person. The organization was so cautious that it practically turned every member of the operations team into a workaholic.
Ritsu couldn't help worrying that one day he might end up like Gin, working so hard his hair turned silver. According to Vodka, Gin had originally had beautiful blond hair when he first joined the organization. As for why it turned silver, no one knew.
But plans never keep up with changes. The phone on the bedside table vibrated. Having not experienced deep sleep in quite some time, Ritsu was immediately woken up. Frowning, clearly in a bad mood, he picked up his phone, Moroboshi was calling.
"Yeah? What is it?"
After a brief pause, the other party asked slowly, "Were you still sleeping?"
"What do you think?"
Akai glanced at Akemi, who was chatting with a store clerk, and asked in a low voice, "On Valentine's Day in Japan, do men need to give a return gift to women on the same day? I received something from Akemi—"
Beep, beep, beep.
"??"
The only response was the busy tone of a disconnected call. Akai stared at his phone, somewhat bewildered. Subconsciously, he had assumed that someone like Ritsu, handsome, intelligent, with no real flaws aside from being part of the organization, must have been a popular figure in school.
And popular figures usually shared one thing in common, well-liked, plenty of romantic experience, and no shortage of relationships.
"Moroboshi, how about this outfit?"
"It looks good. Akemi, I have a question."
Holding up a light purple dress against herself, clearly imagining how it would look on her younger sister, Akemi smiled and asked, "What is it?"
"Macallan… I mean Nanase, has he never been in a relationship?"
She hadn't expected Moroboshi to be such a gossip.
Thinking back over the past two years, she couldn't recall ever hearing that he had a partner. She shook her head. "At least not in the past two years. Why do you ask?"
"Nothing. I probably asked the wrong person."
Meanwhile, Ritsu, sitting on his bed, was grinding his teeth in irritation. After hanging up, he walked into the bathroom with a cold expression.
So what if Akai have a girlfriend? Calling just to show off, what kind of move is that? Didn't he know that on Valentine's Day, single people deserved a little consideration?
With messy bed hair, Ritsu glared at his reflection while brushing his teeth, muttering,
"That old man really has no sense of tact… waking people up like that. Tch, what's so great about it?"
Ding!
A new email notification sounded. Still brushing his teeth with one hand, Ritsu picked up his phone with the other. It was a message from Hiro, was there a Public Security assignment? Or new instructions?
[Hiro: B1300.]
This was their coded signal, meet at point B at 1:00 PM. Point B referred to Beika Children's Park, a place unlikely to be frequented by members of the organization.
He chose not to drive. His car was too recognizable. If someone tailed him and reported it to Gin, it would be trouble. Tokyo wasn't that big; the organization's eyes could be anywhere.
Taking a bus to Beika Children's Park, he got off and spotted Hiro sitting on a swing. The two didn't approach each other; instead, they communicated through earpieces from a distance where they could still see one another.
Avoiding phone calls prevented wiretapping, and this method ensured the person they were speaking to was truly who they claimed to be.
"Headquarters wants you to gather more information on the organization's second-in-command. He's even more troublesome than Gin. Also, they're asking whether you've had any contact with the boss."
That was asking a bit much. He'd only been in the organization for less than two years, and they already expected intel on both the top and second-in-command, were they treating him like a superhero?
Leaning against a utility pole, pretending to scroll through his phone while waiting for someone, Ritsu replied, "Two years isn't enough to earn their full trust. But I've had frequent contact with Gin and Vodka. Give me more time, I should be able to get something useful."
"Alright, I'll report that. Any recent movements in the organization?"
"A couple days ago, we went to Kyoto to collect a payment. The client was the president of a construction company. Apparently, Kyoto-based members dug up some dirt on him, so he paid five hundred million yen as hush money."
Gently pushing off the ground, Hiro let the swing sway within his control. With a faint smile, he said, "Seems like the organization's intelligence division is pretty impressive. How's Zero doing?"
"Haven't seen him lately, but there haven't been any reports of injuries or deaths within the organization. With his ability, he's probably doing well in the intel division."
"Fair enough. Any new recruits recently?"
"Yes." Ritsu recalled the "old man" currently on a date with Akemi, his expression souring. "His name's Moroboshi Dai. A low-level member of the operations team. I've worked with him twice, his first performance wasn't great, but by the second time he had corrected about seventy percent of his mistakes. He's got potential."
"Got it. That's all for today. There's a bento for you at the convenience store behind you," Hiro said with a smile. "I probably woke you up with that message, didn't I?"
'Not exactly. Someone else beat you to it.'
"No. Be careful on your way back."
"You too."
Ritsu headed into the convenience store behind him, retrieved the bento that had been left there, and picked up a few extra items. With the bag in hand, he prepared to head off.
Sitting on the swing, Hiro watched Ritsu board the bus and sighed deeply.
When had things between the six of them become like this?
They could never meet when they wanted. Every day was spent worrying about the two undercover agents inside the organization. Even opening emails from Public Security headquarters had become nerve-wracking.
What if one day the message reported a line-of-duty death? Or assigned a deadly mission to Ritsu?
"Ossan, were you talking to yourself just now?"
"!!"
Hiro's pupils shrank as he quickly turned around. A black-haired boy stood there, holding a soccer ball, about twelve years old, likely a sixth grader.
Had he overheard anything? Though at that age, he was unlikely to be part of the organization.
"No, I was just chatting with someone," Hiro said, smiling as he waved the phone in his hand.
"Shinichi, can you stop doing this every day? You're bothering people!" A girl in a dark blue sailor uniform, carrying a black school bag, looked quite cute, her large eyes like those of a fawn.
They were Kudo Shinichi and Mouri Ran. If Ritsu were here, he would have recognized them immediately.
"Geez, stop nagging. This is part of my training to become Sherlock Holmes, you wouldn't understand, Ran. Come on, we'll be late if we don't go now!"
"Isn't it because you insisted on coming here to check? Sorry about him, Oji-san, Shinichi's just like that."
Hiro smiled gently and waved his hand. "It's fine. You two should get going."
"Bye, Ossan!"
He stood up, slipping his phone into his pocket and smoothing out the wrinkles in his suit.
Ah, youth… how nice.
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